With Beautiful Clarity and Simplicity, Bernie Sanders Describes the Danger of Walking Putin's Path towards Oligarchy and Autocracy

 

Trump - Putin Memes

 

Wonderful and Hilarious Entertainment from Zelensky in his younger years: a song about borscht

 

Good 2021 Foreign Affairs Article on Trump and Putin, by Fiona Hill

 

Good 2021 Foreign Affairs Article on Trump and Putin, by Fiona Hill

Chernobyl

 

Today Russia struck and damaged the enclosure that covers the radioactive 4th power unit with a shahed.

A Few Key Tech Lifelines offered to Ukraine in 2022

• Starlink provided service within days of the full-scale invasion, and donated hundred of terminals 
• By detecting samples of Russian malware before the war began, Microsoft warned Ukraine about how the impending conflict could affect the country’s information systems. 
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft migrated crucial Ukrainian government data to their cloud servers for safekeeping 
• Google and Microsoft offered cybersecurity services.
• Airbus, the U.S.-based satellite manufacturer ICEYE, and the space technology companies Capella Space, HawkEye 360, and Maxar Technologies have all been providing invaluable battlefield imaging and data. The analytics company Palantir has been aggregating this data to paint a more complete picture of the war on the ground.

"I Have Brought You Peace for Our Time"

Neville Chamberlain holds the Munich Agreement, a fateful 1938 decision to appease Hitler, who went on to seize most of Europe and murder millions of civilians.

 “It’s certainly an innovative approach to a negotiation to make very major concessions even before they have started,” stated former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who co-chairs the European Council on Foreign Relations. "Not even Chamberlain went that low in 1938."

Ukraine War Developments: Gabbard, Russian Stocks, sanctions on oligarchs, "greatest betrayal of a European ally since Poland in 1945"

Today, the U.S. Senate confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence.

She was voted in 52-48. As DNI, she will oversee 18 intelligence agencies with a budget of approximately $100 billion, and serve as Donald Trump’s top intelligence advisor.

Gabbard has consistently opposed U.S. support for Ukraine and has repeated Russian propaganda narratives, including claims about alleged biolabs in Ukraine. She has criticized President Joe Biden’s policies, accusing Democrats of prolonging the conflict and opposing U.S. arms shipments to Ukraine.

In 2022, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation stated that Gabbard was working for foreign audiences with Russian funding.

However, during her confirmation hearing on January 30, she called Russia a “strategic competitor” and stated that “Putin started the war against Ukraine.”

Sir Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, speaks in UK Parliament:

Russian stocks soared today, after today's developments

 A meeting was being prepared for Friday, 14 Feb 2025, in Munich, where Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the delegation.

In further news, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions on Ukrainian oligarchs at a meeting on February 12. Those sanctioned included Poroshenko, Kolomoisky, Bogolyubov, Zhevago and Medvedchuk. All of them are accused of carrying out activities in the interests of the Russian Federation. Criminal cases have been opened for each episode, which are being investigated by law enforcement officers.

Sanctions against Poroshenko were reportedly imposed due to:

• a criminal case of high treason, when Poroshenko, in collusion with Medvedchuk and the Russian leadership, allowed Centrenergo to buy coal from the LDN. This deprived Ukraine of any chance of energy independence from the Russian Federation for a long time.

• Poroshenko's participation in the creation of the Party of Regions and his work in Yanukovych's government, when, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he participated in the preparation of the Kharkiv Agreements.

• Cooperation with the Russian Federation: Owning assets in the Russian Federation – the Roshen factory in Lipetsk and Sevmorzavod in Crimea – Poroshenko was interested in continuing cooperation with the Russian Federation and stationing the Black Sea Fleet on the peninsula.

Sanctions against Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov were reportedly imposed because of:

• that in 2023 they were the founders and beneficiaries of the company Eclaris Group Limited. Through shell companies, it sold oil and gas to Gazprom subsidiaries, which paid taxes to the Russian budget, financing the war.

• withdrawal of UAH 750 million from Privatbank.

The grounds for imposing sanctions against Zhevago reportedly were:

• his close ties with the Russian Federation, in particular, with the sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexei Fedorychev.

• crimes in the banking sector related to the withdrawal of UAH 500 million in credit funds from the Finance and Credit Bank.

• The Ferrexpo group of companies controlled by Zhevago cooperated with the Russian Federation until recently. For example, AvtoKraz exported trucks to Russia, and Rosava and Premiori exported tires, which were supplied to the so-called "LDNR" as early as 2022.

Sanctions against Medvedchuk have been imposed indefinitely - reportedly based on several old episodes, as well as new ones:

• collecting information about the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the benefit of the Russian Federation,

• blocking the launch of advanced cellular radio technologies in Ukraine

• his activities in the OPZH,

• anti-Ukrainian activities of its media resources,

• involving him in anti-Ukrainian propaganda in the Russian Federation. In 2024, the SBU terminated the activities of the media structure “Voice of Europe”, which was part of the pro-Russian project “Second Ukraine”. It was headed and financed by Medvedchuk, and coordinated by the 5th Service of the Russian FSB.

Ballistic Missile Impact in Kiev

Video shows damage from an unknown type of ballistic missile, which struck Kyiv on the morning of 12 Feb 2025.

 

Ukrainian MOD launches "Contract 18-24" voluntary army recruiting program

The program offers 18- to 24-year-olds the ability to join the military under a one-year contract, and the option to either reenlist after one year or return to civilian life. 

The Ukrainian MoD will pay volunteers 200,000 UAH ($4,700) upon signing a one-year contract and an additional 800,000 UAH ($19,120) during their service in addition to a monthly salary of 120,000 UAH ($2,870). Volunteers will receive three months of training before deploying to the frontline. 

The Ukrainian government will subsidize future mortgages, education, and medical care for volunteers and will permit volunteers to travel abroad after their one year of service. 

The program also exempts volunteers from mobilization for 12 months after their one-year contract ends. 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov stated that the "Contract 18-24" program is part of Ukraine's ongoing efforts to create a professional military. 

Ukraine: Reasons to Wear Eye Protection

 Eye injury occurs in roughly 1/4 of blast injury victims. Most eye injuries are easily preventable, by using simple polycarbonate eye protection.

Here, the blast wave from a FAB-500 aerial bomb shatters nearby windows on 9 Feb 2025, in Kramatorsk.

Ukraine: Russians create 2-km mesh tunnel to protect against drones between Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar

 

Video: Russian Fiberoptic Drone allegedly finds and detonates pre-rigged explosives on Ukrainian bridge

 

Video: Ukrainian FPVs Hunt and Destroy Enemy Soldiers on a Golf Cart

 This video shows modern FPV combat drone tactics

Elon Musk Retweets Debunked Russian Propaganda

Elon Musk has retweeted the fabricated piece of Russian propaganda below, on his X feed. The fake news story appears to have been designed by Russian disinformation network Matryoshka. 

The fact that Musk retweeted it to his 216 million followers is a major coup for Matryoshka.

The fake video is designed appear to have been published on E! news. It falsely alleges that USAID sent US celebrities, including Angelina Jolie, to Ukraine to support the Ukrainian cause. 

However, E! spokeman confirmed the video "is not authentic and did not originate from E! News". Ben Stiller, one of the actors named in the video, denied that his trip to Ukraine was funded by USAID, writing on X: "These are lies coming from Russian media. I completely self-funded my humanitarian trip to Ukraine. There was no funding from USAID and certainly no payment of any kind. 100 percent false." Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub, posted that the video has "every indication of being a Russian fabricated video planted and spread using familiar methods."

Elon Musk appears to have since deleted the post.

 

Russian SU-25 Fighter Jet is Shot Down

 

Song: "Babylon", Set to Drone Imagery of Destroyed City of Mariinka

 

Ukraine: Mine Disguised as a Chunk of Mud

 

Chinese Lidar Drone Navigates through Forest

This new drone allegedly uses lidar and AI to create a 3D map, enabling it to navigate between trees and other obstacles at high speed. It does not require a GPS signal, making it resistant to jamming.

 

Russian Forces Attack Marked Ambulance in Kupiansk

 

This marked ambulance was attacked by a Russian FPV drone in Kupiansk. The driver was hospitalized with blast injuries.