Elena Panina
Елена Панина (Telegram)

An amateurish reshuffle in the German government has turned into a disaster for Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Given that the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is likely to win the regional elections, the end of his chancellorship could come even sooner than expected, according to Henning Hoff of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP, undesirable in Russia).

❖ This refers to a recent amusing incident. After the forced resignation of CDU parliamentary leader Jens Spahn, Merz, for some reason, decided to fire Transport Minister Patrick Schnyder. He found his replacement by calling vacationing MP Fritz Günzler. Günzler initially agreed, but after assessing the situation with a fresh mind, he backed out a few hours later. However, word of Schnyder's dismissal had already leaked, and the search for a new minister had to take several days. The CDU perceived this not so much as a personnel error as evidence that Merz is a poor leader.

A telling moment: Merz was reminded that he leads "a party, not a company." And this is no coincidence: every failure of his deteriorates the coalition's and his own party's ratings. The CDU/CSU's rating fell to 21%, while the AfD rose to 28%. This will have an impact in the elections in just a month. Saxony-Anhalt is particularly dangerous: there, the AfD could take 41% to the CDU's 24%. This means the question is no longer just whether the AfD will win first place, but whether it will come close to an absolute majority and form a single-party regional government.

Kenny Carmody
@KennyCarmody, Substack

Every obedience experiment in history had the same overlooked finding. Not everyone complied.

We spent decades studying the ones who obeyed. We barely asked what made the others different. That question matters more now than it ever has.

The resisters in the COVID era were not difficult to find:

Physicians who filed exemptions and lost their licenses. Nurses who walked away from careers rather than mandate patients into decisions they hadn’t genuinely chosen. Scientists who published contrary data knowing what it would cost them. Parents who stood alone at school board meetings. Ordinary people who simply said, quietly, without drama: no.

What made them different? Research consistently identifies a cluster of factors. Not personality traits you either have or don’t. Situational and cognitive patterns that can be cultivated.

Caitlin Johnstone
Caitlin’s Newsletter
[Posted on Apr 09, 2026]

Israel is already aggressively sabotaging the Trump administration’s two-week ceasefire with Iran by slaughtering huge numbers of civilians in Lebanon, a nation which is explicitly off-limits for any attack under the ceasefire conditions agreed to by Tehran.

The US and Israel are trying to claim that Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire agreement, but Pakistan, whom the US appointed to mediate the agreement, says this is false. The New York Times reports that the White House took part in Pakistan’s public messaging which explicitly included Lebanon in the ceasefire conditions, before changing its tune after Israel attacked.

Iran has reportedly responded to these violations by again halting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

This serves as yet another reminder that the world can have peace or it can have Israel — but it cannot have both. Israel is a genocidal apartheid state whose entire existence is premised upon a strategy of unceasing violence and abuse in the middle east. As long as that state continues to exist in its present iteration, peace will never be attainable.

                                                          ❖

If your job hired a guy who kept getting into fights with your coworkers and saying it’s because they are racist against him, for a week you might believe him. After a month, you’d have doubts. After two months, you’d realize he’s probably just an asshole. Israel has been doing this for eighty years.

Elena Panina
Елена Панина (Telegram)
[Originally posted here on 04/03/26]

Trump declared on the night of April 2:

What exactly is behind this threat? How might Iran respond? And what does this mean for Russia?

❖ "Bombing Iran back to the Stone Age" effectively signals a new round of military escalation against Iran and the US policy of total genocide against it and its people. And this likely means not just the total destruction of Iran's energy and oil and gas infrastructure, but the entire system of modern life in that country. Moreover, this "serious blow" could very well include the use of the most destructive weapon of all – nuclear weapons. At a minimum, against the nuclear facility in Isfahan, which cannot be disabled by conventional weapons.

It's easy to imagine the US attempting to implement this plan through proxy means. It's possible that the nuclear mission will be entrusted to Israel, which possesses 90 nuclear warheads. However, the US itself could also participate to impress the world with its inability to achieve its strategic objectives in this war.

Such a use of nuclear weapons could be seen in the US as the culmination of the military campaign—a dramatic end that Trump would use to break the stalemate and avoid a war of attrition. It's important to understand that such a war of attrition could only be achieved by the US switching to ground operations. But even with the deployment of American Marines and paratroopers to the Middle East, the likelihood of a ground operation isn't 100%. It's probably no coincidence that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on March 27: "We can achieve all our goals without any ground troops." Perhaps he was already considering extreme measures.

Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko's Newsletter

The Russian-Polish security dilemma will likely serve as the impetus for fully unleashing and properly managing the capabilities of European NATO as a whole per the US’ National Defense Strategy.

RT drew attention in late January to a report by Izvestia about the West’s alleged plans to launch a “Defense, Security, and Resilience Bank” (DSRB) by 2027. Their article relies on in-depth research by the Atlantic Council, which first proposed what was called the “NATO Bank”. The purpose is to provide “low-interest loans for defense modernization”, thus facilitating the goal of NATO members spending 5% of GDP on defense without significantly curtailing social and infrastructure spending.

Instead of slashing such programs to redirect funds to defense at the risk of helping populist-nationalists in the next elections and/or provoking unrest, they’d only spend a fraction of the principal each year servicing their DSRB loan, rather than paying the cost upfront as if it were part of their annual expenditures. The Executive Summary of the Atlantic Council’s in-depth research, hyperlinked above, also notes that “An additional critical function of the DSR bank would be to underwrite the risk for commercial banks”.

This would then “enabl[e] them to extend financing to defense companies across the supply chain.” The supplementary purpose is to finance large-scale orders that these companies themselves are unable to afford, and that most member states can’t finance without potential populist pushback. Defense companies can then expand production, pump out the requested military-technical equipment at scale, and sell it at much lower prices to accelerate NATO’s planned militarization.

Kevin Barrett
Kevin’s Newsletter for AFP

American mass media have historically demonized Palestinians and downplayed or covered up Israel’s crimes. But on June 24, Americans woke up to a CNN headline that must have made more than a few of them choke on their kosher coffee. That headline put it plainly: “Israel deliberately targeting children in ongoing genocide against Palestinians, UN commission finds.”

CNN’s headline included two assertions that have been true for decades: 1) Israel deliberately murders children, not accidentally as so-called collateral damage, but deliberately as part of a de facto national policy; and 2) Israel is committing “an ongoing genocide against Palestinians.” And while it is shocking that any government is pursuing such unbelievably evil policies, and even more shocking that American taxpayers are paying for it, the most shocking thing of all is that American mainstream media are finally admitting the truth after 78 years of systematic Israeli child-killing and genocide.

On April 9, 1948, more than 110 Palestinian men, women, and children were slaughtered in the village of Deir Yassin. The New York Times reported that more than half of the victims were women and children. It was just one of hundreds of massacres by the invading Jews who had long planned to steal Palestinian land and property by way of such a bloodbath.

During the 1948 Nakba (Palestinian holocaust) the Jews raped and murdered girls, tossed babies around with bayonets, and burned people to death with flamethrowers. Unlike the false atrocity propaganda stories invented by these same Jews’ descendants after the heroic October 7, 2023, concentration camp breakout by Hamas, the 1948 abominations actually happened.

Caitlin Johnstone
Caitlin’s Newsletter

More US troops have died in Trump’s insane war of aggression against Iran, so of course we’re seeing a bunch of phony bullshit from American warmongers about what a heroic sacrifice these soldiers made in order to justify further escalations.

“Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve,” tweeted Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in response to the news that two US troops were killed with one soldier missing after Iranian retaliatory strikes on a US base in Jordan.

But they weren’t “heroes”, and they did not make any “sacrifice”.

A hero is someone who risks danger taking noble action for the benefit of others. A sacrifice is when you give up your life for a higher cause.

This was neither of those things. Those soldiers were killed in response to US airstrikes on civilian infrastructure in a stupid, evil war of aggression waged by a Zionist president to please his billionaire Israeli megadonor. Those US attacks destroyed a desalination plant, cutting off an essential water supply for thousands of Iranian civilians.

They did not die defending the United States. They did not die protecting the American people. They did not die for freedom, for democracy, or for any of the other bogus reasons you’ll see imperial spinmeisters saying they died for. They died for Israel, for the military-industrial complex, and for US imperial agendas of global domination. And for nothing else.

Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko's Newsletter

The US is preparing to radically intensify the Ukrainian Conflict over the coming year.

Trump’s decision to sign the “G7 leaders’ joint statement on geopolitical issues” calling for more arms to Ukraine and sanctions on Russia signaled that he’ll now “escalate to de-escalate” (E2DE) through a “war of attrition” waged by Ukraine. The EU will back this campaign to the hilt and Trump 2.0 will seek to obtain control over Russia’s natural resources companies as its top goal via the coercive selling of shares under pain of continued NATO-backed Ukrainian strikes against associated infrastructure if Putin refuses.

The contours of his administration’s E2DE strategy are now starting to take shape. Nearly two weeks before he signed the abovementioned joint statement, the House passed a bill that would “provid[e] more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid. It would make another $8 billion available for Ukraine’s defense through loans.” On the sidelines of the G7 Summit, Trump then said that he’ll soon reimpose oil sanctions against Russia, which would disrupt Putin’s Sino-Indo balancing act.

Around the same time, “A group of US senators has introduced legislation that would amend existing law to allow Ukraine to use assets confiscated from the Central Bank of Russia and other Russian sovereign assets to purchase military equipment.”

All of this coincided with reports that the Senate also introduced language into the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) calling for continued intelligence support to Ukraine across all of next year to aid its quest to reconquer its lost land (and possibly more).

Elena Panina
Елена Панина (Telegram)

Armenia "continues to face significant economic pressure from Russia," and "when the pressure on our partners intensifies, the European Union becomes more active," the President of the European Commission stated, speaking in Yerevan alongside Prime Minister Pashinyan. This active participation was expressed in a promise to provide $92 million to "strengthen and diversify" Armenia's trade.

❖ According to von der Leyen, the European Commission is proposing "autonomous trade measures" that would supposedly liberalize almost 80% of Armenia's exports to the EU, making them duty-free. These measures would apply to almost all fresh fruits, vegetables, and plants that Armenia until now has exported to Russia, as well as over 90% of its beverage and spirit exports, she added. After which, Armenia will become fabulously rich, since the EU has 450 million consumers.

The last time something like this was said was in Ukraine in 2013-2014, when then-opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk explained on television to Ukrainians that a free trade zone with the EU was more profitable than the Customs Union because the EU has a larger market. Yatsenyuk didn't explain that this market is extremely competitive and subsidized, and that few people want Ukrainian products there. Now, Armenia will have to learn from experience that theoretical market access doesn't equal prosperity.

❖ If we look at the numbers, von der Leyen is simply lying. A full-fledged replacement is impossible in the short term and highly doubtful over time. The EU can only buy Pashinyan a little time for politics; $92 million won't be enough for more.

In 2025, Armenia exported approximately $3 billion worth of goods to Russia, accounting for 35.3% of its total exports. By comparison, the EU's share of Armenian exports is 7.9%, down from approximately 28% 10 years ago. In other words, in recent years, Armenia's export model has not diversified, but has become even more tied to Russia and re-export schemes.

Strategic Culture Foundation (Editorial)
Strategic Culture Foundation

German soldiers accompanied by Panzer III tanks march
eastward through a Russian meadow in the summer of 1941.
German spearheads covered vast swaths of Russian territory
during the opening weeks of Operation Barbarossa.

Western imperialism and its NATO weapons, proxies, and media are at it again.

This week marked 85 years since Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the greatest crime of aggression in human history. This week, too, German panzers with their distinctive Iron Cross insignia were rolling towards Russia’s border, along with other NATO partners in a military exercise cynically misnamed Operation Freedom Shield.

It is truly shocking how history on such a criminal scale is being repeated, brazenly and seemingly with public insouciance.

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched the biggest military invasion ever recorded in history. Operation Barbarossa deployed three million German troops along with units from allied countries. The Blitzkrieg opened the largest theater of World War II, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. At least 27 million citizens of the Soviet Union were killed, most of them civilians. Grainy footage from the time shows line after line of people being shot and dumped in mass graves. In one notorious atrocity, in September 1941, over 33,000 civilians were executed in just two days at a ravine in Babi Yar, near Kyiv.

Four years later, the Soviet Red Army fought the Nazi Wehrmacht all the way back to final defeat in Berlin.

Every Russian family was traumatized by the horror and inhumane suffering. The memory of the calamity remains seared in the nation’s consciousness. The Nazi invasion was carried out as a war of annihilation in which there was no mercy for men, women, and children. The Final Solution involved the systematic extermination of Slavs, Jews, Communists, and Roma and others considered Untermenschen (Subhuman) by Nazi racial ideology. The German Wehrmacht and Einsatzgruppen death squads were assisted by fascist auxiliaries in Lithuania, the other Baltic states, and Ukraine.

Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko's Newsletter

All that Tusk has to do is threaten to stop having Poland serve as the transit state for 90% of Ukraine’s military-technical imports from NATO, which would either be sufficient for Ukraine to comply before they’re cut off or it would likely do so shortly thereafter, but he refuses to do so, lacking the political will.

The denazification of Ukraine is one of Russia’s explicitly stated goals in the special operation, yet it’s remained elusive ever since the UK and Poland sabotaged spring 2022’s peace deal due to their joint desire to inflict a strategic defeat on their historical (millennium-long in Poland’s case) Russian rival.

Lavrov vaguely elaborated on Russia’s understanding of this objective in spring 2025 by suggesting that his country now envisages denazification to mean restoring the rights of Ukraine’s Russian minority. This can only be achieved through domestic legal mechanisms, which is why spring 2022’s draft peace deal contained relevant clauses to this effect.

Russia never planned to occupy all of Ukraine, impose full denazification, and then uphold it through an indefinite law enforcement operation across the country. Military force is seen by Russia only as a means to coerce Ukraine into doing what’s demanded of it in this regard. Russia’s aforementioned difficulty in denazifying Ukraine is nowadays relevant for Poland.

Caitlin Johnstone
Caitlin’s Newsletter

Some guy broke into my house and set up residence in the study room. He says his great-grandparents used to live in this house and now he won’t leave.

My family and I tried to kick him out but he got very violent. He brings in his friends and they help beat us up if we ever try to make him leave.

They keep saying I hate the guy because of his religion. I don’t even care about his religion, I just don’t like sharing my house with some random outsider who broke in here out of nowhere and took my stuff.

“The poor guy just wants one room to call his own,” his friends say in his defense. “You and your family have all the surrounding rooms in the house, and yet you have a problem with the guy having sovereignty over ONE room? That’s kind of bigoted and evil.”

Elena Panina
Елена Панина (Telegram)

[Image: Firefighters extinguish a fire at the "Panorama of the Defence of Sevastopol" museum, which, according to local authorities, was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Sevastopol.]

Crimea is ceasing to be a strategic advantage for Russia and is gradually becoming a strategic burden, argues Ilya Timchenko, an analyst at the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA, not welcome in Russia). His entire article is a clear snapshot of the level of euphoria reigning in the minds of Western analysts in response to the Ukrainian Armed Forces' strikes on Crimea and the logistics of the Black Sea region.

In other words, in the minds of Ukrainian and Western analysts, Crimea is not only practically already under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but is also about to become a Ukrainian foothold.

This is certainly a bold view. After all, by the same logic, taking into account the far more extensive attacks on logistics in Ukraine, Russia already controls at least the entire Left Bank of the Dnieper. It's ironic that, for these enemy analysts, the front and Crimea exist separately.

Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko's Newsletter

It surrendered its sovereignty to the US at a tremendous economic cost and with no benefit to itself.

Russian Ambassador to Finland Pavel Kuznetsov gave an interview to TASS in mid-April where he detailed the new threats that Finland poses to Russia. In his assessment, “Today, the most serious challenge to our security is probably NATO’s extensive electronic and aerial reconnaissance operations from Finnish territory. NATO reconnaissance aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles have become regular flights along the border with Russia.” It’s also rapidly militarizing at an “accelerated pace”.

“New corvettes are being built at shipyards, equipped with the most advanced NATO weapons, including cruise missiles and torpedoes. A large-scale rearmament program for the ground forces has been launched, including the purchase of extended-range and ballistic missiles.” Moreover, “This year, the first of 64 F-35A multirole fighters purchased from the US will begin arriving. Incidentally, these fighters are capable of carrying nuclear weapons if desired.” Finland is also considering hosting nukes too.

On a related note, Kuznetsov said that “We must also remember the Defense Cooperation Agreement between Finland and the United States, signed in late 2023, which provides for the stationing of American troops and weapons at 15 Finnish military bases and facilities.” In addition, “Finland plans to deploy a NATO communications and information system unit in Riihimäki” next year, while later this year, “a multinational task force, the Forward Land Forces (FLF), will be stationed in Rovaniemi”.

Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko's Newsletter

The Senior Ukrainian Sergeant wasn’t reprimanded by the armed forces or the government for this.

Chief Sergeant of the Unmanned Systems Battalion of the 5th Separate Assault Kyiv Brigade, Yury Syrotyuk, unprecedentedly threatened Poland during an extended interview “On Poland and Ukraine, explosions in Moscow, and the enemy’s flight from Crimea” in late June. The relevant part is from 36:00-36:50, where he accused Poland of waging an historical war that risks becoming a physical one, in which case Ukraine will fly drones into its cities and kill its people. He thus advised Poland not to cross that line.

Syrotyuk’s scandalous interview came several days after he shared a clip of himself on Facebook from another program where he described himself as the grandson and nephew of UPA veterans “who defended their homes from all the occupiers in Volhynia” in a reference to genociding local Poles there. He accused Poland in his video of seeking regional hegemony and plotting to partner with Russia to partition Ukraine. The sentiment expressed in his two videos isn’t uncommon among Ukrainians nowadays.

Elena Panina
Елена Панина (Telegram)

The "Prince of Darkness" organized the 2007 Blackwater
shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq. He was never convicted
for this. As always, he presents himself as a devout Christian.
This great escape artist now resurfaces as an Iran war expert...

For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. – Matthew 24:24

Trump was "badly advised" on the Iran operation, and the mission itself was "poorly planned," Blackwater founder Erik Prince said.

Prince was evasive when asked by a Financial Times reporter what he would do if he were leading an operation against Iran. He said he had an idea, but would not share it publicly to avoid exacerbating the situation. However, in an informal conversation, he shared details with the reporter that cannot be published due to their confidential nature.

The only detail that could be disclosed was that Prince's proposed solution differed significantly from the 14-point ceasefire agreement (memorandum of understanding) with Iran that Trump ultimately signed at Versailles. Therefore, the details of the alternative solutions remain unknown.

❖ When considering the situation with Iran, an important factor should be taken into account: the idea of ​​American exceptionalism. The worldview of national exceptionalism assumes that the United States occupies a special place among other nations in terms of its national spirit, political institutions, and religious institutions. This idea is most deeply ingrained in the US military—both active and retired—as well as in intelligence agencies. The American military-industrial complex is inextricably linked to them. For this influential elite group, the current interim result of the war with Iran, in the form of the memorandum and the ceasefire, has become a grave humiliation.

Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko's Newsletter

Russia can either decisively “escalate to de-escalate” in its own right to swiftly end the conflict on as many of its terms as possible, carry on as usual amidst this new “war of attrition” at tremendous risk to itself, or freeze the conflict.

Lavrov sheepishly said during a roundtable event last week that “I do not even want to suspect that Alaska, like the actions of the Europeans, was designed to buy time to rearm the Kyiv regime. I don’t even want to think about it. But in reality, things turned out the way they did.” This came three and a half years after former German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted in December 2022 that the Minsk Accords were just a ruse to buy time for Kyiv to rearm.

Putin famously responded a month later that “We endured for a long time, tried to reach an agreement for a long time. But, as it turns out now, we were simply led by the nose, deceived.

Elena Panina
Елена Панина (Telegram)

The Russian SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service): The West aims to change the constitutional order in Belarus

NGOs from Western countries, including “democratization” structures, agencies, and foundations from the US, Britain, Germany, Poland, and other European states, are accumulating forces and resources to once again attempt to destabilize the situation, and bring about a change in the constitutional order in Belarus, according to the SVR press service.

It is specified that the West...

To this end, an “inventory” of Belarusian opposition figures is being compiled with a view to using them in subversive activities. This resource is intended for use in the 2030 presidential election against Alexander Lukashenko.

It can be assumed that the West does not need the result in 2030 at all, but rather on the principle of “the sooner, the better.” 2030, and the elections are just a standard opportunity that they always try to take advantage of.

Jarle Aarstad
Jarle Aarstad’s Substack

Sharp Increase in COVID-19 Deaths Among Young People in Norway AFTER Vaccination

According to a recently published study by, 74 young people in Norway under the age of 30 developed myocarditis – inflammation of the heart muscle – as a direct consequence of COVID-19 vaccination.

Myocarditis is one of the deadliest conditions that can strike young people, but the grim statistics only become obvious after a few years.

In addition, the Norwegian Medicines Agency (Legemiddelverket – Directorate for Medical Products) has classified 1,453 of 16,085 reported adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination in young people under 30 as serious.

Was the COVID-19 vaccination of young people worth the price? | Based on these grim figures, it is legitimate to ask: was COVID-19 vaccination of young people worth the price? The answer is yes only if the benefits outweigh the significant drawbacks. That is, if the COVID-19 vaccine prevented many COVID-19 deaths in the young Norwegian population. But did it do so?

Finian Cunningham
strategic-culture.su

It is self-serving career politicians like Burnham who are fueling the danger of war with Russia.

Britain is now lining up its seventh prime minister in a period of just 10 years. The heir apparent to 10 Downing Street is Andy Burnham, who is set to take over the unenviable task of running Britain following Keir Starmer’s resignation this week.

Starmer finally quit as the Labour Party leader after weeks of mounting pressure to step down. He had only been in office for two years, but his dwindling poll ratings made his tenure unsustainable.

Burnham is due to take over within the next few weeks. The 56-year-old former mayor of Greater Manchester is reckoned to be a fresh face who will revive Labour’s popularity going into the next general election.

But given the fickle nature of British politics, there is no guarantee that Burnham will deliver. After all, Starmer was elected with a landslide in July 2024, only to become a reviled and ridiculed non-entity. There were many nails in his political coffin. Unpopular tax hikes and his sleazy association with former ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, who was forced to resign over the Epstein scandal, were among the controversies that undermined Starmer’s authority.