A BANKING CRISIS IN RUSSIA IS INEVITABLE Putin prints the money and boosts inflation while the Central Bank keeps interest rates high at 16.5% to stop the inflation getting out of hand. Yet that’s not stopping the banks increasing their interest rates for commercial loans to just a fraction under

HOW FAST THINGS CHANGE The speed at which the news moves and the pace of the rate of change is often hard to keep up with. The war in Ukraine seems to have its own momentum and it’s increasing as Ukraine steps up its range and frequency of attacks. Those attacks included two more oil refineries

RUSSIAN CENTRAL BANK DUMPS 3 TRILLION RUBLES INTO ECONOMY Russia has created 3 trillion rubles and dumped it onto the market today, effectively making inflation worse and bailing the banks out of yet another hole as they struggle to meet customer withdrawals demands. Personal accounts have gone

LUKOIL DECLARES FORCE MAJEURE This means that the declaration in Iraq on Lukoil’s oil field there (9% of Iraqi output, 500,000bpd), is preventing anyone suing the company or using or exporting the oil, and prevents it being responsible for any cancelled or delayed contracts. Lukoil has fired all

Vladimir Putin, after 25 years in power, remains determined to win the war with Ukraine despite facing internal and external pressures. He prioritizes legacy, power, and control while distrusting advisors and grappling with financial challenges

RUSSIA BRINGS BACK THE PLOT OF FIREFOX A splendid Cold War era movie that stars Clint Eastwood, as a Russian speaking and thinking American pilot who is smuggled into the Soviet Union to steal their latest super fighter that used thought to control its weapons. The aircraft is ludicrous and so

THE FEEDBACK LOOP Swedish arms manufacturers have stated that Ukrainian use of Swedish systems in the field has saved millions in research and years of time, as they learn what they improve and even what they can remove if it becomes unhelpful or redundant. It’s similar for almost all the

UKRAINE REQUESTS TO BUY AS MANY AS 25 PATRIOT SYSTEMS I’m not sure this is such a good idea. Expensive and substantial as they are, the latest versions are clearly being outfoxed in the missile interception game. As blanket air defence with long range they do have value against Russian air forces.

SAUDI ARABIA AND OPEC INCREASE OIL OUTPUT: RUSSIA FURIOUS Russians reeling from another Saudi decision to reduce prices and increase production at least until the end of the first quarter of 2026. With oil prices already collapsing at $63pb - Russia can only sell its crude at around £53 but it’s

MASSIVE UKRAINE ATTACK ON TUAPSE Russia’s already beleaguered Black Sea oil export terminal was hit hard again last night by naval drones exploding on the export loading piers. The port is in such a state now that it’s unlikely to be repaired inside a year. No tankers have been loaded there for

WEATHER HAMPERS POKROVSK OPERATIONS Ukraine is heavily dependant on drones and right now the weather is typically autumnal. Heavy fog makes it difficult to operate and advantages the Russians who use the opportunity to get more troops into the combat zone. Ukraine is struggling to keep the

THE PATRIOT CONUNDRUM I’m delighted to say my follower count keeps rising (thank you!) and a question that keeps coming up is why is Patriot no longer able to defend Ukraine successfully? 1. Patriot is the system not a missile. 2. The Patriot system still can target and plan for the interception

Russia expanded control over Kazakhstan during the 18th and 19th centuries, leading to its incorporation into the USSR. After gaining independence in 1991, Kazakhstan now diversifies geopolitical relations away from Russia, seeking partnerships with the U.S. amid Russia's declining influence.

GOOD NEWS FROM AMERICA A) Trump was royally booed loudly at the Commanders game yesterday. B) the Supreme Court has refused to hear a case that could have overturned the 2012 same sex marriage ruling in the Obergefell v Hedges case. That means there’s no real chance of that coming up again.

RUSSIAN NATIONAL GUARD TO REINTRODUCE TANKS The head of Russias National Guard - Rosgvardiya, Viktor Zolotov, which includes riot police and armed and unarmed security services and was created in 2016, has announced that the Moscow region will reincorporate tanks to its armoury. Zolotov who used

CONCERN FOR UKRAINE The winter phase of this war is already harsh. Russia has already destroyed all of Ukraine’s gas production. However this should be less concerning given Ukraine has underground gas storage equal to almost all of the rest of Europe, but it’s still a reserve not a permanent

POWER WAR AND FRONTLINE INTENSIFIES The battle for Ukraine’s power grid entered a new phase with Kyiv loosing all power seemingly for the fist time, across the entire city, not just parts of it. The Russian focus on Ukraine’s power grid and generating system has been intense. Likewise Ukraine is

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY In this country we can’t be doing with having Remembrance Day on the 11th November like everyone else - Europe basically gets a day off but we can’t be asked, so it’s always done on the nearest Sunday. The date and time, 11:00 on the 11th day of the 11th month 1918, specifically

NUCLEAR BLUFF Fear is the mind killer. It stops you thinking clearly. Putin’s nuclear weapons threats are about instilling sufficient fear in an uneducated public, and even uneducated politicians, so that he can get something from us or stop us doing what needs to done. Yet we are now able to

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO RUSSIAS FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV? Nobody has seen the man who has held the position since 2008 since early September. Long serving Foreign Ministers are a Russian tradition, Molotov at 13 years, and Gromyko for example held the post for 28. Has the occasionally humorous

DRONE ATTACK LAST NIGHT ON UKRAINE SHOWS A DIFFERENT PRIORITISATION Note the front line attacks, but that much of what’s been targeted appears to be railway infrastructure and supply hubs. Russia has been trying hard to undermine the stability of the army supply lines - both sides understand the

A GUNVOR TALE Established by Gennady Timchenko, a close friend of Putin in 2000 and to give it a veneer of western credibility Torbjörn Törnqvist of Sweden. In 2014 knowing he would be sanctioned personally Timchenko ‘withdrew’ from the company and left Törnquist running it to this day. Registered

QUOTE FOR THE DAY… “You never know you’re going to win a war until you do. You don’t know you’ve lost a war until you have.” GJC

LUKOIL IN DEEPER TROUBLE AS GUNVER PULLS OUT The US state department said it would not approve Gunver as the buyer of Lukoils overseas assets. It had offered $22 billion but had a connection to Russia via its previous majority owner. The deal has now collapsed putting Lukoil in a difficult

X IS A DEAD ZONE FOR FREE SPEECH Study of the new X algorithm has shown that if you come from England your posts will be effectively ignored. Any discussion of Ukraine is being minimised and largely ignored, liberal channels and political speech is actively being allowed to wither on the

UKRAINE HAS TAKEN THE POLITICAL DECISION TO HOLD POKROVSK AS LONG AS ITS VIABLE I understand the choice. It’s Not an easy one to have made. In war when you are fighting you have to fight the battle somewhere. Pokrovsk geographically and strategically is located in such a position that it may as

IT JUST GETS WORSE FOR RUSSIA Uralvagonzovod which makes Russian tanks and other vehicles is laying off 50% of its staff by the end of February and declining to hire any new workers. They simply can’t het ordered for enough of their business to keep things as they are. The Lukoil terminal at

The Russians measure their worth by nuclear weapons. They have done for nearly 80 years. It merely masks their innate inadequacies. Yet its the most dangerous and potentially worrying aspect of their approach to the world around them.

Good that this is happening but bad that the MoD is supposed to be cutting £2 billion in costs this year alone. Saying you’re going to spend £9 billion over ten years on military housing isn’t quite cutting it important though it is.

WORD OF THE YEAR? Collins English Dictionary has declared ‘vibe coding’ the word of the year. Forgive me but is that not quite clearly two words? It’s always shown as two. It’s a phrase, terminology. I’d never heard it before but apparently it means computer code written by Ai.

POKROVSK: A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES I was privileged to be briefed on the situation yesterday evening but I needed some time to go through my notes and think about how to present this in this limited format. The ISW mapping is to over inclined to show Russian claims so I won’t use it here. The

LUKOIL, RUSSIAS LARGEST NON-STATE OWNED COMPANY IS IN TROUBLE It’s a massive upstream-downstream player in the industry from extraction to refining and retail sales of its products. In 2024 its turnover was $100 billion and profits around $10 billion. New sanctions mean its had to organise a panic

A GOOD DAY IN AMERICA AS CHANGE BEGINS Democrats swept the board last night as the election results came in. Zorahn Mamdani won the mayoral race in NYC, Abigail Spanberger the Governor’s race in Virginia becomes the first woman to hold the post. Mikkie Sherril won New Jersey, and the important

RUSSIAS ECONOMIC DATA TELLS A GRIM STORY Retail sales fell 3.7% in September - any economist would tell you that’s a catastrophic fall. Official inflation is over 8% but real inflation is around 28%. Wages are rising at around 15% if you’re in the right industry but 90% of people are get nothing

More air mobile activity…

POKROVSK IS FALLING BUT NOT EASILY The ISW’s words on Pokrovsk having largely fallen, but not quite, is ‘the Russians are increasingly comfortable moving around Pokrovsk’. I don’t think we need mollycoddled language like that to get the message. We could all see it coming. What has surprised me is

TÜRKIYE CUTS ITS OIL IMPORTS FROM RUSSIA Türkiye is winding down its $7 billion a year crude oil purchases from Russia, and its $20 billion a year in finished oil products such as gasoline and diesel. Türkiye is deliberately cutting its buys from Russia and purchasing elsewhere. Sanctions have

Putin is dead, the regime paralyzed, which of the former empire's republics will rush for independence?

MAGYARS BIRDS HIT RUSSIAN SUBSTATIONS I’m quite proud of this because I’ve been funding Magyars Birds through United 24, and it makes me smile that some of my money has likely funded the attack in some small way, that’s destroying Russias electricity grid. At least five of the stations have been

UKRAINE GIVES MOSCOW A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME In an unprecedented strike against energy infrastructure - much of it related to transformer sites, Moscow areas faced blackouts. On top of that in another major offensive Ukrainian agents attacked an entire series of fuel pipelines that supply the

LABOUR BETRAYS PUBLIC & MILITARY We’re supposed to be rebuilding our military and supporting our armed forces in their recovery from decades of under investment. So now the government is demanding the MoD find £2 billion in savings this year alone. This is not what’s needed. It’s a betrayal.

euromaidanpress.com/2025/11/01/f... the ruZZians hurried to announce an alleged encirclement of Ukrainian forces in Myrnohrad, but this proclamation of victory came a little too soon. Ukrainian special forces have just conducted one of the most extensive clearing operations around the town,

DEMOCRACY SUNDAY Democracy is under threat everywhere it remains but there are ways and means of stopping the tide of Russian backed disinformation that’s behind most of it. 1) Support Ukraine and defeat Russia, end the problem at source. 2) counter education and information - it does work as the

RUSSIA TO ISSUE SOVEREIGN BONDS IN CHINESE YUAN Around $5 billion worth of Yuan bonds are to be sold because they have almost no other foreign currency left to deploy. The bonds will be issued over 3, 5 and 10 years. With the rouble effectively dead, and China only paying for oil in yuan, hoping

UKRAINE’S ANSWER TO RUSSIA IS COMING: Zelensky said ‘we have identified long range targets inside Russia with our own and foreign intelligence services. Attacks will begin soon’.

PUTIN KEEPS BANGING THE NUCLEAR DRUM: IS ANYBODY SCARED? Putin’s endless nuclear weapons talk is becoming so tedious, he’s looking like one of those annoying children left in a corner to scream and sob as they try to get there own way, while the adults ignore him. This time it’s Oreshnik being moved

THIS LOOKS LIKE A MASSIVE DRONE STRIKE INTO RUSSIA

AIRFRANCE-KLM & LUFTHANSA WANT AIRLINES BANNED FROM FLYING OVER RUSSIA The two major airline groups which control some dozen national airlines between them, want competition levelled to equalise costs. They want the EU to ban entry to airlines flying from China for example, who fly over Russia and

WSJ SAYS THAT SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE IS NOW HIGH WITH REPUBLICANS More want aid to be sent than ever, a total of 67% according to the WSJ. Even some Deep red MAGA supporters now feel that Zelensky has changed his approach sufficiently to be worth receiving aid to stop Russia. However there remains a