Vladimir Putin

Navalny lives

Featured image Alexei Navalny appears to have been manhandled if not murdered in the custody of Vladimir Putin. The Daily Mail updates the story here. The tyrant couldn’t stand Navalny’s dissent from his rule or his mockery of it and Navalny has paid the ultimate price. Putin thus finished the job he started with the poisoning of Navalny in the 2020 underpants operation. Paul Gregory set forth the background and the details »

Nuclear War?

Featured image I believe this article in the Kyiv Independent is the source for stories, some of them rather alarmist, about comments made by Putin crony Dmitry Medvedev: Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, on Feb. 18 threatened to use nuclear weapons against the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and Ukraine if Moscow loses all occupied Ukrainian territories. *** “Attempts to restore Russia’s 1991 borders [i.e., Russia’s borders before its »

From glib to stupid

Featured image As part of his celebration of life in Putin’s Russia, Tucker Carlson took a side trip to the grocery store during his visit to Moscow. Like the political pilgrims of old, he was impressed. It somehow “radicalized” him — “against American leaders.” Drawing on NRO, Ed Driscoll has more here. What’s wrong with this picture? Tucker Carlson bragging that Russia is better than America because groceries are cheaper in the »

It Can’t Happen Here

Featured image Via InstaPundit, re today’s absurd order from rogue judge Arthur Engoron: Between the United States and Russia, one country just arbitrarily seized the assets of an oligarch opposed to the regime, and is trying to jail him The other country is Russia — Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) February 16, 2024 There are obvious differences between our regime and Russia’s, starting with the fact that the Biden Administration has not yet actually »

Yulia Navalnaya Speaks

Featured image Alexei Navalny’s widow (assuming the Russian government’s announcement of his death is true) was at a security conference in Germany when she got the news. She delivered these impromptu remarks to that group: Vice president Kamala Harris reportedly was in the audience. It occurs to me that Harris would never have been capable of delivering such a powerful, coherent statement, let alone doing so under such tragic and emotional circumstances. »

The lonesome death of Alexei Navalny

Featured image Alexei Navalny has reportedly died in a Russian prison, a victim of Vladimir Putin’s murderous tyranny. He was 47 years old. Navalny’s death in prison represents one of Putin’s genuine achievements. I don’t believe Tucker Carlson thought to bring up Navalny’s incarceration during his recent interview with Putin. It certainly provides a timely contrast with Carlson’s celebration of life in Putin’s Russia. As Bob Dylan put it, take the rag »

Putin puttin’ us on

Featured image I don’t take anything Vladimir Putin says at face value. Politico now reports that, in a Rossiya 1 television interview yesterday, that Putin expressed his preference for Biden over Trump in the 2024 presidential election. For whatever it’s worth, here is the quote served up by Politico: “[Biden] is a more experienced, predictable person. He is a politician of the old school. But we will work with any leader of »

In Re: Tucker v. Putin

Featured image Geez, from the way the left is reacting, you’d think Tucker Carlson was doing an imitation of the New York Times‘ Walter Duranty,  and slobbering over a Russian dictator and whitewashing the scene. Oh, wait. . . It’s pretty clear that the mainstream media is angry at Carlson because he didn’t get their permission to interview Putin, and moreover won’t agree to stick with the approved narrative. I haven’t had »

Xi Jinping Rises as Biden Dithers

Featured image The utter failure of the Anchorage, Alaska, meeting between top U.S. and Chinese diplomats held in March 2021 set the tone for relations going forward. Diplomacy flew out the window at the get-go and did not return. The hostility coming from the Chinese was impossible to miss. It was made immediately and abundantly clear that then-Chinese Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi had neither »

BoJo’s no go

Featured image Boris Johnson is both the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the author of a respectful book on Winston Churchill. He holds himself out as a conservative to boot. Yet Walter Russell Mead captures BoJo in an emission of pandering pap that ought to embarrass him. In his weekly Wall Street column today Mead quotes Johnson speaking to German media between the Group of Seven and NATO summits late »

The Inexorable Logic of Dictators

Featured image Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and its rapid stall out from effective Ukrainian resistance, there has been a lot of talk, backed up with appropriate quotes from Sun Tzu and other classic authors on strategy, that we need to contrive some kind of graceful “offramp” for Putin. This seems like unpromising advice. Time to recall once again the counsel of Churchill, made for a foolishly hopeful American »

“Never mind”

Featured image In a nearby post John documented President Biden’s call at the Royal Castle in Warsaw for Vladimir Putin’s removal from power. John’s post includes the video. The White House has posted the transcript here. At the conclusion of what must have seemed an eternity — video of the speech runs 25 minutes — Biden pronounced: “For God’s sake, this man [i.e., Putin] cannot remain in power.” Those who work for »

Trump on Ukraine, Oil Prices, China, and the Rest

Featured image Remember how everyone said Trump was Putin’s poodle, and an isolationist to boot? Worth taking in his interview this morning with Stuart Varney on Fox Business: So much for the “Trump as isolationist Russian stooge.” You get a good sense here why Putin didn’t invade Ukraine on Trump’s watch. »

The madness of Vlad the inhaler

Featured image Vladimir Putin is willing to destroy Ukraine to express his love of the Russian people. He spoke on Wednesday at a “Meeting on socioeconomic support for regions” via videoconference, on socioeconomic support for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. He spoke for some 37 minutes and took up a variety of issues bearing on his war on Ukraine. At the moment video of the full speech with inadequate translation »

Zelensky speaks

Featured image Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a press conference under dire circumstances yesterday speaking in Russian, Ukrainian, and English. He fielded questions for 55 minutes. I would like to post the whole thing for your information, but have only been able to find clips such as the 90-second highlight reel below. As the fate of Ukraine hangs in the balance Zelensky is the man of the hour. He harks back to »

Has Putin Botched the War?

Featured image Here’s an interesting Twitter thread from someone named Riho Terras, a member of the European Parliament, posted a few hours ago. Obviously we’re not in any position to vouch for the accuracy of this thread (and some of it seems dubious), but pass it along in the interest of broad coverage: THREAD 1/7 Intel from a Ukrainian officer about a meeting in Putin’s lair in Urals. Oligarchs convened there so »

Media Closing Ranks Around Biden on Ukraine

Featured image Scott noted here that it has taken over 80 years, but Hollywood finally got round to exonerating Neville Chamberlain for his malfeasance in Munich in 1938. Today’s media isn’t even waiting 80 hours to exonerate President Biden. They are already declaring this to be Biden’s finest hour. Behold the Washington Post just three days ago: With or without war, Ukraine gives Biden a new lease on leadership Six months ago, »