RUSSIAN MIGHT

OLIVER BOYD—BARRETT—I propose that Putin’s and Lavrov’s continuing “softness” on the matter of remaining open to talks with a congenitally agreement-incapable, murderous rogue state no longer comes from a place of naivety or weakness but, first of all, from a desire to be seen to be doing everything they can possibly do to project reasonableness to the world at large, so that, should Russia consider itself obliged or provoked enough to use its weapons, nobody can argue that fair warning was not given and with generous reaction time to boot

DON HANK—The people who make decisions about war and regime change in Washington – primarily the lawmakers, White House officials, Pentagon and State Department – are almost all believers in the doctrine of the indispensable or exceptional nation, and to them, this special status they have assigned themselves, entitles them to deny other countries their own sovereignty, subjugating them to the US and its policies and view of the world.

BIG SERGE—One of the many peculiarities of the Second World War was the extent to which the defeated Germans were allowed to write the history. The rapid onset of the Cold War after the fall of Nazi Germany transformed the Soviet Union from ally to adversary, and sparked interest in the German experience fighting the Red Army. The bevy of memoirs and material from former Wehrmacht officers, combined with the secrecy of the USSR, ensured that for many years the only story of the Nazi-Soviet War being told was the version told by the Germans.

PATRICE GREANVILLE—Russell Bentley, quickly nicknamed “Texac” after he first touched Slavonic ground, has always. been a highly improbable character. A native son of Texas and a Communist, gifted with more than his share of valor and audacity, but above all a man of action, he didn’t have to meditate too long to figure what he needed to do when he heard about the US coup in Kiev in 2014, and the ensuing war by the new neo-Nazi regime on the rebel republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Echoing the International Brigades, he simply packed his things and made his way at his own expense to the Donbas, via Russia. Once there, to the surprise of many (he was certainly not exactly in his prime), he offered his services as a frontline soldier and soon enough was involved in several (by now) almost legendary battles in the first war between the young but tough little republics and the much larger but apparently tactically deficient (though still vicious) Ukrop army. 

EDITOR—Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) stated on February 13, 2023, that it obtained intelligence indicating that the US military was actively recruiting militants from jihadist groups affiliated with ISIS* and al-Qaeda* to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia and the CIS countries. According to the SVR, particular attention is paid to attracting people from the Russian North Caucasus and Central Asia to cooperate.

The Russian intelligence service revealed that in January 2023, 60 terrorists with experience of participating in hostilities in the Middle East were recruited by the West, adding that they were undergoing training at the American base in Al-Tanf, Syria, to conduct terrorist and subversive attacks.