There has been a severe power struggle going on in Ukraine which the circle around acting president Vladimir Zelenski fighting against the former president Petro Poroshenko and his clique.

Today the power struggle went into a new round with fresh corruption accusation raise against intimate allies of Zelenski.

Zelenski has control over the ruthless Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The group around Poroshenko is allied with ‘grant structures’ previously close to the US Democratic Party.

‘Grant structures’ are the ‘civil society’ and the ‘anti-corruption’ parallel government organizations in Ukraine which were, until recently, financed by U.S. funds and controlled by Democrats. After Trump had blocked the funding for those groups Poroshenko jumped in with financing and the European Union took over.

The fight has been ongoing since 2022 when the war in Ukraine started for real. During the mid of this year the fight went public:

An intense information operation has been launched to remove Ukraine’s (former) President Vladimir Zelenski from office. Behind it are a cabal of Ukrainian opposition figures in coordination which western media and parts of the Trump administration.

The current campaign follows a earlier one which was directed against Zelenski’s main advisor and head of the office of the president Andrei Yermak.

Several pieces in major western outlets were launched against Zelenski and his clan. They were the preparatory fire for a wider attack which would accuse people around Zelenski, and finally himself, of large scale corruption schemes.

Zelenski tried to preempt the attack. On July 22 he put the whole anti-corruption vertical, including the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, under his control. That move caused open protest in Kiev by various non-government organization. The EU pushed back and Zelenski had to concede defeat. The Anti-Corruption vertical was released from supervision:

Cont. reading: Ukraine – Zelenski Friend Accused In Energy Sector Corruption Case

Last week’s posts on Moon of Alabama:

• Nov 3 – Trump’s Nuclear Weapon Tests Won’t Include Nuke Explosions
  Related:
  – Nuclear testing: It’s the pits – Asia Times
  – Trump Has an Out on Nuclear Testing. He Should Take It. – Carnegie Endowment
  – The new nuclear arms race (archived) – Financial Times

• Nov 3 – Belorussian ‘Regime Changer’ Roman Protasevich Was An Intelligence Asset
  Related:
  – Key Kremlin ally reveals KGB spy helped Russia hijack Ryanair flight in 2021 – Express
  – Ryanair ‘hijacking’ twist: Putin’s friend says detainee was undercover spy – Dagens
  – Leaks expose collapse of EU/US-backed Belarusian ‘opposition’ – Grayzone
  – U.S. lifts all sanctions from Belarusian airline Belavia – MSN

• Nov 4 – Dick ‘Darth Vader’ Cheney Is Dead
  Related:
  – Remembering Dick Cheney, ‘Polarizing’ War Criminal – FAIR
  – The Tragedy of Dick Cheney (archived) – Ron Suskind / NY Times

• Nov 5 – Zohran Mamdani Wins New York City Mayor’s Election
  Related:
  – The Zohran Mamdani Psyop: How The Establishment Manufactures Its Own Brand of “Radicals”. – Fiorella Isabel
  – Buckle Up, America. The Zohran Era is Here – Matt Taibbi
  – Zohran Mamdani drops the mask (unhinged editorial) (archived) – Washington Post
  The mayor-elect divides New Yorkers into two groups: the oppressed and their oppressors.

• Nov 7 – This Ukraine War Report Is One Of A Kind
  Related:
  – Zelenskyy reports 314 Russian soldiers in Pokrovsk, Ukrainian forces say Russians waiting for reinforcements – Pravda.ua
  – John Mearsheimer: Fall of Pokrovsk – The Turning Point of the End of the Ukraine War is Near (video)
  – Why Ukraine’s troops are facing an amputation crisis – Telegraph
  – “Energy generation now at zero”: Russia delivers heaviest strike on Ukrainian thermal power plants – Ukrainska Pravda
  – EU and Belgium reportedly fail to agree on use of frozen Russian assets – Yahoo

—
Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – OT 2025-260

This frontline report and the maps it presents are one of a kind:

Frontline report: Ukrainian drones with loudspeakers broadcast surrender instructions as Pokrovsk counterattack succeeds – Euromaidan, Nov 7 2025

General Oleksandr Syrskyi launched a focused Ukrainian counterattack near Dobropillia to divert Russian attention from the brutal push on Pokrovsk. Using drone-mounted loudspeakers to broadcast surrender instructions and exploiting autumn mud, Ukrainian forces cleared encircled Russian pockets and forced mass surrenders, while Russian reinforcements became bogged down trying to respond.

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The report claims that the Russian front that did envelope Pokrovsk and Myrnograd from the north has been broken up by a counteroffensive. Resupply of the Ukrainian forces in the two cities seems to be again possible.

The report is one of a kind because no one else is reporting such nonsense.

The Ukrainian counterattack north of Pokrovsk, which was launched a week ago, has failed. The pocket is closed. Pokorvsk is to 90% under Russian control. Ukrainian forces left in Myrnograd have no way out.

That is at least what other observers of the conflict, including western media, are claiming:

Cont. reading: This Ukraine War Report Is One Of A Kind

Yesterday the Democrats had a better day than they deserve. Their candidates did win in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City:

Zohran Mamdani, a young democratic socialist who shot to stardom and shook up Democratic politics, will be the next mayor of New York City.

Less than 40 minutes after the polls closed at 9 p.m. on Nov. 4, the Associated Press and CNN called the race for Mamdani, the Democratic nominee. With 91% of the vote counted, Mamdani had 50.4% of the vote, 9 points of his next closest opponent, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo with 41.6%. Cuomo ran as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary.

Mamdani, 34, will be the first Muslim mayor and first Asian American mayor of the nation’s largest city. The state lawmaker won after a contentious campaign defined by Democratic infighting over his ambitious proposals and past criticisms of Israel and the NYPD. Billionaires such as former Mayor Mike Bloomberg spent millions on efforts to defeat him.

It was remarkable that Zohran Mamdani did not pledge fealty to the Zionists (yet). It is somewhat uplifting that this likely enabled him to win.

But the hype around reminds me of the hype around one Barack Obama shortly before he became a bloody and bad president. It makes me suspicious of his verbalized aims and opinions.

There is also this:

Alex Soros @AlexanderSoros – 3:05 utc · Nov 5, 2025

So proud to be a New Yorker! The American dream continues!
Congrats, Mayor @ZohranKMamdani
pic

Hmm …

Marx Engels Lenin Stalin Mao Institute @MarxEngelsLnin – 12:40 utc · Nov 5, 2025

If you think the Soros family endorses actual socialists then I have several bridges and a miracle cure to sell you.

—

Michael Tracey @mtracey – 12:56 utc · Nov 5, 2025

Who wants to bet that within six months Zohran will be considered centrist/establishment by much of the Left

That bet looks like a sure win.

I am not in the mood to write about the death of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. Alan has caught the gist of what needs to be said of it.

Alan MacLeod @AlanRMacLeod – 12:20 utc · Nov 4, 2025

The only thing sad about Dick Cheney’s death is that it did not happen inside an Iraqi prison.

Over the years there have been a few MoA post on Cheney:

• The VP – Why is Cheney so full of hate?,  Nov 22, 2005
• Cheney Fails Again,  Feb 12, 2006
• Cheney Administration Expresses Self-knowledge,  May 27, 2007
• Cheney and Friends – by Antifa,  Jun 21, 2008
• Chimera – Chemera – Chenera – Chener – Cheney,   Sep 6, 2008

The one written by Antifa is probably the best of them. The last one is also of current interest.

This blog had diligently followed the case of the Belorussian regime changer Roman Protasevich and his Ryanair flight to Minsk. Last week the case reappeared but the quite sensational news of it caught little attention.

To recap a summary of the case as published here in May 2023:

Two years ago a Ryanair flight from Athens to Lithuania was diverted after the Belorussian flight control informed the pilot that it had received an email which said that the plane carried a bomb and would explode during landing in Lithuania.

The plane diverted to Minsk. All passengers stepped off board and where bused to the terminal. When they passed through passport control the immigration officers found that two of the passengers had outstanding arrest warrants against them. These were one Roman Protasevich and his Russian girlfriend and co-worker Sofia Sapega.

The ‘western’ media and politicians were up in arms over the ‘unprecedented’ incident. But the event was far from unprecedented.

Western media also failed to report that Roman Protasevich had been a western government financed neo-nazi who had fought with the fascist Ukrainian Azov battalion before working for U.S. sponsored regime change media in Poland. He was one of the persons who had directed the failed 2020 color-revolution in Belarus.

Belarus had handled the airplane incident by the book. During the following days claims were made that Belarus received the terror threat email after the plane was informed – i.e. the whole thing was a setup. However, Belarus has claimed that it received the threat email twice, once before it notified the pilots and another copy later.

Moon of Alabama has followed the case throughout. Those interested in the details of the original incident can find them in our June 2 2021 post. For a wider political view of the ‘color revolution’ business in east Europe see this piece by Kit Klarenberg. Links to all MoA posts about the case are listed at the end of this piece.

A week after the incident, during a long TV interview, Protasevich spilled the beans about the whole regime operation. He also says that he has come to believe that one of his regime changer colleagues had sent the bomb threat email to get him arrested.

A few weeks later Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega were released and put under house arrest. A trial followed and, in early May of this year, he was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Only a week or two after receiving his prison sentence Roman Protasevich was pardoned. A few days later his girl friend and partner in crime Sofia Sapega was also released. Little was heard of either of them since.

Until on October 31 the President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko let the cat out of the bag. He said that Protasevich had all along been a spy for his country.

As TASS summarizes:
Cont. reading: Belorussian ‘Regime Changer’ Roman Protasevich Was An Intelligence Asset

Last week U.S. President Donald Trump published a confused tweet about nuclear testing:

…  Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.  …

Some media panicky wrote that Trump had ordered to detonate nuclear warheads.

I disagreed with that interpretation:

All nuclear warheads the U.S. has are under the control of the Department of Energy. It is the sole agency that can do test explosions of nuclear warheads. The nuclear delivery vehicles which are used to deploy the war heads are under the control of the Department of Defense (or ‘Department of War’ as Trump calls it).

Trump said “Because of other countries testing programs” and “start testing … on an equal basis” both in reference of nuclear delivery vehicle tests of other countries.

Trump thereby likely meant to order the DoD to test its nuclear delivery vehicles, just like Russia has recently done. He did not order the DoE to test nuclear war heads.

The testing of nuclear delivery vehicles, like intercontinental missiles, is a routine that has been done every year since those exist.

It is nothing to panic about.

On Sunday the Energy Secretary confirms that no nuclear explosions are involved (archived):

The nuclear testing ordered by President Trump will not involve nuclear explosions, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday, adding that the testing would involve “the other parts of a nuclear weapon” to ensure they are working properly.

Mr. Wright’s comments came four days after Mr. Trump made the declaration that he was ordering the U.S. military to resume nuclear testing “on an equal basis” with other countries, raising the specter of a return to the worst days of the Cold War.

“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are systems tests,” Mr. Wright said in an interview on the Fox News show “The Sunday Briefing.” “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions.”

Noncritical or subcritical explosion test are those where, for example, the chemical explosives which, within a nuclear warhead, are supposed to initiate the nuclear fission are tested for their stability. That is, like testing the wiring of a warhead detonator, routine stuff which every country that has nuclear weapons does on a regular basis.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory is where the U.S. is doing these tests:
Cont. reading: Trump’s Nuclear Weapon Tests Won’t Include Nuke Explosions

Last week’s posts on Moon of Alabama:

• Oct 27 – Sitting In A Damaged Glasshouse Throwing More Stones
  Related:
  – Ukraine curbs power supplies after attack on energy facilities, Kyiv says – Reuters
  – G7 ministers to discuss support for Ukraine amid energy crisis – UkrInform
  – Entire Donetsk Oblast left without power – Ukrainske Pravda

• Oct 28 – How Can Japan Handle Its $550 Billion Trump Problem?
  Related:
  – Trump aims to open Japan to U.S. autos with tariffs. It’s a tough sell – Detroit News
  – Japan’s Central Bank Holds Fire as Tariffs, Politics Cloud Policy Target – WSJ via </>MSN
  – Japan’s Takaichi and China’s Xi agree to pursue stable ties – Reuters

• Oct 29 – English Outsider On Solving Ukraine
  Related:
  – A Few Thoughts About the Russian End Game in Ukraine and the Risk of Losing the Peace – Naked Capitalism
  – Living Dangerously – Russo-Ukrainian War: Autumn 2025 – Big Serge <- Recommended
  – I hate to say it, but Kyiv won’t last till spring (archived) – The Times
  – The dark side of Zelenskyy’s rule – Politico
  – Almost 100,000 young men flee Ukraine in two months – Telegraph
  – Did Ukraine Just Quietly Attack Two European Countries? – American Conservative
  – What will it cost to make Vladimir Putin stop? (archived) – Economist

> We calculate that Ukraine will need approximately $389bn in cash and arms over the four years from 2026 to 2029 (for consistency we are using dollars and constant prices throughout), mainly from Europe. That is almost double the roughly $206bn that Europe has supplied since just before the war started in February 2022. <

• Oct 30 – A Nuclear Delivery Vehicle Is Not A Nuclear War Head
  Related:
  – Opinion: Why Trump’s talk about nuclear testing is dangerous – Salt Lake Tribune
  – The experts respond to Trump’s proposal to “start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis” – The Bulletin
  – Trump push to restart nuclear tests could take years, cost millions, experts say (archived) – Washington Post

• Oct 31 – U.S. Ready To Bomb Venezuela Under Absurdly False Pretext
  Related:
  – Pentagon Tells Congress It Doesn’t Know Who It’s Killing in Latin American Boat Strikes – Scheerpost
  – Trump administration tells Congress war law doesn’t apply to cartel strikes (archived) – Washington Post
  – Russia Ready to Assist Venezuela in Response to Intervention Threats Orinoco Tribune
  – How Miami hawks hijacked Trump’s foreign policy They’ve long dreamed of toppling Maduro – Unherd
  – The Regime Change Temptation in Venezuela – To Overthrow Maduro Would Not End Well – Foreign Affairs
  – ‘This is no drill’ – State One Alert Level – Trinidad Express

• Nov 1 – Ukraine – Hail Mary Operation To Unblock Pokrovsk Has Failed
  Related:
  – Who will save Ukrainian troops in Pokrovsk? (archived) – Spectator
  – Pokrovsk, Syrsky, and black hawks down – Events in Ukraine
  – No encirclement of Pokrovsk: Armed Forces, Security Service and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine operating in city, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief says – Ukrainske Pravda
  – Ukrainian troops have improved tactical position in several areas of Pokrovsk, Air Assault Forces say – video – Ukrainske Pravda

—
Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – OT 2025-254

The Ukrainian army has lost control over the Pokrovsk / Myrnograd agglomeration. Russian forces had over months slowly enveloped the cities from the east and the west. The corridor leading out of it was put under Russian drone control. Any vehicle trying to pass through was attacked.

biggerThe Ukrainian leadership had thrown any reserves it had to reopen the corridor to the city. All such attempts were destined to fail. A last Hail Mary move was the helicopter insertion of a dozen special forces commanded by the Military Intelligence Service GRU.

Ukraine lands special forces in embattled Pokrovsk, sources say – Reuters, Oct 3 2025

Ukraine landed special forces to fight in embattled parts of the eastern city of Pokrovsk earlier this week, just as Russia said it had surrounded Kyiv’s forces in the area, two Ukrainian military sources said on Friday.
…
The Ukrainian special forces landed in a Black Hawk helicopter a few days ago in the operation, which was complicated by Russian drone activity, a source in the 7th Rapid Response Corps said.

The operation was overseen by military spy chief Kyrylo Budanov, and the troops headed to areas of the city claimed by Russia and seen by Moscow as vital for Ukrainian supply lines, the other source said.

At least 10 servicemen could be seen dismounting from a helicopter in a field in a video seen by Reuters. The news agency could not independently confirm the location or date when the video was filmed.

A video of the helicopter insertion is here

Other videos, according to AMK mapping, show that none of the inserted soldiers survived:

Cont. reading: Ukraine – Hail Mary Operation To Unblock Pokrovsk Has Failed

Just a few days ago I stated that Trump is targeting Venezuela under the pretext of countering drug trafficking. But the real reasons for this are clear:

Venzuela is, as Politico points out, not known for drug trafficking. It does not have ‘cocaine facilities’. But it does have the largest oil reserves in the world. That has always made it a target for a U.S. regime-change operations.

But Venezuela is also a huge country double the size of Iraq with a mountainous and often densely wooded countryside. The U.S. military is unable to invade, occupy and control it.

But what the U.S. might want to try in Venezuela is a variant of the Israeli plan for Iran.

A decapitation strike killing President Maduro and the military leadership accompanied by a bombing campaign to take out air defenses and primary defense units. Meanwhile the CIA and special forces will have to work on the ground in Caracas to organize local thugs for an assault on the main government sites and radio/TV buildings.

A few days ago the U.S. ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to move from the Mediterranean towards Venezuela. The carrier is expected to arrive in early to mid November. I had expected that the U.S. would wait with any attack on Venezuela until the carrier force is in place. Until than it would continue its intimidation strikes on random fishermen at sea.

The Wall Street Journal though says that the U.S. is already ready to strike on land:

U.S. Eyes Striking Venezuelan Military Targets Used for Drug Trafficking (archived) – WSJ

The Trump administration has identified targets in Venezuela that include military facilities used to smuggle drugs, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. If President Trump decides to move forward with airstrikes, they said, the targets would send a clear message to Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro that it is time to step down.

While the president hasn’t made a final decision on ordering land strikes, the officials said a potential air campaign would focus on targets that sit at the nexus of the drug gangs and the Maduro regime.
…
The potential targets under consideration include ports and airports controlled by the military that are allegedly used to traffic drugs, including naval facilities and airstrips, according to one of the officials.

The Miami Herald says that the decision to attack Venezuela has been made and that strikes are imminent:

Cont. reading: U.S. Ready To Bomb Venezuela Under Absurdly False Pretext