The CNN, followed by the New York Times, broke the story on Sunday that the US and western intelligence were indeed aware of the failed coup attempt on Friday night by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group of Russian military contractors, “for quite some time and making preparations for such a move, including by …
Biden walks back on Ukraine’s Nato accession
The US President Joe Biden (R) met NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House, Washington, June 13, 2023 If only the US President Joe Biden had a time machine as in the post-apocalyptic science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, he should have used that vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively backward …
Continue reading “Biden walks back on Ukraine’s Nato accession”
Who gains from a forever war in Ukraine?
The newly elected president of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel is an unusual European politician. He is the second president in his country with a military background but the first without political experience. He never saw combat duty and is an arm chair military strategist but lionised as a “senior NATO leader” — whatever that …
Russia’s Ukraine offensive in suspended animation
In a clandestine visit to Kiev, US President Joe Biden (C) met Ukrainian president Zelensky and his wife Olena, Feb. 20, 2023 The general expectation that the first anniversary of Russia’s special military operations in Ukraine would mark the commencement of a big military offensive has been belied, going by the speeches by President Vladimir …
Continue reading “Russia’s Ukraine offensive in suspended animation”
Waiting for Biden’s definition of victory in Ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier adds wood to a fire to stave off the bitter cold, Bakhmut, Donbass (File photo) There was an air of magical realism in the daylong visit to Kiev last Friday by the EU’s policy commissioners comprising the executive branch of the group — the so-called College — led by the European Commission …
Continue reading “Waiting for Biden’s definition of victory in Ukraine”
US climbs escalation ladder in Ukraine
Building hit by 6 US-made HIMARS missiles on New Year Day killing at least 89 Russian conscripts, Makeyevka, Ukraine In all probability, the message conveyed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov from his American counterpart Antony Blinken via Israel’s new foreign minister Eli Cohen concerned the Ukrainian missile attack on Makeyevka (Donetsk) on New Year …
Conflict in Ukraine is doomed to escalate
Defining moment in the Battle of Donbass, as the 4-month long defiant Ukrainian resistance to the Russian offensive is ending The meet-up location of NATO foreign ministers on November 29-30— Bucharest — was where ten years ago, former US President George W. Bush persuaded America’s transatlantic partners that Ukraine and Georgia should one day join …
Continue reading “Conflict in Ukraine is doomed to escalate”
Biden nods to compromise in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Centre) with leaders of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhya at the ceremony annexing the four regions as part of Russian Federation, Moscow, Sept. 30, 2022 The midterm elections in the US witnessed razor-thin races as Senate and House control hangs in the balance. But that didn’t discourage President Biden from holding a press …
A Biden-Putin meeting in Bali cannot be ruled out
The US President Joe Biden said in a CNN interview recently that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “rational actor who has miscalculated significantly” on Ukraine issue. The Russian-American summit meetings have a history of calibrated foreplay. As the G20 summit in Bali on November 15-16 draws closer, the big question is still hanging in the …
Continue reading “A Biden-Putin meeting in Bali cannot be ruled out”
Who’s afraid of US troops in Ukraine?
Very innocuously, the Biden Administration has ‘sensitised’ the world opinion that American troops are indeed present on Ukrainian soil in Russia’s immediate neighbourhood. Washington made a “soft landing” with an unnamed senior Pentagon official making the disclosure to the Associated Press and the Washington Post. The official gave an ingenious explanation that the US troops …