India is set to launch two Indonesian satellites in 2025, marking a significant milestone in India-Indonesia space cooperation. This collaboration enhances ASEAN-India relations and furthers BRICS space initiatives

Vice President Kashim Shettima has disclosed that Nigeria attracted $1.27bn in foreign capital from BRICS countries by June 2024, marking a significant rise from the $438.72m recorded during the same period in 2023

The BRICS+ group has undeniably emerged as a formidable bloc on the global economic stage, signalling a significant shift in the world's financial and trade dynamics

Trump is preparing for negotiations with Putin over Ukraine as well as with Xi over trade and likely also Taiwan, so he’d appear weak in their eyes if he let a middling leader like Petro publicly defy and even insult … The post The Example That Trump Made Out of Colombia Will Reverberate Across the World appeared first on Global Research.

So much is being written on Ukraine and the Middle East, but Donald Trump’s most dangerous plans have to do with Mexico. After an elderly American citizen was reportedly killed by a cartel explosive in Texas, earlier this month, Trump … The post Is Trump Going to Fight Mexican Cartels to Make Defense Industry Happy? appeared first on Global Research.

Russia and Zimbabwe have been interacting over the past years. The latest historic meeting held on 6th March 2025, full of diplomatic symbolism, between Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Amon Murwira… The post Russia-Zimbabwe Relations: An Analytical Review appeared first on Global Research.

On March 8, International Working Women’s Day, the town square in Chiatura, Georgia, was filled with residents. Young girls handed out violets to the women, a traditional gesture of celebration. The crowd gathered, waiting for the loudspeakers to power up on a makeshift stage made from wooden boxes. A protest had been growing for days

There were 122 National Labor Relations Board representation elections run in February 2025, and ten involved units of 250 or more eligible voters. Those ten elections, however, involved 74 percent of all eligible voters that month. The highest-profile election was the loss at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Garner, North Carolina, which my colleague Jonathan

Russia is certainly in no jeopardy in the Arctic. However, it's clear that the political West wants to overstretch Russia, as well as to disrupt the multipolar world's plans for the region. The Kremlin will continue to monitor NATO's activities in the Arctic, particularly in the vicinity of its borders and territorial waters. The political West's ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) assets are as active as ever, which prompted the Russian military to deploy its own (in part also to observe "Joint Viking 2025").

As the United States faces a serious rising economic competitor in China, some Americans are concerned the country isn’t working hard enough, while plenty of others think everyone is already working too much. These anxieties about work appear as ever to be driving both popular and more theoretical debates. In her recent book, Hijacked: How

Left-wing anti-Israel groups accused the Democratic Party of 'villainizing' and 'ignoring' voters who questioned America’s support for Israel’s defensive operations in Gaza. The post BPro-Hamas lobbyists pressure US Democrats to abandon Israel appeared first on World Israel News.

Left-wing anti-Israel groups accused the Democratic Party of 'villainizing' and 'ignoring' voters who questioned America’s support for Israel’s defensive operations in Gaza. The post BPro-Hamas lobbyists pressure US Democrats to abandon Israel appeared first on World Israel News.

Jonathan S. Tuttle was caught on video by Harvard Chabad tearing down hostage posters during a pro-Hamas rally on March 3. The post Harvard sacks librarian who tore down Israeli hostage posters appeared first on World Israel News.

Jonathan S. Tuttle was caught on video by Harvard Chabad tearing down hostage posters during a pro-Hamas rally on March 3. The post Harvard sacks librarian who tore down Israeli hostage posters appeared first on World Israel News.

The civilian death toll is now thought to be somewhere above 750, with over 1,000 people killed in total The post No one should be surprised about Syrian massacres appeared first on World Israel News.

The civilian death toll is now thought to be somewhere above 750, with over 1,000 people killed in total The post No one should be surprised about Syrian massacres appeared first on World Israel News.

February 28, 2025 will certainly go down in history as an unprecedented masterclass on how not to conduct diplomacy. In fact, you were much more likely to see a civilized discussion at any flea market than in the Oval … The post NATO Seems It’s Unraveling After the Trump-Zelensky Spat appeared first on Global Research.

Trump’s attempts to initiate a peace process designed to bring an end to the war in Ukraine have been met with hysteria by Starmer and EU leaders. On Sunday Starmer met with EU leaders to frantically draw up a “ceasefire” … The post Starmer’s “Ceasefire” Plan Is a Blueprint for Continuing the Ukraine War and Is Doomed to Failure appeared first on Global Research.

What is happening today between Europe and the US under the Donald J. Trump administration is becoming crystal clear. First of all, “Europe” is under the control of Great Britain, as last weekend’s meeting called by British Prime Minister … The post The British Empire Is Alive. It Aims to Destroy the US appeared first on Global Research.

According to a major Western newspaper, Zelensky’s government in Ukraine is coming to an end.

This article was published by The Irish Times in July 2012. More than Half a Century: March 24, 1976 Coup d’Etat in Argentina *** Argentina’s former military dictator said he kept the country’s Catholic hierarchy informed about his regime’s policy … The post Former Argentinian Dictator Says He Told Catholic Church of Disappeared appeared first on Global Research.

Netanyahu has described Trump's plan to move Gaza's 2 million residents during the rebuilding process as a 'bold vision.' The post US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians uprooted from Gaza – AP appeared first on World Israel News.

Netanyahu has described Trump's plan to move Gaza's 2 million residents during the rebuilding process as a 'bold vision.' The post US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians uprooted from Gaza – AP appeared first on World Israel News.

Agam Berger, Naama Levy, and Daniela Gilboa brought Purim cheer patients at Schneider Children’s Medical Center. The post WATCH: Freed hostages bring Purim cheer to sick children appeared first on World Israel News.

Agam Berger, Naama Levy, and Daniela Gilboa brought Purim cheer patients at Schneider Children’s Medical Center. The post WATCH: Freed hostages bring Purim cheer to sick children appeared first on World Israel News.

Germany could break a deal to buy 35 F-35A fighter jets if the United States decides to incorporate a remote “kill switch” into the aircraft, German newspaper BILD reported. Although experts have rejected this possibility, this issue demonstrates growing mistrust … The post Germany May Refuse to Buy US F-35 Fighter Jets Over ‘Kill Switch’ Technology appeared first on Global Research.

Britain’s diversity quota led to a shortage of Royal Air Force pilots.

The trouble with McCarthyism is that once it gets going, it has a habit of ensnaring figures who were not meant to be its original targets. We’re seeing this with the Donald Trump administration’s and broader right-wing crackdown on speech criticizing Israel, which yesterday was used to fire one of the administration’s own foreign policy

On Wednesday, March 12, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov spoke in Moscow with US commentators Mario Nawfal, Larry Johnson, and Judge Andrew Napolitano. See video and full transcript below. Lavrov made it crystal clear that his government views the conflict … The post Video: Is The Ukraine War Unconstitutional? Interview with Sergey Lavrov appeared first on Global Research.

Iranian Jews celebrate Purim with dancing.  The post WATCH: Iranian Jews dance on Purim appeared first on World Israel News.

Iranian Jews celebrate Purim with dancing.  The post WATCH: Iranian Jews dance on Purim appeared first on World Israel News.

On Purim, Battalion 9207 read the megillah in the Philadelphi corridor on Gaza's border with Egypt.  The post WATCH: IDF soldiers read megillah in Gaza appeared first on World Israel News.

On Purim, Battalion 9207 read the megillah in the Philadelphi corridor on Gaza's border with Egypt.  The post WATCH: IDF soldiers read megillah in Gaza appeared first on World Israel News.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has stated that 'Syrian government forces and their allies' are responsible for the slaughter of Syrian civilians. The post Syria calls for ‘independent committee’ to look into its own civilian killings appeared first on World Israel News.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has stated that 'Syrian government forces and their allies' are responsible for the slaughter of Syrian civilians. The post Syria calls for ‘independent committee’ to look into its own civilian killings appeared first on World Israel News.

Customs and Border Protection’s Home app, complete with a “self-deportation reporting feature” for undocumented migrants who plan to leave the United States. It’s a repurposed version of the CBP One app, which the Biden administration had used to process asylum claims from people waiting at the US-Mexico border. According to DHS, the old app will

'If a university chooses not to protect its students, it doesn’t deserve Federal funding.' The post I’m a jewish student; President Trump was right to cut funding to Columbia appeared first on World Israel News.

'If a university chooses not to protect its students, it doesn’t deserve Federal funding.' The post I’m a jewish student; President Trump was right to cut funding to Columbia appeared first on World Israel News.

The 'Pathways to Peace' campus event was held on March 10 to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The post Cornell University pursuing disciplinary charges against anti-Zionist hecklers of pro-peace event appeared first on World Israel News.

The 'Pathways to Peace' campus event was held on March 10 to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The post Cornell University pursuing disciplinary charges against anti-Zionist hecklers of pro-peace event appeared first on World Israel News.

Yesha Council chief: 'Our visit to the UAE is proof of the regional shift and the need for fresh thinking.' The post Leaders from Judea and Samaria Visit UAE on historic trip to strengthen economic and political ties appeared first on World Israel News.

Yesha Council chief: 'Our visit to the UAE is proof of the regional shift and the need for fresh thinking.' The post Leaders from Judea and Samaria Visit UAE on historic trip to strengthen economic and political ties appeared first on World Israel News.

Everyone in Europe is wondering what form French President Macron’s potential plans to extend his country’s nuclear umbrella over the rest of the continent could take, especially considering the risks that they could entail after Moscow’s very negative reaction. Putin … The post France’s Next Quarterly Nuclear Drills Might Become Prestige-Building Exercises with Poland appeared first on Global Research.

The Trump administration announced recently that it is cutting about $400 million in federal funding to Columbia for its lack of response to antisemitism. The post Columbia says it expelled some anti-Israel students, revoked degrees, issued multi-year suspensions appeared first on World Israel News.

The Trump administration announced recently that it is cutting about $400 million in federal funding to Columbia for its lack of response to antisemitism. The post Columbia says it expelled some anti-Israel students, revoked degrees, issued multi-year suspensions appeared first on World Israel News.

Sebastiano Timpanaro’s politics were one of the great organizing principles of his life. After his entrance into the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) in 1947, he remained a staunch and committed Marxist for over fifty years, until the very end. There were, of course, compressions and rarefactions, fluctuations and flattenings, along the way; stints of greater

Do Vaccines Cause Autism? By Richard Gale and Dr. Gary Null, March 13, 2025 Ask any federal health official—whether from the FDA, CDC, NIH, or National Cancer Institute—if vaccines contribute to neurological damage or autism, and their response will … The post Selected Articles: Do Vaccines Cause Autism? appeared first on Global Research.

Churchill observed once in his inimitable condescending style that Balkan peoples have more history than they know what to do with. Judging by the current events, Churchill was perhaps more right than even he could have suspected. Where to begin?… The post Balkans in Turmoil, in Belgrade a St. Bartholomew’s Night Is in the Works appeared first on Global Research.

On 4 March 2025, President Trump presented his first State of the Union address. Since it is his first one in his second term, they call it his address to the Joint Session of Congress. It sounded like the MAGA … The post President Trump’s State of the Union Address – What Was Said and Not Said appeared first on Global Research.

The Prime Minister also called the UN Human Rights Council an 'antisemitic, corrupt, terrorist-supporting and irrelevant body.' The post Netanyahu calls UN Gaza report an ‘anti-Israel circus’ that ignores Hamas massacre appeared first on World Israel News.

The Prime Minister also called the UN Human Rights Council an 'antisemitic, corrupt, terrorist-supporting and irrelevant body.' The post Netanyahu calls UN Gaza report an ‘anti-Israel circus’ that ignores Hamas massacre appeared first on World Israel News.

New Peer-reviewed Study Again Confirms Childhood Vaccines Are Likely Responsible for Nearly 80% of the Autism Cases in US Steve Kirsch, January 29, 2025 “Everything is bad and will get worse” – Ukraine Serviceman to British Media Ahmed Adel… The post This Week’s Most Popular Articles appeared first on Global Research.

… The post Mirando el mundo con el prisma de Michel Chossudovsky appeared first on Global Research.

The last decade has seen the political establishment – whether the neoliberal left or the Reaganite right – in a state of total bewilderment. Since the ascendency of the populist right in the form of Donald Trump and the populist left, epitomized by Bernie Sanders and his supporters, center-left and right politicians cannot get a handle on what they are missing. After all, they have such good policies – policies carefully crafted in think tanks and universities to help the voters live better lives. With such empirically well-founded ideas, how could voters not reward them with a huge landslide?   The hard truth that the establishment seems incapable of realizing is that voters are motivated by more than economic self-interest and technocratic policy positions – they are moved by emotion and identity. By anger stemming from perceived injustice. By joy springing from triumph. By desperation flowing from wishes left unfulfilled. The careful calibration of these emotions is the bread and butter of the true political rhetorician. If we wish to restore balance, order, and vigorous debate to our contemporary moment, the art of political rhetoric must be revived.    There was a time when rhetoric was the lifeblood of American democracy. In the nineteenth century, citizens would travel hundreds of miles to hear the great orators of the day speak. It was the event of the season when a truly masterful orator such as William Henry Seward or Daniel Webster passed through town. In the midst of major events, people would seek out the local rhetorician to hear his thoughts. In the chambers of Congress, such oratorical displays were so commonplace that tourists would journey from all over the nation in hopes of hearing the great men of their day debate some important issue. In short, voters craved the verbal flourishes, word play, and emotional appeals that articulated, shaped, and defended the public policies of the nineteenth century.  It is not hard to see why rhetoric has faded in prominence over the last half century – it has been replaced by mass produced news, social media, and other high tech forms of communication. When in need of an emotional fuel to give politics meaning, voters turn time and again to these sources of political information instead of rhetoricians. Winston Churchill identified this rising phenomenon before the outbreak of World War II: “Public opinion is formed and expressed by machinery. The newspapers do an immense amount of the thinking for the average man and woman.”   At this point, a person could reasonably say: “It is all very well and good to fear the extent to which digital media controls the emotions of voters, but how exactly is getting views from sensationalist news and social media worse than from sensationalist politicians?”   The answer is in the diversity of viewpoints expressed by the American political class. Though politicians must constantly cater to mass produced opinions that obscure reality, the truth is that most aspirants to high office have fairly divergent views on solving the problems that confront our nation. When such differences are brought to light, it helps to cultivate more authentic political discourse apart from the latest buzzwords. Beyond that, the embrace of in-person displays of political rhetoric helps keep politicians grounded in their local communities. Though they sometimes may lose touch with their constituents, the average office-bearer is nonetheless accountable to a block of voters whose views they are expected to represent. Having to engage in town hall meetings and other in-person venues keeps politicians from being lost to the rootless world of news media.   If understanding why political rhetoric has declined is easy, reviving rhetoric is a much trickier endeavor. After all, the forces of 24-hour news cycles and social media that have destroyed rhetoric are unlikely to go away any time soon. As such, partisans of the rhetorical art must be creative. We must find ways to insert serious rhetoric into social media and the news. Nor does it seem that all voters are completely satisfied with the shallow world of social media we have entered upon. Donald Trump – whatever else his faults may be as a speaker – draws massive crowds excited merely to hear him speak. Few other politicians have gained this level of rhetorical devotion or seem to have bothered analyzing what emotional speeches like his could do for their careers.   Having said this, rhetorical education can be restored in fairly traditional methods. Too often our school system teaches history as a series of facts, parading one after another in great boring columns. However, history classes used to be taught using rhetoric. For example, to help students understand debates about states’ rights in the nineteenth century, teachers once assigned Daniel Webster and Robert Haynes’ famous exchange about the topic on the Senate floor. Likewise, we today could educate our students in the basics of politics and history through rhetoric, thus giving students some understanding of how rhetorical devices work.   More broadly, the role of the educator must be to teach students how to have an appropriate emotional response to political rhetoric. Many criticize emotional appeals in politics. However, emotion is an important part of being human. More than this, it is a vital aspect of that which makes us good. The chief theological virtues – faith, hope, and love – are all sentiments rather than purely rational objects. That we have forgotten this fact is to blame for the overwrought politics of our time; when the young are not taught harness the passions in a healthy way – usually as a result of centrist technocrats having no use for emotion – then they will instead have their hearts filled with dark emotions concocted by demagogues and self-interested media sensationalists.   To say that the art of public speaking is dead would be simply untrue. There are plenty of speeches given across the nation each and every day. However, the art of political rhetoric – carefully orienting the passions of man to some lofty goal – has sadly been lost. There are no longer Ciceros, Lincolns, and Churchills to inspire posterity with their eloquence and the halls of the Senate are filled not with glorious declamations but with the dry coughs of dull procedure. Yet, if we work at it, rhetoric need not stay dead. Rhetoric can and must be revived for the greatest of political callings to make a triumphant return.  

[First published on February 17, 2025] US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, told NATO allies on 13 February 2025 in Brussels, the War [Ukraine] must stop; No more bloodshed, No NATO for Ukraine; No back to pre-2014 border; and “We … The post US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Shocking Message to NATO Allies Reveals Major U.S. Policy Shift appeared first on Global Research.

Reading the recent comments to my text “Scotland Should Stay Out of the British Proxy War in Ukraine”, I feel obliged to correct one major historical misinformation concerning British-Polish relations. Some write: “How dare you suggest that Scotland … The post UK, Poland and World War II. Lessons Before World War III appeared first on Global Research.

Hungary's Prime Minister, Viktor Orban invited Netanyahu in November shortly after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against him. The post Defying ICC arrest warrant, Netanyahu plans state visit to Hungary appeared first on World Israel News.

Hungary's Prime Minister, Viktor Orban invited Netanyahu in November shortly after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against him. The post Defying ICC arrest warrant, Netanyahu plans state visit to Hungary appeared first on World Israel News.

Trump: 'Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.' The post Muslim groups blast Trump for denigrating senator by calling him ‘Palestinian’ appeared first on World Israel News.

Trump: 'Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.' The post Muslim groups blast Trump for denigrating senator by calling him ‘Palestinian’ appeared first on World Israel News.

The retweeted post read, 'Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn't murder millions of people. Their public sector employees did.' The post Elon Musk retweets claim that Stalin, Hitler didn’t kill millions of people appeared first on World Israel News.

The retweeted post read, 'Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn't murder millions of people. Their public sector employees did.' The post Elon Musk retweets claim that Stalin, Hitler didn’t kill millions of people appeared first on World Israel News.

For Zionist-perverted, anti-Arab anti-Semitic and genocide-ignoring Western mainstream media the present big issues on page 1 are “40 Israeli hostages” and asserted “antisemitism.” Ignored is the century-long Palestinian genocide and Palestinian holocaust (2.7 million Palestinians killed by Zionist-imposed violence, 0.2 … The post Solution to the Genocide in Palestine Is Simple: Grant Full Human Rights to Palestinians appeared first on Global Research.

A Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN) cohort study, analyzing 99 million vaccinated individuals across eight countries, has identified significantly elevated risks of neurological, hematological, and cardiovascular adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination. The findings, drawn from post-vaccination surveillance data, … The post A Catastrophic Confirmation: New Study Links COVID-19 Vaccines to Serious Adverse Events appeared first on Global Research.

The EU/NATO has been mulling the possibility of a direct confrontation with Russia for years, particularly during the disastrous Biden administration. After Trump took over on January 20, he decided to defuse the situation, resulting in what can … The post Poll Proves 86% of Poles Smarter Than All of EU/NATO Leadership. Drago Bosnic appeared first on Global Research.

Read the thread below. Our thanks to Dr. Meryl Nass for bringing this to our attention.  . . . . . And go here for the rest. * Click the share button below to email/forward this article. Follow us … The post Thread on Regenerative Farming by MAHA/RFK American Values PAC appeared first on Global Research.

Ask any federal health official—whether from the FDA, CDC, NIH, or National Cancer Institute—if vaccines contribute to neurological damage or autism, and their response will be unequivocal: No, there is no evidence of any association. In fact, they might find … The post Do Vaccines Cause Autism? appeared first on Global Research.

Uganda’s recent inclusion in the BRICS bloc as a partner country is reflective of its growing importance in the African continent and the potential that it has to contribute to a more balanced global economic order

BRICS expands membership and partnerships in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, marking a shift in global trade dynamics and regional market influence

A member of the House of Representatives (DPR), Amelia Anggraini, has said that Indonesia’s official membership of the BRICS grouping must bring real benefits to the Indonesian people

… The post Duterte’s Arrest by ICC Sparks Political Turmoil in the Philippines appeared first on Global Research.

For many Australians, there is nothing that epitomizes high summer more than the doof (for those unacquainted with the local dialect, doofs are outdoor dance parties similar to raves). Although pioneering parties like Rainbow Serpent and Earthcore are no longer running, festivals like Esoteric, Wild Horses and Rabbits Eat Lettuce have stepped into the breach,

Does the public have a right to know who exactly is paying to lobby judges to deliver favorable rulings? A committee in charge of federal judiciary rules recently said yes, but some of the most powerful corporate and conservative forces in Washington are now saying hell no — and trying to keep the information secret.

Trump might need to pick his war, either in the Middle East or closer home - with potentially catastrophic consequences. It seems the plan is to treat the cartels just like ISIS and Al-Qaeda terror groups.

Europe wants to retaliate against Trump's economic policy, but the lack of cheap energy sources could be an obstacle.

The yacht is moored at the mouth of the Miami River, in the long shadows of the city’s luxury hotels and high-rises. It is of Italian design: sleek, imposing, with a flybridge and sundeck and five cabins, and a price point of about $10 million. On the hull, bold silver lettering declares its name: Convict.

There is growing support for greater European independence from the US.

The Neo-Nazi junta is determined to keep the war going, because it fervently refuses the possibility of a settlement that excludes maximalist goals – 1991 borders, full EU/NATO membership, thermonuclear weapons pointed at Russia. These are the so-called "red lines" for the Kiev regime, making any peace deals impossible.

In the first half of the twentieth century, Cuba was the biggest producer of sugar in the world, and sugar represented 80 percent of the country’s exports. This dependence on a single crop left the whole Cuban economy at the mercy of the world sugar market. When the world price was high, this brought wealth

Ukrainian Commander Reveals NATO Is Not Prepared for Drone Warfare – Media By Ahmed Adel, March 13, 2025 NATO is not ready for modern drone warfare, a Ukrainian military commander warned, drawing attention to the technological lag of the … The post Selected Articles: Ukrainian Commander Reveals NATO Is Not Prepared for Drone Warfare – Media appeared first on Global Research.

NATO is not ready for modern drone warfare, a Ukrainian military commander warned, drawing attention to the technological lag of the alliance. With the exception of the United States, NATO evidently lags behind Russia, which is why European Commission President … The post Ukrainian Commander Reveals NATO Is Not Prepared for Drone Warfare – Media appeared first on Global Research.

Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil was one of the most visible leaders of the student protests last year against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. He has a green card, and he’s married to a US citizen who’s eight months pregnant. Over the weekend, he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and spirited to a

While the world’s eyes are set on the dismantling of the Euro-Atlantic alliance, Bulgaria seems set to finalize its accession to the eurozone amid an atmosphere of peak anti-politics. The government declares that “membership in the most developed monetary union in the world brings significant political and reputational benefits” and that “Bulgaria will take a

In 1713, Britain acquired the asiento de Negros, an agreement to to annually supply Spanish America with 140,000 enslaved Africans. In 1746 political economist Malachy Postlethwayte was moved to declare the slave trade “an inexhaustible Fund of Wealth and Naval Power to this Nation.” However, just eighty-seven years later in 1833, Parliament abolished West Indian slavery. How could public sentiment swing so decisively? Modern scholarship correlates abolitionism with the rise of Enlightenment sensibilities, liberal capitalism, and Evangelical Protestantism. These factors undoubtedly mattered, yet often unaddressed is the coalescing of British national identity around ideas linked to abolitionism in ways powerful enough to shape public opinion. In truth, the growth of British nationalism and abolitionism were inseparable, making arguments over slavery into arguments about British character as defined by ideals of Protestant piety, liberty, empire, and commerce.  The lyrics to James Thomson’s 1740 “Rule Britannia,” capture Britain’s fledgling nationalism. Its second line: “And guardian angels sung this strain: Rule Britannia, rule the waves, Britons never will be slaves,” associates nationhood with God’s providence for Protestant Britain, resistance to despotism, and maritime dominance to the benefit of commercial empire. Amidst a struggle for colonies and profits against Catholic France and Spain, British nationalism emphasized Protestant identity against irreligious, tyrannous, decadent, and wasteful Catholicism. British national identity was essentially formed in opposition to an external enemy.   Abolitionists exploited this relationship between English Protestantism and the rest of the world to make distinctions between colonial and metropolitan life proof of colonial slaveholders’ opposition to British national virtues. William Blake’s 1810 poem Jerusalem marries Protestant fervor and national purpose, vowing “I will not cease from Mental Fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand: Till we have built Jerusalem, In England’s green & pleasant Land.” Slaveholders’ failure to instruct their slaves in Christianity or live by Christian principles became abolitionist refrains.   Catholicism was entangled with tyranny in British imagination. Edinburgh journeymen denounced Catholicism for “denying to the common people the free use of the holy scriptures.” A British soldier abroad wrote Catholics “do not read the Bible; the priests have entire control over the masses.” Political tyranny followed religious tyranny. The ascendant Whigs believed their forebears’ 1688 Glorious Revolution saved Britain from French-backed Catholic despotism. “Let France grow proud, beneath the tyrant’s lust, While the rack’d people crawl, and lick the dust,” started the inscription to William Hogarth’s Gate of Calais. It concluded that “the manly genius of this isle disdains, All tinsel slavery, or golden chain.” Love of liberty tinged patriotism with populism. Patriotic vigilance against irreligious tyranny encouraged abolitionists to decry slavery as despotism. Into the mid-nineteenth century, slavery was increasingly thought of as a foreign institution employed by Catholic despotisms like Spain, Brazil, Portugal, and France. France abolished slavery in 1794 only for Napoleon to reinstate it in 1802.  For centuries the remoteness of the West Indies from Britain insulated these slave societies from criticism. Since different environments made for different institutions, Britons could accept West Indians as distant countrymen without confronting slavery as a problem for British values. Claiming “the West Indies cannot be cultivated by Europeans, whose constitutions will not bear fatigue in that climate,” William Puleteny explained that colonists embraced “some other class of the human species who, being natives of warmer climates, are able to endure that degree of labor and fatigue.” Slavery thus understood reflected environmental differences, not moral or national ones. However, maturing national motifs of Protestantism, liberty, commerce, and empire, alongside their impious, tyrannical, and decadent antitypes, distanced Britain not only from Catholic rivals but from its West Indian colonies. In this context, abolitionists stigmatized slave ownership as anti-British by attacking it as irreligious, despotic, wasteful, and decadent.  Protestantism’s intersection with popular sentiments of anti-Catholicism, fear of tyranny, and commercialism, sharpened criticism of slavery as impious. Abolitionists argued that slaveholder refusal to let missionaries proselytize the enslaved was an attack on direct access to scripture. As with Catholic despotisms, this was “denying to the common people the free use of the holy scripture.” Such denial exposed the moral corruption of colonial tyranny. Quaker abolitionist John Woolman observed that “no master was saintly enough to avoid the temptations of absolute power; slavery, instead of being ameliorated by Christianity, corrupted the wellsprings of true religion.” The danger was unavoidable, “slavery, in its mildest shape, has something dangerous and threatening to virtue,” wrote James Ramsay. It “encouraged masters to become tyrants.”  Abolitionists also linked religious attacks on slavery to commercial morality. William Wilberforce did so negatively in 1788, arguing greed had led British merchants away from the virtuous commerce that was the nation’s true prosperity. “Interest can draw a film across the eyes, so thick, that total blindness could do no more,” Wilberforce warned. He challenged his countrymen to accept that “a trade founded in iniquity, and carried on as this was, must be abolished.” John Wesley used commerce to blame the slave trade, “a worse than pagan abomination,” on fellow Britons. “It is you that induce the African villain to sell his countrymen,” Wesley thundered. Insisting “it is your money, that is the spring of all,” suggesting British money could end slave-trafficking. Lord Kames positively connected morality and commerce to criticize slavery, arguing that “contracts and promises are not confined to commercial dealings: they serve also to make benevolence a duty, independent of any pecuniary interest.” Slaveholders, however, participated in a distorted economy of unfree workers and unfair prices. They did not develop benevolence like their British counterparts. Adam Smith likewise held that slavery subverted the moral foundations of commerce: The enslaved could neither enter contracts nor keep them because free enterprise required free persons.   Granville Sharp publicly worried the slave trade and plantation slavery were undermining British liberty. He was joined by Charles James Fox who decried the “virtual representation” of the West Indian “interest” in the House of Commons, condemning it as a malign foreign influence. That opulent West Indians bought “rotten boroughs” in Parliament offended radicals like John Wade, who in his Black Book condemned how the ruling class “conquers and retains useless colonies” to benefit itself. Playwright Oliver Goldsmith opined that European colonists lost their national virtues and succumbed to “all the luxurious manners of the Asiatics.” He continued, “after two or three generations at farthest, the blood loses its primitive qualities, and those of the climate manifest themselves in men, animals and plants.” Colonists resembled their exotic environs in the British national imagination, not their distant ancestry. The national “othering” of the West Indian bolstered the arguments and broadened the appeal of abolitionism as a national response to the foreign practice of slaveholding.  Between 1807 and 1838, British governments dismantled and criminalized institutions of human bondage, which, in some permutation, had been acceptable for most of human history. Politicians, historians, and popular opinion have marveled at this transition. For nineteenth century historian William Leckey, the anti-slavery movement was “among the three or four perfectly virtuous acts recorded in the history of nations.” In the late twentieth century, David Brion Davis characterized abolitionism as a “remarkable shift in moral consciousness.” Many causes have been cited to explain this shift in moral consciousness, ranging from political ideology to religious fervor, to the progress capitalism. Though nationalism has not been absent from this conversation, it has often been seen as one cause among others in the anti-slavery movement, and not as a bridge among causes. The integration of disparate themes of piety, liberty, empire, and commerce within the framework of British nationalism shows that nationalism was more than a discrete factor in the emergence of abolitionism. Rather, it formed the connective tissue which structured the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century debate on slavery.  

Mahmoud Khalil is a law-abiding permanent resident of the US, but the Trump administration is prosecuting him for his political opinions using a law that was originally aimed at Communists. The news, broken today by the Washington Post, transforms what was until now a story about free speech and advocacy for Palestine into a much broader

Though the BRICS group has already been around for quite some time, in recent days it has once again become the center of public attention. The renewed interest most likely came from the recent enlargement of the group, which saw its membership double within one year

The global economic landscape is evolving rapidly, driven by alliances that reflect the ambitions of emerging countries to reshape traditional centers of influence. In this context, Nigeria, the leading economic power in Africa, has joined the circle of BRICS partners

The recent expansion of BRICS signals a new era of collaboration among major economies

Another PM is trying to make cuts equate to growth. Disabled people will again pay the price of this cruelty

While Germany was too busy with the (re)nazification of the Bundeswehr and making plans for war with Russia, its politicians seem to have forgotten about resolving the issue of manpower.

Top Democratic officials spent the better part of the last decade warning that Donald Trump must not become president, because he would become a dictator, act like a dangerous authoritarian, and be Adolf Hitler reincarnate. Now, as outrage builds over Trump’s attempt to strip a permanent resident of his green card and unlawfully deport of

Ukraine’s goal behind massive drone strike was to increase distraction, making media ignore Kursk.

In a memo that that one TSA employee said sounded like “a teenage blogger writing about someone they don’t like,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced March 7 that it was canceling the union contract for 47,000 workers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) signed its contract

As US aid cuts threaten LGBTIQ lives, these collectives show how to sustain communities beyond traditional aid models

Israel wants Russia’s presence in Syria maintained to counter Turkey’s expanding influence.

In an America where health care costs bankrupt families, where housing costs consume half of many workers’ incomes, and where politicians disingenuously maintain that paid family leave is beyond our capacity as the wealthiest nation in world history, we clearly need a more ambitious policy vision. Likewise, at a specific juncture when many voters who

The RTS praised Disciples: The Cult of TB Joshua, which revealed abuse by Nigeria’s most prominent Christian televangelist

Nobody could be sadder than I am to report that Mickey 17 is a disappointment. I’ve been waiting eagerly for many months to see this latest effort by writer-director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Snowpiercer, The Host). I raced out to see it as soon as it opened in theaters, hitting one of its first shows at

On February 1, the White House issued a Fact Sheet justifying President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, its three largest trading partners, by citing the “extraordinary threat” posed by illegal immigration and drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl. After an intense stand-off with Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, and Canada’s prime minister,

Twentieth-century Spain could boast of world-leading artists from Salvador Dalí to Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. Yet paradoxically, the country often lagged behind its neighbors with regard to the exhibition and appreciation of modern art. The most obvious culprit for this is Francisco Franco’s long dictatorship from 1939 to 1975, though some responsibility also lies

I give a hearty “Amen!” to Mark Tooley’s strident assertion that Just War teaching does not “require Ukraine to submit to terms favorable to Russia,” and I further reaffirm that agreement when Mr. Tooley extends his idea of submission to include “surrender” and “highly unfavorable terms.” Imagine my bemusement, then, to discover that Mr. Tooley apparently thought I had suggested such a thing! Surrender? Submit to terms highly unfavorable? One can read and reread my essay and see that the words “surrender” and “submit” are never used, much less implied. It could be Mr. Tooley has just inaccurately, albeit flatteringly, lumped me in with Dr. Reno and the good folks at First Things, but in the interest of clarity and discourse, I’ll take Mr. Tooley at his word and respond to his article as though he really does believe that I’m arguing for an American-enforced Ukrainian capitulation as a valid application of Just Statecraft. History is indeed replete with examples of smaller countries fighting off more powerful aggressors, and Mr. Tooley is right to point out that Ukraine’s self-defense has been not only courageous but also highly effective. He asserts that I do not consider variables like geography, relative strengths of alliances, Russian losses, or Russian domestic support for the war effort. The truth is I don’t consider those variables because they’re irrelevant and nonresponsive to my argument, not to mention lacking any meaningful backing (“almost certainly less motivated”?). My argument rests on two normative claims. First, that “President Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table [are] within the bounds of Christian realism and just war theory.” Second, just cause as such ought not commit the United States “to an open ended, uncritical support of Ukraine with total victory as the only acceptable outcome.” These two claims are grounded on a few empirical facts: It has been the standing policy of the United States under Obama, Trump 45, Biden, and now Trump 47 to not commit US or NATO forces to the war in Ukraine. President Zelensky has repeatedly defined victory in the war as recapturing all lost territory. Despite the massive amounts of military aid from the US and European countries, the conflict remains a stalemate. President Zelensky has set security guarantees from the US and NATO membership as functional preconditions for any peace talks despite both the Biden and Trump administrations ruling out the possibility of NATO membership for Ukraine. President Zelensky has refused to commit to a plan of general mobilization of military-aged persons in Ukraine, while the Ukrainian military has opted to use new troops to organize brand new units rather than replace losses in combat tested units. These constitute two unforced errors of strategic planning that place stress on Ukraine’s manpower reserves and lowers combat effectiveness of units in the field. I fully grant that none of the above facts, even under the considerations of Just War teaching “require” Ukraine to capitulate to Russia, but, again, that’s not my argument. Rather, they are highly relevant facts in considering whether or not the United States should recalibrate its policy on the war and its strategic posture towards the two main belligerents. Zelensky’s conditions for peace talks are either militarily unfeasible, as with recapturing territory, or contrary to longstanding bipartisan consensus of Ukraine not joining NATO. Given that Zelensky’s stated aims are unrealistic and Putin’s goal of an Eastern Europe dominated by Russia is highly undesirable, how should America proceed? Should the United States continue maintaining a war effort more or less locked in stalemate or should it explore possible options for a peace agreement? I maintain that under the principle of probability of success, now’s the time to explore possible peace options. But what kind of peace should that be? Mr. Tooley seems to allow that a “truce that freezes current forces in place, without legally recognizing Russia’s occupied territory, while allowing Ukraine to recover and further solidify its national strength” would be such a “reasonable and sustainable” peace. Essentially, Mr. Tooley is calling for an armistice like the Korean Armistice Agreement that froze the Korean War. Funny thing about that agreement, the Truman administration started seeking a pathway to end the war as early as 1950 when both North and South Korea wanted to keep fighting to achieve their respective war aims. The circumstances surrounding the Korean Armistice are a more illuminating comparison for Ukraine than the overwrought references to WWII that have come to characterize much of the historical analogizing on the Ukraine war. Despite what Mr. Tooley says, I don’t believe that “Ukraine will lose,” but I do believe that “prolonging the agony [of the war will] cause needless suffering.” Given current conditions, the trick for the Trump administration is to convince Putin that Ukraine can’t lose while also persuading Ukraine that it can’t win, at least on Zelensky’s stated terms. Arriving at such an understanding could even be the first step on the long road back to a diplomatically achieved final settlement on Crimea and the Donbas. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The situation President Trump inherited has Ukraine incentivized to keep fighting with American-supplied arms and, at the same time, no way for Putin to save face at home after his three year campaign. For many, any acknowledgment that Russia will ultimately have achieved some of its war aims and that Ukrainian maximalist demands for territory and joining NATO won’t happen just seem like placating a brutal dictator, and on some level it is. However, I would challenge Mr. Tooley and those who share his view, to articulate how exactly one goes about bringing Russia to a table absent any compromises or concessions. If we’re not going to threaten Russia with full-on war, something Biden never did and Trump ran in opposition to, then we’ll need something else to make Putin end the war. This brings me back to where my original piece ended. Criticize President Trump’s attempts at diplomacy all you want, and I’m certainly critical in some ways, but without facing real political realities and wrestling with the probability principle and its implications, all Mr. Tooley is doing is morally justifying bellum ad infinitum.

As the first ASEAN nation to join this intergovernmental bloc primarily composed of states from the Global South, Indonesia’s entry into BRICS marks a significant shift in its foreign policy

Brazil’s authorities have unveiled their plans for the upcoming BRICS summit to be held in Rio de Janeiro on July 6-7, 2025

The government will continue to strengthen economic ties and diversify markets with key countries, including BRICS nations, in addition to expanding cooperation with countries in Asia, the Middle East, the European Union (EU), and other regions to reduce dependence on a single market

On the evening of January 19, 2025, the American Hindu Coalition — a pro–Donald Trump group whose stated mission is to “build a stronger America through Hindu Enlightenment Principles” — joined forces with several right-wing Latino organizations to host a joint Hindu-Latino inaugural ball in downtown Washington, DC. Among those who gathered in the ballroom

According to a Dutch deputy, there is no other way for peace but to let Kiev lose quickly.

One needs to ask whether the EU/NATO politicians have a mandate of the electorate to push the "old continent" into a bloodbath that would make both world wars look like a paintball match in comparison. Well, as it turns out, not really. A recent poll shows that the vast majority of regular Europeans are neither delusional nor suicidal.

The German Foreign Minister leaves behind her a series of gaffes and humiliation.

The story of Jimmy Lai, a 77-year-old Hong Kong businessman turned human rights activist and convert to Catholicism, is unfolding at the intersection of politics and religion between China, the Vatican, and the US. Of profound significance for those who cherish human dignity, freedom, and the enduring principles of Christian humanism, Lai’s activism led to his solitary confinement for five years. His commitment to his now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, led to his incarceration by the CCP. Lai’s persecution has come to represent the broader battle today for human rights, including freedom of, conscience in the face of 21st-century oppression.   In February, this battle took on an additional layer of complexity during Jimmy’s nearly 150-day-long sham national security law trial, with 47 days of testimony, when Judge Esther Toh, one of the presiding judges, made the striking remark, “We are Chinese,” directed toward him.  This initiated a colloquy between Toh and Lai: Lai: “No, I am a Hong Konger because of One Country, Two Systems.” Toh: “Mr. Lai, are you yellow-skinned?” Lai: “If I am yellow-skinned, does that mean I am Chinese? I am a Hong Konger.” Toh: “You are Chinese.”  Toh’s remark, steeped in ethno-nationalist undertones, suggested that race dictates nationality, glaringly illustrating how there is no such thing as justice in Communist China. Toh’s unmoored legal reasoning dismisses out of hand Lai’s universalist aspirations for freedom and democracy as somehow foreign or un-Chinese, revealing a troubling alignment with Beijing’s narrative that pits ethnic identity against the principles of individual liberty Lai champions. Are the West’s claims to the primacy of individual liberty and democracy simply one more relativistic statement among many, perhaps true for Americans and Europeans but no one else? The CCP would certainly have us believe so.  Christian humanism, which emphasizes the universal dignity of all people, the moral imperative to safeguard freedoms and the pursuit of justice, is poignantly expressed in Lai’s plight. It echoes the Christian call to defend the oppressed, inspired by biblical teachings where the liberation of the captive is not just a political act but a spiritual obligation. From this perspective, Lai’s incarceration—and the judicial hostility exemplified by Judge Toh’s remarks—is more than a geopolitical issue; it’s a moral and ethical dilemma challenging the very essence of universal human freedom and dignity.  Enter then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, who in last year’s presidential campaign expressed a personal commitment to advocate for Lai’s release. In a candid conversation with Hugh Hewitt, Trump stated, “One hundred percent…I’ll get him out,” promising to leverage his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping to secure Jimmy’s freedom in the event he was re-elected.   It was also heartening to hear Vice President J.D. Vance pledge at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast last Thursday: “The Trump Administration promises you, whether it’s here at home with our own citizens, or all over the world, we will be the biggest defenders of religious liberty and the rights of conscience, and I think those policies will fall to the benefit to Catholics in particular, all over the world.”  The promises of Trump and Vance evoke the intentional moral leadership of Ronald Reagan during the Cold War, who provided a lifeline to those behind the Iron Curtain in any number of ways, known and unknown.  Known instances included when Reagan rallied by the side of former Polish Solidarity leader and later Polish President, Lech Walesa, and in his appeals for the release of jailed human rights activists in the Soviet Union, Andrei Sakharov and Natan Sharansky.  The scenario is now complex as the United States does not have the “Holy Alliance” with the Vatican as Reagan did with Pope John Paul II.  This is further illuminated by recent developments in Sino-Vatican relations, as discussed in the Wall Street Journal article, “Chairman Xi Gets a Seat at the Pope’s Table.” Today, the Vatican is too conciliatory towards Beijing at the expense of human rights advocates like Lai. The Vatican’s approach, especially considering the controversial agreement on joint Vatican-CCP bishop appointments, is a return to the failed Cold War strategy of Ostpolitik, characterized by acquiescence, negotiation, and a total lack of criticism for Communist regimes.  Now, the Vatican does not even tread a delicate line between resistance and compromise, as they did then.  The Church’s approach to synodality—the practice of cooperation amid deep division—is way off the mark in a crucial aspect: standing in solidarity for justice and freedom, including those being persecuted for human rights advocacy.  The Church, as an institution that has historically stood for human rights and the sanctity of conscience, faces a pivotal moment. The Vatican, as under Pope John Paul II, must speak directly on these controversial issues, publicly appealing for the release of human rights activists like Lai, and others suffering under oppressive regimes. The time has come for Ostpolitik to end.    Lai’s story is a call to action for all who value human freedom and dignity.  The Pope and the Vatican must advocate more robustly for human rights in their dealings with China by working with government leaders like Trump and Vance. It’s a plight that demands a reevaluation of how power, whether ecclesiastical or geopolitical, should be wielded in the modern world; not for control, but for liberation. Not for silencing the voices of the oppressed, but for amplifying them. 

Collaborative, flexible Brics gives leading members China and Russia a significant advantage over the increasingly defensive and restrictive West

President Donald Trump has again threatened 100% tariffs on BRICS. Where does India stand on de-dollarisation and internationalisation of the rupee? What are the issues and concerns involved?

The BRICS+ Fashion Summit in Moscow showcased AI's transformative role in fashion and strategies for global market success, fostering innovation, collaboration, and sustainable growth across the industry

Brussels is criticizing Christians and Alawites for defending themselves while supporting the barbaric actions of the terrorist regime, as the US actually condemned the atrocities by these NATO-backed Islamic radicals. The Kremlin might be pleasantly surprised, but will most likely be quite reserved and vigilant when it comes to American actions in Syria, even when they superficially match its own.

According to Western journalists, US’ intelligence “boycott” against Ukraine is to blame for the military failure in the Southern Russian region.

Macron is offering Europe something he does not have to counter a threat that does not really exist the way he describes it.

Europeans are not willing to die and fight like their leaders want them to.

Does Just War teaching, which calls for a probability of success, require Ukraine to submit to terms favorable to Russia? This Providence article and this First Things article say yes. But Just War teaching does not ask for an outnumbered nation under attack automatically to surrender or agree to highly unfavorable terms. There are other considerations besides the size of contending forces.  Larger nations do not automatically prevail against smaller nations.  The latter are often better organized, better equipped, better led, more motivated, more unified, are wealthier per capita, have geographic advantages or better allies.   The other considerations include whether conditions under submission or unfavorable terms would be worse than under war, whether the “peace” would only be prelude to further war, and whether there is a duty to allies or wider humanity to continue to resist. A nation facing extreme oppression, slavery or extermination will prefer to fight against great odds. And a nation, even realizing likely defeat, may see the moral imperative of resisting the aggressor so that future likely victim nations have more time to prepare. Belgium in 1914 knew it could not successfully resist the impending German invasion when Germany requested peaceful passage for its troops attacking France. But it dutifully resisted both for honor and to assist France. Belgium’s heroic resistance, at great cost, called “the rape of Belgium,” also motivated Britain’s entrance into the war. Britain in 1940, after France’s fall, stood alone against a Nazi occupied Europe. It barely had an army after Dunkirk. Surrendering French collaborator Marshal Petain predicted Britain’s neck would be wrung like a chicken within a week. As Churchill later told Canada’s parliament: “Some chicken! Some neck!” Britain fought on because Nazi victory was too monstrous to abide. And Churchill explained that surrendering nations rarely recover, but fighting nations, even if defeated, can later resurrect.  Earlier, in 1939, Poland resisted German invasion even though outmanned and outgunned. Poland knew Germany wanted to eradicate their nation. Quick surrender was unacceptable. While Germany, joined by the Soviets, occupied Poland, and Polish armies surrendered, the Polish government escaped to London where resistance could continue. Several years ago I met an elderly Polish WWII veteran who said he never doubted, even amid imprisonment and horrors, that the Allies would win. “We listened to the BBC,” he explained. Other victims of Hitler made similar choices. Norway, tiny in population compared to Germany, fought Germany’s invasion longer than any other eventually fully occupied nation. Racially acceptable to the Nazis, the Norwegians did not, like the Poles, face physical extermination. But honor, anger, and abhorrence of Nazi outrages forbade surrender or coming to terms requiring collaboration. Norway’s king and parliament escaped north literally under fire, ultimately relocating to London, from which the Norwegian underground was directed.  France in 1940 officially capitulated. But French Deputy War Minister Charles de Gaulle escaped to London to organize a Free French force that became France’s legitimate government. Through bluster and defiance, French honor was preserved for post-war France. Israel, of course, was heavily outnumbered in 1947, 1967, and 1973 by multiple Arab armies and yet never considered submission or crippling peace terms. With its national existence at stake, Israel fought with little alternative. Prime Minister Golda Meir said she would die in Tel Aviv before leaving. General Ben Gurion suffered a panic attack during Syrian advances in the Golan. Israel had America as an ally in 1973 but not earlier. Even alone, Israel was more motivated, better led, and typically better armed. None of these defiant, outnumbered nations violated Just War teaching by not seeking peace terms with the aggressors. Even when defeated in the battlefield, their continued defiance ensured their longterm national futures and/or assisted stronger allies who could prevail. As to whether Ukraine should surrender or submit to Russia under negative terms, its situation is superior to the above-described nations during their duress. It is geographically larger than all of them with more room for losses and maneuver. Its population remains motivated. It has against great odds resisted a much larger power for three years. Russia has suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties, relies on conscripts, prison inmates, and mercenaries, and shows little ability to break the gridlock, despite its terror attacks on civilians by missiles and drones. Ukraine, even if losing America, under its current president, as an ally, still has far more allies than Russia. Domestic support in Russia for Putin’s war is impossible to measure accurately since all dissent is criminalized. But Russians on the attack are almost certainly less motivated than Ukrainians under attack.   Ukrainians know Putin wants to eradicate their nationhood and subsume their democracy under his dictatorship. Who can blame them for defiance? They may also feel some duty to resist on behalf of other potential Putin victims, like the Baltics. The two articles supporting USA presidential pressure on Ukraine do not acknowledge any of these factors. They assume Ukraine will lose so prolonging the agony causes needless suffering, which Just War teaching argues against. But their counsel actually makes a plausible peace less likely. Russia will not agree to peace under reasonable terms if all USA pressure is on Ukraine. And a Ukraine relying mostly on Europe, without America, can likely sustain war but with any successful conclusion less likely. USA presidential pressure on Ukraine has so far only encouraged Russia while terrifying Europe, some of whose leaders now speak of nuclear weapons for themselves, knowing America, under the current president, will not back their security. A plausible peace requires incentivizing Russia to accept terms, which is now less likely. Prudence and Just War teaching counsel seeking reasonable and sustainable peace terms when possible. They do not require Ukraine to surrender or accept terms that cripple its nationhood or only postpone further Russian aggression. The best case scenario might be a truce that freezes current forces in place, without legally recognizing Russia’s occupied territory, while allowing Ukraine time to recover and further solidify its national strength. But that scenario is only possible if Russia knows it cannot gain more. Tragically, current U.S. policy of pressure only on Ukraine makes such a peace unlikely.

Although BRICS+ remains a relatively diffuse cooperative space marked by internal contradictions and divergent agendas—exemplified by the paradigm of China and India—it is impossible to overlook the bloc’s growing significance in the current international context

Last year saw the accession of new members to BRICS, the bloc comprising Russia, Brazil, India, China and South Africa. The new year keeps up the growth momentum

Jenny Clegg sets out and then responds to eight key doubts about the Brics+ alliance in light of the developments at Kazan, arguing it represents a significant challenge to US hegemony and provides a path towards a multipolar world

The number of wounded Ukrainians has increased by 20% in recent weeks.

A ‘win’ in Ukraine may well lead the US president to act in Gaza and resume talks of acquiring Canada or Greenland

Responses to President Trump’s Ukraine gambit have been interesting to say the least.  Russia hawks are aghast at the idea of trying to normalize relations with Russia while the MAGA-aligned crowd is ready to cut off American support for Ukraine completely. America’s Ukraine policy is becoming something of a litmus test within Jacksonian America to determine the degree to which someone supports the President. Perhaps counterintuitively, I believe the Trump administration’s handling of the Ukraine war, despite the messy Oval Office moment (and it was only a moment), is more aligned with the finer points of just war theory and Christian realism than many are willing to consider. In assessing the President’s attempt to kick-start peace talks on Ukraine, our ability to leverage the moral framework of just war theory to consider a pathway to peace constitutes the first major test of just statecraft as an analytical and pedagogical framework. Just War is the Easy Argument on Ukraine The justness of the Ukrainian cause is beyond dispute. Russia is clearly the aggressor, is clearly violating international law, and undoubtedly shoulders the blame for its own suffering. However, justifying the war and its prosecution on moral grounds is only one part of the just war equation. In this particular case, it’s the easiest part of the argument to make, and many have been comfortable to stay there. But buried under the moral justifications for the Ukrainian cause and to continued American military aid by extension lies an uncomfortable truth that just war theory demands we address: The righteousness of the cause does not guarantee victory. Even in a best-case scenario, full justice may prove elusive. Indeed, for the many who have lost loved ones, justice may never be complete in this world. In a world bereft of a just God, this would indeed be tragic. In a world where the justice of God is both watchful and sure, however, we can receive both comfort and calling: Comfort that God’s justice will prevail, and a calling to be free of the need to mete out vengeance and achieve a perfect justice in the present. Yet it is precisely the moral clarity of the Ukrainian conflict that has made proponents of maintaining US support ambivalent towards articulating an end to the war, namely, an ordered peace to use St. Augustine’s framing. The lack of a clear theory of victory coupled with an overreliance on President Zelensky’s assessments of the war have led to a moralizing posture towards Russia that is ahistorical and lacking in clear-sightedness when it comes to objectively assessing the feasibility of Ukraine’s stated war aims. Wisdom is hard to find under normal circumstances, but in this fog of war, it appears to be MIA. Probability of Success, on the Other Hand… What’s missing in much of the just war-based justifications of American support for Ukraine’s war effort is a critical element of just war theory. Namely, that engagement in a just war requires a reasonable chance of success. This probability principle recognizes that ends don’t always justify means and that even the prosecution of a just war can become unjust if it unnecessarily prolongs suffering. Further, the probability principle implicitly acknowledges a just war can be lost. In Question 40 of his Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas outlines his framework for just war, but notes that “we wage war in order to achieve peace.” He doesn’t detail what a just peace necessarily entails, but to the degree that a war is just insofar as it defends the good while punishing and restraining evil, then a just peace would be, at least in general terms, a reasonable reestablishment of a status quo ante bellum. Following Aquinas, Grotius writes in Book II.24.9 of Law of War and Peace that only wars that are both moral in cause and adequately resourced to provide a maximal chance of success are worth fighting. For Grotius, the limits of men and materiel are critical in the prudential aspect of choosing to engage in a just war. While Aquinas considers the morality of war, Grotius considers the critical variables in determining when warfighting is practical. This is a particularly relevant consideration for the US in its role as an international guarantor of security. In this sense, Jesus’ brief metaphor of a warring, yet diplomatic, king in Luke 14:31-32 anticipates both the morality and wisdom (prudential) components of what would become just war theory. Indeed, Jesus and Grotius both appear less concerned with a war’s outcome (greatest of the unknown unknowns) than with the ability of an individual to rightly judge the cost of the undertaking. This is precisely the point we appear to be at with Ukraine, and what President Trump is trying to convey to both Ukraine and Russia. Yet American and European backers of Ukraine, along with President Zelensky, don’t appear interested in this fact. Due to such a grave oversight, I believe that President Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table should be supported as well within the bounds of Christian realism and just war theory. Are We There Yet? President Trump and his team appear to have assessed the current status of the war and concluded that the conflict is at that point where further fighting, given available men and materiel, allows neither Ukraine nor Russia to achieve their maximum war aims. To continue the war is to engage in sunk-cost thinking, prolong needless suffering, and risk compounding injustices. That Zelensky and Putin don’t appear to have reached the same conclusion doesn’t mean Trump is under any obligation to wait for them to continue expending blood and (American) treasure. Rather, Trump must consider, as an involved and responsible belligerent, the part he can play in winding this conflict down. The limited aid given to Ukraine under the Obama and the first Trump presidencies was not enough to achieve the goal of deterring Putin. Then, after February 2022, the massive, over 100 billion dollars in aid sent to Ukraine under Biden also failed at its goal of decisively turning the tide against Russia. It’s fair for Trump to wonder when the end will be in sight, with many knowledgeable observers asking the same question. Give Peace a Chance We cannot be serious about Christian realism, just war, or just statecraft if it only commits us to an open ended, uncritical support of Ukraine with total victory as the only acceptable outcome. That’s neither Christian, nor realist, nor just. It’s only a justification for war. Forever.

According to Financial Times, "the 'Vlad the Impaler Command' group, named after Romania's medieval ruler who served as inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula, is plotting to take over Romania", with one of the members being a 101-year-old retired General Radu Theodoru. There's the mandatory "evil Vlad" (you're probably "wondering" who it reminds you of) who also "served as the inspiration" for Lord Dracula, a vampire.

Russia produced 1.4 million FPV drones in 2022 and destroyed about 60% of targets.

Revealed: Head of world’s biggest asset manager lobbied chancellor on tax rules weeks before policy was tweaked

Brazil takes the helm at a moment when diplomatic pragmatism should take precedence over some of the bloc’s more polarizing initiatives

Will growing clout translate into a new world order and turn the industrialized world into a retired set of legacy has-beens? No one knows, but there are deep implications for bank control frameworks

The New Development Bank (NDB) has ambitious plans for Brazil in the next two years, including US$3bn of financing for sectors such as infrastructure, sanitation and energy

The EU/NATO cannot match Russia even on a tactical or operational level, let alone strategic. However, it keeps poking the Bear and pushing for escalation on all three fronts.

Trump is making too many enemies (domestically and internationally), while trying to reform the intelligence agencies and reshape Washington. The defense sector might be too powerful a force to be done with so easily. The pressure from both the defense sector and the so-called Israel lobby to get involved in a war in the Middle East as a way to “make up for it” might be too great.

The Kiev neo-Nazi regime has been attacking the Orthodox Church as part of its anti-Russian policies.

Ukraine has enough weapons and ammunition to fight for at least another six months.

Many ex-special advisers are advising businesses in fields related to their government role, openDemocracy has found

Attacks against Christians worldwide saw a troubling rise in 2024, with the Christmas season in particular marred by incidents in Germany, Myanmar, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, and Syria. The 2025 World Watch List (WWL) by Open Doors highlights the increasing persecution of Christians worldwide, particularly in conflict-ridden regions. Globally, over 380 million Christians face high levels of persecution or discrimination. The violence index is particularly severe in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and parts of Southeast Asia, with Nigeria and Pakistan topping the list for violence.  Germany experienced a tragic incident on December 20 of last year at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, where a car was driven into a crowded area, killing five and injuring more than 200 others. The suspect, a Saudi doctor residing in Germany since 2006, had displayed threatening behavior in the past but did not align with the typical profile of extremist attackers. While attacks on Christians are not common in Germany, this incident underscores a broader trend of increasing hostility toward Christians across Europe, particularly since the German judge ruled that the attack did not constitute a terrorist attack. This decision has deepened concerns about the reluctance to recognize and address violence specifically targeting Christians in an increasingly hostile social environment.  According to the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC), violence and discrimination against Christians have risen significantly. In 2023, 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes were reported across 35 European countries, including 232 personal attacks, with Germany seeing a doubling of such incidents. The report highlights the growing marginalization of Christians in public life, with many self-censoring their beliefs due to hostility in workplaces and universities. Legal restrictions on religious freedom, such as fines for praying silently near abortion clinics, further exemplify the challenges Christians face. OIDAC attributes this trend to a radical secularist agenda that conflicts with Christian ethics, threatening religious freedom and pluralism in Europe.  Myanmar ranks as the 13th most dangerous country for Christians, according to Open Doors, with a persecution score of 81. The country’s Christian minority, approximately 4.8 to 5 million people, has faced escalating violence and persecution since the 2021 military coup led by General Min Aung Hlaing. Now entering its fifth year, the conflict has forced many Christians to flee their homes, seeking refuge in churches, displacement camps, or the jungle, where they endure hunger and hardship. The enforcement of military conscription has further pressured young Christians, leading many to flee the country entirely, leaving the community scattered and vulnerable.  The violence continues unabated. In Shan State, on December 25, the Burma Army launched 120mm mortar shells into Kho village, killing two children and seriously injuring a woman. Just two days later, on December 27, a military jet dropped two 500-pound bombs on Pi King Village in Phekhon Township, wounding three civilians and destroying multiple homes. These incidents underscore the ongoing crisis facing Myanmar’s Christian minority, who remain targets amid the worsening conflict.  Pakistan, ranked 8th on the Open Doors World Watch List, is one of the most dangerous countries for Christians, with 54,780 reported cases of Christians being beaten, threatened, or abused, including 10,000 in the past year. Out of a population of 245.2 million, Pakistan’s 4.5 million Christians face severe persecution, particularly under the country’s notorious blasphemy laws. These laws are often weaponized against minorities, leaving Christians vulnerable to violence, as seen in June 2024, when an elderly man was killed by a mob following a false accusation of desecrating the Quran. Christian girls increasingly face abuse, and widespread discrimination relegates Christians to the most degrading jobs, further marginalizing the community.  On December 25, in Lahore’s Maryam Colony, over a dozen gunmen opened fire on Christians gathered outside the home of Pastor Shahzad Siddique, a Pentecostal preacher from Praise TV. The attack left three Christians shot and wounded, underscoring the escalating dangers faced by Pakistan’s Christian community.  Nigeria, ranked 7th on the Open Doors World Watch List, is the deadliest country for Christians, with more believers killed for their faith here than anywhere else in the world. In 2024 alone, 3,100 of the 4,476 Christians killed globally were in Nigeria. Violence fueled by radical Islamic extremists, including Boko Haram and Fulani militants, is escalating, particularly in the northern and central regions. These groups destroy homes and churches, displace Christian communities, and abduct or assault women, leaving millions of Christians forced into displacement camps.  While southern Nigeria is home to some of the world’s largest church auditoriums, the north and central regions are plagued by violence and persecution. With a persecution score of 88, Nigeria remains a dangerous and deeply challenging environment for its 106.6 million Christian population. On Christmas Day, Boko Haram terrorists attacked Kwapre village in Adamawa State, killing two Christians, burning houses, and looting shops. Many others were injured during the assault.  India, ranked 11th on the Open Doors World Watch List, remains a difficult and often hostile environment for its 73.2 million Christians within a population of 1.4 billion. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the rise of Hindu nationalism, which asserts that all Indians should be Hindu, has fueled widespread violence and discrimination against Christians. Twelve states now enforce anti-conversion laws, frequently weaponized to harass Christians and suppress their ability to share their faith, with Uttar Pradesh recently introducing life imprisonment as a potential penalty.  Although last year’s elections forced the ruling BJP to form a coalition with pro-religious freedom parties, violence against Christians continues unabated across many states. During the Christmas season, Hindu nationalist groups disrupted services and attacked Christians in states including Manipur, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Kerala.   In Syria, ranked 18th on the Open Doors World Watch List, Christians continue to face severe persecution. During the World Watch List reporting period, 3,944 cases of sexual assault, harassment, or forced marriages were recorded, with 500 incidents occurring in Syria alone. Ongoing conflict, crime, and corruption have driven Christian emigration, reducing the Christian population to just 579,000 out of 24.3 million. The fall of the Assad regime to rebel forces has intensified threats to Christians, particularly in the church’s ancient heartland. Islamic extremist rebel groups have outlawed Christianity, destroyed churches, and targeted Christian and Yazidi communities in previously safe Kurdish-controlled areas, even as these regions allowed religious freedom and Christian conversion.  The Christmas season of 2024 brought additional targeted attacks against Christians. In Al-Suqaylabiyah, a predominantly Christian town in Syria, Islamist extremists burned down a Christmas tree, sparking widespread protests among the Christian community and deepening fears for the future of religious minorities under the new regime. Just days earlier, on December 18, an unidentified gunman attacked the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in Hama, firing shots at its walls and attempting to remove its cross. These incidents highlight the relentless challenges faced by Christians in a deeply unstable and hostile region.  As the 21st century progresses, Christianity faces unprecedented challenges. Europe continues to drift away from its Christian roots, embracing secularization and diminishing the influence of faith in public life. Meanwhile, Christian communities worldwide endure existential threats, from ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh to systemic persecution in Myanmar, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Syria, and the Middle East. Despite these crises, previous U.S. administrations, including the Biden administration, have often turned a blind eye, failing to take decisive action to protect vulnerable Christian populations. Policies such as removing Nigeria from the religious freedom watchlist and using softened language to describe the forced expulsions in Nagorno-Karabakh have undermined U.S. credibility on human rights and emboldened aggressors.  It is hoped that President Trump will reverse this trend and redefine U.S. foreign policy by making the defense of persecuted Christians a central pillar of his administration. By addressing the failures of the past and holding perpetrators accountable, his administration can demonstrate that America will no longer tolerate violence and discrimination against Christians. This is not only a moral obligation but also a strategic necessity to uphold global human rights and restore U.S. leadership on the world stage. With decisive action, Trump has the chance to leave a lasting legacy as a defender of religious freedom and a protector of Christianity in its time of greatest need. 

The BRICS nations are constructing a fresh model for cross-border e-commerce by the name of BRICS Pay System

With heightening geopolitical interest in building a new Global South architecture, Ghana’s administration is considering joining the ‘partner states category’ of BRICS+

The BRICS declarations quite clearly and unambiguously name the causes of many of today’s global problems. They are associated with the persistent inequality between the West and the Non-West, with the practices of neo-colonial exploitation that the West carries out in relation to developing countries

Trump really seems to be determined to pivot to the Asia-Pacific and leave Europe to the EU/NATO.

Since the liberation of DPR’s city of Avdeevka, life has been improving in Donetsk city.

No European Union nuclear defense could exist without the US.

Recent surveys indicate the decades-long ebb in religious observance has finally bottomed out. Last month, Pew Research released data indicating that the declining share of self-identified Christians in America has stabilized around 62 percent. Other surveys have found that young men especially are taking up more seats in the pews, with many seeking out the more traditional practices of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox communions. Why are Americans suddenly returning to tradition? Explaining her own conversion to Christianity, former atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali recently asserted that the metaphysical and spiritual assumptions of secular liberalism seem too weak in this age of crisis. “Atheism failed to answer a simple question,” she wrote, “what is the meaning and purpose of life?” Christianity provides an account of the permanent things and humanity’s relationship to them that actually strengthens Ali and believers like her in struggles great and small. The Church is a unique source of strength in the face of this modern boredom and despair for her ability to remake believers in the image of Christ’s life. Belief is not a cheap solution to life’s problems; as He told His disciples, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The season of Lent, which begins today with Ash Wednesday, is meant to prepare new converts and renew the faith of those already in the congregation “by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and alms-giving; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” More than anything, it is these practices that converts, reverts, and indeed all Christians need for sustenance in these desiccated times. A century ago, T.S. Eliot put this Lenten faith into poetry. Raised in a Unitarian home and educated at elite institutions where liberalism was fashionable, he nevertheless felt a gnawing hunger deep in his soul. After WWI, his modernist poetry used an experimental style to capture his disenchantment with the modern world. The Waste Land, the long poem which made Eliot into a literary celebrity in 1922, is nothing less than a cry of despair over the ruins of European civilization left in the wake of WWI. In the following years, Eliot came to understand that the crisis of modernity he sought to articulate was not only cultural and civilizational, but also deeply spiritual. In 1925 – exactly one hundred years ago – he published a poem titled “The Hollow Men” expressing this dimension of the all-encompassing crisis. Although not yet a believer when it was written, “The Hollow Men” reveals the deep longings of Eliot and his generation that only Christianity could satisfy. The poem begins with striking lines: We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats’ feet over broken glass In our dry cellar In his magisterial biography of Eliot, Russell Kirk argued that “‘The Hollow Men’ describes the spiritual vacuity of the modern age – and the vacuity not merely of ordinary people who have ceased to attend church services.” Christianity provided the West with a set of principles, ideas, and images that bound communities together and gave them a source of history – but something about modernity undermined all this. It is the rejection of God that has made men hollow. To some extent, Eliot was certainly taking aim at modern thinkers. The ideas of H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, and especially Bertrand Russell can be detected throughout the poem in the phrases of the Hollow Men. Kirk wrote that Eliot considered these skeptics and ideologues to be “the intellectual enemies of the permanent things, those who wander amusingly into contrived corridors of the spirit – and beguile others, less gifted, after them.” Their doubt metastasized into a kind of cultural cancer, eating away at the life-giving roots of tradition. Human hollowness, however, besides being a cultural phenomenon, is perhaps even more fundamentally a personal experience. Throughout the poem, Eliot writes of the intense loneliness of life in “death’s twilight kingdom.” It is a powerful evocation of the finitude that all human flesh is heir to, an almost-Lenten reminder that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Human nature is cursed, and we hollow men desperately need rescue. Understanding the context of Eliot’s private life makes “The Hollow Men” even more painful to read. In 1915, he married Vivienne Haigh-Wood; the couple was never happy – Eliot later wrote that to him the marriage “brought the state of mind out of which came The Waste Land.” She was plagued by a variety of physical and mental health issues, and he kept up a lingering and deeply unhealthy relationship with an American lady named Emily Hale. The Eliots separated in the 1930s, and Vivienne eventually was committed to a mental hospital where she died in 1947. Distressing as it is to admit for an admirer of his poetry, T.S. Eliot was a sinner struggling with the same hollowness we each face. Just beneath the surface of “The Hollow Men,” though, careful readers might detect a faint hope for redemption. In his interpretation of the poem, Russell Kirk pointed out the image of a rose near the center of the text. In his reading, it represents a kind of timeless love, a grace that can redeem us from this hollow condition. “A man who has emptied himself of vanity and fleshly desire may struggle through suffering to that rose,” Kirk wrote, “but a Hollow Man, a stuffed man, stirred only by the wind of the dead land, circles endlessly round the prickly pear.” The end of the poem suggests what emptying oneself of vanity might look like. Snatches of the Lord’s Prayer burst forth as the narrator contemplates the Hollow Man’s strange condition of in-betweenness. The familiar line “For Thine is the Kingdom” stands out as both a reminder of the transcendent and an indication of the pilgrimage for spiritual renewal upon which the Hollow Man must embark. As one of the assigned texts for the Ash Wednesday service instructs, “rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.” “The Hollow Men” marks a kind of turning point in Eliot’s poetry and life. From the nadir of spiritual despair it represents, he embarked on a religious journey is search of true peace. Ultimately, that quest culminated in his own baptism and the stunning mysticism of “Ash Wednesday” and The Four Quartets. He lived out a kind of earthly purgatory, a “long Lent” until he discovered that we find “Our peace in His will” and that “all shall be well and / All manner of thing shall be well.” Western civilization is desperately in need of this Lenten humility because the dominant forces in contemporary politics and culture are fueled by a kind of bitter hubris. On one hand, secular liberalism leaves people uprooted in the gale of perpetual revolution. On the other, reactionary postliberalism reduces religion to a tool of political utility rather than the soul-saving relationship it ought to be. In both cases, ideology leads to spiritual poverty and social disaster. Eliot, by contrast, provides a model for serious cultural engagement that avoids these ideological excesses. His faith is not “The hope only / Of empty men,” but rather a principle that can give order to the soul and to the commonwealth alike.

The official entry of Cuba as an associate member of BRICS on January 1, 2025 was turnpoint in the island’s international policy. This achievement, recognized by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla on the social network X, reflects a strategic advance that challenges the historical efforts of isolation promoted by the United States

The recent expansion and shifting objectives of the BRICS bloc suggest an escalating rivalry between its members and Western liberal economies – and a potential threat to the status of the US dollar within international trade

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Brazil have agreed to further strengthen their cooperation in areas of agriculture and food security

Moscow obliterated thousands of NATO advisers so far (or likely tens of thousands at this point). These troops are often embedded with the regular Neo-Nazi junta forces, usually acting as commanding field officers. Their training and access to NATO ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) makes them priority targets for the Russian military. Thus, unless they have an insatiable death wish, they should leave immediately.

Russian security service recently dismantled a Ukrainian-led plot to kill a Russian cleric.

Kaja Kallas declares China an enemy of the EU.

Casting has just been announced for The Wizard of the Kremlin, an upcoming Hollywood movie about Russian geopolitics leading up to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The biggest star involved is Jude Law, who is slated to smear his face with greasepaint and his hands with blood as President Vladimir Putin.   Law has a great challenge ahead of him. Being the Russian President is a tough part to play for any actor – apart from Mr. Putin himself, if the film’s main message is to be believed.  The Power-Play’s the Thing!  The movie is based upon a 2022 French-language novel of the same name by Italian-Swiss political scientist Giuliano da Empoli, the paperback edition of which has just been released in English. Da Empoli’s book is very clearly based upon the career of Vladislav Surkov, ‘Putin’s Rasputin’, the former chief spin-doctor for the Kremlin, now retired. The author did not have to go far when devising his plot; he just took popular accounts of the real-life Surkov’s story and put the main events into the mouth of a barely fictionalized version of the man re-named ‘Vadim Baranov’, who acts as the first-person narrator throughout.  During his two decades spent at Putin’s side, Surkov busily went about transforming the reality of Russian politics and foreign policy itself, earning himself the soubriquet ‘The Demiurge of the Kremlin’, after the evil godlet from Gnostic thought who was supposed to have created the fallen and fake world of physical matter which surrounds us.   Like the real-life Surkov, Baranov starts out from a background in avant-garde art and theater, but, tempted into the realm of politics by Putin, Baranov soon prefers to work at staging coups and wars rather than normal art. Life in post-Soviet Russia had been nothing but a series of swift scene-changes, Baranov perceives: from Communism, to the hyper-free-market, to democracy, and then, under Putin, back around to dictatorship again. Through such social metamorphoses, reality is revealed as being inherently malleable, with the post-modern, post-Soviet, Russian State supported by media-driven narratives every bit as much as by Kalashnikovs.  Yet, as Communism and capitalism alike both failed Russia, culminating in national bankruptcy and social chaos by the end of the 1990s, the Russian people began longing for a more durable backdrop for their society that might finally yield stability. As Baranov says: “Gorbachev and Yeltsin had led a revolution, but most Russians woke up the next day to a world that was unfamiliar, one they didn’t know how to navigate … They had grown up in a nation and now found themselves in a supermarket.”  All the World’s a Cage  In both real-life and in da Empoli’s book, a pivotal moment comes when a reality-TV show in which the public had to vote for who had been the greatest Russian of all time was won not by Tolstoy or Pushkin, as its creators had expected, but by Josef Stalin. So embarrassed were the showrunners that they doctored the results so someone slightly less genocidal could triumph – the 13th-century military prince and saint Alexander Nevsky, on the grounds that “at least he was a warrior not an exterminator.”  Clearly, Russia’s age-old love for a strong leader to protect them from perpetual war was the one facet of reality that could not be banished from the national consciousness. Instead, Baranov, the stand-in for Vladislav Surkov, realizes the stage has been set for a new Stalin-aping Great Dictator in the form of Putin, referred to throughout the book as “The Tsar,” as well as by his true name.  Putin’s initial ascent to the presidency was arguably facilitated by a literal act of political theater, in a series of apartment block bombings which took place in Moscow in 1999, officially at the hands of Islamist jihadis from the breakaway Russian province of Chechnya, but allegedly the true work of Putin’s old friends from the KGB (later GRU). Coming conveniently just prior to Russia’s 2000 elections, they allowed Putin, then Prime Minister, to make his name as the military strongman who would restore glory and safety to Mother Russia by launching a brutal revenge-invasion against Chechnya, thus facilitating his subsequent landslide selection to the top role of President.    From this point onwards, the novel argues, the main purpose of Russian political life became to manufacture a series of artificial ‘perma-crises’ modeled after the original 1999 Moscow apartment bombings that were used as a pretext to invade Chechnya. Therefore, Baranov helps create a whole litany of purportedly imminent threats to the national soul and national borders alike from ‘pedophiles’ in Brussels, to ‘Satanists’ in Washington, to ‘Nazis’ in Ukraine, with ‘Putin the Protector’ then posited as the only viable solution to them, just as his predecessor Stalin had once been in relation to Adolf Hitler.  Irrational Actors  The only trouble was that, as soon as he donned his costume as Dear Leader, Putin immediately turned out to be a committed method-actor straight from the Stanislavski school, becoming “the actor who puts his own self on stage, who doesn’t need to act because the role is so thoroughly a part of him that the plotline of the play has become his own story, flows in his veins.”  Putin successfully plays the tyrannical though necessary national leader because he really believes in it; his stage-presence becomes so all-consuming that everyone must play along or face the consequences, as in old Stalin-era Soviet show-trials. Studying the obviously fake contents of such show-trials, Baranov perceives so many of the Russian public believed them at the time because of their sheer narrative strength and emotional potency, not their plausibility, much as enraptured viewers suspend disbelief when watching a Hollywood fantasy. The only true necessity of any successful political message is that of narrative consistency: although Russia has 120 TV channels, under Putin, “those channels all tell the same story.”  Besides the kind of legal dramas the Stalin show-trials represented, war-films are also quite poignant and capable of shaping a national narrative. Why should Baranov not do the same with Ukraine? Like Surkov in real life, Baranov thinks the wars of the future will be fought more over narratives than territory, complaining of how fools in opposition NATO militaries “pursue naïve objectives, like victory”, when really “war is a process … [whose] goals extend far beyond military success. The fact is that it is important for us never to succeed completely, never to let our conquest become definitive”. If the ‘Nazis’ in Kiev can remain never quite fully vanquished, just perpetually on the ropes but still dangerous, as in today’s half-frozen front-lines, the scripted public need for Putin to continue acting as the nation’s ‘indispensable’ protector will never disappear.  “This war is not being fought in the real world,” continues Baranov, “it’s being fought in people’s heads. The importance of your actions on the battlefield isn’t measured by the number of towns you’ve taken, but by the number of brains you’ve conquered.” Try telling that to all Ukraine’s and Russia’s dead and injured, or their mourning families …  Overall, The Wizard of the Kremlin is an excellent read, and I look forward to the movie. The only real criticism I have is that, despite all the many incredible political crimes it reveals, Giuliano da Empoli’s book is, sadly, only all too believable. 

Indonesia should consider urging the BRICS to let its newcomers borrow money from the alliance’s lender New Development Bank or NDB, according to an analyst

What is the BRICS and who are the members?

Kenyan experts have shared their views on the country's desire to join the group

Trump might be bent on “ending the Ukrainian war”, as he puts it, but there will be plenty of other wars to be fought. And many of them will be fought over minerals for energy and for the superpower’s AI race—in the Arctic region, Latin America, Africa, and elsewhere.

The UK still insists on American support. This is clearly a desperate attempt to ensure escalation, even worse than sabotaging the peace deal that could've ended the special military operation (SMO) in mere weeks. It remains to be seen how the Trump administration will respond to this, but given the disastrous meeting between Trump and Zelensky, as well as the resulting moves by the US, continued support is unlikely.

Latvia advances Russophobic policies.

Trump will continue to normalize with Russia even if Kiev and the EU do not agree to it.

From blowing up at Zelenskyy to fast-tracking Executive Orders, what can we learn from Trump’s recent behaviour?

UAE firm that was allegedly paid for consultancy work says it has never heard of the asylum accommodation provider

President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to end the Russo-Ukrainian war, and the details of that peace are becoming clear. Washington intends to use sanctions to cajole Russia into negotiations while pressuring Ukraine to accept the loss of its illegally annexed territories. The war shall cease along current lines of control and European peacekeepers will be deployed. The use of U.S. or NATO mission forces is up for debate, with even Defense Secretary Hegseth seemingly unsure about what exactly America’s Ukraine policy is; Hegseth recently stated that it was the position of the Trump administration that Ukraine should not join NATO nor attempt to regain territory lost since 2014, but then had to walk back those comments the next day, presumably for being too concessionary to Putin.  Ukraine’s inability to regain the territories seized by Russia since 2014 or 2022 is another ‘realistic observation.’ Both Ukraine’s ineffectual 2023 counter-offensive coupled as well as the costly yet steady Russian advance since spring 2024 do not suggest that full liberation will be forthcoming. Kyiv’s difficult position is primarily the result of the Biden administration’s slow walking military aid and restricting the circumstances under which US-supplied weapons could be used, despite referencing the U.S. as the world’s “arsenal of democracy.”   Even so, Ukraine’s martial capacity to reclaim its territory must be put aside. Russia’s war economy—and thus military-industrial strength—may collapse before either the Ukrainian or Russian frontline, dramatically changing the war. That must be the backup plan when, not if Putin and his thugs prove to be dishonest negotiators. But if peace is the first plan, it must not be “peace at all costs.” If a ceasefire agreement will accept these ‘realities’ on the ground, the United States must never acknowledge Russia’s invasion as legitimate. The “temporarily occupied territories” of Ukraine, as Kyiv refers to them, must remain “temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.”  Firstly, it would be the greatest moral cowardice. Russia invaded Ukraine to destroy Ukrainian statehood, subjugate the Ukrainian people, eradicate the Ukrainian language, and exploit their land and labor. Russians have waged this war by razing cities, bombing civilians, executing and raping prisoners, and kidnapping thousands of children. Allowing that to continue unpunished in occupied eastern Ukraine and Crimea is revolting; legitimizing it would be a shame too great to consider. If the war ceases or even pauses, along the current front, the United States and Europe must assist Kyiv’s efforts to reclaim those territories. Sanctions and other levers must remain in place to coerce and convince Moscow to relinquish the territories it has taken. If military force cannot do the job, diplomacy must, even if it takes generations.  There’s historical precedent to outright ignore Moscow’s conquests diplomatically while maintaining some diplomatic relations. After the Soviet Union occupied the independent Baltic states in 1940, as part of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the United States never ceased recognizing independent Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. When Soviet oppression retreated starting in 1990, the U.S. mission continued there as if the ties had simply been inconvenienced. Every official U.S. map should make it clear that all of Crimea, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Zaporizhia belong to Ukraine.  Leaving Ukrainian people and land permanently imprisoned within Russia is no path to peace. The United States won great political victories and made great blunders during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. The integration of former Warsaw Pact states into NATO and the EU was a great success in pushing back against the imperialistic center that is Moscow. The Baltic States have become economic and democratic powerhouses, whose contribution to NATO is often underappreciated, as detailed in a report by the Congressional Research Service. At the same time, diplomatic missteps like George H. W. Bush’s “Chicken Kiev” speech encouraged Russians not to see Ukraine as a legitimate nation. Moscow sold the lie to its citizens that it was fighting al-Qaeda equivalent extremists in Chechnya, securing domestic support at home while enabling Putin to engage in adventurism abroad, as Jeffrey Mankoff writes in Empires of Eurasia. Many Americans are familiar with the conspiracy theory that George Bush allowed 9/11 to happen as a pretext to launch a global war on terror; this is obviously on true, yet many would be surprised to learn that the Russian equivalent of 9/11, the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings which precipitated an invasion of Chechnya, were most likely carried out by the Russian government at the direction of then prime minister Putin.  If Kyiv is forced to amputate its stolen territories, there’s no excuse to withhold NATO membership. Russia’s internationally recognized borders already encompass lands that have no business being Russian. The enclave of Kaliningrad was foolishly given to the Soviets in the 1945 Potsdam Declaration when it should have remained German or at least been given back to Poland. The former option was of course unacceptable politically in 1945, and while the latter would have left the city in Communist hands until 1989, at least the city variously known as Königsberg or Królewiec would be free today. Now, instead, it is a thorn in NATO’s side. Russian propagandists regularly demand that Russia at least seize a corridor through Poland and Lithuania to unite Kaliningrad with the Russian mainland. Finland ascended to NATO in 2023, despite its historic sovereignty territory still being held captive by Russia since the Winter War of 1939. If the West must take the “realist” position in its cruel abandonment of conquered Ukrainian territory, it has no historical or geopolitical justification to leave the rest of Ukraine open to future invasion under pretenses of “armed neutrality.”  A deal that provides no peace, no security, and no justice is not a deal that’s built to last. Treaties that give recognition and breathing room to violent, expansionist tyrants are an especially dangerous risk to both national interests and honor. If Washington prioritizes ending the conflict in such a way that gives Russia free rein to continue to menace Ukraine, it will precipitate only more violence. The Russians will continue to have the strategic room to maneuver and political motivations to slice out chunks of other free nations, threatening either a wider European war or the slow extermination of freedom across their claimed sphere of influence. Neither of those outcomes is worth a temporary silence from the trenches in Donbas, Kharkiv, and Kursk. 

With Indonesia joining the BRICS, a platform looking for strengthening South-South Cooperation and setting into motion a new world order, it now accounts for 40 per cent of the world population and 35 per cent of the global gross domestic product

The formal admission of Indonesia as a full-fledged member of BRICS has given a significant boost to this block' aspiration to emerge as an alternative to the western-dominated world economic order. With the entry of Indonesia, BRICS now represents 35 per cent of global GDP and 45 per cent of the global population

Malaysian Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said some may argue that BRICS lacks the cohesion necessary for long-term stability without a unifying force, and ASEAN’s 50-year track record is a real-time case study of how political and economic diversity can coexist while fostering peace and prosperity

While Trump's exchange with both Macron and Starmer was unpleasant, he still seems rather ambivalent. At one moment, he's calling for "the killing to stop", but praising "American weapons and good Ukrainian soldiers" in another, stressing that his decision to supply the "Javelin" ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) was supposedly "instrumental".

In spite of the more diplomatic approach of the Republicans, tensions between the US and Russia are far from over.

Rubio says NATO's biggest problem is that some members don't even have armed forces.

When it comes to the special US-Israeli relationship, there might be a price to pay, and Trump is sending Israel the bill. Israel might even stop turning a blind eye to Ukraine’s neo-Nazi problem and thus join countries such as Poland and Hungary, who have voiced their concerns about it.

China’s huge growth and trade success have driven the expansion of the Brics alliance — now is a good time for the global South to rediscover 1955’s historic Bandung conference, and learn its lessons, writes Roger McKenzie

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz today urged more South-east Asian countries to consider joining Brics, saying the move could enhance Asean’s reach beyond the region

India will host the BRICS Youth Council Entrepreneurship Working Group Meeting from March 3 to 7, 2025, focusing on youth entrepreneurship for sustainable growth. Around 45 representatives from BRICS nations will discuss strategies to boost entrepreneurial collaboration

Russia predicted this would happen, as its Foreign Ministry warned that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is "expected to issue a decision on the fabricated case against President Dodik". The Kremlin also said that the charges against him are actually aimed against the entire Serbian people and are arbitrarily imposed by Schmidt who illegally poses as the High Representative.

According to a Ukrainian official, the local people want peace and there is no support for Zelensky's war plans.

Ursula von der Leyen delusionally describes Ukraine’s supposed reforms as “impressive”.

For over a year, openDemocracy has worked to reveal how military enables abuse then closes ranks around perpetrators

The BRICS group of emerging-market powers — the acronym stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — has gone from a slogan dreamed up at an investment bank two decades ago to a real-world club that controls a multilateral lender

Problems with settlements in Russian-Chinese economic relations have seriously damaged bilateral cooperation, causing concern among entrepreneurs. Lost profits for exporters, losses for purchasers, the search for “grey” payment schemes, and rising prices for goods for the end consumer are forcing Russian businessmen to look with caution in the direction of China

The growth economies are only a few decades old. They are overcoming the hurdles of their colonized past. Now their influence is growing in a world order which hasn’t kept their interest at the core

UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer is looking to pitch the plan to Donald Trump, masking it under the "readiness to deploy British troops as a security guarantee for a free, sovereign and democratic Ukraine". However, as Moscow is perfectly clear that it won't tolerate any NATO occupation forces, this proposal makes no sense – unless Starmer is trying everything in his power to sabotage an actual peace deal, just like Boris Johnson did back in 2022.

New German leader may be more bellicose than his predecessor.

Biden ended his term with the lowest approval ratings since George W. Bush in 2009.

Trump’s plan to detain migrants follows a long history of the US locking up vulnerable people at the camp

Few things are as important in South Africa’s agriculture as working to expand export markets. We have a sector that has more than doubled since 1994. In addition to improving farm productivity, export growth is one of the key growth catalysts in South Africa’s agriculture

To assess the foreign policy preferences of potential BRICS partners, it is interesting to look at their voting in the UN General Assembly. It is clear that their results should not be taken as absolutes, and the real political practice of states is not limited to voting results and is not determined by them. But these votes are also symbolically quite important, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Oleg Barabanov

The latest expansion underscores BRICS’ evolving mission to foster global cooperation and promote a multipolar world order. The move also dismantles the widely held myth that BRICS is inherently anti-Western, demonstrating its commitment to inclusivity and multilateralism

The US military is by far the largest spender of the federal budget (nearly a seventh of around $7 trillion). So much spending has been unchecked for decades and always without regard for efficiency, which is why Trump keeps insisting that he can make the Pentagon "just as effective but for half the money".

Trump’s adviser said that the US will reformulate relations with Russia.

The Argentine president allegedly participated in a cryptocurrency scam.

Ambitious expansion meets internal divisions as the bloc strives to redefine global power dynamics

The Rio de Janeiro City Hall has established a committee to coordinate all activities and projects related to Brazil's presidency of the BRICS group this year, including the BRICS Summit in July, according to Xinhua, citing a report by the state-run Agencia Brasil

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Indian counterpart that Beijing is willing to work with India to improve bilateral ties

US foreign policy frequently reminds a swing of a pendulum, oscillating between “countering” either Russia or China – sometimes attempting to pursue both trends as in Biden’s “dual containment” approach. It does not mean that such a turn is irreversible or that the pendulum will never oscillate again.

Arestovich says he will punish Zelensky and his allies if elected president.

"When you look what Russia is producing now in three months, it's what all of NATO is producing from Los Angeles up to Ankara in a full year."

How will Europe arm itself with excessively expensive energy sources?

Inability to decouple from a reliance on elements sourced from China not easy for the US and the rest of the G7

Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are working on a comprehensive plan for the main areas of cooperation for the next five years, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told

Russia says BRICS nations will surpass half of global economic output in 10-15 years, signaling a shift in power that could challenge Western dominance

The mainstream propaganda machine officially calls these proposals "December 2021 Russian ultimatum to NATO". In reality, this supposed "ultimatum" was nothing more than the rehashing of several treaties between the USSR/Russia and the US. Tragically, it took millions of dead, maimed and displaced Ukrainians for everyone to take them seriously.

According to the Estonian politician, the EU should focus in arming Ukraine to give it diplomatic advantage.

Achieving European autonomy from the US remains a challenging task.

Iain Anderson’s newfound love for Labour has raised eyebrows across Westminster and worried some in the party

After the historic 16th BRICS summit held in October 2024, three African States Algeria, Nigeria and Uganda, among others in Europe (Belarus and Turkey), Asia and Latin America, recognizably became BRICS+ partner states. In total, thirteen countries received BRICS partner status

The original BRICs concept was predicated on bringing together the largest economies in the EM space from across the world

Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who now chairs the BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) said after meeting with Uruguay's President-elect Yamandú Orsi at the latter's transition headquarters that the South American country was “best positioned” to access financing at lower rates for digital, social infrastructure, and education developments

Jointly designed by several top Russian military design bureaus, including "Vega" and CRET, ROFAR is quite literally a quantum leap in advanced detection systems. Instead of standard radio wave emissions for detection, it uses photons that give an actual image instead of a radar signature. In a way, it can even be argued that it's not even a radar, but an entirely new technological concept that needs a name of its own.

While Trump conducts the American withdrawal from Eastern Europe and Washington plans pivoting to the Pacific, Western European leaders in turn seem to be just lost.

European states are about to send a new aid package to Kiev, despite the advancement of the diplomatic process.

China still lags behind the US and Russia as a nuclear power.

The action needed is affordable and would be politically prudent for the Labour Party

The United Arab Emirates, with its strong economy, strategic location and flexible foreign policy, is a crucial addition to the bloc

India sees BRICS as a valuable economic gateway, offering access to diverse markets and opportunities. The expansion of BRICS to include new members, like Saudi Arabia, which is still in the process of joining, further enhances the grouping's relevance

Concerns about inflation and lack of growth are the dominant themes across the world economy these days, though one of the macro indicators that appears to be at times no less important is job creation

EU’s military stocks are reportedly “empty”.

”During the BRICS Summit last October 2024, hosted by Russia in Kazan, President Putin has made a smart move: No new BRICS countries were immediately admitted, but a pre-cursor to BRICS was established, the so-called associate BRICS countries. They benefit from the same basic trade rules as do the full-fledged BRICS, namely trading free of inter-country tariffs and in their local currencies. Not in US-dollars. This offers an extraordinary opportunity for expanding free trade among the Global South, thereby establishing a new global market pole, the Global South, with the BRICS at the core.”

EU are in a state of panic due to fears they’ll be forced to pay for Ukraine’s security.

The EU/NATO is "determined to defend a sovereign, democratic Ukraine", but only while in a pack. However, when someone needs to step out of the pack and cross into the territory held by the Bear, there's nothing but squealing.

The rating agency China Chengxin Green Finance Technology (Beijing) Ltd. (CCXGF) has assigned SIBUR an ESG rating of A-, making SIBUR the only Russian company to receive a rating in CCXGF's highest category. SIBUR also ranks among the top 10 in CCXGF's ESG rating of global chemical companies

The US dollar’s dominance in global foreign exchange reserves is steadily waning, with the latest figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showing a sharp decline to its lowest level in nearly 30 years

Russia has significantly increased its fish and seafood exports to China, achieving a record USD148.7 million in crab sales in November, RIA Novosti reported, citing data from Chinese customs

The Kiev regime keeps trying to boycott Russia-US diplomatic talks.

White House official suggests withdrawing US troops from the Philippines on condition.

By collaborating in areas such as trade, infrastructure development, and sustainable growth, BRICS nations seek to amplify their collective influence on global decision-making processes. They emphasise the need for a world order that reflects the evolving realities of the global economy, wherein emerging markets play a more significant role

In recent years, the BRICS bloc — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — has evolved into a formidable force in global geopolitics, providing an alternative voice to the traditional Western-dominated international institutions

Indonesia’s unique opportunity with BRICS emphasises how it can navigate the new multipolar order while preserving its non-aligned and democratic values. As Indonesia considers joining BRICS, it stands at a crossroads, where aligning with emerging powers could unlock new growth while also challenging its traditional diplomatic principles, taking public benefits and strengthening global collaboration, writes Joko Susilo

Apparently, Zelensky the Necromancer didn't get the memo that his troops have already "defeated" the Russian military, because the numbers they're giving suggest they've "destroyed" it at least twice. And yet, Moscow "somehow keeps reconstituting" itself.

Trump’s task force to declassify secret CIA documents and his threats of auditing the Pentagon (with Elon Musk in charge of that) should also be interpreted as displays of power and statements to obtain leverage, just like many of his other “madman” actions.

France calls for European meeting to respond to Trump's initiatives.

Without American weapons and support, the collapse of the EU’s policies for Kiev is in sight.

Global public opinion is biggest obstacle to Trump and Netanyahu’s plan, with Israel already seen as a pariah state

The development of technology does not necessarily lead to the prosperity of nations. One significant obstacle to achieving equitable economic growth is the presence of monopolies

The UAE is harnessing its BRICS membership to accelerate global economic growth, boost cross-border trade, and drive infrastructure development worldwide, panelists said during a panel discussion at the World Governments Summit (WGS), taking place in Dubai

As Russia, China unite with new members, West faces growing push for financial reform

Ukrainian president is desperate to save his government from collapse.

Europe remains belligerent in supporting Ukraine and opposing Russia.

Lithuania's Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene says that "Europe must not be under the illusion that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin are going to find the solution for all of us" and that the "mighty" Lithuanian military "stands ready". Estonia is also threatening to "directly intervene" and "help Ukraine finish off the perpetually losing Russian military".

Three years into Russia’s war against Ukraine, refugees in the UK face uncertainty, displacement and separation

After the historic 16th BRICS summit held in October 2024, three African States Algeria, Nigeria and Uganda, among others in Europe (Belarus and Turkey), Asia and Latin America, recognizably became BRICS+ partner states. In total, 13 countries received BRICS partner status

Victoria Panova, who is head of BRICS Expert Council-Russia, tells Mustafizur Rahman about the philosophy and journey of the grouping in an interview with New Age

BRICS offers a free, equal, global platform that brings together countries with different political systems

Latin America needs to strengthen sovereigntist movements and pursue independent policies. The multipolar world will certainly be there to provide full support in any way it can.

Even a peace deal will not put an end to problems in the region or tensions in Europe. US-funded Ukrainian radical nationalism will not just go away overnight. Likewise, there is no easy way out of Ukraine’s structural problems with endemic corruption and criminality. When it comes to the Ukrainian crisis, unfortunately, the end is not the end.

The Hungarian leader does not believe that the bloc knows how to react correctly to American threats.

Zelensky continues to reject the possibility of extending the gas transit agreement.

Human smugglers thrive off the vulnerability created by migration policies – but it doesn’t have to be this way

The combined strength of heavy-weight emerging markets and developing countries would reinforce BRICS' ongoing efforts for a more stable and just international financial system and raise the representation and voice of developing nations in global governance

Ethiopia is interested in expanding cooperation and strengthening trade and economic relations with the Russian Federation. This was stated by Ethiopian Ambassador to Moscow Genet Teshome Jirru

The pressure toward the diversification of world currency reserves intensified after 2008, escalated following 2022 and is accelerating, as evidenced by the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia. In the past 15 years or so, BRICS have rapidly grown into a geoeconomic front of the Global South

According to official data, Ukrainians are behind a large number of crimes in Poland.

Ukraine could use Mirage fighter jets to target civilians and civilian infrastructure.

NATO was delighted to invest billions into stirring up rabid hatred, as it was the quickest and easiest way to turn millions of Ukrainians into cannon fodder that would be used in its war on Russia. After millions of dead, wounded and displaced Ukrainians, it seems this monstrous "NATO mission" has finally been accomplished. Still, the issue for the political West is – what to do with all this "dead weight" now?

Petra Molnar on the border industrial complex

Volodymyr Yermolenko on what will happen to the world if Russia wins their war against Ukraine

Georg Diez on the birth of a new form of far-right politics.

Sian Norris on the rising global far right's dependance on exploiting women.

The “new era” of multilateral cooperation in Eurasia will need not only cooperation between great powers of a “new type”, but also “new thinking” in general. This is, first of all, the task of harmonizing the dialogue between Russia and China, Julia Melnikova writes

Beijing’s and Moscow’s relationship has strengthened militarily, economically, and diplomatically in the past two decades, demonstrating their commitment to a “no limits” partnership

In October 2024, four key Southeast Asian countries became partners of BRICS, making the organisation much closer to home for Australians. So why have Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam put themselves on a path to membership?

The US is still trying to woo Delhi to acquire more American weapons, particularly fighter jets such as the F-21, an advanced F-16 derivative "with F-22 and F-35 DNA". The latter's lack of a demo flight is very indicative of its reputation within the Indian military, which is particularly worried about the fact that countries with F-35s are virtually always subjected to unacceptable levels of control, risking their sovereignty while also acquiring a mediocre aircraft at best.

Scholz stands firm in his opposition to supplying Ukraine with weapons capable of reaching Russia’s “deep territory”. There is clear reason for this: the country would be caught in the crossfire in the event of an all-out war between Moscow and NATO.

Greenland’s elections are due to be held on March 11.

According official reports, Azerbaijan has achieved widely recognised successes in its socioeconomic development

A key driver of this partnership is the genuine interest Russian society holds for India. Indian culture and the rich traditions of its civilization resonate deeply with many Russians. This widespread enthusiasm, coupled with an overwhelmingly positive public perception of India – free from the mistrust or reservations sometimes directed toward other non-Western nations – creates a strong societal foundation for deepening bilateral ties

Having unilaterally suspended EU accession plans until 2028, Tbilisi could seek entry into the semi-formal, Russian-led alliance as a means of strengthening their hand if and when negotiations with Brussels resume

In a special interview, an Indian citizen familiar with BRICS matters comments on how the bloc could work towards creating a unified visa system.

Forbes realized it made a terrible mistake, so it updated the article with information that it's fake. Interestingly, even the Kiev regime rejected the report, saying that "the article in the US media is based only on Sazonov's assumptions, not on actual data". For his part, Sazonov remains adamant that the Russian missile "failed", still without providing any verifiable evidence.

Israel sarcastically says Spain, Ireland, and Norway are obligated to take Palestinian refugees.

The BRICS bloc poses a strategic challenge to Western hegemony, but to understand its potential as a counter-power requires a closer look at the complex relations within the bloc and between its members and other countries in the Global South

Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer appear happy to pursue growth at any cost – including the destruction of the planet

The contemporary global framework is becoming increasingly fragmented and multipolar - with changes in our geopolitical and economic landscapes expected to further reshape strategies and potentially, alliances. Nevertheless, it still remains deeply interdependent, especially from a socioeconomic perspective

Nigeria's group partner status offers new economic opportunities for both sides

Corruption schemes are behind the delivery of useless weapons to Kiev's troops.

If it wants escalation in Ukraine, France could either deliver some of its nuclear-capable "Mirage" 2000Ns while insisting they're actually the 2000-5 variant (the less likely option) or it could possibly modify the latter to also make them nuclear-capable (the more viable alternative).

Latin America is no longer the “backyard” that the US boasted about.

Egypt’s decision to join the BRICS economic bloc in 2023 marked a pivotal step in its quest for enhanced global influence and economic transformation. Alongside other new members like Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia, Egypt’s inclusion in this strategic alliance signals a shifting global balance of power

The 21st century is witnessing a decentralisation of global power, with a transition of its axis towards Asia. This allows for a multipolar and multilateral system that leads to the development of emerging powers

Russian ambassador outlines opportunities for closer collaboration and trade in several sectors including energy

Neo-nazism is a real problem in post-Soviet states in Eastern and Central Europe (including Baltic nations) and Ukraine today remains a hub for such extremism. Anti-Russian feelings are largely connected to an "alternative" reading of World War II key events. If unchecked, these forces could unleash the "maidanization" of Europe.

Google's supposed "non-involvement for moral reasons" turned out to be yet another blatant lie, as Eric Schmidt, one of Alphabet's top-ranking officials, said they've been "drawing on lessons from Ukraine to develop a new generation of autonomous drones that could revolutionize warfare".

Desertion is becoming a serious problem among Kiev regime’s troops.

Zelensky gallantly gives America what is not his to give.

Malaysia’s desire to join BRICS is not a recent development. BRICS — an intergovernmental economic organisation comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia — has as attempted to pose as a non-Western, Global South economic alternative to the Group of Seven

SA can rely heavily on its own policy reforms and innovations, aided by knowledge exchange and best practices from Brics members

On Oct. 24, Indonesia’s newly minted foreign minister, Sugiono, announced that Indonesia is seeking full membership in the BRICS alliance – an economic coalition comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, among other countries – signalling a potentially transformative pivot in its foreign policy

Monstrous organizations such as USAID have been supporting everything from neoliberal extremism, moral depravity and societal degeneracy to terrorism and biological warfare.

Saboteurs also vandalize monuments and spread anti-Russian narratives in Slovakia.

Cryptos started plummeting shortly after Trump announced plans on February 1 to put large tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China.

The increasing number of African countries seeking to join the BRICS group signifies a strategic shift by the continent aimed at deepening its influence in the global community and securing new economic pathways for the future, analysts say

Bilateral trade with India booming as Russia pivots east

Former Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson has taken a daring stand that might impact international financial markets by urging his country to join Global Africa in backing the BRICS economic effort in spite of impending US opposition

According to Aleksey Arestovich, Kiev has already lost the war with Russia.

At some point, the unfortunate Ukrainian people will simply have to get rid of NATO occupation and form an independent government that would come to an agreement with Russia and finally end the conflict. The only way for them to normalize relations with their eastern neighbor is to get rid of the political West and its Neo-Nazi proxies. Even that would just be the first step, as it would take quite an effort to convince the Kremlin that all that would be genuine.

The only person Zelensky might be afraid of during election campaign is the four-star general Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who is currently serving as Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK.

A deep dive into the motivations of two key Gulf states reveals how their tensions and shifting foreign policies reverberate throughout the Middle East. By Lauren Morganbesser '24... Read more about Allies at Odds: Tracking the Rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates

Many countries are not comfortable with the dollar’s domineering influence in the global economic scene. Russia and China, two arch-rival of the United States of America and its western allies, are nauseated by the dollar’s dominant influence in the global economic scene

Vande Bharat Sleeper Trains: Now, Vande Bharat Sleeper coaches will also be manufactured at the Latur-based Marathwada Rail Coach Factory

Some of us in South Africa’s agriculture often talk of the need to grow export markets to BRICS countries. But such statements are not minimizing the relationship South African agriculture has with other regions

The wrong and non-functioning migration policy is currently leading to heated discussions in Germany. Right ahead of the federal election, this issue is severely dividing society.

Despite even allowing American law enforcement to operate in the country, thus undermining its own sovereignty, Mexico is still faced with the prospect of being attacked. If the new administration is already conducting a thorough investigation of the illegal activities of its predecessors, then it should look into the connections of the US intelligence with the drug cartels.

Ukraine’s aggressive and chauvinistic strand of nationalism alienates its neighbors and is often seen by them as a potential threat, causing ethnic and religious tensions. The matter thus extends even beyond Russian-Ukrainian relations.

There seems to be no limit to the anti-humanitarian practices of the neo-Nazi regime.

Trump is now conducting a “special financial operation” to determine where money went.

The biggest problem of Russian-Chinese interactions in recent decades is the insufficient number of joint investment projects. Why are Chinese businesses very active in working with Belarus but not with Russia on similar projects?

In the face of the intensification of global economic tensions, the central role of the dollar in international trade is increasingly being called into question. At the heart of this upheaval, the BRICS nations are seeking to free themselves from this dependence by exploring alternative solutions

Moscow is rapidly positioning itself as a top global destination for both leisure and business travelers, thanks to its vibrant cultural scene, international exhibitions, and world-class events

Scheduled for February, the US, Australia and Japan are to conduct their first large-scale joint military exercise, codenamed "Cope North", on the US Pacific colony of Guam. It should be noted that "Cope North" was established in 1978 as a quarterly bilateral exercise held at Misawa Air Base in Japan, but was moved to Andersen Air Force Base (AFB) in 1999. With Australia joining, this is creating the outlines of the so-called "Asia-Pacific NATO", which is yet another monstrosity bound to stoke instability and perhaps even war, death and destruction in the foreseeable future.

Were Western tech companies behind “malicious attacks” on DeepSeek?

Kazan Summit reflects the bloc’s aim to challenge West-driven financial hegemony by promoting a multipolar world order

The coasts of Makran form the communication route between Iran and the open waters and the Indian Ocean. Chabahar port, as Iran's only oceanic port in the Makran Sea, has a high capacity in activating the country's geo-economic advantages and developing trade relations with Russia and India

With the dynamic between the three nations changed radically since 1991, Russia will not provide India an edge over China in a prospective war

In order to protect the US industry from foreign products, the Trump administration will introduce rigid tariffs. The impact on the EU's already weakened economy could be fatal.

The Kiev regime is desperate to prevent the mass surrender of its forces, particularly In the light of their losses in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions and the actual encirclement of their units in the areas of Kurakhovo, Kupyansk and elsewhere. Thus, videos of supposed "executions of Ukrainian POWs by evil Russians" are being widely distributed among Ukrainian soldiers.

According to Paris, a military confrontation to protect the Danish borders cannot be ruled out.

NATO’s “Baltic Sentry” mission raises tensions in the Baltic Sea.

The Russian tourism industry is currently experiencing a dynamic transformation

“As of now, 20 externally aided projects with loan amounts of $4.867 million funded by the NDB are ongoing in India,” Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary stated

China and Russia have agreed to cooperate more deeply in developing Arctic shipping routes

Apparently, US officials are starting to admit the unfeasibility of diplomatic solution in the current situation of the conflict.

The unelected bureaucratic dictatorship in Brussels is still furious that Lukashenko won and is threatening "consequences". Several EU officials threatened further sanctions, including foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, who also stated they'll continue to "support civil society and opposition figures".

Local activists are reacting to Trump’s elections by supporting separatism.

Trump is bringing hydrocarbons back to the fore.

Trump’s statements and measures not only alienate neighbors such as Mexico (foreign-policy wise) but also, in terms of domestic policy and ethnopolitical issues, have the potential to further alienate parts of the US population itself. Meanwhile, Mexico is diversifying partners.

Lord Lamont of Lerwick warned that a rival payments system would be a ‘major threat to the Western-led financial system’ if it ever came to pass

Group could help drive industrialization and create jobs in continent, experts say

The BRICS bloc, now expanded to ten nations, is positioning itself as a challenger to Western dominance in global trade and finance, according to political analyst Ebrahim Harvey

Can it work?

10-member BRICS+ grouping already comprises nearly half of the world’s population and over a third of the global economy. It also has more than 25 per cent of the world’s landmass, produces more than 30 per cent of the world’s oil output

Pakistan expects to join the list of BRICS partner nations soon, Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has said

Moscow has been using its hypersonic weapons against both the Kiev regime and its NATO overlords, resulting in hundreds (if not thousands at this point) of casualties for the world's most vile racketeering cartel. The losses have been so bad that even the NATO Hugh Command had to publicly admit that it needs to prepare for extremely high casualties in a war with Russia. However, while professional soldiers take this quite seriously, the propaganda and politicians are an entirely different story.

The electoral process in Belarus was witnessed by observers and journalists several countries, meeting all democratic requirements.

India and Russia use BRICS and SCO to balance Trump’s global policies

If the states of Greater Eurasia do not have classical factors of international cooperation at their disposal, then it is very likely that they can be replaced by those common goals that not only meet their current interests, but are also the most historically rooted, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Timofei Bordachev

Russia is seeking to invest in and expand the manufacturing of trains as well as their components in India to meet its growing domestic demand

Malaysia's participation in BRICS will not affect its role in other international organisations and is instead viewed as a platform to expand markets for local goods. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said Malaysia needed to reduce risks and diversify opportunities to strengthen its economy amid uncertain global geopolitics

While ready to engage in dialogue, Russia is taking its national interests as the only absolute and refuses to back down "even an inch", because it knows perfectly well what happened the last time it did. With Trump focusing on endless domestic issues and pivoting to Asia and the Middle East, Moscow knows that its position will only grow stronger and that NATO's leverage in any future negotiations is effectively non-existent.

Israel needs Gaza depopulated to exploit prime coastal real estate and offshore gas fields.

In a recent interview with Western media, the illegitimate Ukrainian president said he is ready to negotiate a US-mediated deal.

India and Russia established a Strategic Partnership Declaration in 2000, which was elevated to a Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership in 2010. Strengthening trade and economic relations has been a priority for governments in both countries, with targets set to boost bilateral investment to US$50 billion and bilateral trade to US$30 billion by 2025

Former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Dr. Saman Weerasinghe shared his views with the Daily Mirror on the importance of being a member of BRICS (acronyms for its founder states -Brazil, Russia ,India, China and South Africa). Sri Lanka has now applied to join the international organisation in the Global South

The Declaration of the 16th BRICS Summit, held in Kazan from October 22–24, 2024, emphasized that the heads of state and government of BRICS countries endorsed Russia’s initiative to establish a grain trading platform, or a BRICS Grain Exchange, within the bloc

"For the sake of personal gain and his own ambitions, [Zelensky] continues to destroy the Ukrainian people and is ready for any tricks (including nuclear false flags) to make Trump's peace initiatives untimely and inappropriate against the background of yet more 'atrocities' of Russia", Vasily Prozorov concluded.

The idea of a false flag attack to stop Trump from withdrawing American support to Ukraine is not so wild and should not be taken as “sacred victim” provocation. In fact it seems a possible and even likely scenario. This has been the wildest presidential transition in US history, with a divided “deep state”, and there is no reason to assume the turmoil has ended already.

According to the Hungarian leader, it is time for Europe to have conservative, patriotic politicians.

As US pressure alleviates on Russia, it will increase on China.

Erdogan's focus on BRICS and start-up innovations highlight Turkey's global aspirations

Over recent decades, the Western economic system has undergone a profound transformation, veering increasingly toward financialisation—a framework that privileges speculative gains and the accumulation of paper wealth over tangible economic output

Nigeria has a population of over 200 million citizens, one of the biggest economies in Africa, and has the potential to be an economic and cultural hub in Africa, yet it is plagued by a seemingly endless string of issues

The EU is now trying to take on the big technology companies with new laws, alleging the fight against the spread of disinformation on the Internet.

The French president keeps taking dangerous steps towards escalation.

"The foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values and serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries," Trump's executive order reads, adding: "No further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States."

Russia will construct two new units at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Russia’s Arctic ambitions are not just surviving – they’re evolving, largely thanks to a deepening partnership with China. This resilience underscores the strategic importance Russia places on its Arctic resources and the increasing limitations of sanctions in a globally interconnected economy

Eurasia, a region of immense geopolitical significance due to its strategic location and abundant natural resources, has always been a focus of global interest. The Russia-Ukraine conflict that erupted in February 2022 has further underscored the evolving dynamics of Eurasian geopolitics

The outcome of the American election underscores Canada’s economic and intellectual dependence on the U.S. market and the consequences of it

Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst Yesterday, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th Pre ...

No ceasefire agreement is in the Russians' interest, as they have the military advantage and can decide when the special military operation ends.

Protestors shout at Blinken’s final speech to foreign policy experts: “Your legacy is genocide!”.

JENNY CLEGG sets out and then responds to eight key doubts about the Brics+ alliance in light of the developments at Kazan, arguing it represents a significant challenge to US hegemony and provides a path towards a multipolar world

The BRICS coalition is expanding and becoming more influential

UAE has already gone past London as world's second biggest gold trade centre

Terrified of the prospect of Russian victory, the political West is frantically looking for ways to rob Moscow of it, so they're now proposing all sorts of "peacekeeping" initiatives that would only serve as yet another ruse to remilitarize the Neo-Nazi junta and then resume NATO's crawling "Barbarossa 2.0". The United Kingdom and France seem particularly determined to achieve this by effectively securing around 80% of former Ukraine for the political West, all under the guise of sending "peacekeepers".

The new judicial system could investigate Biden admin corruption relating to Ukraine.

According to analysts interviewed by the Washington Post, damage to critical infrastructure in the Baltic was caused by accidents involving poorly maintained commercial vessels.

The Freedom Party is on the rise in Austria and will form a government. The party's program is clearly geared towards Austrian neutrality and peace in Europe.

In this exclusive interview, Associate Professor Elisée Byelongo Isheloke, spoke with Kester Kenn Klomegah about his observations, the existing challenges, opportunities and the future perspectives of BRICS+

Then, in the port, the reactor vessel was placed in the hold of a sea vessel to cover the 11000 km route to India

When the winds of change blow, goes the old Chinese proverb, some build walls, others build windmills. As the delayed defiance of the peripheries begins to breach the gates of the “rules-based” world order, the West appears to be caught in a waking nightmare, sleepwalking into a full-blown clash with BRICS

Just when we thought that Nikol Pashinyan couldn't possibly make worse geopolitical decisions, he did exactly that. As a result, he's not only further antagonizing Russia, but is doing so at a time when Azerbaijan is contemplating an invasion of Armenia. The Pashinyan regime's understanding of geopolitics is so horrible that it not only lost Artsakh, but is actually putting Armenia's very existence at risk.

The US economy will collapse if all migrants are returned.

The latest sanctions against Russia are just another example of a series of desperate-looking last-minute decisions during America’s wildest presidential transition.

Polish politicians seriously accused the Ukrainian leader of sabotaging the country’s electoral process.

News.Az presents an interview with Russian political scientist Stanislav Tkachenko, Doctor of Economics and Professor at St. Petersburg State University

The network of emerging economic powers known as BRICS is ramping up its science collaboration. Researchers need to be involved in decisions as plans develop

Segezha Group highly appreciates the potential of trade and economic cooperation with India in the forest industry complex

In the best-case scenario, the crash was a result of a number of unfortunate events. At worst, if the Kiev regime indeed knew about the flight and used it to cause the incident, it would mean that it has once again demonstrated its terrorist nature.

Trump’s promise to end the war was a “bluster”, according to Reuters’ sources

Majority of Americans support Trump’s plans to cut aid to Kiev and begin dialogue with Russia.

Recent reports from June indicate that Saudi Arabia, along with four other emerging economies, has recently joined the BRICS alliance and has allowed to expire a purported 50-year-old agreement with the United States, which stipulated it selling its crude oil exclusively in US dollars

Russia, which is mulling diversifying to urad and tur production, is keen to strengthen pulses trade cooperation with India, the government said.

It is relatively common for us to forget the recent past. The Western world formerly lauded the emergence of a new neoliberal international order established on Western principles and tenets. This resembled the manner in which the West celebrated the most pivotal times in human history. Currently, circumstances have shifted once more, and the fog is dense, complicating predictions about future events

"We are protesting against the coup d'état that took place on December 6. We are sorry to discover so late that we were living in a lie and that we were led by people who claimed to be democrats, but are not at all. We demand a return to democracy through the resumption of elections, starting with the second round."

According to the NATO boss, either Europeans spend on defense or they will have to learn Russian.

Macron continues to entertain the idea of Western troop deployment to Ukraine.

PODCAST | ep17 | with Sven Beckert, Myles Lennon, Angélica Márquez-Osuna, and Rachel Steely  We don’t think about commodities very much. They’re all around us: cotton, sugar, oil, gas, chickens, cattle, and so many other things we take for granted. But a closer look at the history of commodities tells a revealing story about the expansion of capitalism and its profound impacts on land, labor, economics, and human rights. In this episode, we talk to four scholars who study commodity frontiers—with case studies in soybeans, honey bees, renewable energy, and more—to learn how commodities have literally altered the planet and society. Listen to episode #17 (54:04) by clicking the play button below: ... Read more about Exploring Commodity Frontiers

With new alliances and emerging markets offering fresh investment opportunities, is BRICS+ quietly shaping the future of global growth?

On January 6th, 2025 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil (a country that holds the chairmanship in the BRICS this year) declared that Indonesia has joined the BRICS bloc as a full-fledged member

Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at Agbiz, highlighted the urgency for the BRICS bloc to deepen economic co-operation, particularly in agriculture during the Farming Forward event hosted by Standard Bank and Business Day at Sun City

Desertion is rampant, with thousands of NATO-trained and armed personnel fleeing. The much-touted 155th Mechanized Brigade started falling apart before even reaching the frontline. It was expected to have around 5,800 soldiers, but 1,700 of them fled, including their commanding officer who left the combat zone and urged his subordinates to do the same. At least 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers fled so far, which equates to approximately 20 brigades. The actual number could certainly be far higher, while those hiding from the infamous TCC (Territorial Recruitment Office) are numbered in millions.

Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is also running against the system. The current economic decline in Germany supports the rise of this left-wing party which is already represented in the European Parliament.

Internal disputes in Kiev are reaching a worrying level of instability, posing national security challenges.

US president-elect considers the idea of expelling Russia from new regions “unrealistic”.

Opening up to Chinese investments could boost the global economy

Over the past 18 years, BRICS has evolved from a concept into a vibrant grouping for the Global South and grown ever stronger. It has become an essential player on the international stage

Libya is considering the possibility of joining the BRICS group of emerging economies, according to the acting Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Libyan Government of National Unity, Taher Al-Baour

Zelensky may point fingers, but he himself has his own share of skeletons in the closet. By this point, any expose of corruption in the West would only fuel inquiries on the Ukrainian government’s itself, and would potentially compromise further aid to Kyiv.

"We did it in Romania, and if necessary, we will have to do it in Germany as well," former French EU Commissioner Thierry Breton stated on live TV, threatening to "enforce democracy" in Germany just like the bloc did in Romania.

The country is increasingly taking a pro-NATO turn in its foreign policy, reverting an entire history of neutrality.

European Union responds angrily to Zuckerberg no longer conforming to censorship demands.

The ascension to regional and international multilateral mechanisms is constantly being looked into and considered in accordance with Vietnam's foreign affairs guidelines, conditions, as well as capabilities

Ugandan Foreign Minister Odongo confirms the country's consideration of the BRICS partnership invitation

Indonesia joins South Africa, Russia, China and others in the group, which is viewed as a counterweight to the West

It is possible that Western countries will bet on Zaluzhny’s political skills, taking advantage of the fact that he already enjoys a certain popularity among strategic sectors of Ukrainian society.

While proud of the supposed achievement, as it would severely limit the Tu-160 operations, the Kiev regime's outlet conceded that the VKS "barely ever uses Tu-160 bombers for strikes on Ukraine anyway" and that they were last used during a massive combined missile/drone strike on November 17 last year, "the first such deployment after 550 days of inactivity". This admission alone raises questions as to why the depot was targeted.

Russia continues its slow but methodical advance across the front, with Ukrainian forces unable to mount any serious defence, making the whole meeting at Ramstein nothing more than performative that has achieved nothing substantial.

Despite an effort to gain entry to BRICS, Sri Lanka will not be able to join the organization at present due to a decision by its members at its recently concluded summit in Russia not to expand its membership right now. However Sri Lanka’s application to join the BRCS promoted New Development Bank (NDB) has been accepted

Starting from the 2025 the chairmanship in the BRICS grouping is passed on to Brazil. While there may be significant continuity in the BRICS agenda compared to the past several years, there may also be novelties and new priorities set by Brazil with important implications for the medium-term trajectory of BRICS development

At a meeting held in Kazan in Russia, Malaysia was admitted as a partner country in the international organisation known as BRICS for the time being

The attempt to keep the Patriotic Forces from participating in the government failed in Austria. Despite the Federal President's absurd political maneuvers, the Freedom Party (FPÖ) could now achieve its goal.

Trump’s bold plans are not about one man’s “madness” but rather have a lot to do with the superpower’s needs pertaining to energy and re-industrialization. These factors are also key to understanding American policies towards Europe and Ukraine. They are part of the desperate efforts of a declining and overburdened superpower to remain on top - at any cost.

However, technological failures don't seem to deter the US and its vassals and satellite states from engaging in threats of more aggression against the world. There are numerous reports that Washington DC is preparing to attack Iran, with both the outgoing Biden and upcoming Trump administrations poised to do so regardless of their supposed differences in foreign policy approach. What's more, there's talk of the US annexing not just Canada, but also Greenland and even attacking Panama. What started out as a "joke" turned out to be anything but, once again confirming America's aggressive nature.

Caracas arrested several foreign mercenaries who were planning terrorist attacks in the country, many of them veterans of the Ukrainian armed forces.

Trump unconcerned about Russia’s “threat” to Europe, complains media.

Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said BRICS is getting closer to being a G20

The president acknowledges that the war is unwinnable for Kiev and there needs to be realism on the idea of territorial changes.

As 2024 draws to a close, the remarkable expansion of BRICS stands out as the biggest geopolitical story of the year

Popularly referred to as BRICS+ this informal association of emerging economies has witnessed unparalleled transformations under Russia's chairmanship in 2024

The more reactive the West becomes, the more blood is spilled, but it already seems impossible to prevent the final outcome of this struggle - a multipolar world’s victory.

Back in 2019, I argued that the Kremlin was at least 20 years ahead of its NATO adversaries, including the US. This turned out to be not only true, but it can even be argued that the "Oreshnik" ensured this advantage grows further. Now, much unlike Julian Roepcke, who carelessly disregarded the "Oreshnik", it seems that the German military understands just how outclassed it is, especially by such weapons. Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst.

Be it “on Christmas” or not, a Ukrainian military victory is not a realistic scenario. Peace talks should therefore follow. However, while civil rights issues in Ukraine (including religious persecution of Russian Orthodoxy) plus the matter of NATO expansion remain out of the subject of any talks, there will hardly be any progress in the political and diplomatic sphere. Meanwhile, Russia keeps on making further military advances.

Ukraine mortgaged its future in the worst possible way to a US in need of conflict.

The fast-paced development of digital trade and support at the level of micro, small and medium enterprises in creating and integrating them into joint global value chains and global production networks with the help of appropriate innovative digital infrastructure and inclusive institutional architecture, offers significant opportunities for the Russian economy and Russia’s foreign trade. In this sense, the decisions adopted at the BRICS Kazan Summit can serve as a strong foundation for carrying out the corresponding transformation with a focus on regional and local readiness to implement this transformation effectively, writes Ninel Seniuk, Associate Professor at the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, HSE University

President William Ruto has expressed Kenya’s interest in joining the BRICS group and has asked for backing from China

As the curtain comes down on 2024, what does 2025 hold for developing countries in a troubled world that is transitioning to a multipolar system? This is not an easy question given that there are just too many moving political pieces, each having its influence on processes

The S-400 could've certainly been used to down the F-16 in the latest incident. The Russian SAM system can use a plethora of weapons, including extremely long-range missiles such as the 40N6E (maximum range 400 km) and the hypersonic 48N6 (depending on the variant, maximum range up to 250 km). Both of these could make short work of virtually any jet, particularly older ones such as the F-16.

Trudeau’s re-election in Canada is becoming increasingly unlikely.

Popular support for the Kiev regime is decreasing significantly in Europe.

As a discussion club widely known for focusing on global politics and world affairs, it is appropriate and timely under the circumstances that we start brainstorming and debating the possible structure of a new world order. This is because, on the one hand, the relatively stable balance of power achieved after the Second World War, writes Nelson Wong

As BRICS gets ready to welcome its new members, India is expected to strengthen its position within the bloc. With the inclusion of Argentina, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, the group is evolving from a coalition focused on development and trade to an organisation with potential geopolitical clout. In this shifting landscape, India’s strategic positioning and economic significance make it a key player in steering the future direction of BRICS

If there’s one thing the recent BRICS summit in Kazan revealed, it’s that when you divide the world into the West and the Rest, the Rest is a lot bigger and quite alienated from the western oligarchy. Much of the Rest also wants to join BRICS

The mainstream propaganda machine continues to publish nonsense about the supposed Russian casualties. However, it seems the Russian military didn't get the memo it got "destroyed" years ago and still continues to advance as "all those shovels" are doing a pretty good job.

With Trump’s intervention plans for Mexico, plus his verbal attacks against Canada, and Panama, it is quite clear that, despite Trump being apparently more willing to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine, the US during his presidency will remain a focal point for increasing tensions regionally and globally.

The attempted bribery took place during an EU meeting in Brussels, being certainly witnessed by other European leaders.

Russia’s LNG exports will amount to 33 million tons by the end of 2024.

The Kazan summit defined the essence of BRICS at a time when multilateral forums are flourishing

Ethiopia is poised to be a primary beneficiary within the BRICS bloc, Russian Ambassador to Ethiopia Evgeny Terekhin remarked

Brics members have placed the creation of a group-backed currency high on their agenda, but it will be a long time before the dollar is knocked off its global perch

This is precisely what happens when the political West keeps giving unconditional support to various extremist organizations led by psychopaths. And if you think Yevhen Karas isn't one, just contemplate the fact that he thinks "Ukraine is ready for nuclear war" because of "Stalker 2", a post-apocalyptic video game.

Despite all the political changes in Europe, there is probably no other party that is losing as many voters and influence as the Green Party in Germany. What future does Germany’s former “peace party” have?

Many EU countries are running out of gas reserves, raising concerns among experts. warns Financial Times.

Western interests are in opposing Russia rather than radical Islamist militant groups in Africa.

...

The 16th Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) summit took place in the city of Kazan, Russia with an enlarged compliment of countries attending as new members and observers

The goal of a society of equal opportunities has many sides to it. This paper will address international economic dimensions, and more specifically the issue of how BRICS and other developing countries can deal with the glaring inequities and deficiencies of the current monetary and financial system, writes Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr.

BRICS represents 45 percent of the world population and 37 percent of the global GDP, while the West represents 10 percent of the world population and 28 percent of the global GDP

Recently, soldiers murdered the father of a conscript at a recruitment center in Odessa.

Orbán works to keep Russian gas flowing to Europe.

Victoria Nuland is certainly an unadulterated war criminal, but also an extremely effective one. Organizations such as the NED should be treated as terrorist groups that serve as the vanguard of US aggression against the world. Everyone getting money from them is essentially a danger to the integrity of any country on the planet and should be treated as a dangerous foreign agent, which also explains why the US is against laws defining them as such.

Malaysia should capitalise on the growth opportunities presented by BRICS while addressing the challenges ahead to enhance its competitiveness on the global stage, say industrialists

The thawing relations between India and China signifies another step in the world’s transformation from U.S. hegemony and unipolarity to the emerging, new multipolarity

The New Development Bank (NDB), aligned with BRICS, aims for a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable world, presenting member nations with equitable and accessible economic opportunities, Russian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Evgeny Terekhin said

Trump’s war with part of the so-called Deep State might largely determine the degree of success that any of Trump’s “grandiose” plans will have. The truth is the military industry would not be content with being “just” a continental hegemon, and Washington simply cannot afford to lose positions in places like the Middle East and elsewhere.

British citizens don't believe their government's narratives about the Russian threat.

Private military involvement in Ukraine is quite limited but the largest number comes from Poland, then from the United States, and recently, many mercenaries have been arriving from Latin America, especially from Colombia and Bolivia.

As BRICS aims to expand, developing nations from Africa gear up to join the grouping, seeking to redefine their global engagement

Current analyzes and surveys show that Germans are struggling with the reality of a possible escalation in the Ukraine conflict.

A growing roster of countries lined up in the grouping carries implications for Australia’s minerals policy

It would be a big mistake for the West to dismiss the recent BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summit in Kazan – Russia’s unofficial “Islamic” capital – as an anti-Western sideshow of little consequence. Western governments might like to believe that the gathering showed a lack of unity and substance, but the reality is more complicated

President Vladimir Putin suggested that NATO sends its best SAM/ABM systems to any location of their choosing in Kiev and prepare to intercept the incoming Russian hypersonic weapons.

Polish Deputy Defense Minister said that his country’s aid to Ukraine has “hit the wall”.

Japan says it wants to resolve its territorial dispute with Russia but act aggressively.

There is no good scenario here, and one can only expect further domestic instability in the American superpower.

President William Ruto The move was revealed during a meeting between Ruto and Chinese government officials at State House

And why not when Brazil has over 200 million people and the world’s ninth largest economy, bigger even than Russia’s?

Three communiqués, two approaches, one global economy

In addition to economic cooperation, Tbilisi could reestablish direct ties with Moscow, which could lead to resolving regional security issues. This could help the country to deconflict with the two breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. And while it may seem too farfetched now, it might even result in the restoration of full ties with them, particularly if Georgia gives Russia feasible security guarantees.

Indian DM considers relations with Moscow as “higher than the highest mountain”.

Ukrainian neo-Nazis and public figures are beginning to admit their intentions to cause a nuclear catastrophe, harming their own people.

Amid a rapidly evolving global political landscape, the rise of BRICS represents a transformative shift in the worldwide political economy, promising a more equitable and multipolar world

Are we falling behind and getting left out again? Our close Asean neighbors Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam have already been designated as “Partner States” by the economic bloc known as BRICS

Malaysia is committed to enhancing economic and trade relations with BRICS countries for shared prosperity and a more balanced global economic development, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim

After NATO-backed terrorists took over Syria, the mainstream propaganda machine got the chance to do whatever it wants. However, they're still just as amateurish as ever (if not more). They're using the so-called "White Helmets" as a source, an organization that has been discredited long ago, specifically for its ties with US/NATO intelligence and various terrorist groups. The "hot story" now is the Sednaya prison, for which the political West claims it was a "horrifying torture chamber" used by the "evil dictator Assad".

Once again, Ukraine uses terrorist methods against specific Russian targets.

Russia's deployment of nuclear weapons is a deterrent to any NATO aggression.

Thailand and Malaysia are eyeing membership of the bloc of nations, including China and India, as a possible hedge against US economic dominance

India became the largest importer of Russian crude after the European Union imposed sanctions on Russian oil imports

Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan has said that the Armenian authorities are not considering the issue of joining the intergovernmental organization BRICS

The US and EU/NATO are fighting tooth and nail to destroy the Russian economy, but this has been futile. Thus, they are now resorting to what they're best at – terrorism and total war.

The German case shows that support for Kiev is a major destabilizing factor in the West.

More than 19,500 anti-Russian sanctions imposed on individuals and industries.

Nigeria saw a remarkable 189% surge in foreign capital inflows from BRICS nations in the first half of 2024, as the country intensifies efforts to join the expanded BRICS coalition

As BRICS convened its pivotal summit, in Kazan, Russia, Africa stands on the brink of an unparalleled opportunity. This meeting is not just a gathering of global powers; it is a moment of profound importance for Africa, offering the continent a unique platform to deepen its engagement with BRICS and strengthen its role in the global landscape

C. J. Polychroniou explores how Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa plan to counter the unipolar power of the US and Europe

While Donald Trump certainly doesn't want to see America blown up to kingdom come, he still has a massive political elite of warmongers, war criminals, plutocrats and kleptocrats to deal with. In order to make them happy, Trump will need to give them a "more manageable" war. And just like during his first presidency, Venezuela and Iran are "on the table".

The Brazilian crisis generates a lot of instability and unpredictability in Latin America, Brazil being a natural leader at the region—and this at a time when the continent is once again in the spotlight, with the Venezuela crisis, and Donald Trump’s plans for Mexico as well as his choice of Latin America hawk Marco Rubio for Secretary of State.

UK Prime Minister called on his Western partners to “maximize Putin’s pain.”

Russia continues to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure following Kiev regime strikes.

Turkey boosts its role as a peace mediator in African affairs.

Global interest has long been focused on Eurasia, a region of tremendous geopolitical significance because of its strategic position and abundance of natural resources

Russia is pushing for a major comeback in the global tech race, leaning on its BRICS+ partners to build a united front in artificial intelligence (AI) development

Britain's development finance institution has appointed the former finance chief of the China-headquartered Brics bank as its new CEO

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun ordered a swarm of drones to be launched at Pyongyang in order to provoke an attack from North Korea. President Yoon was to use this as a pretext to declare martial law. It's perfectly clear that the disgraced defense minister didn't do this on his own volition. Worse yet, it's extremely likely that the US ordered Yoon to launch the operation to ensure escalation with North Korea and possibly even China.

The neo-Nazi regime is not interested in any kind of dialogue, trying to take the conflict to its ultimate consequences.

Indonesia has officially become a new BRICS partner, joining countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Türkiye, Nigeria, Cuba and Kazakhstan. Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono announced this shift at the most recent BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia

Planning a trip to Russia? Well, it might be hassle free in the coming months. As per the latest news reports, Indian travellers will soon be able to enjoy visa-free travel to Russia, potentially as early as spring 2025

Indonesia's formal application to join BRICS, confirmed recently by Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Roy Soemirat, highlights the bloc's increasing appeal among emerging economies

But he cannot stop the global trend of using national currencies.

The news about China's retaliatory measures certainly comes as an unpleasant surprise for NATO's favorite Neo-Nazi puppets. They'll now have to find other ways to acquire components for their asymmetric drone strategy, although it's virtually a given that their ability to launch saturation attacks on Russian positions will be greatly diminished, as it's quite clear that nobody on the planet can match China's production volumes.

Ukraine’s “nationalist-oligarchic dilemma” in itself already is a recipe for turmoil. Add to it corruption scandals, blackouts during winter time and a draconian draft, with a President who tries to downplay more realistic figures pertaining to the number of people killed and maimed. The risk of domestic unrest in Ukraine is very real.

Problems of Syrian migrants in Europe and the expansion of the Schengen agreement will have a lasting negative impact on the future of the European continent.

Syria appears to be heading towards political and territorial fragmentation.

The BRICS-Asean partnership contains immense potential that cannot be ignored, says Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (Insap) chairman Datuk Dr Pamela Yong

Bilateral trade with India booming as Russia pivots east

While BRICS must be taken seriously, it would be wrong to interpret it as one pole of a two-sided geopolitical competition between China and Russia and the West

Even though the Neo-Nazi junta frontman Volodymyr Zelensky "confirmed" that North Korean troops are allegedly in Ukraine, the Pentagon debunked such claims – twice in two weeks.

Ukrainian army in the worst situation since the beginning of the conflict.

The BRICS Summit held in Kazan from October 22–24, 2024, brought attention to several defining factors regarding Latin American countries that will be important for the continent’s political and economic development in the near term. With the admission of two countries from this region as associate members of the bloc, the Latin American presence in the pool of developing countries seeking to increase their weight in shaping the new world order is set to grow

“The media plays a critical role in shaping global narratives, and its impact is particularly significant in the context of Africa's emerging position in the global development landscape

The 2024 Brics summit is now in the books. To better understand its significance, one should turn back the pages of history and reflect on the lessons of the past. The 1955 Bandung Conference stands out in this regard, not only because it provides the proper historical foundation for the modern-day Brics phenomenon, but also because the underlying principles of that gathering never went away

Unfortunately, gentlemanly agreements with the world's most vile racketeering cartel and its warmongering overlords in Washington DC are all but impossible. They only understand the language of raw power and that's how the actual world will communicate with them from now on.

EU economy could face ‘emergency levels’ over US trade war.

The situation in Tbilisi is escalating, with anti-government protests becoming increasingly violent and dangerous.

In a meeting in New Delhi, Indian officials and their Russian counterparts discussed, among others, collaboration on the training of Indian sailors for polar navigation, joint shipbuilding projects, and the development of the Northern Sea Route

Around 40% of Turkey’s annual natural gas demand of 56 billion cubic metres is supplied by Russia. However, payment disruptions caused by the Ukraine war and US sanctions have created significant risks for Turkey’s energy security, making the search for alternative supply routes a necessity

In the previous decade and a half, Russian and Indian political and expert circles have shaped consistent narratives describing the present and future of bilateral relations

Whether it's Wahhabism and other forms of Islamic radicalism, unadulterated Nazism, narco-terrorism, extremely violent criminal groups such as drug cartels, repulsive ideologies (ultra-liberal extremism and moral depravity), etc, NATO is behind it all and stands fully committed to supporting it. The people of Syria are now the hostages of this evil empire of lies, serving as the tragic showcase to all of us what the loss of sovereignty can cost an entire nation.

The US has consistently aided, funded, armed and trained Fundamentalist rebels who operate in Syria for over a decade and there is no reason to assume anything is different now with the newest developments. With this, Christians and other minorities are now in danger.

NATO countries want to prevent growth of anti-war political wave.

Biden admin prepares new $988 million military aid package for Ukraine.

The announcement comes after the nation and three Southeast Asian neighbors were anointed BRICS “partner countries.”

The year 2024 has already made BRICS history with the admission of new members. It seems that further expansion is only a matter of time. This change in membership numbers has effectively overshadowed the substantive agenda of Russia’s presidency at the media and socio-political levels

A proposed BRICS currency could reshape global financial markets and reduce dependence on the dollar. But there are massive challenges …

The German leader seems absolutely desperate due to recent escalation between Moscow and the West.

The genius of Russian military specialists becomes all the more apparent when one realizes that the "Zircon" was made to fit not just into the previously mentioned 3S14 VLS, but also the K300P. Back in 2023, along with my KRN colleagues, I had the chance to analyze the size of the P-800 "Oniks" supersonic cruise missile and determined that these missiles fit into identical launchers, both on naval vessels and land-based platforms.

Anti-Russian sanctions take its toll as tens of thousands of German workers are laid off.

Russian expertise also extends to flight suits, couches, rate sensors, and space-capable materials, enhancing India’s capacity in human spaceflight

In recent years , Chinese cars have rapidly gained a foothold in the Russian market, steadily replacing many Western brands

Malaysia, a fast-growing Southeast Asian nation, has often sought to balance maintaining good relations with Western nations while fostering deeper connections with emerging economies

South Korea is home to at least nine major US military bases and no less than 24,234 military personnel, and President Yoon Suk Yeol seems to be no fool. One may assume he would have consulted with his American “allies” and gotten their “okay” before proceeding with any power-grabbing endeavors.

Owing to its magnificent Confucian traditions that stress the importance of patience and self-control, the millennia-old Chinese civilization is famous for these qualities. However, even this has its limits, particularly in the face of barbaric arrogance.

The Kiev regime does not dare to ignore any Western orders, which is why the war effort is likely to worsen and a change in the mobilization law is expected, making Kiev's military measures even more draconian.

The situation has become untenable for the besieged Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk, which will lead to Russia liberating the remaining occupied territory at a rapid pace.

How should "Greater BRICS" be understood? In the future, what role is BRICS expected to play, in terms of world governance and safeguarding the common interests of emerging market countries and developing countries? The Global Times (GT) invited experts from countries that are either members of BRICS or interested in researching this grouping to share their insights

Despite its non-membership in BRICS, South Korea shares many of the coalition’s aspirations, particularly in diversifying economic partnerships and reducing dependence on a Western-centric international order

The 16th BRICS Summit has taken place in Kazan, Russia—the first in-person gathering of BRICS leaders since the group's largest enlargement. The economic scale and scope of cooperation within BRICS will grow and interactions among member countries will increase

Soldiers are deserting due to war fatigue, Polish defense minister says.

Allegedly, the plan excludes the possibility of stationing US troops in Ukraine, but envisages that European NATO members, namely the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland, take that role. However, if the WSJ's report is true, the chances of Russia accepting this proposal are virtually zero, as all four European NATO members are already involved in the fighting.

Washington announces new arms package for Kiev totaling $725 million from its stockpiles.

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) has established itself as a multilateral organisation distinct from others, evident from its 16th meeting in Kazan (Russia). The BRICS difference can be read as decolonised multilateralism with intent and behaviour as an interdependent, plural grouping, committed to development linked to the global South

Russia is in talks with other BRICS members about creating an international precious metals exchange to ensure fair pricing and trade growth, the country's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in a statement

While BRICS must be taken seriously, it would be wrong to interpret it as one pole of a two-sided geopolitical competition between China and Russia and the West

Current geostrategic developments show us that local conflicts in our global world are being used by major players to their advantage.

Not even a pitiful sliver of "justice" will be served, as Hunter Biden has just been pardoned after years of lies and false promises that this wouldn't happen.

Mutual accusations between Kolomoisky and the Ukrainian government highlight the tense domestic political situation in Ukraine.

Hundreds of Colombians have died in battles with Russian forces.

Ethiopia’s growing economic and strategic position in Africa can present new opportunities for collaboration with Brazil and other member countries within the BRICS bloc, Brazil’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Jandyr Ferreira dos Santos told ENA

The Indian government plans to triple its nuclear power generation capacity to 22.4 gigawatts by 2032, according to recent news sources

Russia's largest data center operator BitRiver has partnered with the Russian Direct Investment Fund to build mining and AI computing facilities across BRICS nations

Any such cross-border militarization as promised by Trump (with potential for some degree of armed confrontation) could have escalating consequences and unpredictable repercussions in terms of diplomatic and economic impacts, gang violence, and domestic and cross-border inter-ethnic tensions.

Turkey needs to change its expansionist policies in order to build better relations with BRICS. Ankara will need to make a far more convincing commitment, first by leaving NATO and then by rejecting Neo-Ottomanism, pan-Turkism and Islamic radicalism as tools of its power projection.

NATO, EU want to overthrow the legitimate government in the country and establish a pro-Western junta, as happened in Ukraine in 2014.

Moscow: nuclear weapons should never be used but the situation is changing drastically.

BRICS’ resilience should be understood in the context of the shifting international order, with geopolitical fragmentation providing the Global South with greater flexibility to pursue its strategic goals. For the West, engaging on the Global South’s most pressing concerns may help to foster more constructive partnerships

The two countries are working to increase trade in agriculture and food products, officials have told

Several months ago we postulated a BRICS+ business model for companies that explored the scope for exploiting the BRICS diverse presence in the main regions of the developing world. But while this business model had its clear advantages, it also contained some drawbacks, most notably pertaining to the degree to which BRICS/BRICS+ economies could be/were integrated into regional/global supply chains in the midst of mounting geopolitical risks

Ukraine’s corruption is a structural issue that impacts the economy and now is even sabotaging warfare efforts. From Kyiv’s perspective, the situation of course should not get any better with a US Republican administration under Donald Trump curbing aid.

Ukrainian citizens are divided between recruiters and potential recruits.

The warmongering oligarchy in Washington DC doesn't seem to care about de-escalation. On the contrary, the US and its NATO (and non-NATO) allies, vassals and satellite states are pushing for global destabilization, targeting nuclear-armed powers such as Russia, China and North Korea, as well as other sovereigntist nations such as Iran and Venezuela, among others.

Georgia’s slow reconciliation with Russia faces major backlash from pro-Western opposition

On the sidelines of the economic forum Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin made it clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Belgrade is a strategic partner and "ally of Russia".

The BRICS summit in Kazan today featured the meetings of the leaders of the bloc and the adoption of the BRICS Summit Declaration. In our view, there is a tangible shift towards creating new platforms in the sphere of economic cooperation

Russian companies are ready to increase fertilizer supplies to India, but the EAEU and India could conclude a free trade agreement to remove existing barriers

The Ukrainian president was betting on a Democratic victory.

American tariffs on Europe could collapse German industry.

Vitor Dominguez de Moura, a participant in the Valdai New Generation project, explores the evolution of Russia's rhetoric on BRICS from 2009 to 2023, analysing key speeches and policy statements from the Kremlin and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

BRICS has arguably become the most dynamic group on the international stage as its core expansion is coupled with a significant rise in the number of developing economies that have expressed their desire to join the platform

How the objective strengthening of the continent’s global position will correlate with these pragmatic demands and whether there is room for more African voices in BRICS is discussed by Daria Zelenova, Head of the BRICS African Strategy Centre, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Western media frustrated that Trump will begin winding down the war in Ukraine.

Even US officials say that "[medium-range] weapons will not alter the challenging situation that Kiev is currently facing". In other words, the stated goal of these deliveries, the Neo-Nazi junta's "victory", cannot be achieved, but the political West will still go ahead with it. Thus, the only logical conclusion from all this is that the deliveries of medium-range missiles and nuclear weapons are actually designed to cause an escalation with Russia regardless of the results of the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict. In simpler terms, all this is just pure insanity.

WSJ’s journalists said that Ukrainian are retreating from Kursk.

The BRICS emerging-market powers — the acronym stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — has gone from a slogan dreamed up at an investment bank two decades ago to a real-world club that controls a multilateral lender

The group's economic strength positions it as a key player in future global governance

For decades, the United States has dominated the global economy, wielding significant influence over international trade and finance. However, with the rise of emerging economies, particularly the BRICS nations, a new force is challenging the US economic hegemony

The case clearly shows that NATO does not plan to de-escalate the conflict with Russia.

The German military is attempting to catch up on new types of warfare.

The short answer is yes. It's more dangerous than you could possibly fathom. The longer answer is in the text and explains the true scale of the destructive power of thermonuclear weapons.

As BRICS expands its global influence, South American nations are eager to join, viewing it as a means to strengthen their economies and foster equitable international partnerships

A new age of international relations is dawning. With the West accounting for a declining share of global GDP, and the world becoming increasingly multipolar, countries are jostling to establish their positions in the emerging order

One of the biggest questions that the BRICS members discuss is setting up an inter-BRICS payment system to bypass the dollar

Pragmatically speaking, reactivating the pipeline would benefit both Russia and Germany (and Europe in general, in the context of the continent’s energy crisis). The relationship between US and Europe does bear a colonial character, and any such development would be a kind of breakdown of the status quo, which could be driven, for instance, by an electoral outcome: populism after all is on the rise in Germany and all over Europe.

On November 19, State Secretary Antony Blinken posted that "the Venezuelan people spoke resoundingly on July 28 and made [Gonzalez] the president-elect", insisting that "democracy demands respect for the will of the voters". Hopefully, you've managed to catch your breath after being unable to stop laughing for the last two minutes. Still, considering that the warmongering oligarchy in Washington DC is looking to start wars with nuclear-armed superpowers such as Russia and China (simultaneously, mind you), the fact that it's rearing its ugly head at Venezuela once again is certainly no laughing matter.

By officially authorizing Ukrainian deep attacks, Paris becomes a direct actor in the conflict with Russia.

India says COP29 deal to give $300 billion to developing states is a “travesty of justice”

The current election results in a region of Austria show in great detail how the political landscape in Europe will change. Established parties can no longer retain their electorate.

The BRICS group has become a major political force in the last two decades, building on its desire to create a counterweight to Western influence in global institutions

In terms of the functioning of the "Oreshnik's" warhead, the available footage shows at least 30 smaller projectiles divided into five groups (six in each). The lack of visible detonations suggests these are probably advanced kinetic penetrators capable of annihilating heavily defended and dug-in positions. This means that any NATO base anywhere in Europe and/or elsewhere would be in range, but Russia wouldn't need to rely on its thermonuclear arsenal to deter aggression.

Back in July, BRICS announced the intention to create a new payment system to rival SWIFT and further the bloc’s stated goal of de-dollarization

The current geopolitical environment is elevating BRICS into a cornerstone of Russian foreign policy. Having ruptured political and economic ties with the West, Moscow is actively re-orienting itself towards political and economic partnerships with the Global South

Tensions between Argentina and Brazil are expected to deepen.

Ukraine is reportedly asking for US Tomahawk missiles.

The incumbent Brazilian administration might be left with no choice other than to turn “anti-American” and to seek to further enhance its partnerships with actors such as China.

Are we heading for an alternative international order? What are the strategic advantages of the BRICS+? Can they embody the voice of the global South? Interview with Jean-Joseph Boillot, Associate Research Fellow at IRIS, specialised in the Indian economy and the emerging world

The Russian Business Day at COP29 served as a platform for showcasing BRICS climate efforts, emphasizing cooperation among BRICS countries and highlighting best practices in decarbonization

A joint conference was held in Moscow between the Valdai Discussion Club and East China Normal University

A recent film released in Serbia shows how the Orthodox Church is being persecuted by the Kiev regime.

EU countries unhappy with early end to G20 talks on Ukraine war.

Although they have no illusions about the actual situation on the battlefield, the Kiev regime's military elite wants to keep misinforming everyone, as peace is simply not in their interest. They see NATO-occupied Ukraine and its people as a resource for exploitation, just like their Nazi forebears did. Any sort of peaceful settlement would not only cut the cash flow, but would also uncover the sheer magnitude of the atrocities they're committing against the Ukrainian people, also forcing them to be held accountable for years of lies and deceit.

Russia is reportedly expanding its shipbuilding cooperation with India, with two Indian shipyards being considered for construction of four non-nuclear icebreakers. The project is estimated to cost a total of $713 million. The vessels will join Rosatom’s icebreaking fleet, operating in the Northern Sea Route

Data from the World Bank show that as of 2023, the bloc accounted for 27 percent of the world's GDP and 45 percent of the population. With the addition of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran, BRICS includes three of the world's largest oil exporters and constitutes 42 percent of the global oil supply, according to the Netherlands-based investment bank ING

India's crude oil imports from Russia rose by 11.7% to about 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, accounting for about two-fifths of the South Asian nation's overall crude imports in the month, tanker data obtained from industry sources showed

Military engineers are currently seen as mere cannon fodder by the neo-Nazi regime.

Evangelicalism and feminism come together in a movement that challenges patriarchy while still claiming Christian values. Graduate Student Affiliate Kelsey Hanson Woodruff introduces us to leaders of a digital Christian feminist community. By Kelsey Hanson Woodruff... Read more about Christian Feminists from Abroad Confront US Sexual Politics

European markets react to Washington’s trade war with China.

As crazy as it sounds, perhaps Kamala Harris' meaningless rant about "the significance of the passage of time" might actually make some sense in this context, as the next two months of Biden's lame-duck presidency could surely be the longest and most fateful in human history.

Despite economic decline and internal political problems, German Foreign Minister tries to show it still has big geopolitical role in the world. The latest statements by the German Foreign Minister are directed against China, which is also a Germany’s major competitor in the automotive industry.

Brazil is taking a leading role in efforts to reduce the BRICS economic bloc's dependence on the US dollar, championing the use of national currencies in trade among member states

African States are shrugging off relations with the Western and European world, alternatively settling for better beneficial economic cooperation

The expanded Brics group of nations has been making headlines with discussions about a common currency. This group, representing a substantial portion of the world’s population and economic output, has prompted debates on whether a unified currency is feasible given the vast economic disparities among its members

Germany is demonstrating that its political system is actually even worse than the one in the US, as the double standards and two-tiered "justice" system are quite obvious and even publicly supported by the political establishment.

One should closely watch Philippine claims over the South China Sea (now signed into law with Washington’s support) - together, they spell crisis. It is yet another focal point of tensions and Washington’s ongoing policies are once again adding fuel to the fire.

Both Republican and independent activists criticize Biden's decision on long-range missiles.

Over 100,000 Ukrainians have deserted the military.

The BRICS countries are representatives of major developing countries, and Africa is the continent with the largest concentration of developing countries

The loosely affiliated group called BRICS, which emerged in the mid-2000s consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and later South Africa, faces mounting challenges as it continues to expand

The expanded BRICS represents about 45% of the world’s population, USD 28.5 trillion of global gross domestic product (GDP) — which is about USD 100 trillion — and around 45% of global oil production

The NYT is essential for the promotion of the Neo-Nazi junta's narrative, which explains the rather unclear information in the "hit piece". Namely, Biden was never quoted saying or approving anything. Worse yet, not a single name of the "US officials" quoted in the report was provided. In fact, not even the terms such as "anonymous" or "unnamed" are used. All we have is "US officials", which is unprofessional reporting, at best.

Despite being irresponsible and warmonger, Scholz knows that he is a weak and unpopular political leader, completely unable to deal with the consequences of unrestricted war.

As a result of sanctions against Russia, Europe's economic situation has worsened in recent years. But now there is another bad development in energy policy.

Jaishankar continues working on Russia-Ukraine dialogue despite Biden imposing sanctions.

Actively respond to changes in India's perception of the BRICS cooperation mechanism

They buy chocolate products, finished flour-based products and much more from Moscow producers

It was the 16th official BRICS Summit with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates attended for the first time as official members

According to the Washington Post, European leaders are planning to establish a peace plan in addition to Trump’s proposals.

The average age of Ukrainian conscriptions is already above 40 in several brigades.

Footage shows massive 170 mm artillery piece "Juche Cannon" being transported on railcars somewhere in Russia (possibly in Krasnoyarsk). Its maximum firing range is 40-60 km, depending on the type of munitions used. Moscow's military industry most likely upgraded both the gun and its munitions, meaning that it" is certainly bad news for the Neo-Nazi junta.

Over the last five years, geopolitical considerations have taken an unprecedented place on the European Union's agenda. Its foreign policy, long in its fledgling stages, is finally beginning to take shape, even if it is still subject to the unanimous decisions of its Member States

The 2024 BRICS Summit will attract worldwide attention for four reasons: First, 2024 is the first year of BRICS cooperation; Second, Russia, which is Mired in geopolitical conflicts, has become the rotating chair, which is the first time for Russia to host a major international multilateral conference in its own country

The BRICS Summit 2024 makes it clear that members must align their positions if they seek tangible outcomes

Macron and Keir Starmer are now making a last-ditch effort to get the lame-duck Biden administration to officially green-light long-range strikes using NATO-sourced weapons. Talks on the issue took place in Paris, with both the UK and France adamant to see the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict escalate, especially before Trump takes office, as he repeatedly made it clear that he has other priorities.

While Trump has named “outsiders” for key positions, the choice of Latin America hawk Marco Rubio seems to “balance” them. No one can be sure Trump will actually deliver a more restrained foreign policy, but he is attempting to tame the intelligence services. Problem is whenever a US President attempted to tame them, it never ended well.

According to local sources, Ukrainian commandos are giving instructions and special weapons to Islamist militants in Syria’s Idlib region.

Elements of Zelensky’s “Victory Plan” piqued the interest of the president-elect.

Simply put, the majority of the world does not want or accept U.S. hegemony, and is prepared to face it down rather than submit to its dictates

There is a strong possibility of India-Russia bilateral trade attaining the $100 billion target by 2030, External Affairs minister S Jaishankar said

The Bank of Russia held a seminar for BRICS central banks in Brazil and presented possible areas of their cooperation in financing sustainable development

"There's one promise left that [Biden] could fulfill: being a transitional figure. He could resign the presidency in the next 30 days, make Kamala Harris President of the United States," Simmons said, adding: "Democrats have to learn drama and transparency and doing things that the public will want to see. This is the moment to change the entire perspective of how Democrats operate."

Despite his public change of speech, Rubio is unlikely to act in favor of peace with Russia.

Trump will take aim at Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductor production.

Social media can sway political opinion, and it can also cross a line. Hadas Zur closely examines a neighborhood case where politics and violence become intertwined and are propagated by social media. Content warning: some of the images in this post show the aftermath of violent acts. By Hadas Zur... Read more about How Digitization is Changing Urban Politics

Brazilian former president talked about dollar US hegemony, BRICS Bank and growing far right

Russia, currently holding the rotating presidency of the BRICS group of emerging economies, has urged member countries to create an alternative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to counter Western political pressure

After expanding from five to 10 member countries, BRICS has entered the "Greater BRICS" cooperation track. Recent reports in dicate that Cuba and Syria have applied to join the BRICS cooperation mechanism

Unfortunately, since the political West is led by warmongering oligarchies in Washington DC and Brussels, the possibility of total annihilation of NATO is the only way to ensure global peace, as Bauer himself admitted.

Trump is seen as an enemy by all established liberal politicians in Europe. It is exactly the opposite society that Europe's elites want. But most of Donald Trump's voters represent political goals of the patriotic forces in Europe.

Investigation shows crimes committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis in key Donbass city since 2014.

Pentagon establishment fears Trump will do “irreparable damage”.

In January 2024, BRICS, the influential bloc of emerging economies, expanded its membership by welcoming four new countries-Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-with Saudi Arabia also in the process of joining. The inclusion of Egypt and Ethiopia into the group marks a critical moment for Africa, as these two regional powerhouses are now poised to significantly shape not only the continent’s economic and political future but also their roles in global geopolitics

As the world closely watched the American presidential elections, the reason is clear: while around 240 million Americans have the right to vote, billions of people worldwide, who lack that right, are still affected by the election’s outcome

On paper, BRICS is a heavy hitter. But differing goals could make the road ahead bumpy

Despite signaling some degree of “restraint” in foreign policy, when it comes to Latin America, one should not expect from Trump’s new presidency anything other than the good old Big Stick approach.

The involvement of numerous Polish airports and airbases in the Neo-Nazi junta's strategic airlift operations shows the extent of Warsaw's support. However, instead of worrying about the potential consequences of this, the political West is concerned about the "control of geospatial data and its impact on modern military operations".

However, such a plan leads the country to a military and strategic impasse.

Trump’s victory has Borrell worried about the future of support for Ukraine.

The grouping has eventually evolved into an actual geopolitical bloc, with their governments meeting annually aimed at coordinating multilateral policies through formal Summits since 2009. Currently, bilateral relations among BRICS are conducted mainly based on non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit

The combined economic output of the BRICS+ countries is projected to surpass that of the G7 nations by 2045, according to a global economic forecast by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of The Economist Group

The BRICS summit in Kazan triggered further waves of discussions on possible expansion as well as the key priorities of the bloc going forward. In this regard, it was particularly important this year to hear the voice of the population of the countries of the Global South on how BRICS is perceived and which of its initiatives are supported the most

The Harris campaign "blew through a billion dollars in a few months", the largest amount of which was wasted on celebrity concerts. Over the same period, the Trump campaign got $392 million and spent $345 million, meaning that it managed to save nearly $50 million and also win the election. In addition, the Democrats wasted another $1.1 billion on "aired advertising and associated reservations". The DNC's financial appetites are very well known, as evidenced by numerous scandals involving the funneling of the so-called "Ukraine aid".

According to Olaf Scholz himself, Ukraine aid was the main reason behind collapse of the government coalition in Germany.

Manpower shortages are at the heart of Ukrainian retreats and Russian gains on the front.

Tensions in the Himalayas have been high since 2020. This latest deal is a step forward

At the forefront of the geoeconomic war of supply chains, economic corridors and trading routes is the dedollarisation movement spearheaded by the Brics collective

It is no wonder then that many countries have called for a reform of the UNSC, seeking to add India, Germany, Brazil, Japan, and South Africa as permanent members. This would provide greater representation and diversity in global decision-making, and would be a step towards a more democratic and inclusive system

While many of his deranged supporters in the political West are fuming, Zelensky chose a completely different strategy. Namely, he congratulated Trump "on his impressive election victory", sharing "fond memories" of their September meeting, when they "discussed in detail the Ukraine-US strategic partnership, the Victory Plan, and ways to put an end to Russian aggression against Ukraine". However, these outbursts of "Trumpism" are quite distasteful to most people, including Trump himself, particularly after Zelensky effectively endorsed Kamala Harris during his last visit.

The Bush-Clinton era lasted at least 28 years. Any illusions aside, in all likelihood Trump will be no match for his predecessors in terms of war-mongering, genocide and nation-destruction - and this should be good news.

Zelensky’s friendly message will not deter Trump’s plan to wind back aid to Ukraine.

Unable to solve its internal situation of chaos and political polarization, Washington tries to blame external actors.

According to the latest forecasts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the world economy is set to rely more on the BRICS to drive growth over the next five years, and China alone will contribute 22% of global growth, bigger than all the G7 countries combined

The much-awaited BRICS heads of state meeting in Russia's Kazan did not disappoint. The multilateral institution has finally brought bite and substance to many of the global financial and political conundrums that have long-challenged a genuine reshaping of the global order

The creation of the BRICS “partnership belt” during the BRICS summit in 2024 is in some respects no less significant than the expansion in the BRICS core during the 2023 BRICS summit in South Africa. While it may be too early to discuss the exact ramifications of the BRICS expansion associated with the “partnership belt”, in sheer quantitative terms the near doubling of BRICS core membership in 2023 was followed by a more than doubling of the circle of developing economies associated with BRICS/BRICS+ in 2024

Russia continues to gain valuable experience in Ukraine while the US sits on the sidelines.

Attempts to denigrate the jet have been quite persistent, but these PR "victories" have lately become more of a burden than any real advantage. Either way, trash-talking will in no way hamper the Su-57, while its missiles will certainly trash any NATO target in Ukraine or beyond.

BRICS Summit failed to announce alternative to US dollar-dominated global payment system as Global South still deeply dependent on US markets

China's approach to smart city development offers valuable lessons for countries in the Global South

The agenda of the Youth Council’s meeting of the association includes the implementation of the Kazan Declaration of the BRICS Summit for the young generation

The exemptions are related to energy and include gas, oil, "other products capable of producing energy" (specifically coal, wood or agricultural products used to manufacture biofuels), "uranium in any form", as well as the "development, production, generation, transmission, or exchange of power, through any means, including nuclear, thermal, and renewable energy sources".

The West can very quickly turn against India as happened with Russia and China.

The opposition did not recognize Sandu’s victory due to many cases of violation against basic democratic standards.

PODCAST | ep16 | with Damir Kapidžić, Denisa Sarajlic, and Nace Zavrl   One room. One locked-down camera. One roll of film. A group of famous directors from the 1960s took the challenge: they would make a short film with these parameters plus one more—their dialogue must include the sentence “I Miss Sonia Henie.” The result was a bawdy, ludicrous compilation that became an international classic. It’s featured in a new film retrospective called The Yugoslav Junction: Internationalism in the SFRY: 1958–1988. The Weatherhead Center is cosponsoring this program of short and long films from socialist Yugoslavia, which takes place at the Harvard Film Archive beginning November 9. Today we’re talking to the curator of the series along with two Weatherhead fellows from Bosnia and Herzegovina who will set up the political and cultural background for these rare films, and they’ll discuss three of them— one each from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Listen to episode #16 (38:39) by clicking the play button below: ... Read more about Rare Films from Socialist Yugoslavia

In her new book, Amy Austin Holmes recounts how a multiethnic coalition stopped a genocide, defied Bashar al-Assad, and then created a statelet to govern their region. Interview by Michelle Nicholasen... Read more about Survival and Self-Determination in Northeast Syria

The US student protest movement against the conflict between Israel and Gaza draws on tactics and symbolism from past protests, some of which were contentious yet successful. Daniel Manulak looks back at the student-led anti-apartheid movement.  By Daniel Manulak... Read more about Student Protests and Lessons from the Anti-Apartheid Movement

As urbanization and climate change impacts converge, local governments need a range of innovations to mitigate suffering, especially in the cities of South Asia. Rajshahi city in Bangladesh has taken promising steps.  By Mohammad Tarikul Islam... Read more about Cities in Bangladesh Must Refocus to Combat Climate Change

PODCAST | ep15 | with Jacqueline Bhabha, Monique Nguyen, and Maggie Sullivan  Massachusetts has long been a welcoming state to immigrants and migrant families. In the summer of 2023, its one-of-a-kind “right to shelter” law was put to the test when emergency shelters reached capacity. It was called a humanitarian crisis, and images of families sleeping on the floor of Logan Airport flooded the media. Although it is most noticed on a local level, migration is an ongoing global process that requires a structural response at all levels. In this episode, we speak to a lawyer/scholar, a nurse practitioner, and a city government official deeply involved with immigrant services and policies to better understand the scope of migration, the needs of newly arrived families, and also the varied responses of host communities. Listen to episode #15 (52:24) by clicking the play button below: ... Read more about Migrants Bring Opportunity to Boston and Beyond

Although the rules of entry and exit are quite nebulous, states get both real and perceived benefits from joining international organizations.     By Hazel Genieser ('27)... Read more about Members Only: How States Favor Friends and Exclude Rivals

The ataman (head) of the “All-Russian Cossack Society,” Nikolai Doluda, addressed a meeting of the Atamans’ Council, in Krasnodar Krai, on February 4, and instructed those gathered that “the time has come when the Cossacks are once again becoming a stronghold and reliable shield of Russia, a guarantor of unity and protection of its national interests” (Vsko.ru, February 4). The … The post As Ukraine Crisis Simmers, Russian Cossack Movement Tightens Integration With Military Reserves appeared first on Jamestown.

Judi Bola Sbobet Bonus New Member Poker QQ Idn Poker Slot Dana PKV Games PKV Games Idn Poker Mix Parlay Mix Parlay BandarQQ PKV Games Over the last several years, Ukraine’s leaders have expressed grave concern over the dangers posed to regional energy security by Russia’s Nord Stream Two natural gas pipeline. From Germany and, more broadly, from Europe, the … The post The Many Faces of Nord Stream Two appeared first on Jamestown.

Judi Bola Sbobet Bonus New Member Poker QQ Idn Poker Slot Dana PKV Games PKV Games Idn Poker Mix Parlay Mix Parlay BandarQQ PKV Games On July 28, Ukrainian Orthodox Christians celebrated the 1,033rd anniversary of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus—a remarkable annual event for Ukrainian history and another reason for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political speculations. After the Ecumenical … The post Religion as a Hybrid War Weapon to Achieve Russia’s Geopolitical Goals appeared first on Jamestown.

On May 25, just ahead of the 103rd anniversary of the First Georgian Republic’s (1918–1921) independence, Georgian protesters paralyzed the streets of the capital city of Tbilisi in the largest rally to date against the Namakhvani Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) project (Civil.ge, May 25, 26). Relatively small demonstrations against the planned dam, by locals organized under the banner “Guardians of … The post Namakhvani HPP: Georgian Hydropower Between Energy Security and Geopolitics appeared first on Jamestown.

Judi Bola Sbobet Bonus New Member Poker QQ Idn Poker Slot Dana PKV Games PKV Games Idn Poker Mix Parlay Mix Parlay BandarQQ PKV Games The Russian Cossack movement is emerging as one of the key social pillars supporting the regime, and increasingly it is taking on the mold of Kuban Cossackdom, found in the southern part of the country. … The post All Russian Cossacks Increasingly Resemble Krasnodar Movement appeared first on Jamestown.

On April 21, Vasily Piskarev, the head of the State Duma’s commission to investigate the facts of interference in the internal affairs of Russia, announced that his body was preparing legislative initiatives to combat foreign interference in Russia, including in its elections, by non-profits and non-governmental organizations (NGO). Piskarev said that “insults against Russia” will receive a “worthy response, including … The post Russia Cracks Down on ‘Foreign Threats’ appeared first on Jamestown.

On February 20, Ruslan Ablyakimov was walking in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, with two friends when he was stopped by six young men who proceeded to beat him. “Where did you come here from?” they asked, “You are from Moscow, right? What are you doing here?” Before the men left Ablyakimov, they told him, “You have until tomorrow to … The post Alexei Navalny’s Support in the North Caucasus: More About Corruption Than Navalny appeared first on Jamestown.

The foreign and security policy expert communities in Georgia (Neweurope.eu, November 17) as well as both the outgoing and candidate Lithuanian defense ministers (LRT, November 16, 19) have called for a permanent presence of United States military forces in their respective countries. These calls indicate a hope that the incoming administration of President-elect Joseph Biden will bring greater attention to … The post Georgia, Lithuania Call for Permanent US Troop Presences appeared first on Jamestown.

In the first week of August, cellphones across Russia lit up with surprising text messages. They came from different numbers, but each said the same thing in Russian: “The US State Department is offering up to $10 million for information about interference in the US elections. If you have information, contact rfj.tips/bngc.” The State Department confirmed the messages were authentic … The post US Messaging to Russian Citizens: Time to Step It Up? appeared first on Jamestown.

Recent comments by former vice president of the separatist Georgian region of Abkhazia Valery Arshba indicate a split between the older political elite and the current administration of President Aslan Bzhania (Gazeta-ra.info, October 19; Civil.ge, October 23). Arshba called for the breakaway republic to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus, “without losing [its] sovereignty.” Arshba himself has a … The post Former Abkhazian Separatist Official Calls for Joining Russia-Belarus Union State appeared first on Jamestown.