Russia
June 11, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Europeans are facing the prospect that Russia may attack them, and they may have to defend themselves without much help from the United States. At a minimum, they have taken to heart Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s warning that the U.S. is preoccupied with our peer rival, China, and our own borders, and Europeans must take the lead on defending themselves against Russia, a peer rival for them. As a
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May 17, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Transportation of goods between Asia and Europe is, obviously, of great importance. There are basically three routes, or potential routes: Our goal, and Europe’s, is to identify a route that does not go through Russia or Iran. That is now becoming feasible, as Armenia is swinging toward the West. The Telegraph has a long piece that you should read in its entirety. I will try to convey the gist: To
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January 17, 2026 — John Hinderaker
The administration’s brilliant operation to arrest Nicolas Maduro has echoed far beyond Venezuela. In the London Times, a professor of global history at Oxford writes that the seizure of Maduro is having serious consequences in China: More details have started to emerge about the American raid that spirited Nicholás Maduro out of Venezuela two weeks ago. There have been reports that US forces used new weapons, including sonic devices or
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December 15, 2025 — Bill Glahn
From SkyNews, UK’s ‘sons and daughters’ need to be ready to fight, amid growing Russian threat, says head of armed forces. Why? They report, There is a growing risk that Russia could attack the UK, and the nation’s “sons and daughters” need to be ready to fight, the head of Britain’s armed forces has said. The whole thing brings to mind the classic Marx Brothers’ film Duck Soup (1933). Groucho
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November 25, 2025 — John Hinderaker
President Trump says a peace deal in Ukraine may be at hand: A peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is “very” close, Donald Trump said. The US president said there were a “few remaining points of disagreement” between the two countries following several rounds of negotiations. Mr Trump hailed the “tremendous progress” that had been made towards ending the war, and said his initial 28-point peace plan had been “fine-tuned”
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November 23, 2025 — John Hinderaker
The Trump administration released, or seemed to release, a 28-point plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war. President Trump said that Ukraine had until Thursday to accept it. The plan was seen by everyone as highly favorable to Russia, and Europeans unanimously denounced it. Or, more diplomatically, said it needed some work. Marco Rubio seemed to agree: Secretary of State Marco Rubio told US senators Saturday that the sweeping peace plan
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October 27, 2025 — John Hinderaker
This very long article in the Telegraph is behind a paywall, but that link should work for everyone. It is headlined: “Putin fears another coup as Russia finally begins to buckle.” Subhed: “Panic in the Kremlin as it runs out of cards to play just as Trump turns the screws.” The article is too long to excerpt effectively, but I will try: Suddenly, Putin has many reasons to be worried.
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October 23, 2025 — John Hinderaker
President Trump mused about supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, a dramatic step because Tomahawks could reach Moscow from Ukrainian territory. But now Trump has taken Tomahawks off the table. Instead, the Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies. Treasury’s press release says: Today’s action targets Russia’s two largest oil companies, Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft) and Lukoil OAO (Lukoil), which are now designated.
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October 21, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Much of Europe is buckling under the weight of illegal immigration. Now, Bulgaria’s Interior Minister is among those saying that hostile state action is behind the migration: Russian spies and hard-left humanitarian groups are working with people smugglers to flood Europe with illegal migrants, a Bulgarian minister says. Daniel Mitov, the interior minister, said his government had evidence that Russia’s foreign intelligence service had direct links with the criminal gangs
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October 15, 2025 — John Hinderaker
The Ukraine war has destroyed Europe’s complacency and restored a sense of urgency to national defense. This has been manifested in many ways. Today’s London Times reports on one significant instance, relating to Britain’s undersea cables. While this particular issue is specific to that country, I have little doubt that we in the U.S. face similar infrastructure issues: Defence grandees have secretly warned the prime minister that he is running
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August 18, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Today, President Trump has been meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Europe’s top leaders. It remains to be seen what will come from today’s meetings and future negotiations with Russia, but for now we can make a few observations. First, President Trump solidified his position as the leader of the Western world. This photo of the heads of state who gathered at the White House today is impressive: Trump
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August 11, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Last night I was on the Rita Panahi show on Sky News, with guest host Danica De Giorgio filling in for Rita. Our segment covered the Ukraine peace talks, the Armenia/Azerbaijan agreement, President Trump’s takeover of the D.C. police, Bernie Sanders complaining about Kamala Harris’s campaign, the border wall and free speech in the U.K. There is lots to enjoy, I think:
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July 24, 2025 — John Hinderaker
One of the debates now raging over the Obama administration’s falsification of intelligence relates to Vladimir Putin’s motive in trying to impact our 2016 presidential election. Barack Obama and John Brennan pushed the idea that Putin wanted Donald Trump to win the election, while the intelligence professionals saw little or no evidence of that preference, and believed that Putin was just trying to sow discord. But my question is: since
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July 14, 2025 — John Hinderaker
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump said he believed he could end the Russia-Ukraine war with a few phone calls. I thought he could, too. I thought Russia and Ukraine were both weary, to put it mildly, and would be happy to be given a way out by the U.S. But we were wrong. Ukraine wanted to negotiate an end to the war, but Russia didn’t. So the war goes
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July 6, 2025 — John Hinderaker
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is, as we noted here, a fan of President Trump. He agrees with Trump that the Europeans have not pulled their weight in NATO, and need to get serious, quickly, to counter the growing threat from Russia. That made Rutte a natural subject of the New York Times’ podcast, The Interview. A transcript of the interview, which was conducted by Lulu Garcia-Navarro, appears in the
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June 22, 2025 — John Hinderaker
Iran has always claimed that its nuclear program is aimed at civilian uses, not production of nuclear weapons. This is an absurd pretense: Iran has abundant oil resources, and no reason to build nuclear power plants. Do other oil-producing countries, like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, invest countless billions in atomic energy? Of course not. Nevertheless, the mullahs have stuck doggedly to this excuse. Earlier today, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy
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June 10, 2025 — John Hinderaker
We wrote here about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s seminal speech to NATO leaders in Brussels, where he warned that Europeans must be primarily responsible for dealing with the Russian threat. Russia is not, for the U.S., a peer rival, Hegseth said. But China is. America’s focus will be on its rivalry with China and the need to protect our borders. As to Russia, we can help, but Europeans must take
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