What Kremlin doesn’t want you to see. Nearly 4 years after the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has utterly failed to achieve its stated objectives while sustaining losses not seen since WW2. Now using Washington to try to get what it couldn’t on the battlefield. www.csis.org/analysis/rus...

⚡️Ukraine liberates 300 square kilometers in southern counteroffensive, Zelensky tells AFP. "I won't go into too many details, but today I can congratulate our army first and foremost —all the defense forces — because as of today, 300 (square) kilometers have been liberated."

🔴 12 years ago russia invaded 🇺🇦 🔴 12 years ago russia upended the post WWII order 🔴 12 years ago russia began committing heinous crimes in 🇺🇦 🔵 12 years of the Free World failing to stop russia; failing to call the moscow centered terrorist organization by its name

White House abandoning Ukraine and parroting Putin’s demands for territorial concessions is Moscow’s wildest dream come true. The silver lining is that leverage is roughly proportional to aid. As Washington’s aid shrinks, so does its capacity to impose its will on Kyiv.

⚡️3 toddlers, 1 other killed in Russian strike on Kharkiv Oblast. A Russian strike on Bohodukhiv, Kharkiv Oblast, killed four people, including three toddlers, and injured two others, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported overnight Feb. 11.

The Trump administration continues to hack away at the soft power branch that US hegemony sits on. Alienating America's most loyal European ally is as self-destructive as it gets.

A reminder that those who took for granted that Trump victory would be the end of Ukraine were wrong. Ukraine continues to hold Ru off despite the fact that Trump ended US aid. Ukraine has innovated and developed its military capacity, Europe has stepped up, and Ru is weaker than many assume.

“Golden Age” is literally how Turkmenbashi & his enablers referred to his rule over Turkmenistan. The man was so fond of gold that he had multiple golden statues of himself erected all over Ashgabat. To hear the U.S. Secretary of Commerce use these exact words when addressing Trump is disorienting.

What Kremlin doesn’t want you to see. Nearly 4 years after the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has utterly failed to achieve its stated objectives while sustaining losses not seen since WW2. Now using Washington to try to get what it couldn’t on the battlefield. www.csis.org/analysis/rus...

Americans know our health care system is broken. A recent poll found that 70% of Vermonters support a Medicare for All single-payer system. Congress must understand that health care is a human right — not a privilege. We must pass Medicare for All.

Kristi Noem AND Stephen Miller must go.

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Trump's relentless bullying of Ukraine presented as a "peace process" is making us sound like broken records. Like, how many times do we have to say that asking Ukraine to withdraw from its most fortified region in exchange for another useless Budapest memorandum offer is a dumb proposition?

⚡️Russia has suffered 'more losses than any major power' since World War II, report says. Russian forces have sustained nearly 1.2 million casualties since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, paying a steep price for limited gains, a new CSIS report finds.

Why “post-Soviet” is an outdated concept: We rarely describe contemporary politics as “post–Cold War”; instead, we treat the Cold War as a distinct historical period that ended in 1991. By contrast, “post-Soviet” continues to define societies primarily in relation to the Soviet past. 1/2

Also, may I say that I don’t agree with people saying ICE and CBP need “more training.” They’re doing exactly what this administration has trained them to—impose a reign of fear in blue cities. They don’t need more training. They need to be ripped up root and branch.

Great to see my latest op-ed on the digital front page of The Hill's opinion section putin lies. ALL. THE. TIME. everyone knows that. But why? My two cents here: thehill.com/opinion/inte...

Trump’s vanity and chaos are no longer shocking for anyone who has been paying attention. What is shocking is the speed with which the covetous opportunists around him have descended to levels of sycophancy that are painfully recognizable for anyone who lived in personalistic authoritarian regimes.

“The failure of self-knowledge, and the inability to see your own limits — or worse, seeing yourself as exempt from these limits — is what destroys great powers. If there’s one timeless lesson of history we can extract…, that would be it. But it’s not the lesson Trump or Miller have internalized.”

Apparently, quite a few Cabinet secretaries felt they couldn’t let January 20 pass without making the requisite statements on X. Naturally, the official WH account reposted them. It’s hard to shake the feeling that they tried to outdo one another. There are many more there but my top 4 are below:

"Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Trump loves Saudi Arabia. It’s an authoritarian society, which punishes dissent and is owned by the wealthiest family on earth. Trump hates Europe. The governments there are democratically elected. The future of America must be a vibrant democracy. Not Trump’s authoritarianism.

🇰🇿🇺🇦The 'Yurta of Indomitability' operates in Shevchenko Park. It's a care center in Kyiv, established by the Kazakh diaspora. Here, people can recharge, warm up, drink tea, and taste the signature Kazakh bread, cooked over a fire.

Zelenskyy and Ukrainians are at fault in the same way that an assault victim who refuses to stop resisting a serial killer is at fault. Predictably, Kremlin already stated that "Moscow agrees with Trump."

⚡️ Norway announces $400 million emergency package for Ukraine's energy sector, budget.

The Norwegian Nobel Prize committee has been forced to make a statement, declaring that the prize cannot be transferred. It's hard even to comprehend how stupid this has become

Venezuela may seem like a tactical loss for Russia, but in fact it's a strategic win for Putin's vision of the world. new essay: hegemon.substack.com/p/venezuela-...

Today the Pentagon censured Senator Mark Kelly and moved to strip part of his earned military retirement benefits for stating the truth. This administration is trying to convince Americans that truth is whatever it says it is—even when the evidence is plainly in front of us.

An absolute dream come true for the Kremlin. apnews.com/article/denm...

Robert De Niro sent Ukrainians a holiday greeting — a simple public gesture of solidarity at a time when silence is too common. Symbols don’t stop missiles. But they keep Ukraine visible, remind people what’s at stake, and push back against fatigue and indifference.

A reminder: Russia doesn’t want/need Donbas; it isn’t historically/ethnically special. Ru wants all of Ukraine. Receiving the heavily fortified Donbas towns it couldn’t conquer for 11+ yrs on a silver platter from Trump would allow Ru an easier 2nd march on Kyiv. That’s what Pu is focusing on now.

On this day in 1991, the Soviet iteration of the Russian Empire collapsed, freeing 14 republics of the USSR from Moscow’s rule. Putin has described this as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century and has waged war against Ukraine in an attempt to turn back the clock. He will fail.

Happy Soviet Union Collapse Day!

Today is the anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Let’s hope history repeats itself with its successor.

Some on the left dismiss Ukrainian resistance to Ru's invasion as nationalism, which prioritizes the nation's survival over other goals such as equality or climate justice that the left sees as more desirable. This misunderstands both Ru's goals and the nature of Ukr resistance. Needless to say...

It's becoming ever so hard to distinguish Trump's envoys from Putin's envoys.

Just published: our paper with Selbi Durdiyeva, taking a close look at the legacy of Angela Davis, much of the Western left and the ongoing disengagement with dissent knowledges and liberation struggles in Europe’s East, Central and North Asia, emphasising the urgent need for epistemic reparations

“This month, after Witkoff finished his sixth round of meetings with Putin, a Russian company sent him home with 11 pounds of red caviar, according to the country’s Trade and Industry Ministry. In fact, it was a mid-tier brand of roe that the company now wants to market as “Trumpovka.” “

⚡️Russia attacks Odesa Oblast with ballistic missiles, at least 7 killed, 15 injured. Russian ballistic missiles "massively attacked" a port infrastructure facility in the region, Governor Oleh Kiper said. Seven are dead and 15 injured victims have been hospitalized.

The decision from Brussels isn’t ideal. Nonetheless, it’s good to see EU stepping up. Europeans have outsourced defense against 🇷🇺 imperialism to the 🇺🇸 for too long. Whilst the current moment in Washington is dreadful for America’s standing in the world, it finally awakened Europe from its slumber.

Landed in Tashkent, plov. Samarkand, plov. Bukhara, plov. Plov, plov, plov. “Please don’t eat all our plov, Mr. Gary!” But he ate it anyway.

The fact that some of these people still have cachet in DC (i.e., Sam Charap) after being so spectacularly wrong is such a damning reflection of U.S. policy-making.

An important text by Marina Solntseva on what anticoloniality and solidarity is not, and the mattering of indigenous lives in each and every context. Glad to see a link to our text with Selbi Durdiyeva that critically analyses selective anti-imperialism on the left berlinergazette.de/why-russias-...

Kremlin wages war to force Ukraine to surrender its sovereignty. Ukraine refuses and fights back. Heroically. To say that Ukraine does not want peace because it refuses to surrender is like saying that an assault victim who is resisting wants the assault to continue.

“[A]lthough they do not name any states that might threaten America, the authors do focus on one enemy ideology. It is not Chinese communism, Russian autocracy, or Islamic extremism but rather European liberal democracy.”

Qazaqstan celebrates Independence Day on December 16th. Happy Independence Day!

Russia’s shadow fleet remains its cash lifeline. We are cutting it. Today we sanctioned several individuals linked to Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as 40 additional vessels. We will also sanction shadow fleet vessels on a rolling basis, with decisions every month. Extract from my press conference ↓

Russia’s history of violence against its neighbors predates Putin. The fact that 14 former colonies gained independence in 1991 is widely seen as a “geopolitical catastrophe.” Gorbachev is reviled because of it. Imperial revanchism is the true animating force of modern Russia. Putin uses it. 1/2

Much of the West’s misreading of #russia: its nature, its motives, its war, comes down to ignorance, sometimes inadvertent, oftentimes chosen. Here goes my best attempt to fill the knowledge gap, in collaborate with @claireberlinski.bsky.social claireberlinski.substack.com/p/the-gift-o...

A common hostile response to pointing out Ru isn't offering a settlement but demanding Ukr capitulation is to say Ukr should've taken the 2022 Istanbul "deal". Reminder: Ru demanded capitulation then too. "If Ukr had surrendered in 2022, Ru wouldn't be asking for surrender today" is a dumb retort