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Category: Ukraine

  • “The Days of the United States Propping Up the Entire World Order Like Atlas Are Over.”

    On Thursday, the White House released the new National Security Strategy for the United States. Others may well give it a different read, but here is my quick take:

    The document is ghoulish, abhorrent, repetitious, and sometimes incoherent, but I found its honesty refreshing. The mask is torn off sanctimonious bullshit, tall tales about spreading democracy and caring about human rights. The US is “not grounded in traditional political idealism,” but by “America First.” (P.8) A bit of the usual boilerplate is here, but for the most part, the ideological cover is gone.

    Dan Caldwell, onetime advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, applauded the new American military restraint, saying, “For too long, delusion undergirded our foreign policy, delusion about America’s role in the world, delusion about our interests, and delusion about what we can achieve through military force. This is a reality-based document in that regard.” (NY Times,12/7/2025)

    In place of pretense, the document spells out what US policy has always been about: undisguised economic nationalism — whatever benefits American grifter capitalism. All this unexpected candor required the New York Times to lamentably and hypocritically describe the new doctrine as “Security Strategy Focused on Profit, Not Spreading Democracy.” Going further, General Wesley Clark, former NATO Commander, joined in by saying that “The United States has sacrificed the magic of America. For 250 years, America lived the dream that we gave to all mankind. And we acted to protect that. The rules-based international order has served us so well.” Yes, he actually said that…

    Here are a few specifics from a document that, without explicitly saying so, recognizes that the US is a declining power and must accommodate that reality

    Ukraine: The US must press for an “expeditious cessation of hostilities.” This is as clear a public admission that we’re going to see from Trump that the US proxy war is lost. Ukraine will not be joining NATO; the organization must cease being a “perpetually expanding alliance.” The US should also “re-establish strategic stability with Russia.” This section states that “The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.” One detects Vance’s input here.

    The Middle East: The US will recede from the Middle East. There will be “No more” decades of nation-building wars, even as the area remains an area of “partnership, friendship, and investment.” The document also states that “We seek good and peaceful relations with other countries without imposing on them democratic or other changes that differ widely from their traditions and histories.” This falls under a section called “Flexible Realism.”

    Europe: The US evidences contempt for Europe. As recently as last Wednesday, Trump said, “The European Union was founded to screw the United States.” The document asserts that Europe faces “civilization erasure” in 20 years, in large measure because immigration will make it “non-European.” Further, Europe must learn to “stand on its own feet” and “We expect our allies to spend far more on their Gross National Product (GDP) on their own defense to start making up for the enormous imbalances over decades of much greater spending by the United States.” This refers to Washington’s demand that European allies spend 5% of their GDP on defense.

    Latin America: The United States will reassert its preeminence in the region, a development referred to as “The Trump Corollary” to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine. Hemispheric competitors will be prevented from owning and controlling energy facilities, ports, and telecommunication networks. The goal is to make the Western Hemisphere an increasingly attractive market for American commerce and investment. In accordance with this objective, US diplomats in the region are to seek out “major business opportunities in their country, especially major government contracts.” And they should be “sole-source contracts for our companies.” I sense that profits from the Western Hemisphere are expected to offset a shortfall elsewhere. There is an unmistakable message here that Latin American countries will no longer retain their sovereignty.

    China: As nearly as I can tell, the document cautions that war over Taiwan should be avoided because it would have “major implications for the US economy.” Further, “Our allies must step up and spend — and more importantly do — much more for collective defense.” The document refers to establishing a “mutually advantageous relationship with China.”

    Finally.

    The post “The Days of the United States Propping Up the Entire World Order Like Atlas Are Over.” first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • If Trump Is Serious About Peace, Marco Rubio Has to Go

    Donald Trump campaigned on ending endless wars and now boasts that he has resolved eight wars. In reality, this claim is delusional, and his foreign policy is a disaster. The United States remains mired in ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and now Trump is careening blindly into new wars in Latin America.

    The dangerous disconnect between Trump’s delusions and the real-world impacts of his policies is on full display in his new National Security Strategy document. But this schism has been exacerbated by putting U.S. foreign policy in the hands of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose neocon worldview and behind-the-scenes maneuvering has consistently undercut Trump’s professed goals of diplomacy, negotiated settlements and “America First” priorities.

    The eight wars Trump claims he has ended include non-existent wars between Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo, and the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan that ended in 2023, after Azerbaijan invaded and ethnically cleansed the ancient Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh. Trump stole credit for peace between Thailand and Cambodia, which was actually mediated by Malaysia, while India insists that it ended its war with Pakistan without help from Trump.

    Trump recently invited the presidents of Rwanda and the DRC to Washington to sign a peace deal, but it’s only the latest of many agreements that have failed to end decades of war and proxy war that rage on in the eastern Congo.

    Trump even claims to have brought peace to Iran, which was not at war until he and Netanyahu plotted to attack it. Now diplomacy with Iran is dead—torpedoed by Trump’s treacherous use of negotiations as cover for the U.S.-Israeli surprise attack in June, an illegal war right out of Rubio’s neocon playbook.

    Rubio has undermined diplomacy with Iran for years. As a senator, he worked to kill the JCPOA nuclear agreement, framed negotiations as appeasement, and repeatedly demanded harsher sanctions or military action. He defended the U.S. and Israeli attacks in June, which confirmed the claims of Iranian hardliners that the United States cannot be trusted. He makes meaningful talks with Iran impossible by insisting that Iran cease all nuclear enrichment and long-range missile development.  By aligning U.S. policy with Israel’s, Rubio closed off the only path that has ever reduced tensions with Iran: sustained, good-faith diplomacy.

    Trump’s eighth claimed peace agreement was his Gaza “peace plan,” under which Israel still kills and maims Palestinians every day and allows only 200 truckloads per day of food, water, medicine, and relief supplies into Gaza. With Israeli forces still occupying most of Gaza, no country is sending troops to join Trump’s “stabilization force,” nor will Hamas disarm and leave its people defenseless. Israel still calls the shots, and will only allow rebuilding in Israeli-occupied areas.

    As secretary of state, it was Marco Rubio’s job to negotiate peace and an end to the occupation of Palestine. But Rubio’s entire political career has been defined by unwavering support for Israel and corrupted by over a million dollars from pro-Israel donor groups like AIPAC. He refuses to speak to Hamas, insisting on its total isolation and destruction.

    Rubio even refuses to negotiate with the weakest, most compromised, but still internationally recognized, Palestinian Authority. In the Senate, he worked to defund and delegitimize the PA, and now he insists it should play no role in Gaza’s future, but he offers no alternative. Contrast this with China, which recently convened fourteen Palestinian factions for dialogue. With a U.S. secretary of state who won’t talk to any Palestinian actors, the United States is only supporting endless war and occupation.

    Ukraine is not on Trump’s list of “eight wars,” but it is the conflict he most loudly promised to end on day one. Trump took his first steps to resolve the crisis in Ukraine with phone calls with Putin and Zelenskyy on February 12, 2025. War Secretary Pete Hegseth told a meeting of America’s NATO allies in Brussels that the U.S. was taking Ukraine’s long-promised NATO membership off the table, and that “we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”

    Zelenskyy and his European backers are still trying to persuade Trump that, with his support, they can win back at the negotiating table what Ukraine and its western allies lost by their tragic decision to reject a negotiated peace in April 2022. Russia was ready to withdraw from all the land it had just occupied, but the U.S. and U.K. persuaded NATO and Ukraine to instead embark on this long war of attrition, in which their negotiating position only grows weaker as Ukraine’s losses mount.

    On November 21st, Trump unveiled a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine that was built around the policy Trump and Hegseth had announced in February: no NATO membership, and no return to pre-2014 borders. But once Rubio arrived to lead the U.S. negotiating team in talks in Geneva, he let Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and the Europeans put NATO membership and Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders back on the table.

    This was a poison pill to deliberately undermine the basic concept of Ukrainian neutrality that Russia insists is the only way to resolve the security dilemma facing both NATO and Russia and ensure a stable and lasting peace. As a European official crowed to Politico, “Things went in the right direction in Geneva. Still a work in progress, but looking much better now… Rubio is a pro who knows his stuff.”

    Andriy Yermak, who led Ukraine’s negotiating team in Geneva, has now been fired in a corruption scandal, reportedly at Trump’s behest, as has Trump’s envoy to Kyiv, Keith Kellogg, who apparently leaked Trump’s plan to the press.

    Trump is facing a schism in his foreign policy team that echoes his first term, when he appointed a revolving door of neocons, retired generals and arms industry insiders to top jobs. This time, he has already fired his first National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, several NSC staff, and now General Kellogg,

    Trump’s team on Ukraine now includes Vice President J.D. Vance, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Deputy National Security Advisor Andy Baker and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who all seem to be on board with the basic policy that Trump and Hegseth announced in February.

      But Rubio is keeping alive European hopes of a ceasefire that postpones negotiations over NATO membership and Ukraine’s borders for a later date, to allow NATO to once again build, arm and train Ukrainian forces to retake its lost territories by force, as it did from 2015 to 2022 under cover of the MInsk Accords.

    This raises the questions: Does Rubio, like the Europeans and the neocons in Congress, still back the Biden-era strategy of fighting a long proxy war to the last Ukrainian? And if so, is he now in fact working to undermine Trump’s peace efforts?

    Ray McGovern, the founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, thinks so, writing “…we are at the threshold on Ukraine, at the beginning of a consequential battle between the neocons and Europeans on one side, and Donald Trump and the realists on the other. Will Trump show the fortitude to see this through and overcome his secretary of state?”

    But it’s perhaps in Latin America where Rubio is playing the most aggressive role. Rubio has always promoted regime-change policies, economic strangulation, and U.S. interference targeting left-leaning governments in Latin America. Coming from a conservative Cuban familiy, he has long been one of the most hard-line voices in Washington on Cuba, championing sanctions, opposing any easing of the embargo, and working to reverse Obama-era diplomatic openings.

    His position on Venezuela is similar. He was a leading architect of the Trump administration’s failed “maximum pressure” campaign against Venezuela, promoting crippling sanctions that devastated civilians, while openly endorsing failed coups and military threats.

    Now Rubio is pushing Trump into a catastrophic, criminal war with Venezuela. In early 2025, Trump’s administration briefly pursued a diplomatic track with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, spearheaded by envoy Richard Grenell. But Marco Rubio’s hard-line, pressure-first approach gradually overtook the negotiation channel: Trump suspended talks in October 2025, and U.S. policy shifted toward intensified sanctions and military posturing.

    Rubio’s hostility extends across the region: he has attacked progressive leaders in Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Honduras, and Brazil, while supporting authoritarians aligned with U.S. and Israeli interests. While Trump has warmed to Brazil’s president Lula and craves access to its reserves of rare earth elements, the second largest after China’s, Lula has no illusions about Rubio’s hostility and has refused to even meet with him.

    Rubio’s approach is the opposite of diplomacy. He refuses engagement with governments he dislikes, undermines regional institutions, and encourages Washington to isolate and punish rather than negotiate. Instead of supporting peace agreements—such as Colombia’s fragile accords or regional efforts to stabilize Haiti—he treats Latin America as a battleground for ideological crusades.

    Rubio’s influence has helped block humanitarian relief, deepen polarization, and shatter openings for regional dialogue. A Secretary of State committed to peace would work with Latin American partners to resolve conflicts, strengthen democracy, and reduce U.S. militarization in the hemisphere. Rubio does the reverse: he inflames tensions, sabotages diplomacy, and pushes U.S. policy back toward the dark era of coups, blockades, proxy wars and death squads.

    So why is Trump betraying his most loyal MAGA supporters, who take his promises to “end the era of endless wars” at face value? Why is his administration supporting the same out-of-control American war machine that has run rampant around the world since the rise of neocons like Dick Cheney and Hillary Clinton in the 1990s?

    Is Trump simply unable to resist the lure of destructive military power that seduces every American president? Trump’s MAGA true believers would like to think that he and they represent a rejection of American imperialism and a new “America First” policy that prioritizes national sovereignty and shared domestic prosperity. But MAGA leaders like Marjorie Taylor Green can see that is not what Trump is delivering.

    U.S. secretaries of state wield considerable power, and Trump is not the first president to be led astray by his secretary of state. President Eisenhower is remembered as a champion of peace, for quickly ending the Korean War – then slashing the military budget – and for two defining speeches at the beginning and end of his presidency: his “Chance for Peace” speech after the death of Soviet premier Josef Stalin in 1953; and his Farewell Address in 1960, in which he warned Americans against the “unwarranted influence” of the “military-industrial complex.”

    For most of his presidency though, Eisenhower gave his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, free rein to manage U.S. foreign policy. By the time Eisenhower fully grasped the dangers of Dulles’ brinksmanship with the U.S.S.R. and China, the Cold War arms race was running wild. Then Eisenhower’s belated outreach to the Soviets was interrupted by his own ill-health and the U-2 crisis. Hillary Clinton had a similarly destructive and destabilizing impact on Obama’s first-term foreign policy, in Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Syria and Honduras.

    These should be cautionary tales for Trump. If he really wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, not a warmonger, he had better make the necessary personnel changes to his inner circle before it is too late. War with Venezuela is easily avoidable, since the whole world already knows the U.S. pretexts for war are fabricated and false. Rubio has stoked the underlying tensions and led this escalating campaign of lies, threats and murders, so Trump would be wise to replace him before his march to war crosses the point of no return.

    This would allow Trump and Rubio’s successor to start rebuilding relations with our neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean, and to finally change longstanding U.S. policies that keep the Middle East, and now Ukraine, trapped in endless war.

    The post If Trump Is Serious About Peace, Marco Rubio Has to Go first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • The Agony of Defeat

    A peaceful settlement of the Ukraine conflict is not in the cards. It is a logical impossibility given the following truths

    1.     America’s leaders could not tolerate terms minimally acceptable to Russia. For such terms would represent a) an unmistakable loss of status and self-regard; b) a reversion from the strategic foundations of the country’s foreign policy put firmly in place over the past 35 years; and c) a domestic political embarrassment carrying heavy costs for Trump and his movement. Furthermore, Trump’s narcissistic, warped personality is too vulnerable to endure a rebuke and a failure of that magnitude. He is terrified at the prospect of looking like a loser.

    2.     Currently, there is not a single official at the policy level who has direct knowledge of Russia or has dealt with it on a sustained basis. Similarly, there is not a single official at the policy level who has the experience of having conducted serious diplomacy with foreign powers. Ignorant amateurs wedded to a rigid conception of American national interest are at the helm. A crew made up of a New York real estate operator who draws heavy financing from the Qatari government, a FOX news loudmouth, a Castro-obsessed Miami pol and an opportunistic novice Veep is in so far over their heads that the bubbles don’t reach the surface – and their skipper is an erratic, mentally impaired narcissist whose hold on reality is tenuous.

    The fixed goal of everything that the United States does in the world is the securing of American dominance as institutionalized since 1991 – in every sphere of international life that counts and in every region where either the stakes are high or the prospect of a putative rival arising exists. To that end, they are prepared to use all the formidable means available to them. There is no group or intellectual current of weight whose worldview deviates markedly from this line in either political party, in Congress or among prominent members of the foreign policy community.

    3.     Therefore, the United States in Ukraine has stranded itself in a cul de sac that is strategic, political, intellectual and psychological. Trump’s so-called 28 Point peace proposal – a pastiche of the not-so-good, the very bad, and the very ugly – is an absurd non-starter. Dead on arrival in Moscow whoever the delivery man. When he finally realizes that he is cornered, Trump’s first instinct will be to bluster his way out; that failing, to forcibly fight his way out. Only the pervasive, unlimited capacity for self-delusion hides that unyielding fact. Self-delusion is the cardinal feature of the faux diplomatic initiatives that the White House is desperately trying to make real – over the strenuous objections of Kiev and the European allies who have succeeded in stiffening its provisions so they are yet more unpalatable to Moscow.

    4.     Vladimir Putin, and his associates, tacitly feed this delusion by taking a calculatingly temperate tack in reaction to this non-starter of a “peace” plan despite Washington’s quixotic and bumbling machinations. Whether they do so to satisfy partners (China, India, Turkey, Brazil) who for their own national reasons want to see an end to the war and whose cooperation is valued OR due to Putin’s long-standing and enduring hopes of engaging constructively with the United States, their non-confrontational approach carries the risk of entrenching the Americans’ fantastical view of the world. So that when crunch time comes, and humiliating defeat is at the door, they might revert to type and impulse by resorting to the violent, escalatory option.

    Far-fetched? For some time, the Kremlin may well have been emboldening Washington to consider escalation by passively accepting that hundreds of American military personnel are firing American HIMARS and ACATM missiles into Russia proper, that American AWACS and satellites guide Ukrainian attacks against strategic radar sites, that analogous technical assistance allows for assault on Russia’s “shadow” oil fleet, that the Pentagon draws up the battle plans for the Ukrainian army and orchestrated the ill-starred 2023 offensive, that the CIA implanted itself along the country’s border to provide Kiev Intelligence and to facilitate para-military operations. This passive behavior has led many within Washington policy circles to believe that Putin is lacking in ruthlessness – whatever his other strengths. That impression has been reinforced by Russian restraint on Syria, Iran, Palestine and Venezuela when the Kremlin was confronted by audacious, in-your-face American actions. The conclusion that Putin is not a ruthless leader is probably correct – although incorrect in the corollary assumption that he would allow himself to be bullied into major concessions when push comes to shove over Ukraine. Putin’s reading of the Trump presidency is that the man’s mercurial nature and unpredictability potentially opens the possibility for some kind of meeting of the minds which was foreclosed by more conventional American leaders like Biden. A stable Russo-American modus vivendi, in turn, is the sine qua non for a longer-term reconciliation of Russia within the wider European system.

    Another consideration. In all likelihood, there lurks in the back of Putin’s mind the dread fear that an unhinged Trump, roiling in the coils of his twisted psyche, could do something truly insane that endangers all. Keeping company with him – however tenuous – is seen as mitigating that risk by ensuring that Trump didn’t disconnect from reality totally.

    What he fails to perceive is that behind the showmanship and disconnects, Trump’s outlook on the world – especially the fixed belief in the country’s superiority and privileged exceptionalism – at its core closely resembles that of the Washington consensus. Scratch beneath the surface and we experience deja vu all over again – decked out in novel costume.

    Looking beyond Ukraine, bear in mind that this government, in less than a year, has established a stunning record for bellicosity: launching a massive air assault against Iran with no legal or security justification (an aggression concealed by a deceptive veil of fictitious peace talks); lending its military might and diplomatic muscle to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Syria followed by partial territorial seizures; participating in the Palestinian genocide; declaring war on Venezuela behind a smokescreen of transparent lies to hide the actual objective of taking control of the country’s petroleum resources; encouraging the newly minted Japanese government of ultra-nationalist Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to make the reckless declaration that Japan had a strategic national interest in Taiwan’s independence and, if necessary, defense; imposing or threatening coercive economic sanctions on an array of countries suspected of disobedience to  Washington.

    5.     Domestic criticism of Trump’s mishandling of the United States’ foreign relations is feeble. The Democratic Party leaders share the same worldview (re. the Biden administration – and are inhibited about crossing swords with Trunp on any issue. The MSM have been intimidated into subservience to the point where even the most egregious lies and illegal actions are not labelled as such. Examples: the global tariff wars that are in direct violation of the Constitution (Article I, Section 8) that grants Congress the power “To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,” which includes the authority to set tariffs on imported goods – with statutory exemptions limited to national security emergencies; the promiscuous use of the armed forces without even prior notification of the Congress; the ridiculous tale about Venezuela’s fishing skiffs delivering drugs only 800 miles off the U.S. coast, , the condition of Russia’s economy, the Afghan who shot the two National Guardsman – a CIA commando trained to fight a dirty war against the Taliban – as reason to suspend all asylum petitions,  the destruction of the Nordstrom II gas pipeline, the denunciation as ‘traitor’ anyone who reminds serving military officers that they are bound by the Department of Defense’s manual stipulating codes of conduct as well as international law to refuse a manifestly illegal order. Hence, the public is instilled with the notion that there is nothing out-of-the-ordinary about the Trump dangerous escapades and inanities.

    A conscientious follower of the MSM remains largely oblivious to the meaning and consequence of these matters. Superficial and fleeting mention of tactical differences or disagreements over the grammar of policy elbows out any serious critical commentary. Therefore, tolerance is high, electoral costs abnormally low and the President’s ability to act with feckless impunity unimpeded.

    The United States is being defeated in Ukraine – comprehensively. One could say that it is facing defeat – or, more starkly, that it is staring defeat in the face. Neither formulation is appropriate, though. The U.S. doesn’t look reality squarely in the eye. We prefer to look at the world through the distorted lenses of our delusions. We plunge forward on whatever path we’ve chosen while averting our eyes from the topography that we are trying to traverse.

    It is not that America is a stranger to defeat. We are very well acquainted with it: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Mali – in strategic terms if not always military terms. To this broad category, we might add Venezuela, Cuba, Belarus, Georgia and Niger. Moreover, Washington’s failures are now crowned by its embarrassment at being forced to run up the white flag when China stared it down in the Trump initiated tariff war. That rich experience in frustrated ambition has failed to liberate us from the deeply rooted habit of eliding defeat. Indeed, we have acquired a large inventory of methods for doing so.

    Vietnam being the prime example. A society that so thoroughly can erase from the collective mind a Vietnam where 59,000 Americans died, surely can suppress Ukraine where no deaths are recorded.

    The post The Agony of Defeat first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Ukraine – Roadblocks To A Peace Agreement

    The new U.S. National Security Strategy says with regard to Ukraine:

    It is a core interest of the United States to negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, in order to stabilize European economies, prevent unintended escalation or expansion of the war, and reestablish strategic stability with Russia, as well as to enable the post-hostilities reconstruction of Ukraine to enable its survival as a viable state.

    The U.S. is pressing forward with that mission. With the help of the Ukrainian anti-corruption vertical (the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor Office (SAPO) and the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) – all created by the U.S. after the 2014 Maidan coup) it has removed Andreij Yermak from his position as the head of the president’s office.

    The next step is to press the acting President Vladimir Zelensky to agree to a peace agreement with Moscow. This will require him to give up land that the Ukrainian army is still holding.

    The post Ukraine – Roadblocks To A Peace Agreement appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Trump Ukraine Plan AOA (Alive On Arrival)

    Despite widespread rejection and ridicule in Western media of Donald Trump’s peace proposal on Ukraine being “dead on arrival” in Moscow, there was Trump’s envoy and his son-in-law discussing the “dead” document for five hours until midnight on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.

    Yury Ushakov, Putin’s chief aide on Ukraine, in the official readout, said the two sides discussed several options, including territorial issues, and agreed to continue contacts.

    “We did not discuss specific formulations, specific American proposals, but discussed the very essence of what is embedded in these American documents.

    The post Trump Ukraine Plan AOA (Alive On Arrival) appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Trump Ukraine Plan AOA (Alive On Arrival)

    Despite widespread rejection and ridicule in Western media of Donald Trump’s peace proposal on Ukraine being “dead on arrival” in Moscow, there was Trump’s envoy and his son-in-law discussing the “dead” document for five hours until midnight on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.

    Yury Ushakov, Putin’s chief aide on Ukraine, in the official readout, said the two sides discussed several options, including territorial issues, and agreed to continue contacts.

    “We did not discuss specific formulations, specific American proposals, but discussed the very essence of what is embedded in these American documents.

    The post Trump Ukraine Plan AOA (Alive On Arrival) appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Police Race To Evacuate Pokrovske Families As Russia Closes In | Ukraine Front Line Update


    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.

  • Global Arms Revenue Reached Record High Last Year With US Companies in the Lead

    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…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • What Defeat Looks Like

    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.

  • The Neocon-Realist War Over Ukraine

    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.

  • Trump’s Peace With NATO Reinforces Its Purpose: US-Led Global Hegemony

    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…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Putin ‘Optimistic’ On US Peace Plan, Calls Zelensky ‘Illegitimate’

    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.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • New Russian Fighter Destroys “Patriots” Days after Delivery from Germany

    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.

    The post New Russian Fighter Destroys “Patriots” Days after Delivery from Germany first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Trump defends envoy after leak shows him coaching Russian official

    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.

    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.

    An 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.

  • UK Planning Smear Campaign against Trump – Russian Intelligence

    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.
    UK planning smear campaign against Trump – Russian intelligence© Getty Images / Win McNamee; pcruciatti

    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.

  • What? Peace In Our Time?

    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.

  • Ukraine Agrees To US-Sponsored Deal To End War With Russia

    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.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • US Calls On Ukraine To Make Concessions For Peace With Russia

    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.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Power Play In Kiev And Chaos At The Front

    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.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • West – including UK – votes AGAINST UN motion banning glorification of Nazism

    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:

    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.

    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.

  • Ukraine Hits Russian Black Sea Oil Terminal


    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.

  • Ukraine’s Ground Drones On The Frontline | Ukraine Front Line Update


    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.

  • Battle For Pokrovsk. Ukraine Fighting For Every House Now | Ukraine Front Line Update


    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.

  • Battle For Pokrovsk. Ukraine Fighting For Every House Now | Ukraine Front Line Update


    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.

  • Battle For Pokrovsk. Ukraine Fighting For Every House Now | Ukraine Front Line Update


    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.

  • Situation ‘Extremely Dangerous’ In Pokrovsk As Ukraine Tries To Hold Key City


    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.

  • Leaks Expose Collapse Of EU/US-Backed Belarusian ‘Opposition’

    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.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Russia’s Invasion Has Hollowed Out Higher Education in Ukraine

    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…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Russia’s Invasion Has Hollowed Out Higher Education in Ukraine

    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…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Nuclear-powered Missile, Underwater Drone, and Proposed Pause in Ukraine Conflict

    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.