The Doomsday Clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest the Clock has ever been to midnight in its 78-year history. The 2025 Clock time signals that the world is on a course of unprecedented risk, and that continuing on the current path is a form of madness. The United States, China, and Russia have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink. The world depends on immediate action.
The Doomsday Clock’s time is set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board (SASB) in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes nine Nobel Laureates.
Special force small team attack craft either surface or subsurface have gained importance in light of their potential for littoral raids. Special Forces (SF) operations at sea have been clouded in a shroud of secrecy compared to land-based SF deployments. But a renewed focus on maritime SF capabilities has been brought into sharp focus with […]
On 26 August the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) monitoring site NKNews.org reported a Russian government Tupolev Tu-154 VIP passenger jet taking off from Vladivostok airport shortly after 07:00 and landing in Pyongyang two hours later. The aircraft was the second flight of this type in August – carrying what was reported as a […]
On January 19th, TIME magazine published an astonishing article, amply confirming what dissident, anti-war academics, activists, journalists and researchers have argued for a decade. The US always intended to abandon Ukraine after setting up the country for proxy war with Russia, and never had any desire or intention to assist Kiev in defeating Moscow in the conflict, let alone achieving its maximalist aims of regaining Crimea and restoring the country’s 1991 borders. To have a major mainstream outlet finally corroborate this indubitable reality is a seismic development.
Many Ukrainians are expecting the new year 2025 to bring the beginning of peace negotiations and an end to the war by Kiev and NATO against Russia. Hopes have been stirred by the pre-election, populist pronouncements of the new US president. Months ago, Donald Trump made statements promising to ‘end the war in one day’ upon assuming office. But it remains entirely speculative as to whether he would act on that and how. Meanwhile, in the here and now, the outgoing administration of President Joseph Biden is flooding Ukraine with money and weapons so that the unelected regime in Kiev headed by Volodymyr Zelensky may continue a war that it is obviously losing.
Timing is everything in geopolitics. This past Friday in Moscow, only three days before the inauguration of US President Donald Trump in Washington, top BRICS member leaders Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement, detailed in 47 articles, twice as many as in the recent Russian–North Korean deal.
This strategic partnership is now set in stone just as the – unpayable – humongous debt of the US government reaches an unprecedented $36.1 trillion, equivalent to $106.4k per American, and just as the US share of the global economy falls below 15 percent for the first time, based on World Bank/IMF figures.
On 17 January, 2025 Mark Trevelyan for Reuters reported that three lawyers for the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny were found guilty by a Russian court of belonging to an extremist group and sentenced to years in a penal colony.
Igor Sergunin, Alexei Liptser and Vadim Kobzev were arrested in October 2023 and added the following month to an official list of “terrorists and extremists”. They were sentenced respectively to 3-1/2, 5 and 5-1/2 years after a trial held behind closed doors in the Vladimir region, east of Moscow.
“Vadim, Alexei and Igor are political prisoners and must be released immediately,” Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late politician, posted on X.
Human rights activists say the prosecution of lawyers who defend people speaking out against the authorities and the war in Ukraine crosses a new threshold in the repression of dissent under President Vladimir Putin.
“Lawyers cannot be persecuted for their work. Pressure on defence lawyers risks destroying the little that remains of the rule of law, whose appearance the Russian authorities are still trying to maintain,” rights group OVD-Info said in a statement.
It said Navalny’s lawyers were being prosecuted “only because the letter of the law still matters to them and they did not leave the man alone with the repressive machine”.
The Kremlin says it does not comment on individual court cases. Authorities have long cast Navalny and his supporters as Western-backed traitors seeking to destabilise Russia. Despite his imprisonment, Navalny was able via his lawyers to post on social media and file frequent lawsuits over his treatment in prison, using the resulting legal hearings as a chance to keep speaking out against the government and the war. The lawyers were accused of enabling him to continue to function as the leader of an “extremist group”, even from behind bars, by passing his messages to the outside world.
In court, a woman shouted “Boys, you are heroes” and supporters applauded the three men, standing together in a barred cage for the defendants, after their sentencing.
Yulia Navalnaya last month published video of secretly recorded meetings between Navalny and the lawyers in prison, something she said was illegal because an accused person has the right to confer privately with a lawyer. Russia’s federal prison service did not reply to a request for comment.
Navalnaya said the recordings were made by the authorities and handed to her team after it offered a reward for people to come forward with information about Navalny’s death.
She alleges her husband was murdered on Putin’s orders, an accusation that the Kremlin has strongly denied. Navalnaya herself is wanted in Russia for alleged extremist activity but has said she hopes to return to the country one day and run for president.
Mark Rutte, the current secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), is not a poet. He, like other secretary generals of NATO, is a mediocre European politician who has been given the task of holding NATO’s reins for the United States (to be fair to Rutte, he has been the prime minister of the Netherlands for fourteen years, but mainly as a survivor rather than a leader). Yet, on 12 December 2024, Rutte gave a speech at the Concert Noble in Brussels (Belgium), a venue rebuilt in 1873 by Leopold II, the brigand king who looted the Congo as its sole owner from 1885 to 1908.
The Shangri-La Dialogue laid bare China’s undeniable support for Russia in the war in Ukraine, as well as Beijing’s blatant hypocrisy when it says it “supports the policy of territorial integrity and sovereignty”. Last October Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government led a series of study groups asking “Is the War in Ukraine Distracting […]
WASHINGTON – Heng Sithy, a Cambodian businessman who drew headlines in recent weeks after accusing a number of senior police officials and members of the ruling family of theft, corruption and fraud, was arrested on Tuesday in Russia.
The immediate reason for the arrest was unknown, but Fresh News, a government-aligned paper, published a statement Tuesday from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying the tycoon’s passport had been revoked.
In December, according to the statement, the Phnom Penh Court issued an arrest warrant for Heng Sithy on a charge of blackmail with aggravating circumstances.
A friend of Heng Sithy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for safety reasons, confirmed his arrest.
The friend shared voice messages in which the tycoon made grandiose claims about his reasons for traveling to Russia, none of which could be independently verified.
“Tomorrow, I am going to Moscow and on Monday I will see Putin’s cabinet regarding drones and will inspect the drones and special forces,” he said on one voice message.
In another, he spoke of the need to continue unspecified plans.
“We must split the work,” he told his friend. “We must convince our working groups to continue the work to establish diplomatic groups and the fighting groups, I will be in charge.”
At 39 years old, Heng Sithy appeared to have achieved the Cambodian dream. In a country where the average income is around $1,500 a year, he was a millionaire and paid all the dues expected of millionaires in a nation defined by its patronage politics.
But last month, following a reversal in his fortunes following what appears to be a business deal gone bad, it seemed something in Heng Sithy cracked.
A disagreement between Heng Sithy and a Singaporean entrepreneur spilled into the courts and then onto social media. As the dispute escalated, Heng Sithy began accusing senior police officials of taking multimillion dollar bribes from the entrepreneur, who he described as running “largest online casino network in Cambodia.”
All denied the allegations. The Singaporean filed a defamation suit and on Dec. 3 the Phnom Penh Court issued an arrest warrant for Heng Sithy on a charge of blackmail with aggravating circumstances.
The same month, he was stripped of his oknha title — an honorific bestowed upon wealthy, charitable and well-connected tycoons. Last week, Hun To, the nephew of the former prime minister, threatened to sue Heng Sithy for alleging that he stole US$9 million from a Chinese investor who sought government approval for a mine.
Prior to his trip to Russia, Heng Sithy worked with his friend to prepare an open letter to Cambodian Prime Hun Manet.
“I have never done anything wrong in business instead I was set up and got robbed [of] my wealth,” he wrote, according to the text shared with RFA.
Cambodia, he added in the unpublished letter, had fallen “into the trap of criminal money when we have such officers in government doing such corruption.”
The open letter closed with a direct appeal to Prime Minister Hun Manet: “Cambodia needs to be in good hands, a country needs a real leader, as a leader if your heart [is]… at the right place all will be good.”
Neither Heng Sithy nor National Police Spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun could be reached for comment.
Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Abby Seiff.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jack Adamović Davies and RFA Khmer.
Indonesia officially joined the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa — consortium last week marking a significant milestone in its foreign relations.
In a statement released a day later on January 7, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that this membership reflected Indonesia’s dedication to strengthening multilateral cooperation and its growing influence in global politics.
The ministry highlighted that joining BRICS aligned with Indonesia’s independent and proactive foreign policy, which seeks to maintain balanced relations with major powers while prioritising national interests.
This pivotal move showcases Jakarta’s efforts to enhance its international presence as an emerging power within a select group of global influencers.
Traditionally, Indonesia has embraced a non-aligned stance while bolstering its military and economic strength through collaborations with both Western and Eastern nations, including the United States, China, and Russia.
By joining BRICS, Indonesia clearly signals a shift from its non-aligned status, aligning itself with a coalition of emerging powers poised to challenge and redefine the existing global geopolitical landscape dominated by a Western neoliberal order led by the United States.
Indonesia joining boosts BRICS membership to 10 countres — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates — but there are also partnerships.
Supporters of a multipolar world, championed by China, Russia, and their allies, may view Indonesia’s entry into BRICS as a significant victory.
In contrast, advocates of the US-led unipolar world, often referred to as the “rules-based international order” are likely to see Indonesia’s decision as a regrettable shift that could trigger retaliatory actions from the United States.
The future will determine how Indonesia balances its relations with these two superpowers. However, there is considerable concern about the potential fallout for Indonesia from its long-standing US allies.
The future will determine how Indonesia balances its relations with these two superpowers, China and the US. However, there is considerable concern about the potential fallout for Indonesia from its long-standing US allies. Image: NHK TV News screenshot APR
The smaller Pacific Island nations, which Indonesia has been endeavouring to win over in a bid to thwart support for West Papuan independence, may also become entangled in the crosshairs of geostrategic rivalries, and their response to Indonesia’s membership in the BRICS alliance will prove critical for the fate of West Papua.
Critical questions The crucial questions facing the Pacific Islanders are perhaps related to their loyalties: are they aligning themselves with Beijing or Washington, and in what ways could their decisions influence the delicate balance of power in the ongoing competition between great powers, ultimately altering the Melanesian destiny of the Papuan people?
For the Papuans, Indonesia’s membership in BRICS or any other global or regional forums is irrelevant as long as the illegal occupation of their land continues driving them toward “extinction”.
For the Papuans, Indonesia’s membership in BRICS or any other global or regional forums is irrelevant as long as the illegal occupation of their land continues driving them toward “extinction”. Image: NHK News screenshot APR
The pressing question for Papuans is which force will ultimately dismantle Indonesia’s unlawful hold on their sovereignty.
Will Indonesia’s BRICS alliance open new paths for Papuan liberation fighters to re-engage with the West in ways not seen since the Cold War? Or does this membership indicate a deeper entrenchment of Papuans’ fate within China’s influence — making it almost impossible for any dream of Papuans’ independence?
While forecasting future with certainty is difficult on these questions, these critical critical questions need to be considered in this new complex geopolitical landscape, as the ultimate fate of West Papua is what is truly at stake here.
Strengthening Indonesia’s claims over West Papuan sovereignty Indonesia’s membership in BRICS may signify a great victory for those advocating for a multipolar world, challenging the hegemony of Western powers led by the United States.
This membership could augment Indonesia’s capacity to frame the West Papuan issue as an internal matter among BRICS members within the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs.
Such backing could provide Jakarta with a cushion of diplomatic protection against international censure, particularly from Western nations regarding its policies in West Papua.
The growing BRICS world . . . can Papuans and their global solidarity networks reinvent themselves while nurturing the fragile hope of restoring West Papua’s sovereignty? Map: Russia Pivots to Asia
However, it is also crucial to note that for more than six decades, despite the Western world priding itself on being a champion of freedom and human rights, no nation has been permitted to voice concern or hold Indonesia accountable for the atrocities committed against Indigenous Papuans.
The pressing question to consider is what or who silences the 193 member states of the UN from intervening to save the Papuans from potential eradication at the hands of Indonesia.
Is it the United States and its allies, or is it China, Russia, and their allies — or the United Nations itself?
Indonesia’s double standard and hypocrisy Indonesia’s support for Palestine bolsters its image as a defender of international law and human rights in global platforms like the UN and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
This commitment was notably highlighted at the BRICS Summit in October 2024, where Indonesia reaffirmed its dedication to Palestinian self-determination and called for global action to address the ongoing conflict in line with international law and UN resolutions, reflecting its constitutional duty to oppose colonialism.
Nonetheless, Indonesia’s self-image as a “saviour for the Palestinians” presents a rather ignoble facade being promoted in the international diplomatic arena, as the Indonesian government engages in precisely the same behaviours it condemns Israel over in Palestine.
Military engagement and regional diplomacy Moreover, Indonesia’s interaction with Pacific nations serves to perpetuate a façade of double standards — on one hand, it endeavours to portray itself as a burgeoning power and a champion of moral causes concerning security issues, human rights, climate change, and development; while on the other, it distracts the communities and nations of Oceania — particularly Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, which have long supported the West Papua independence movement — from holding Indonesia accountable for its transgressions against their fellow Pacific Islanders in West Papua.
On October 10, 2024, Brigadier-General Mohamad Nafis of the Indonesian Defence Ministry unveiled a strategic initiative intended to assert sovereignty claims over West Papua. This plan aims to foster stability across the Pacific through enhanced defence cooperation and safeguarding of territorial integrity.
The efforts to expand influence are characterised by joint military exercises, defence partnerships, and assistance programmes, all crafted to address common challenges such as terrorism, piracy, and natural disasters.
However, most critically, Indonesia’s engagement with Pacific Island nations aims to undermine the regional solidarity surrounding West Papua’s right to self-determination.
This involvement encapsulates infrastructure initiatives, defence training, and financial diplomacy, nurturing goodwill while aligning the interests of Pacific nations with Indonesia’s geopolitical aspirations.
Indonesia has formally joined the BRICS group, a bloc of emerging economies featuring Russia, China and others that is viewed as a counterweight to the West https://t.co/WArU5O2PfTpic.twitter.com/IQKmPOJqlS
Military occupation in West Papua As Indonesia strives to galvanise international support for its territorial integrity, the military presence in West Papua has intensified significantly, instilling widespread fear among local Papuan communities due to heightened deployments, surveillance, and restrictions.
Indonesian forces have been mobilised to secure economically strategic regions, including the Grasberg mine, which holds some of the world’s largest gold and copper reserves.
These operations have resulted in the displacement of Indigenous communities and substantial environmental degradation.
As of December 2024, approximately 83,295 individuals had been internally displaced in West Papua due to armed conflicts between Indonesian security forces and the West Papua Liberation Army (TPNPB).
Recent reports detail new instances of displacement in the Tambrauw and Pegunungan Bintang regencies following clashes between the TPNPB and security forces. Villagers have evacuated their homes in fear of further military incursions and confrontations, leaving many in psychological distress.
The significant increase in Indonesia’s military presence in West Papua has coincided with demographic shifts that jeopardise the survival of Indigenous Papuans.
Government transmigration policies and large-scale agricultural initiatives, such as the food estate project in Merauke, have marginalised Indigenous communities.
These programmes, aimed at ensuring national food security, result in land expropriation and cultural erosion, threatening traditional Papuan lifestyles and identities.
For more than 63 years, Indonesia has occupied West Papua, subjecting Indigenous communities to systemic marginalisation and brink of extinction. Traditional languages, oral histories, and cultural values face obliteration under Indonesia’s colonial occupation.
A glimmer of hope for West Papua Despite these formidable challenges, solidarity movements within the Pacific and global communities persist in their advocacy for West Papua’s self-determination.
These groups, united by a shared sense of humanity and justice, work tirelessly to maintain hope for West Papua’s liberation. Even so, Indonesia’s diplomatic engagement with Pacific nations, characterised by eloquent rhetoric and military alliances, represents a calculated endeavour to extinguish this fragile hope for Papuan liberation.
Indonesia’s membership in BRICS will either amplify this tiny hope of salvation within the grand vision of a new world re-engineered by Beijing’s BRICS and its allies or will it conceal West Papua’s independence dream on a path that is even harder and more impossible to achieve than the one they have been on for 60 years under the US-led unipolar world system.
Most significantly, it might present a new opportunity for Papuan liberation fighters to reengage with the new re-ordering global superpowers– a chance that has eluded them for more than 60 years.
From the 1920s to the 1960s, the tumult of the First and Second World Wars, coupled with the ensuing cries for decolonisation from nations subjugated by Western powers and Cold War tensions, forged the very existence of the nation known as “Indonesia.”
It seems that this turbulent world of uncertainty is upon us, reshaping a new global landscape replete with new alliances and adversaries, harbouring conflicting visions of a new world. Indonesia’s decision to join BRICS in 2025 is a clear testament to this.
The pressing question remains whether this membership will ultimately precipitate Indonesia’s disintegration as the US-led unipolar world intervenes in its domestic affairs or catalyse its growth and strength.
Regardless of the consequences, the fundamental existential question for the Papuans is whether they, along with their global solidarity networks, can reinvent themselves while nurturing the fragile hope of restoring West Papua’s sovereignty in a world rife with change and uncertainty?
Ali Mirin is a West Papuan academic and writer from the Kimyal tribe of the highlands bordering the Star mountain region of Papua New Guinea. He lives in Australia and contributes articles to Asia Pacific Report.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Chinese firms supporting Russia are presenting themselves as if they are from Taiwan not only to avoid sanctions but also to discredit the self-ruled island, said a Ukrainian activist.
Vadym Labas initially accused the Taiwanese company Taiwan Rung Cherng Suspenparts, or TRC, of modifying and producing servomechanisms for Russia’s deadly glide bombs, citing a transaction document between TRC and a Russian firm.
However, Labas later clarified that further investigation revealed the TRC name in the document was actually a front for a Chinese company seeking to evade international sanctions, not the Taiwanese company.
“We also discovered a double operation, which consisted not only of a new scheme to circumvent sanctions, but also an operation to discredit the Taiwanese manufacturer, which had been repeatedly carried out by the parties concerned,” Labas wrote on his Facebook on Monday.
Labas added that the Chinese company KST Digital Technology Limited supplied servomotors to Russia through a network of intermediaries, including a firm called Kaifeng Zhendaqian Technology. These products were eventually rebranded as those of the Taiwanese firm TRC, whose name was used without authorization.
Servomotors are crucial for glide bombs as they control the bomb’s aerodynamic surfaces, such as fins or wings, enabling precise maneuvering and guidance.
“Taiwan has been unjustly implicated. The actual culprits are Chinese manufacturers exploiting TRC’s name for camouflage,” he added.
Radio Free Asia was not able to contact KST Digital Technology Limited or Kaifeng Zhendaqian Technology for comment.
Chen Shu-Mei, TRC’s deputy general manager, dismissed any suggestion of a business connection with Russia, saying the firm may take legal action to protect its reputation.
“It was a totally unfounded claim,” said Chen, adding that the company primarily produces automotive chassis components and parts for vehicle suspension systems.
While not as advanced as Western precision-guided munitions, Russian glide bombs have become a key part of its air strategy in Ukraine. Military analysts estimate they contribute 20% of Russia’s operational advantage in the conflict.
Ukrainian intelligence reports that Russia has greatly increased its use of such bombs. In May 2023, Russian forces were using about 25 glide bombs daily, but that number has since climbed to at least 60 per day, sometimes exceeding 100.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.
As land forces demand ever-more connectivity over increasingly larger areas, might UAV-based ‘data mules’ emerge as an efficient complement to tactical trunk communications? Land forces rely on a relatively simple ways of communicating. Take a squad of dismounted infantry. Each soldier will be equipped with a Personal Role Radio (PRR). The PRR will connect squad […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Russian and North Korean forces “lost up to a battalion of infantry” in two days of battles near the village of Makhnovka in Russia’s Kursk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, estimating total North Korean casualties at about 3,800.
Up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine in Kursk, Ukraine and the U.S. say, but neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have acknowledged their deployment.
“In battles today and yesterday near just one village – Makhnovka in the Kursk region – the Russian army lost up to a battalion of infantry, including North Korean soldiers and Russian paratroopers. And that’s tangible,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Saturday.
The size of a battalion can vary from a few hundred soldiers to up to about 1,000.
Zelenskyy did not specify if he meant the soldiers “lost” in the fighting at the village were killed or killed and wounded but he estimated that 3,800 North Koreans had been killed or wounded in the fighting in Kursk.
“North Korea. Just look at this example, 12,000 have arrived. Today 3,800 killed or wounded. They can bring more, 30-40 thousand, or maybe 500. They can bring many people. Why? Because they have order, autocracy and everything,” he said in an interview with American podcaster Lex Fridman on Sunday.
Ukraine previously reported more than 3,000 casualties among the North Korean while South Korea estimates at least 1,100 North Koreans have been killed or wounded.
“We do not want any war. We want to stop the Russians. And they invite … North Korean soldiers. Invited. Their faces are burned. They themselves burn their faces. Those who cannot escape, injured or killed,” the Ukrainian president added.
Zelenskyy was referring to his previous assertion that Russian forces were burning the faces of North Korean soldiers killed in assaults on Ukrainian positions to conceal their identities and keep secret their deployment to help Russia in its war.
He cited a video as evidence but Radio Free Asia has not been able to independently verify the clip.
Zelenskyy’s remarks came after reports that a senior North Korean military officer had been sent to Kursk to investigate the cause of the massive loss of troops.
The high-ranking officer’s visit resulted in a brief suspension of the North Koreans’ participation in combat but it later resumed, Ukraine’s Evocation reported on Thursday.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, or DIU, said the morale of North Koreans in Kursk was declining.
“The soldiers’ morale is falling. And they are receiving constant propaganda from the Russian army with the message that the North Korean army’s participation in the war with Ukraine is ‘very important.’,” the DIU said on its official Telegram channel.
“Junior Russian commanders are deliberately underreporting casualty figures to their superiors,” it added.
A Ukrainian special operations sergeant told RFA on Dec. 27 that North Korean soldiers were fighting with outdated weapons, no food and poor medical kits. .
“They have no military food in their bags. They have some grenades but it’s not even the Soviet type,” said Mykhailo Makaruk of the 8th Special Operations Regiment. “It’s bullshit grenades. And they have lower level military medicine kits.”
There have been no signs of an additional deployment of soldiers from North Korea, despite the recent high casualty numbers, the Pentagon’s Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters in Washington last week.
“Can’t say that we’re seeing more being sent, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t send more in the future,” she said.
Edited by RFA Staff.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
In 2023 the situation in Ukraine had developed into what looked like a stalemate. But 2024 proved that bigger things had been in the making. In 2024, after taking Avdivka, the Russian forces began to deliberate and steadily move forward.
The introduction of FAB bombs, precision ammunition delivered from airplanes flying outside Ukrainian air defenses, broke the Ukrainian defense fortifications. Russian infantry, covered by ample artillery and with the help drones, infiltrated and overwhelmed Ukrainian lines. An ever increasing shortage of Ukrainian troops helped to increase the tempo of progress.
Russian missile and drone attacks are continuing across Ukraine as the country already faces a cold, dark winter after Russia’s strikes destroyed about half of the country’s energy infrastructure. This comes as Russia and Ukraine completed a prisoner swap, repatriating more than 300 prisoners of war in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates ahead of the new year. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has approved billions more in military and economic assistance to Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office with a pledge to curtail aid and end the war. Since Russia’s invasion nearly three years ago, Congress has approved $175 billion in total assistance to Ukraine. “Putin doesn’t want peace,” says Oleksandra Matviichuk, a leading Ukrainian human rights lawyer, who says Russia’s goal is to restore its empire by force. “Russian occupation means torture, rapes, enforced disappearances, denial of your own identity, forcible adoption of your children, filtration camps and mass graves,” she says.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
In recent months, even across the collective West’s media, growing admissions are being made about both Russia and China’s superior military industrial capacity. With Russia’s first use of the intermediate-range ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, it is admitted that Russia (and likely China) possess formidable military capabilities the collective West currently lacks.
Despite the collective efforts of NATO in arming, training, and backing Ukraine, Ukrainian forces continue to give ground at an accelerated rate across the entire line of contact amid the ongoing Russian Special Military Operation (SMO).
