Rusia

In his sudden haste to see Ukraine repay the US for the billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to the country in its war against Russian aggression, Donald Trump, aka “Mr. Art of the Deal,” has deployed his tactless “Trumplomacy” with its attendant extortive strongarm tactics to gain access to critical minerals that Ukraine has in abundance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would allow his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump access to rare earth metals in Ukraine’s annexed regions as part of a future deal.

United States opposition to a European-drafted United Nations resolution that condemned Moscow’s full-scale invasion has sparked anger on both sides of the Atlantic.

At the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, the U.S. joined Russia and Moscow’s closest ally Belarus, as well as North Korea, in opposing a resolution condemning Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

Eurasianist philosopher Alexander Dugin wants to change how political science is taught across the humanities in Russian higher education. Meduza has obtained access to a 240-page lecture series on political science, a 76-page teaching concept, and a shorter presentation for Russia’s Science Ministry — all prepared by Dugin’s team at the Ivan Ilyin Higher Political School at the Russian State University for the Humanities. Dugin and his colleagues warn that “Americacentrism” currently dominates Russian political science and must be “overcome.”

The Kremlin’s most basic task right now is to keep Washington in a constructive mindset toward Russia. That in itself is already facilitating the achievement of Putin’s goals in Ukraine.

Three weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration, he had a much-anticipated phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Both sides have kept a diplomatic silence over who initiated the call, but the very fact that it took place and lasted almost an hour and a half looks like a major win for the Russian leader. Effectively, the long-awaited negotiations between Moscow and Washington on the fate of Ukraine have been launched in the format that best suits Putin.

Whatever one may think about its lack of morality, it was coldly pragmatic and wasn’t responsible for sparking World War II, just for temporarily putting off what proved to be its most deadly phase in Europe.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (MRP) is back in the news after President Putin explained to Tucker Carlson how interwar Polish diplomacy made World War II inevitable. Many on social media reacted by bringing up that agreement and arguing that it was responsible for Hitler’s invasion of Poland. Without their secret deal to divide Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) into spheres of influence, they argue, he wouldn’t have been emboldened into starting World War II. The reality, however, is altogether different.