As a frenzied Putin and his 'siloviki' continue to bombard the people of Ukraine with Iranian drones and North Korean missiles, the US Congress has finally released the $61 billion critical aid for Ukraine that Putin's Republican mouthpieces in the US Congress, especially Republican Congress woman Marjorie Taylor-Green (left),  have for months desperately tried to prevent from happening. Indeed, Putin's 'media mouthpieces' have been effusive in praising Congresswoman Green for her stand against Ukraine and for Putin. Russia Media Monitor : 22 April 2024 : YouTube This 'knee jerk ..read more

And it is, no doubt, this concern that is leading, as Ian Casey and Jonathan Beale report, "A UK high-power laser weapon could be sent to Ukraine to take down Russian drones, the defence secretary says. ... LDEWs use an intense light beam to cut through their target and can strike at the speed of light. As a line-of-sight weapon, it can attack any visible target that is close enough, although the range of the DragonFire system is classified. Missiles can be far more expensive than the drones they destroy, with some costing millions of pounds compared with a few thousand." (BBC News : 12 Arri ..read more

The ramping up of Putin's brutal onslaught against Ukraine through his continuous bombing of civilian targets in Ukraine has revealed a startling truth about some EU countries sitting on their hands in making good on their promises to supply Zelensky with much needed ammunition and air defence systems. As reported by David Axe (left), "Seven weeks after Czech defense policy chief Jan Jires announced his government had identified 800,000—later, a million—artillery shells that Ukraine’s allies could buy for Ukraine, Estonian defense minister Hanno Pevkur said his own government had found anoth ..read more

It should come as no surprise that both Putin and Donald Trump are flailing in their efforts to keep their heads above water as they continue to drown. In the case of Putin it is obvious that, together with his health problems now forcing members of his 'inner-circle siloviki' to emerge from the shadows onto the international stage, Putin is having to employ the full force of his propaganda machine to stir up public hatred against Ukraine in the wake of the recent deadly ISIS assault on a concert venue in Moscow that left at least 137 people dead. In the case of Donald Trump, his attempts to ..read more

To what lengths will a person go to fly in the face of the factual evidence about the recent Moscow concert hall attack? Step forward Putin, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, and Head of Russia's FSB security service, Alexander Bortnikov. As reported by Paul Kirby, "[Putin] acknowledged during a televised meeting on Monday: "We know the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists... we want to know who ordered it." He argued that many questions remained unanswered, repeating an unfounded claim that the attackers had tried to flee south to Ukraine." (BBC News: 27 March ..read more

 In my last blog entry (12 March 2024) I wrote that, "Added  to which, Russian wives demonstrating daily for the return of their conscipted husbands from Ukraine may yet prove to be Putin's Achilles heel." (blog entry 12 March 2024) As now reported by Alexander Butler, Tom Watling, and Alisha Rahaman Sarkar, "Massive demonstrations are expected across Russia today as critics of Vladimir Putin head to the polls in a show of defiance against his regime.... “We want this dark time to end. We want a clear, normal future,” the campaign’s website says. “But we, citizens of our country, wi ..read more

In my blog post of 23 February 2015, I reported that, Merkel and the Pope "Pope Francis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the conflict in Ukraine and the fight against poverty during a private audience on Saturday. (Daniela Petroff : AP : February 22, 2015) (my emphasis) Since this was a 'private audience', we shall never know what was said between them. Was Merkel simply 'filling him in' on what the current German strategy towards events in Ukraine is, or was she summoned by the Pope." (blog post 23 February 2015) And in my blog post of 15 June 2022 I reported that, "Yet ..read more

Today, as reported by Guy Faulconbridge (left), "Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign intelligence chief has said French President Emmanuel Macron's refusal to rule out sending European troops to fight Russian soldiers in Ukraine was extremely dangerous and irresponsible. ... Asked about Macron's remarks, Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the main successor to the KGB's First Directorate foreign spying section, said they were deeply irresponsible." (Reuters : 6 March 2024) (my emphasis) This response of  Sergei Naryshkin (right) follows on ..read more

Finally Putin's handpicked successor has emerged from behind the scenes. Non other than Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's Security Council and former head of the FSB (1999 - 2008). As reported by Max Channon (left), "Nikolai Patrushev, who is secretary of Russia's Security Council and has been tipped to one day succeed Putin, has previously issued a number of chilling threats aimed at the West. He remains one of Putin's closest allies and has given multiple interviews justifying the invasion of Ukraine while providing his support to the Kremlin's hardline policies." (Express : 20 Febr ..read more

From February 16-18, 2024, the 60th Munich Security Conference was the center of international diplomacy. At the top of its agenda was the ongoing war in Ukraine that was set off by Putin in 2014, when Ukraine's Crimea was invaded, occupied, and annexed by Putin, and the Donbas was occupied by Putin's forces. Subsequently, on the 24 February 2022, Putin re-invaded Ukraine in an escalation of the war that started in 2014. But this time, however, Putin's ongoing war with Ukraine is threatening to spill over into EU NATO countries that is causing alarm bells to be rung across the EU, especially ..read more