The ‘new’ Trump plan to end the war in Ukraine, mentioned here yesterday, is unlikely to come to fruition.

Russia has said that it does not have any official knowledge of the plan or its content. But there are several reasons for it to reject it.

The Telegraph claims that the plan does not acknowledge that the Donbas and Luhansk are part of Russia but only allows for Russia to ‘lease’ the territory:

The Trump administration deal would see Kyiv cede control of the eastern Donbas region, but maintain legal ownership. Russia would pay an undisclosed rental fee for de facto control of the region, officials familiar with the deal told The Telegraph.

There is also the role of NATO which the Trump administration’s plan does not mention:

As European and U.S. officials alike sought clarity, they said many aspects of the plan remained in flux, including the role of NATO and any Ukrainian territorial concessions to Russia.
…
One aspect U.S. officials are still pondering is whether and how to mention NATO, the person said. The discussion of NATO has not been previously reported.

Ukraine has sought NATO membership as a security guarantee against a future Russian invasion. While some European countries support that, the U.S. has rejected it and Moscow has long demanded Kyiv not join the defensive alliance, viewing that as a threat. The European allies also worry about granting Russia territorial concessions, which they see as rewarding Moscow’s aggression and setting a concerning precedent.

Those European allies who reject the peace plan and are concerned about precedent should look up ‘Kosovo’ and how that came into being.

The prospect of NATO membership of Ukraine was one of the main reasons for starting the war. Russia will not allow NATO, or any other military ‘security guarantee’ for Ukraine, along its western borders. Ukraine’s explicit rejection of entering NATO will have to be part of any acceptable peace agreement.

Ukraine’s acting President is not willing to agree to the plan. He now sees the recent revealing of the corruption scandal involving his friend Mindich as part of an operation to press him to fire his chief of office Andrei Yermak and to accept Trump’s peace plan. He will argue that Russia is pulling the strings on each of these issues:

Cont. reading: High Noon In Kiev

The situation in Ukraine is becoming even more complicate.

The war on the frontline is going bad for Ukraine as is the war on infrastructure deep behind the contact line.

A corruption scandal is used to neuter President Zelenski. New power structures are set to evolve to further the execution of the war. President Trump is attempting to impose another peace effort while Europe finds that it lacks the money to finance Ukraine and the war.

There are at least seven cities which are falling or are destined to fall within the next few month.

biggerKupyansk is largely under Russian control. During the last days Russian forces took some 25% of Siversk. Pokrovsk is to 95% in Russian hands. Fighting in its encircled sister city Mirnograd is slowly coming to an end. The road between Pokrovske and Guliaipole has been taken. The later city is thus cut off from its main supply line and will soon be encircled.

The Ukrainian command had thrown in all its reserves to prevent the taking of Prokovsk and Kupiyansk. It was to no avail.

All regular Ukrainian brigades lack infantry. The constant Russian drone attacks have also taken a large toll on the logistic elements of those units.

General Syrski, the Ukrainian commander in chief, had set his bet on newly developed assault units to allow for offensive action while neglecting the general brigades which have to hold the lines. The weakened lines broke down when the Russian infiltrate them. Assault units were sent in and wasted on counterattacks that were supposed to stop further Russian breakthroughs but failed to have significant effects.

Defense fortifications and buildings can no longer protect the soldiers. Each day Russia is using 200 or more glide bombs to demolish them. Drones and artillery strikes follow. Russian infantry sneaks in to mop up remaining resistance.

It is a fairly slow process but it works for the Russians and is causing them a minimum of casualties.

The war on infrastructure far behind the line of contact is also preceding at a high pace. Ukraine had rejected the ceasefire on infrastructure previously agreed to by President Trump and President Putin. It has continued attacks on Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities with drones and missiles. They have so far done too little damage to slow down the Russian economy.

Russia has responded to those strikes by launching thousands of drones and missile against Ukrainian electricity and heating facilities causing up to 18 hours of blackout per day even in large Ukrainian cities. Another Russian target are railway depots where locomotives are maintained. Hundreds of them have been destroyed in such strikes.

The lack of electricity and mass transport have all but stopped large scale production of industrial goods. The economy suffers. Tax income decreases.

Cont. reading: Ukraine SitRep – Power Play In Kiev And Chaos At The Front

No post today, sorry, but two good talks to listen to:

• Emmanuel Todd: Defeat of the West – Collapse of Power & Values (vid) – Glenn Diesen

• John Mearsheimer addresses the European Parliament on the topic of “Europe’s Bleak Future” (vid) – American Conservative

Over the next two years Ukraine plans to spend some €140 billion ($162b) it does not have to continue its war with Russia. There is serious doubt that the European Union, which has already shuffled €180 billion ($216b) to Ukraine, will be able to pay even a fraction of that.

Despite Ukraine’s lack of money it acting president Vladimir Zelenski is announcing deals to procure expensive military aircraft at an unprecedented scale.

In late October he went to Sweden to buy JAS 39 Gripen-E multi-role fighter jets build by Saab:

Ukraine could get 150 advanced Swedish fighter jets under just-signed deal – CNN, Oct 23 2025

New NATO member Sweden has said it is willing to sell Ukraine up to 150 of its most advanced fighter jets, the first offer from a member of the alliance to supply significant numbers of jets to Kyiv, which is seeking to upgrade its small and ageing air force.

The deal signed on Wednesday by Volodymyr Zelensky and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is a letter of understanding, meaning exact terms, costs and delivery dates for 100 to 150 Saab Gripen-E jets are yet to be determined.

But both leaders said it has the potential to be a game changer, not only for Ukraine – which desperately needs more air combat capabilities in its fight against Russia – but for NATO and European security overall.

The planes ain’t cheap:
Cont. reading: Ukraine Is Buying Fighter Jets With Money It Does Not Have?

What was the point of the government shutdown?

Caveat – I have not followed the issue in depth. My understanding is that the Democrats blocked the funding of the government because they wanted additional money for one of their healthcare programs.

Trump used the time of the shutdown to further his politics.

Six weeks later, just as the public was turning against the Republicans, the Democrats caved in:

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history came to an end Wednesday after the House approved the Senate-passed funding package, and President Trump signed the bill into law.

The legislation extends funding for most agencies until Jan. 30 and includes three bills that fund other parts of the government through September 2026.

The Senate approved the legislation on Monday, when seven Democrats and one independent who caucuses with Democrats joined Republicans to end the standoff in the upper chamber. Six House Democrats crossed the aisle and voted to reopen the government.

The only thing that the Democrats have ‘won’ was a promise to put the additional healthcare money to a separate vote:

Eight Senate Democrats broke ranks to reach a deal with Republicans to end the shutdown, dashing the party’s effort to win an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits in return for their vote to reopen the government. ..

As part of the deal, Democrats secured a promise to hold a vote next month on the tax credits, which help millions of Americans pay for health insurance premiums for plans purchased on state exchanges.

The Republicans will of course reject that measure.

By the way: Why were the tax credits, part of Obama’s health care reforms, time limited in the first place?

To hide their utter defeat the Democrats released a slew of Epstein emails with the hope to plant new sensational rumors about Trump.  I have found nothing remarkable in that stack.

If this looks like a second Russiagate its because it is similar bullshit.

Instead of being a real opposition to Trump’s wars and miserable programs the Democrats’ are pushing performative nonsense.

Do they expect to get votes for that?

In 2003 the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Council (OLC) issued a memo which declared the use of torture in ‘authorized military interrogations’ as legal when done under the ‘president’s constitutional authority to direct a war’.

The memo was widely condemned. The Obama administration withdrew it but refrained from prosecuting the torturers which had used it as cover.

The Trump administration now issued a comparable OLC memo to justify its wanton killing of alleged drug smugglers at sea.

Starting in September the Trump administration announced 19 strikes on boats in the Caribbean which have killed at least 76 seafarers. Most of them were random poor people:

One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet. And a fourth was a down-on-his-luck bus driver.

The men had little in common beyond their Venezuelan seaside hometowns and the fact all four were among the more than 60 people killed since early September when the U.S. military began attacking boats that the Trump administration alleges were smuggling drugs.

The argument of the new OLC memo is even more frivolous (archived) than the torturous reasoning of the former one:

The opinion, which runs nearly 50 pages, also argues that the United States is in a “non-international armed conflict” waged under the president’s Article II authorities, a core element to the analysis that the strikes are permissible under domestic law.

The armed-conflict argument, which was also made in a notice to Congress from the administration last month, is fleshed out in more detail by the OLC. The opinion also states that drug cartels are selling drugs to finance a campaign of violence and extortion, according to four people.

That assertion, which runs counter to the conventional wisdom that traffickers use violence to protect their drug business, appears to be part of the effort to shoehorn the fight against cartels into a law-of-war framework, analysts said.

The true purpose of drug cartels is obviously to make money. There is no evidence that any drug cartel ever has been or is in business because it wanted to create violence.

Cont. reading: Justice Department Office Which Justified Torture Now Argues For Killing

Once a while the writers at RUSI, the British Ministry of Defense think tank, produce some valuable research. Mostly though they are out to push war mongering nonsense. A recent piece in Foreign Affairs by Jack Waitling is of the later kind.

Ukraine’s Hardest Winter – Foreign Affairs, Nov 11 2025
With the Donbas in Peril, Europe Must Pressure Russia Now

I’ll leave the dozens of outright lies, false assertions and delusions therein for others to mock.

Waitling’s main thesis is that more (economic) pressure on Russia will somehow press it towards a ceasefire without concessions from the Ukrainian side. But his suggestions on how to do that are all designed to drag Europe into an even more direct battle with Russia.

To support the Ukrainian campaign against Russia’s oil industry the Europeans should close the Strait of Denmark:

For Ukraine’s international partners, the question is whether they are prepared to match Ukraine’s campaign against Russia’s oil infrastructure with comparable real rather than performative pressure on Russia’s economy. Above all, this means targeting Russia’s shadow fleet: the hundreds of decrepit tankers, operating under flags of convenience, often without insurance or trained crew, to move its oil to India and China. This will require denying the 80 percent of Russian seaborne oil exports that pass through the Strait of Denmark and threatening secondary sanctions against the ports where shadow fleet vessels unload.
…
Some European governments—including Denmark—have cited the 1857 Treaty of Copenhagen, an international agreement that established tariff-free transit of commercial shipping through Danish waters, as a legal barrier to action. But this is an excuse rather than a real obstacle. The countries that have a Baltic coastline today, excluding Russia, could agree to a new treaty requiring ships to meet certain standards of insurance and certification to be allowed to navigate the Baltic—for example, on grounds of ecological protection. Since the aging vessels of the shadow fleet do not meet these requirements, such a treaty would deny them entry into the straits. This would not impinge on the principle of tariff-free transit for commercial shipping through Danish waters.

Nice idea. But would enforce such nonsense and how?

Cont. reading: How To Start War With Russia – A British Think Tank Has Ideas

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

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.

bigger
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

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

A Truth Social tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump on nuclear weapons has led to some confusion and, as I assume, misinterpretations.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump – Oct 30, 2025, 1:04 utc

The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years. Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

The Washington Post interprets it as a test of nuclear warheads:

Trump directs Pentagon to test nuclear weapons for first time since 1992 (archived) – Washington Post
The president said he wanted testing to occur “on an equal basis” with Russia and China. The Kremlin condemned the move, and there was no indication of when tests might take place.

President Donald Trump on Thursday morning said he directed the Pentagon to begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China, an apparent attempt to flex the United States’ military might ahead of a high-stakes trade meeting here with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

Trump’s announcement on Truth Social signaled a reversal of decades of United States nuclear policy that could have far-reaching consequences for relations with U.S. adversaries, though his post included very few details about what the tests would entail. The last nuclear weapon test in the United States was held in 1992, before President George H.W. Bush implemented a moratorium on such exercises at the conclusion of the Cold War.

Trump wrote that the process would begin immediately and was in response to other countries’ testing programs.

The president posted about resuming nuclear weapons testing as his helicopter, Marine One, was in the air on his way to meet Xi at Gimhae Air Base.

The Trump tweet is wrong in that it asserts that the U.S. has more nuclear weapons than any other country. All public sources say that Russia with about 4300 nuclear warheads has slightly more than the United States with about 3,600. China has about 5-600 nuclear warheads and is building up its nuclear weapon arsenal to about 1,000 warheads by 2035.

However Trumps next sentence is not about testing nuclear warheads. It is about testing of carrier systems that can deploy nuclear warheads.

Trump says: “Because of other countries testing programs, …”

No country has recently exploded a nuclear bomb or warhead for testing or other purposes. The last known nuclear test was done by North Korea in 2017.

It is important to distinguish between testing a carrier designed to deliver a nuclear war head and testing, i.e. exploding, the nuclear war head itself. A nuclear carrier can be a bomber, a land based (intercontinental) missile or a submarine based missile or torpedo.

Russia has recently announced a successful test of the Burevestnik cruise missile. This is a potential nuclear warhead carrier driven by a nuclear-powered jet engine:

Cont. reading: A Nuclear Delivery Vehicle Is Not A Nuclear War Head

English Outsider comments in response to my Ukrainian glasshouse post:

“I seriously doubt that these people are sane.”

They’re psychos.  Gaza shows that past doubt.  But there’s logic to their insanity.  Although we’re heading for straight military defeat in the Ukrainian theatre they still have the Russians over a barrel.  The problem of remnant Ukraine, the problem that has been staring all in the face since February 2022, it still one to which the Russians have no good solution.  It’s clear that the Western politicians,  Trump included, will not assist with coming to any good solution.

The future of Eastern Ukraine is already determined though we don’t yet know how much of it the Russians will decide to incorporate within the RF.  But remnant Ukraine, whatever that turns out to be in territorial terms, poses a problem as insoluble as ever,

First, Eastern Ukraine.

Lavrov:

And when we now liberate remaining parts of Zaporozhye, this is the Russian way to pronounce it. And Kherson, the people, in spite of the attempts of Ukrainian army to pull them into mainland Ukraine, most of them are not leaving. They’re staying, and they’re welcoming the Russian soldiers who liberate them. So this is not our will, our “imperialist desire”, some people say. This is our concern for the future of the people who feel being part of the Russian culture.

This fits with statements from the Ukrainian authorities to the effect that they were having difficulty evacuating Kupiansk.  Many did not wish to be evacuated.  The same was seen in Bakhmut and in other towns and cities.

Later on Lavrov returns to the subject:Cont. reading: English Outsider On Solving Ukraine

Yesterday U.S. President Donald Trump visited Japan and met with its new Prime Minister Sanae Takaishi. Both are conservatives and agree on many points. Japan is a trusted vassal which rarely collides with the U.S. demands.

But one serious point of contention is open between the two nations and threatens to blow up the relation.

Earlier this year Trump had imposed a 25% tariff on U.S. imports from Japan. The previous prime minister had ‘sold the house’ to lower that rate:

So desperate was now-former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to lower Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on Japanese products to 15%, especially on automotive products, that he signed on to an incredible surrender regarding Tokyo’s promise for the government to invest $550 billion in the US over the coming three years.

Not only does Trump get to choose the projects and the US get the lion’s share of any profits, but if Japan dares to reject any of Trump’s schemes as nonviable, Ishiba has given Trump permission to impose even higher tariffs. The jointly-signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) says that, “In the case where Japan elects not to fund [a project Trump has named—rk], the United States may also impose tariff rate or rates on Japanese imports into the United States at the rate determined by the President [emphasis added].”

The total surrender took the form of a Memorandum of Understanding which did not require a vote in the Diet. But the enormous amount of money it pledges to invest in the U.S. would need parliamentary approval. There was and is practically not chance that anything like it would pass. The ‘investment’ would blow up Japan’s government budget. It would also increase the U.S. trade deficit with Japan.

The completely unbalanced agreement was one reason why Ishiba was ousted from his position.

I had wondered how Takaishi would handle this most important issues. But it seems that both sides have agreed to ignore it:Cont. reading: How Can Japan Handle Its $550 Billion Trump Problem?

Ukraine: “Let’s attack Russian refineries. The Russians will run out of gasoline and diesel. There will be protests and Putin will be deposed.”

Result:

Emergency power outages have been introduced in the city of Kyiv as well as Kyiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk and other oblasts on the morning of 27 October.
…
“On the orders of Ukrenergo [Ukraine’s state-owned electricity transmission system operator], emergency power outages have been introduced in Kyiv, Kyiv Oblast and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.”
…
In addition, Sumyoblenergo, Sumy’s distribution system operator, announced emergency outages for its consumers.

The same situation is occurring in Cherkasy, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr and Kharkiv oblasts.

Reaction (machine translated):

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has threatened Russia with “expanding the geography” of long-range strikes.

Zelensky wrote about this in his telegram channel after the stavka meeting.

“Russian oil refining is already paying a significant price for the war and will pay even more. We have defined tasks to expand the geography of our long-range range, ” the Ukrainian president said.

I seriously doubt that these people are sane.

One never know how serious Trump’s ‘leaked’ plans are. Their purpose often seem to be solely to increase pressure on opponents, to move things into a direction he likes. If that does not work the plans may just be discarded. Or may, just may, be carried out.

Trump considering plans to target cocaine facilities inside Venezuela, officials say – Politico

President Donald Trump is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and drug trafficking routes inside Venezuela, though he has not yet made a decision on whether to move forward with them, three US officials told CNN.

Outward signs on Friday pointed toward a major potential military escalation, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier strike group currently stationed in Europe to the Caribbean region amid a massive buildup of US forces there. Trump has also authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.

The president has not ruled out taking a diplomatic approach with Venezuela to stem the flow of drugs into the US, two officials said, even after the administration cut off active talks with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in recent weeks.

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.

As soon as those are captured the U.S. selected regime-change puppet, as identified by the Nobel Peace Prize committee, can declare herself president.

The rest is just media work. Unless – and that is a big question – there will be some real resistance.

The Venezuelan Bolvarian movement can motivate its youth to resist the U.S. coup even a well planned operation may end up like the Bay of Pigs.