This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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An annual report out Monday that tracks global arms sales shows that weapons makers in 2024 generated more revenue than at any time since the group behind the research began tracking the data over 35 years ago. The annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that the top 100 weapons makers in the world — led by those in the United States — brought in a…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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European leaders are in panic mode. They are scrambling to ensure that Trump’s 28-point peace plan that they believe favours Russia can be revised to give Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky an equal say alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This is delusional thinking. Whether or not Zelensky and his U.S./NATO allies, who have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into this conflict care to accept it, Russia is the indisputable victor in this terrible 14-year war, beginning with the 2014 Ukrainian civil war, which Russia entered in 2022.
Moscow will call the shots when it finally ends. As in Potsdam at the end of WWII, the only path forward now is working out the terms of defeat.
The post What Defeat Looks Like appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
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Donald Trump made some revealing remarks to the media as he flew to Florida for Thanksgiving on Wednesday. Asked if he thought Ukraine is being asked to give too much land to Russia in his proposal to end the war, Trump responded:
“It’s clearly up to the Russians. It’s moving in one direction. … That’s land that over the next couple of months might be gotten by Russia anyway. So, do you want to fight and loose another 50,000 or 60,000 people? Or do something now? They are negotiating; they are trying to get it done.”
That’s the same realistic approach Trump’s new special envoy to Ukraine, U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, took with the Ukrainians and Europe’s so-called “coalition of the willing” during a visit to Kiev earlier this week.
The post The Neocon-Realist War Over Ukraine appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
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This October, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dominated the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, while pressuring Europeans to assume an even heavier share of the defense burden. Referring to his peers as “ministers of war,” Hegseth demanded that member states purchase additional U.S. arms for Ukraine. “All countries need to translate goals into guns,” he hammered home. “That’s all that matters…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on 27 November that the Kremlin generally agrees that the 28-point US peace plan for Ukraine could form a basis for an agreement, while at the same time calling Ukraine’s leadership illegitimate.
“In general, we agree that this could be the basis for future agreements,” he said while speaking to reporters at the conclusion of a visit to Kyrgyzstan.
“It would be impolite of me to talk about any final options now, as there aren’t any. But some things are fundamental,” Putin said.
The post Putin ‘Optimistic’ On US Peace Plan, Calls Zelensky ‘Illegitimate’ appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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In the unforgiving battlefields of the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict, the Kiev regime is yet to learn that any perceived superiority complex is nothing but that – a set of dangerous delusions that may seem “real” (or even “crystal clear”, “natural”, etc). Probably the most dangerous of such delusions is the near-total disregard of Moscow’s military might due to the Neo-Nazi junta’s stubborn refusal to accept battlefield realities, one of which has a name – the Su-30SM2. Russia’s latest upgrade to the legendary Su-30SM, the “Flanker-H” (its NATO reporting name) is part of a long line of Su-30 series, by far the most successful commercial Su-27 derivative.
For Moscow, in addition to the legendary Su-35S and MiG-31BM, the Su-30SM is instrumental in maintaining not only air superiority, but also conducting SEAD (suppression of enemy air defenses) missions, drone hunting, etc. However, one of the most pressing issues faced by the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) is the diversity of the “Flanker” fleet. Although the expected advantage of determining which is best suited for a certain role and then perfecting the said role, this significantly complicates maintenance, logistics, training, etc. This is why the VKS made a decision to start upgrading the Su-30SM to the SM2 standard, bringing the jet much closer to the capabilities of the Su-35S.
The two core components of this upgrade are the AL-41F1S jet engine (the AL-41F1 variant is used by the Su-57 before the wider introduction of the next-generation AL-51F1) and the N035 “Irbis”, a hybrid PESA/AESA (passive/active electronically scanned array) radar. As previously mentioned, this not only improves the Su-30SM/SM2’s capabilities, but it also makes the jet much easier to maintain. In addition, the extended service life of the engines makes them cheaper and safer in the long term, while the updated avionics contribute to not only superior capabilities, but also much better interoperability (especially with the Su-35S).
The introduction of the Su-30SM2 marked a pivotal moment, which was bad news for the political West that decided to respond by sending additional SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems, specifically the extremely overhyped and exorbitantly overpriced US-made “Patriot”.
Germany officially donated the latest batch, praising it as “instrumental in defending Ukrainian democracy”. However, barely a day or so after the delivery, the Su-30SM2’s combat debut over NATO-occupied Ukraine turned out to be a total disaster for the “Patriot”. Military sources report that a daring SEAD mission was launched, destroying the latest batch of US/NATO’s air defense “crown jewels”.
The operation, executed with unspecified precision-guided munitions (most likely the ramjet-powered Kh-31P supersonic anti-radiation missile) launched from standoff ranges, reportedly neutralized critical components of the system, including its multifunctional radar and launchers. The operation highlights the Su-30SM2’s enhanced capabilities, particularly its integration of advanced avionics and weapon systems that allow it to evade and overwhelm sophisticated air defenses. The more advanced engines provide at least 15% more thrust, giving it additional energy and contributing to the increase in range and payload capacity, also improving its loitering capabilities.
The latest success against the “Patriot” comes at a time when the Kiev regime is begmanding more air defense systems, to which several NATO member states responded by buying more US-made SAM systems. In a move reportedly coordinated with Denmark and Norway, Berlin transferred at least six “Patriot” systems to the Neo-Nazi junta, costing billions. Obviously, European taxpayers will foot the bill for what President Donald Trump said was “good business for America”. Given the fact that the Russian military already destroyed dozens of “Patriot” systems in NATO-occupied Ukraine, all Washington DC needs to worry about is making money (its reputation is ruined anyway).
Namely, a single interceptor missile of the latest PAC-3 variant costs $7 million. Just one launcher can hold up to 12, which means a full load of missiles costs $84 million. There are up to eight launchers per battery, bringing the total value of interceptors to $672 million. This is without even considering the cost of all components of the battery (upward of $2.5 billion). The Russian military has wiped out dozens of such batteries, so do the math on how much money the troubled EU is spending so it could keep arming the Neo-Nazi junta with these US-made air defense systems. Although it had some initial success, the “Patriot” is now a relatively easy prey for the Kremlin.
The Russian military drastically improved its tactics by using decoys and high-precision attacks, forcing the “Patriot” operators (many of whom are undoubtedly NATO personnel) into reactive modes, which makes it easier for strike aircraft (such as the Su-34) to conduct their missions. The Su-30SM2’s precision strike serves as a stark reminder that no defense is impenetrable, forcing the Kiev regime to disperse its air defense assets, which dilutes coverage, further eroding their capabilities and impact. On the other hand, by upgrading its Su-30SM fleet to the SM2 standard, Moscow significantly expanded its already impressive strike capabilities.
Unlike the Su-35S, which was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter with secondary strike capabilities, the Su-30 is a true multirole platform. In addition, the Su-35S is more expensive, as it was designed to counter the American F-22 “Raptor” and other Western air superiority fighter jets. With the latest upgrade to the SM2 standard, the VKS effectively got a jet that’s around 75-80% as capable as the Su-35S while being at least 35-40% cheaper. This indicates that Russia retains a massive advantage in the effectiveness of its “economy of war” concept, which requires weapon systems to be affordable without a significant loss in capabilities.
- Reposted from Global Research.
This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
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Donald Trump has once again shown us exactly why he is not fit to lead one of the most powerful countries in the world.
An unknown source leaked the recordings of two telephone conversations. One appears to show Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, advising Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s most senior foreign policy aide, on how to appeal to the president.
And of course, Trump has defended him. He said it was the “standard thing”.
According to the BBC, Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he hadn’t heard the audio, but he was “doing what a dealmaker does” to sell his peace plan to both Russia and Ukraine.
The leak emerged after the US presented its 28-point draft peace plan.
The other leaked recording is a phone call between Mr Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, Mr Putin’s economic adviser. It seems to suggest that the Kremlin created the 28-point plan, which Trump then presented as his own.
Trump’s big 28 point surrender plan for Ukraine was drafted and written by Russia.
Treason pedo Trump was assigned with delivering it in another failed attempt to backstab Ukraine and Europe and prevent the release of the blackmail Russia has on the US “president”. pic.twitter.com/9nwVzKe9DV
— Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) November 23, 2025
As the Telegraph reported, Mr Dmitriev allegedly said during the call:
I think we’ll just make this paper from our position, and I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal
And let them do like their own. But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible.
The Telegraph then added that he suggested “talking to Steve about this paper” — which is an apparent reference to Witkoff.
Mr Dmitriev claimed the transcript was fake.
Trump—Quick to defend
Republicans called for Trump to remove Witkoff from the Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations. However, Trump was quick to defend him.
Russia has, of course, denied leaking the recording.
Russia has denied leaking a phone call between Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin’s senior adviser.
The leak, first reported by Bloomberg News, revealed details of a conversation that took place on Oct 14 in which Mr Witkoff advised Yuri Ushakov on how…— Simo Saadi
(@Simo7809957085) November 26, 2025An unknown source leaked the US-backed peace plan last week. It included giving Russia some Ukrainian-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. It has been widely criticised for being too Russian-focused and has now been heavily edited. However, Zelensky still wants to negotiate with Trump on the territorial concessions. He has asked the president for a meeting “as soon as possible”
The US is arguing that the current trajectory of the war means that, eventually, Russia will take that land anyway.
From Trump’s refusal to criticise Putin during his 2016 election campaign, to surrounding himself with people known to be friends and business associates of Russia — it is clear that Trump’s relationship with Russia has always been a little too special. And now, it seems that Ukraine is going to pay the price of that friendship.
Featured image via HG
By HG
This post was originally published on Canary.
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London is counting on arms contracts fueling the Ukraine conflict and won’t let the US just put and end to it, the SVR has warned.
Britain is preparing a smear campaign aimed at damaging US President Donald Trump’s reputation in order to derail his efforts to end the Ukraine conflict, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed on Tuesday.
According to the agency, London views the continuation of hostilities as vital to securing multi-billion-dollar weapons contracts that could help revive the struggling British economy. Undermining Trump, who is pushing to end the conflict, would dissuade Washington and protect the UK’s “blood money” profits, the SVR alleged.
“Plans have been concocted to revive former British intelligence officer [Christopher] Steele’s fake ‘dossier’, accusing the head of the White House and his family of having links to Soviet and Russian intelligence services,” the statement claimed.
That document, penned by Steele, a former MI6 officer, in 2016 and reportedly paid for by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, relied on unverified rumors alleging that Trump and members of his family had compromising ties with Moscow.
Although widely used to fuel the ‘Russiagate’ narrative early in Trump’s first presidency, the dossier has since been debunked. The SVR suggested that British operatives may craft a new iteration inspired by the original template rather than attempt to reuse it directly.
Trump’s administration has drafted a proposal for ending the Ukraine conflict. However, Kiev and several European governments strongly oppose it due to its reportedly demanding major concessions from Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed this week that US diplomats had already removed some of the 28 provisions at his government’s request.
Moscow has kept its distance from the American initiative. President Vladimir Putin reiterated that Russia’s military position continues to strengthen and that Moscow intends to achieve its security objectives regardless of whether Kiev accepts Washington’s mediation.
The post UK Planning Smear Campaign against Trump – Russian Intelligence first appeared on Dissident Voice.This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
There are any number of reasons you may not like, or may even condemn, the 28–point peace plan the Trump regime has drafted to advance toward a settlement of the war in Ukraine.
You may be among those many all across the Western capitals who simply cannot accept defeat on the reasoning — is this my word? — that the West never loses anything, and it certainly cannot lose anything to “Putin’s Russia.”
You may think that President Donald Trump and those who produced this interesting document, which leaked out in the course of some days last week, have once again “caved” to the Kremlin.
The post What? Peace In Our Time? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
The Ukrainian government has “agreed to a peace deal” to end the nearly three-year war between Moscow and Kiev, a US official told CBS News on 25 November.
“The Ukrainians have agreed to the peace deal. There are some minor details to be sorted out, but they have agreed to a peace deal,” the US official said.
Ukrainian National Security Advisor Rustem Umerov also said that an understanding has been reached, expressing optimism that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky would travel to the US by the end of November in order to finalize the deal.
The post Ukraine Agrees To US-Sponsored Deal To End War With Russia appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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The US is requesting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept a US-drafted deal to end the war with Russia that includes Kiev giving up “territory and some weapons,” Reuters reported on 19 November. Citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the news agency stated that the proposals included reducing the size of the Ukrainian military, among other things.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is leading the US effort to draft the plan and is working closely with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, a US official stated.
The post US Calls On Ukraine To Make Concessions For Peace With Russia appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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The situation in Ukraine is becoming even more complicated.
The war on the frontline is going bad for Ukraine as is the war on infrastructure deep behind the contact line.
A corruption scandal is used to neuter President Zelenski. New power structures are set to evolve to further the execution of the war. President Trump is attempting to impose another peace effort while Europe finds that it lacks the money to finance Ukraine and the war.
There are at least seven cities which are falling or are destined to fall within the next few month.
The post Power Play In Kiev And Chaos At The Front appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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The UK has joined the US and other western nations in voting against a United Nations resolution pledging to fight the rise of Nazi ideology and other forms of racism.
The motion, titled “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism & other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia & related intolerance“, was opposed by almost the whole West and supported by Russia as well as almost every Asian, African and South American nation.
As journalist Alan MacLeod noted:
Yesterday, the United Nations voted on a resolution "Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism & other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia & related intolerance."
Virtually the entire West voted against it.… pic.twitter.com/d8fJtwQIaq
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) November 16, 2025
UN vote on Nazism throws open Ukraine issue
The vote was also a tacit admission that Ukraine is infested by Nazi’s – something that was freely discussed by Western media and politicians before Russia invaded part of it, but quickly airbrushed out after it became inconvenient to admit, with the BBC’s Ros Atkins making a farcical ‘report‘ in March 2022, shortly after the invasion, dismissing Ukrainian Nazism that still remains online three and a half years later:
The following day, the BBC ran a report showing its correspondent Jeremy Bowen reporting from Ukraine surrounded by troops wearing Nazi insignia. It was quickly deleted from the broadcaster’s ‘iPlayer’ but can still be viewed here.
Goodness me, @realalexrubi, I bet the State Department wish he hadn’t said that. Everyone, especially @bbcrosatkins, should listen to this this engagingly honest outburst, especially the mocking bits in falsetto. Makes Putin look like Bertrand Russell. https://t.co/2Nug8NRwnc
— Peter Hitchens (@ClarkeMicah) March 26, 2022
As journalist Alan MacLeod noted:
Western countries feel that the resolution undermines their support for Ukraine, and that the bill is a thinly-veiled Russian attempt to smear their ally. The resolution has been voted on every year since 2012, where it overwhelmingly passed 129-3, with only the US, Canada and Palau voting against it.
The US remains the only country to vote “no” to the resolution every time since 2012. The West’s overwhelming rejection of anti-fascism as an ideology, coupled with the rise in far-right sentiment, hints at a very dark future.
Featured image via X/Alan MacLeod
By Skwawkbox
This post was originally published on Canary.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
When Belarusian opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya declared herself “President” of an alternative government in 2020, she was enthusiastically embraced – and showered with funding – by the Western governments which yearned to depose the longtime leader of her country, Alexander Lukashenko, and remove Russia’s closest regional ally from the geopolitical chessboard. The New York Times set the tone by lionizing Tsikhanouskaya as a modern-day Joan of Arc.
However, a wave of public scandals have prompted Tsikhanouskaya’s foreign sponsors to gradually abandon her unpopular crusade to topple the government of Lukashenko. In August, it was revealed she had secretly taken thousands of euros from Minsk’s KGB in August 2020, a payoff for publicly pleading with protesters to stop their action in the streets, before she fled the country.
The post Leaks Expose Collapse Of EU/US-Backed Belarusian ‘Opposition’ appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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When Yulia Berg was in her second year at Odesa I.I. Mechnikov National University in Odesa, a strategic port city in Ukraine, her university life, once defined by lectures, was suddenly rewritten by war. “Everyone experienced the beginning of the war in their own way, but for me, it meant missing out on student life,” Berg told Truthout. Berg graduated in May 2025 with a degree in…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
When Yulia Berg was in her second year at Odesa I.I. Mechnikov National University in Odesa, a strategic port city in Ukraine, her university life, once defined by lectures, was suddenly rewritten by war. “Everyone experienced the beginning of the war in their own way, but for me, it meant missing out on student life,” Berg told Truthout. Berg graduated in May 2025 with a degree in…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a military hospital in Moscow on Wednesday, meeting servicemen wounded in the Ukraine conflict. The president spoke about the frontline situation, namely the encirclement of Kiev’s troops in two critical locations, as well as the testing of new cutting-edge nuclear-powered weaponry, including the unlimited-range Burevestnik cruise missile and the massive Poseidon underwater drone.
Here are the key takeaways from Putin’s speech:
Moscow ready for pause in fighting
The frontline situation has been developing
The president floated the idea of briefly pausing fighting in the two locations to allow Western and Ukrainian journalists in. The proposal has already been discussed with military commanders and Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Putin added.
The journalists would be able to “check on the state of the encircled Ukrainian troops so that Ukraine’s political leadership can make appropriate decisions regarding the fate of its citizens and military personnel,” the president said. The trickiest part about the proposal is ensuring the safety of the journalists and preventing a potential provocation by Kiev, he said.
Cruise missile of unlimited range
The Russian president talked about the new unlimited-range nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile. The weapon was successfully tested last week, when the projectile reportedly traveled more than 14,000km.
Putin revealed details about the missile’s nuclear-powered turbojet engine, stating that its power unit “is comparable in output with the reactor of a nuclear-propelled submarine, but it’s 1,000 times smaller.”
“The key thing is that while a conventional nuclear reactor starts up in hours, days, or even weeks, this nuclear reactor starts up in minutes or seconds. That’s a giant achievement,” the president said.
The nuclear-powered propulsion system could potentially see civilian application, apart from military use, Putin noted. For instance, it could be applied in the future to “address energy security in the Arctic, and we’ll use it in the lunar program,” he said.
Poseidon underwater drone tested successfully
Russia successfully tested a nuclear-powered underwater Poseidon drone on Tuesday, Putin revealed. The development of the massive torpedo-shaped nuclear-capable drone was first announced in 2018, but had been shrouded in mystery ever since.
“For the first time, we succeeded not only in launching it from a carrier submarine using a booster engine but also in starting its nuclear power unit, which propelled the drone for a certain amount of time,” Putin stated.
The device is unrivaled by any other weapon “anywhere in the world when it comes to speed and depth,” the president stressed, adding that an analogous weapon is unlikely to be fielded by any other nation soon. The power of Poseidon greatly surpasses the characteristics of Russia’s upcoming Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Putin stated, apparently referring to the yield of its nuclear payload.
Sarmat ICBM to be fielded soon
The Sarmat ICBM itself is expected to enter active duty shortly, the president stated. The missile was first approved for military duty in September 2023, and is set to replace the aging R-36M family of silo-based nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.
The Sarmat reportedly has an estimated range of 11,000 miles (about 18,000 kilometers), with a ten-ton payload.
“There is no other [missile] like the Sarmat in the world, and we don’t have one on duty yet – it will be on duty soon,” Putin said.
The post Nuclear-powered Missile, Underwater Drone, and Proposed Pause in Ukraine Conflict first appeared on Dissident Voice.This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
U.S. President Donald Trump has seemingly shifted gear in the U.S. strategy to stop Russia on its tracks from creating new facts on the ground in Ukraine.
Russian forces have the upper hand all along the 1250-kilometer Ukrainian frontline stretching Kiev’s defences and resources, which no amount of Western military help can hope to reverse in a foreseeable future. Trump is compelling Russia to seek a military victory in Ukraine.
Trump so far put on the air of a statesman in great anguish over the humanitarian aspects of the conflict. Moscow tolerated the theatrical show to pamper Trump’s egoistic personality — that is, until Russian President Vladimir Putin shattered the myth to expose that Trump actually holds the record as the American president who sanctioned Russia the most number of times, exceeding even his predecessor Joe Biden’s tally.
The post Trump, Russian Oil And Tomahawk Missiles appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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As airstrikes and conflict continue to devastate communities across Ukraine, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, is raising urgent concerns about the mental health and well-being of the country’s children.Kenan Madi, Chief of Field Operations for UNICEF in Ukraine, warns that the war is leaving thousands of children without homes, heat, power, or access to basic services, making everyday life “extremely difficult.”Education has also been severely disrupted.Despite ongoing efforts, UNICEF’s appeal for Ukraine remains only partially funded, leaving millions of children at risk as another harsh winter looms.UN News’s Nargiz Shekinskaya started by asking Mr. Madi what are the main needs of the children living on the frontlines of the conflict.
This content originally appeared on UN News – Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Nargiz Shekinskuya.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
Russian forces in recent weeks have been increasingly encircling the cities of Pokrovsk in central Donetsk while approaching Lyman and Siversk further to the north. Looking at various live mapping projects tracking the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, nascent pincers appear to be emerging in what some analysts believe could be a large-scale encirclement of what remains of Ukraine’s “fortress belt” in the Donbass region.
Comprising a number of heavily-defended built-up urban centers from Kostiantynovka and extending northward toward Kramatorsk and Slovyansk closer to Lyman, Ukraine’s remaining fortress belt likely comprises thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of Ukrainian forces.
The post Future Global Order Pivots On Ukraine Proxy War appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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United States President Donald Trump styles himself as a peacemaker. In his rhetoric, he claims credit for his efforts to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Yet beneath the grandstanding lies an absence of substance, at least to date.
The problem is not Trump’s lack of effort, but his lack of proper concepts. Trump confuses “peace” with “ceasefires,” which sooner or later revert to war (typically sooner). In fact, American presidents from Lyndon Johnson onward have been subservient to the military-industrial complex, which profits from endless war. Trump is merely following in that line by avoiding a genuine resolution to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
Peace is not a ceasefire. Lasting peace is achieved by resolving the underlying political disputes that led to the war. This requires grappling with history, international law and political interests that fuel conflicts. Without addressing the root causes of war, ceasefires are a mere intermission between rounds of slaughter.
Trump has proposed what he calls a “peace plan” for Gaza. However, what he outlines amounts to nothing more than a ceasefire. His plan fails to address the core political issue of Palestinian statehood. A true peace plan would tie together four outcomes: the end of Israel’s genocide, Hamas’s disarmament, Palestine’s membership in the United Nations, and the normalisation of diplomatic ties with Israel and Palestine throughout the world. These foundational principles are absent from Trump’s plan, which is why no country has signed off on it despite White House insinuations to the contrary. At most, some countries have backed the “Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity,” a temporising gesture.
Trump’s peace plan was presented to Arab and Muslim countries to deflect attention from the global momentum for Palestinian statehood. The US plan is designed to undercut that momentum, allowing Israel to continue its de facto annexation of the West Bank and its ongoing bombardment of Gaza and restrictions of emergency relief under the ruse of security. Israel’s ambitions are to eradicate the possibility of a Palestinian state, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made explicit at the UN in September. So far, Trump and his associates have simply been advancing Netanyahu’s agenda.
Trump’s “plan” is already unravelling, much like the Oslo Accords, the Camp David Summit, and every other “peace process” that treated Palestinian statehood as a distant aspiration rather than the solution to the conflict. If Trump really wants to end the war – a somewhat doubtful proposition – he’d have to break with Big Tech and the rest of the military-industrial complex (recipients of vast arms contracts funded by the US). Since October 2023, the US has spent $21.7bn on military aid to Israel, much of it returning to Silicon Valley.
Trump would also have to break with his donor-in-chief, Miriam Adelson, and the Zionist lobby. In doing so, he would at least represent the American people (who support a state of Palestine) and uphold American strategic interests. The US would join the overwhelming global consensus, which endorses the implementation of the two-state solution, rooted in UN Security Council resolutions and ICJ opinions.
The same failure of Trump’s peacemaking holds in Ukraine. Trump repeatedly claimed during the campaign that he could end the war “in 24 hours”. Yet what he has been proposing is a ceasefire, not a political solution. The war continues.
The cause of the Ukraine war is no mystery – if one looks beyond the pablum of the mainstream media. The casus belli was the push by the US military-industrial complex for NATO’s endless expansion, including to Ukraine and Georgia, and the US-backed coup in Kyiv in February 2014 to bring to power a pro-NATO regime, which ignited the war. The key to peace in Ukraine, then and now, was for Ukraine to maintain its neutrality as a bridge between Russia and NATO.
In March-April 2022, when Turkiye mediated a peace agreement in the Istanbul Process, based on Ukraine’s return to neutrality, the Americans and the British pushed the Ukrainians to walk out of the talks. Until the US clearly renounces NATO’s expansion to Ukraine, there can be no sustainable peace. The only way forward is a negotiated settlement based on Ukraine’s neutrality in the context of mutual security of Russia, Ukraine, and the NATO countries.
Military theorist Carl von Clausewitz famously characterised war as the continuation of politics with other means. He was right. Yet it is more accurate to say that war is the failure of politics that leads to conflict. When political problems are deferred or denied, and governments fail to negotiate over essential political issues, war too often ensues. Real peace requires the courage and capacity to engage in politics, and to face down the war profiteers.
No president since John F Kennedy has really tried to make peace. Many close observers of Washington believe that it was Kennedy’s assassination that irrevocably put the military-industrial complex in the seat of power. In addition, the US arrogance of power already noted by J William Fulbright in the 1960s (in reference to the misguided Vietnam War) is another culprit. Trump, like his predecessors, believes that US bullying, misdirection, financial pressures, coercive sanctions and propaganda will be enough to force Putin to submit to NATO, and the Muslim world to submit to Israel’s permanent rule over Palestine.
Trump and the rest of the Washington political establishment, beholden to the military-industrial complex, will not on their own account move beyond these ongoing delusions. Despite decades of Israeli occupation of Palestine and more than a decade of war in Ukraine (which started with the 2014 coup), the wars continue despite the ongoing attempts by the US to assert its will. In the meantime, the money pours into the coffers of the war machine.
Nonetheless, there is still a glimmer of hope, since reality is a stubborn thing.
When Trump soon arrives in Budapest to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his deeply knowledgeable and realistic host, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, can help Trump to grasp a fundamental truth: NATO enlargement must end to bring peace to Ukraine. Similarly, Trump’s trusted counterparts in the Islamic world – Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto – can explain to Trump the utter necessity of Palestine as a UN member state now, as the very precondition of Hamas’s disarmament and peace, not as a vague promise for the end of history.
Trump can bring peace if he reverts to diplomacy. Yes, he would have to face down the military-industrial complex, the Zionist lobby and the warmongers, but he would have the world and the American people on his side.
- First published at Al Jazeera.
This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has had an audience with King Charles ahead of a meeting with UK PM Keir Starmer. Reports suggest Starmer will press allies for more long-range missiles for Ukraine. That kind of support is bipartisan. Boris Johnson was also a huge fan of Zelenskiy. But what about figures like Marwan Barghouti?
Western liberals have lionised the former comedian from the first days of the war. It’s hard not to get a sense of crossover between FBPE Twitter centrists and the president’s fanbase in the UK. It’s another flag for their X bio, after all.
And it’s hard to shake the sense that in Ukraine, finally, well-heeled centrists found a war where the victims were white enough to deserve support. Imperialism seems only to be worth resisting when the victims look like you.
That’s not to dip into the kind of apologia for Vladimir Putin’s invasion preferred by a fringe of campist weirdos in the West. But it does beg questions about why Zelenskiy gets to play international diplomacy on something like easy mode, while others languish in fascist jails, their captivity barely remarked upon by Wooferendum Twitter.
For example, is it even possible to imagine that kind of liberal support for someone like Marwan Barghouti — the so-called Palestinian Nelson Mandela. Barghouti is seen as a figure of unifying popularity in Palestine, even as he languishes in an Israel jail, subject to beatings by his fascistic captors.
Marwan Barghouti: Palestine’s Nelson Mandela
He was sentenced to five life sentences in 2002. For murder charges he denies. By a coloniser court whose authority he rejects. In a trial which experts say was full of illegalities.
He’s a sort of Palestinian everyman, known for his calm demeanour, who learned Hebrew in jail and spent years in exile. He spent years in hiding, dodging Israeli assassination attempts.
The National describes him as:
an avid reader, consuming histories and biographies, including that of Nelson Mandela by the British author Anthony Sampson. In 2013, the campaign for Barghouti’s release, backed by eight Nobel Peace laureates, would be launched from Mandela’s old cell on Robben Island in South Africa.
One of US foreign policy’s leading talking shops even acknowledged his wide appeal and potential to lead a future Palestinian state, noting:
a growing acknowledgement among Israelis and Palestinians that Barghouti’s broad appeal and reformist streak offer the best prospects for peace.
Here’s Drop Site’s News founder Jeremy Scahill with a fascinating overview of Barghouti:
In the latest round of hostage exchanges, despite the best efforts of Hamas negotiators, his release was denied. Barghouti isn’t even in Hamas. He has reportedly been a critic of the organisation himself, but such is the respect he attracts the conservative wing of Palestinian resistance demanded (vainly) he be freed.
So here you have a unique character. An intellectual and long-time prisoner of an unjust regime on allegedly jumped-up charges. A unity figure who commands a degree of respect from all sides. Some say, the man most likely to lead his people toward peace. A sort of moderate, if you will? Surely the sort of figure your average smug centrist would get behind, no? Well, no. It doesn’t seem that way.
And it’s hard not to come to uncharitable conclusions about why.
Featured image via the Canary
By Joe Glenton
This post was originally published on Canary.
It there any politician who is less reliable than U.S. President Donald Trump?
At the August summit in Anchorage with President Vladimir Putin of Russia Trump had aimed at a ceasefire along the frontline in Ukraine. But Putin made clear that the war required a long term solution of the underlying problem, NATO enlargement, and that a preliminary ceasefire would not be helpful in that regard. Russia also demanded full control of the Donbas and other regions.
Trump did agree to that and announced it as the brilliant result of the talks. This was his first turn on the issue.
The post Trump Fails To End His Proxy War With Russia appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
