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

Russia's advance in Ukraine is slower than virtually every major campaign of the past century, reports WSJ. After nearly 4 years of full-scale war, Moscow still hasn't taken Donetsk province—a target since 2014. euromaidanpress.com/2025/12/12/w...

Of course it's not. Turns out Ru hasn't even fully captured Pokrovsk (a small, second-rate hub in Donbas) after the Kremlin claimed victory a couple of weeks ago now. Ru will collapse suddenly like a house of cards.

We live in a maddening upside down world in which Washington spurns European democracies whilst uncritically recycling Russia's musty imperial narratives that effectively deny Ukraine's right to sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Kremlin had to exhibit self-control to praise this only after it was published.

If you don't know what to think about the new US National Security Strategy, remind yourself that the revanchist empire waging a war of aggression against a sovereign European nation is pleasantly surprised by it. www.newsweek.com/russia-welco...

Since day one, Western reporting overestimates Ru's strength and underestimates Ukraine, subtly legitimizes Ru's aggression by repeating various Ru pretexts for the war, and overwhelmingly pities Ukraine, subtly creating the impression that their loss is a foregone conclusion.

⚡️Ukraine will not accept any peace deal requiring territorial concessions, Syrskyi tells UK broadcaster. “There are no pauses, no delays in (Russia's) operations. They keep pushing their troops forward to seize as much of our territory as possible under the cover of negotiations," Syrskyi said.

Westerners are lucky to have never lived under Ru occupation so they don't fear it. They imagine it as a distant, theoretical limit that doesn't affect individuals' lives. The leftists imagine it can't be worse than living in/under the American empire. In reality...

Remember: Trump or Russian propagandists might say otherwise, but Putin is not winning, and the Ukrainians are not losing.

I am told that internal Ukrainian army information shows that more than 26,000 Russian soldiers were killed or critically wounded in the month of November. Confirmed by videos. No wonder Putin wants to get Trump to give him territory for free

🇪🇺❗️The EU is adding Russia to its blacklist of countries at high risk of money laundering and financing terrorism, - POLITICO.

More than three decades after USSR’s collapse, Moscow still refuses to accept that its former colonies are now internationally recognized sovereign nations. Russia’s war against Ukraine is the horrifying embodiment of this refusal. A nightmarish attempt to turn back the time.

While "peace" negotiations continue, remember that Russia could simply stop the war at any time.

Your regular reminder that anyone calling Ukraine a proxy is ignorant or disingenuous. Ukraine has held back Ru military aggression for 11+ yrs completely alone; secured moderate Western aid since 2022 through tireless advocacy; and has now defied US diplomatic pressure to surrender for over 10mo.

Many choice words could be used to describe this revelation about Steve-RussianWishlist-Witkoff. Traitorous or nauseating come to mind. The one word that doesn’t fit though is “surprising.” And that is truly dreadful. #ArmUkraineNow

We are in a bizarre moment of diplomatic history. The purported "peace plan" that appeared a few days ago begins in Russian unreality and American weakness. Demanding everything of Ukraine and nothing of Russia, its purpose is imperialism and profiteering. snyder.substack.com/p/russian-un...

Putin’s plan for Ukrainian surrender does not serve American national interests

The 28-point wishlist from the kremlin is sucking oxygen out of every newsroom. Meanwhile, we have 11 years of evidence that russia doesn’t want peace in Ukraine, it wants #Ukraine in pieces Hot off the press nypost.com/2025/11/22/o...

"The price for keeping the dialogue (with the U.S.) cannot be the sovereignty of Ukraine, which this plan undermines altogether," Inna Sovsun, a lawmaker from the opposition Holos party, told the Kyiv Independent.

A new must-read from Andrew. Any policy toward Moscow that is not rooted in these hard truths is guaranteed to produce failed outcomes and misery.

When Putin talks to a Russians he consistently says that they invade Ukraine to destroy the state and nation and correct the path of history. NATO and similar framings are just for the useful foreigners.

Pu spells out Ru's imperialist motivations for the war. He calls the conquest a long-held dream and historical destiny. He beclowns those who insist NATO expansion caused the war. Let's see if anyone from the Mearsheimer fan club admits the claim has been falsified. www.kremlin.ru/events/presi...

Congrats to Moldova!!! Russia threw everything to destabilize the election and failed spectacularly. Democracy won 🙌🏼

Important thread from Prof. Popova. Please read it.

A big undercurrent of the « NATO expansion was bad » claim is that the Cold War was a period of peace/stability in Europe. Sure, life in a NATO country was good. Life under the Soviet boot meant dictatorship, indignity, and shortages. Stop blaming EEurope for wanting to share in the peace/stability!

⚡️Poland to send military representatives to Ukraine for training on shooting down Russian drones.

Russia murders pensioners kyivindependent.com/russian-air-...