Tag Russia

Ukraine-Russia-Insight: Starobilsk and Kiew – What Really Happened

On the night of May 23-24, 2026, Western media reported a massive Russian strike on Kyiv. What was largely missing from the coverage: three days earlier, a student dormitory in Starobilsk had been hit, young people were killed, Russia announced retaliation - and then acted. This article reconstructs the Starobilsk-Kyiv chain of events, separates documented facts from unresolved questions, and shows how selective reporting on both sides turns war coverage into propaganda.

UPDATE: Russia-Ukraine Conflict – May 21, 2026

The military balance in the Russia-Ukraine war is shifting visibly for the first time in years: Russia is losing net territory while Ukraine reports limited battlefield gains. Politically, however, the war remains structurally blocked. The failed Victory Day ceasefire shows that short-term pauses have largely lost their diplomatic function. At the same time, Kyiv is building a long-war defense architecture: arms exports, Gulf security agreements, and drone production partnerships inside Europe. Germany is no longer merely a supporter, but increasingly part of the war-production chain. This situation report shows a central contradiction: the front is moving – diplomacy is not.

UPDATE – US AND ISRAEL ATTACK IRAN – May 20, 2026

Trump says he was “one hour” away from launching a new large-scale strike on Iran - then called it off. Not because the crisis was resolved, but after appeals from Gulf leaders and under the continued threat of renewed attacks. As Tehran repeats its core demands, Washington counters with terms close to surrender, and the US Senate shows its first visible cracks over the war, another case moves to the center: the US strike on the Minab girls’ school. This update traces a week in which the war did not fully escalate - but the underlying power structures became clearer: in Washington, in Beijing, in Lebanon, and in the unresolved shadow of a strike whose investigation may reveal more than a single operational failure.

Mali Burns, Russia Bleeds

Mali is no longer merely facing an internal security crisis. The coordinated offensive by Tuareg separatists and JNIM, the withdrawal of Russia’s Africa Corps from Kidal, and the growing pressure on Bamako point to a new phase of war in the Sahel. What may look like a French attempt to regain lost influence is, in fact, a far more complex proxy structure: Ukrainian drone expertise, Algerian border depth, French strategic interests, and a Russian security model beginning to fracture in public. This article explains why Mali has become an African secondary front in the wider Russia-West conflict - and why the outcome may reshape the entire western Sahel.

A World in Flames – Part 9

What happens when the world does not collapse through one great war, but through many smaller fires that no one can extinguish?
In the final part of the series “Europe Prepares for War”, Michael Hollister examines a scenario built not on fantasy, but on existing fault lines: Korea, Taiwan, India and Pakistan, Iran and Israel, Turkey and Greece, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Myanmar, the South China Sea, and Africa.
Until now, many of these conflicts have been contained by great powers - through pressure, mediation, deterrence, or military presence. But what happens when the United States, China, and Russia are all tied down by their own major conflicts? A global power vacuum emerges. And in power vacuums, states rarely act according to morality. They act according to opportunity.

INTRO – The Prepared War – 9 Parts

Wars don't come out of nowhere. They are prepared - in budget debates, treaty clauses, industry conferences, and legal documents almost no one reads. Michael Hollister has read them. Across nine parts, he reconstructs how Germany and Europe are being systematically converted for war: the war economy, the EU military architecture, the legal automatisms that require no vote. Every part is a piece. Only when you see them all does the mosaic emerge - and what might come next becomes visible.

Follow the Oil -Part 2- Europe Without Oil

Europe didn’t suddenly stumble into an energy crisis - it sidelined itself step by step. With the destruction of Nord Stream, the political decoupling from Russia, and the simultaneous escalation in the Middle East, two of its key energy lifelines collapsed at once: East and South. What remains is a continent stripped of strategic agency - militarily unable to secure resources, economically dependent on costly imports, and politically trapped in contradictions it can no longer reconcile.
As Hormuz is blocked, Bab al-Mandab comes under pressure, and the United States openly states that Europe should “secure its own oil,” a new reality is emerging: energy is no longer just an economic factor, but a geopolitical weapon. Part 2 of this series examines how Europe has drifted into structural dependency - and why other actors are capitalizing on it.

German Chips in Russian Drones

Infineon transistors. Bosch fuel pumps. Rheinmetall subsidiary Pierburg. Every Russian Geran-2 drone striking Ukrainian power plants carries 112 EU-made components. The supply chain is documented. The gaps in the sanctions regime are deliberate. And Germany simultaneously wires billions to rebuild the infrastructure that German chips destroy, night after night.

The €300 Billion Boomerang

By targeting Russian central bank reserves, Brussels crosses a red line — and puts the euro itself at risk. What is framed as aid for Ukraine could become a €300-billion boomerang: legally, economically, and geopolitically. This article explains why Europe’s financial credibility is irreversibly damaged — and why a gold-backed BRICS currency is emerging at precisely this moment.

Zelensky’s 20 Points

What’s presented as a peace plan turns out to be a geopolitical wish list – full of economic ambition, moral posturing, and strategic traps. This point-by-point analysis reveals: Not a single one of the 20 proposals seriously aims at de-escalation with Russia.
Instead of peace, we get management, power games, and PR. Which raises the real question: Who’s playing whom?