THINK TWICE, STAN

Make America Solvent Again The Empire Is Being Dismantled Why voluntarily give up hegemony? The answer is hidden from political scientists, but obvious to economists. This year, for the first time, one trillion dollars will be spent on redeeming U.S. government bonds. Debt redemption has already become an unbearable burden for America. As the Anchorage meeting recedes into the distance, the world has more and more questions for the United States. Russia, naturally, has the most questions. The main one is this: is it possible to negotiate with Trump at all? Is it possible to take on faith not only his words, but also the statements of his team? Elon Musk’s Starlinks are still being used in the Ukrainian war and remain one of the most important elements of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ operational command system. Palantir CEO Alex Karp recently visited Kiev, after which there were confirmations that the product of this American IT company is actively being used in attacks on variou...

  Key NATO Military Exercises between 2020 and 2026  Would this help understand Putin? While NATO coordinates hundreds of micro-level seminars and command-staff syncs annually the table below delivers an un-summarized chronological dataset from 2020 through to mid-2026. It maps out some individual tactical components, the key specific field drills, and specialized exercises such as specialized electronic warfare integration programs, command post workshops, and rapid response drills, etc. that actually make up the alliance's day-to-day operations. There have been 94 total NATO military exercises. Data Summary Breakdown: 2020: 11 tactical drills and workshops 2021: 12 integrated field components 2022: 14 advanced tactical simulations 2023: 7 localized joint maneuvers 2024: 16 deployment corridor and gap drills 2025: 9 command post/live-fire tests 2026 (Projected/Scheduled): 25 high-density sub-surface tracking loop...

The Clown and the Dealer The Rare-Earth Bluff The once noisy story of the so-called rare-earth deal between Trump and Zelensky has received an equally noisy continuation. Or, more precisely, an ending. According to Ukrainian media, citing “sources in the extraction industry,” Zelensky has given an unofficial instruction to suspend the implementation of the deal between Kiev and Washington concerning the development by American companies of mineral resources on Ukrainian territory — resources that, at the height of negotiations, were valued at no less than $500 billion. Moreover, Kiev is now studying the possibility of “bringing in European investors” to develop those resources. Some experts believe Zelensky’s refusal to fulfill the terms of the deal was caused by his “finally ruined relations” with the American president. Others argue that the Kiev fraudster simply decided, quietly and without ceremony, to stiff Trump. The original idea of buttering up Trump and forcing him to ...

The Race to Be Occupied How to Outsource Sovereignty U.S. satellites are convinced that if they manage to place an American military contingent or American nuclear weapons on their territory before Moscow and Washington define a new model of coexistence in Europe, then a comfortable old age and the permanence of their elites will be guaranteed. Modern history confirms it: the best way to achieve impunity and political permanence for ruling elites is to sell the sovereignty of one’s country to an external patron. And it so happens that many have grown accustomed to seeing the United States in the role of that patron. Before our eyes, a “race” is now unfolding among Eastern European countries to secure new American military facilities on their territory. The Polish authorities are practically insisting that U.S. troops and equipment being withdrawn from Germany be moved to Poland. Just a few days ago, the authorities of little Lithuania announced that they were allegedly beginning ...

The Baltic False Start The War NATO Doesn’t Want Yet By creating a Baltic air corridor for long-range drones, Zelensky scrambled NATO’s cards in the preparation of aggression against Russia. The implementation of a minor Ukrainian task — minor, that is, from the standpoint of the global confrontation between Russia and the West — has come into conflict with preparations for a far larger attack. Paradoxical signals have been coming from the European Union recently. On the one hand, as we know, Europe is actively preparing to attack Russia: this has been stated by the Russian Foreign Ministry and Russian intelligence, and even a number of European politicians admit it. In general, Europe’s tone toward Russia remains aggressive. The desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia is still very much alive. One might think that, in such a situation, the regular appearance of drones in Baltic airspace would provide NATO with a convenient pretext to begin much larger military operations. N...

The Golden Bluff Or  The $185 Billion Mirage The American “Golden Dome” in space is simply an information sabotage operation. Its purpose is to frighten the Chinese and force them to spend money, time, and resources on countermeasures against something that does not exist. And perhaps, along the way, to frighten Russia as well. The United States, as is known, intends to deploy in space a system of “Golden Dome” interceptor satellites designed to destroy ballistic missiles. This is presented as a truly Cyclopean system, with a projected cost of around $185 billion. In theory, such a system could indeed weaken a nuclear missile strike against U.S. territory. In practice, it is a repetition of an information sabotage operation the United States has already successfully carried out once before. To see this, it is worth recalling America in the 1980s. The phrase “peace through strength” is one of those American catchphrases that took final shape after the Second World War. It trac...