Ukrainians have long become used to grim news reports from their besieged lands. But that’s suddenly changed. Following its remarkably successful incursion of Russia’s Kursk region, cheerful Ukrainian journalists are now covering the war from captured Russian territory. Ukraine’s surprise counterpunch, taking the fight into Russia for the first time, shows no signs yet of […]

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Perhaps the most unexpected thing about the plane crash that reportedly killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the bombastic head of Russia’s infamous Wagner group, is that it happened a full two months after he brought Russia to what President Vladimir Putin warned at the time was the brink of civil war. Prigozhin certainly seemed to be living […]

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This year’s Australian Labor Party (ALP) national conference, beginning August 17, promises to be somewhat feistier than its recent Covid-affected (and boring) predecessors. Yet it’s unlikely to deliver a major embarrassment to the Albanese government. Issues like the Stage 3 tax cuts may irritate traditional Labor members, but there’s a general consensus that conference stoushes […]

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As Russia’s disastrous war in Ukraine continues, another rant by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the bombastic chief of the paramilitary Wagner Group, has laid bare the power struggle at the top of Russia’s military leadership. Calling Russian commanders “stupid” and responsible for “criminal orders” last week, Prigozhin questioned whether the military could even defend Russian territory. Upset […]

The post Military melodrama puts Putin in a paradox appeared first on Asia Times.

The war in Ukraine is approaching a tipping point. Russia’s army has struggled to make meaningful advances after months of trying, and has still failed to capture the ruined town of Bakhmut. A persistent inability to establish air superiority, low troop morale and equipment shortages all suggest President Vladimir Putin’s military machine will soon be […]

The post Ukraine’s fate hinges on coming counteroffensive appeared first on Asia Times.

Wars are world-shaping. Beyond their immediate human and physical tolls, wars alter the fates of societies and states; of clans, cultures and leaders. They establish new lines of access to resources and influence, determining who has what – and who doesn’t. They set precedents for how future wars are justified and, in the case of […]

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been under tremendous pressure to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The government in Kiev has long argued it desperately needs them to regain territory seized by Russia in its 2022 invasion, and to protect the rest of Ukraine from the Kremlin’s looming spring offensive. So far, Berlin has refused, and […]

The post Why Germany is so reluctant to send tanks to Ukraine appeared first on Asia Times.

One of the most persistent fears about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has been the potential for the war to ramp up dramatically in scope. Those fears are legitimate, especially given the bellicose rhetoric and brinkmanship emanating from the Kremlin. And although concerns about nuclear escalation have dominated the headlines, the surest path […]

The post Russia missile strike on Poland likely no accident appeared first on Asia Times.

Life, as the saying goes, is coming at Vladimir Putin fast. Having gleefully announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine barely more than a month ago – even as his army retreated within them – the Kremlin now says it’s withdrawing from the only regional capital city it had captured since invading in February […]

The post Kherson retreat a decisive Russian defeat appeared first on Asia Times.

Among the many questions asked about Russia’s disastrous war against Ukraine, one of them is posed only very rarely: can Russia survive what seems increasingly likely to be a humiliating defeat at the hands of its smaller neighbor? On the face of it, the prospect seems almost absurd. Vladimir Putin may have been weakened by […]

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One of Vladimir Putin’s oft-quoted maxims is that “sometimes it is necessary to be lonely to prove you are right.” As his ill-fated invasion of Ukraine drags on, he seems to be heeding his own advice. Putin looks increasingly isolated, not just on the world stage, but inside Russia as well. The longer the war […]

The post Is Putin’s exit strategy coming into view? appeared first on Asia Times.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent announcement of a “partial mobilization” of 300,000 Russian personnel to fight in Ukraine sounded decisive. It isn’t. The official position, fleshed out by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, was that the new Russian conscripts would be drawn from those with past military experience and individuals with special skills. But the reality […]

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Few world leaders have cut a more consequential but ultimately tragic figure than Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, whose death at the age of 91 has been announced by Russian state media. In a way, it was fitting that as the last leader of the USSR, Gorbachev was probably its only truly humane one. And it’s equally […]

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Now entering its seventh month, Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine shows no sign of resolution. It has become a grim battle over territory between dug-in forces, resembling the conflicts of last century instead of the complex melange of covert operations and hybrid warfare that supposedly characterize contemporary “grey zone” contests. Both sides are playing to […]

The post Russia is fighting three undeclared wars appeared first on Asia Times.

Russian President Vladimir Putin habitually rattles his nuclear sabers when things start looking grim for Moscow, and has done so long before his ill-advised invasion of Ukraine. In February 2008, he promised to target Ukraine with nuclear weapons if the United States stationed missile defenses there. In August the same year, he threatened a nuclear […]

The post Putin’s persistent nuclear threats a well-worn bluff appeared first on Asia Times.

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has finally delivered him something approaching a minor victory. With his forces recently taking control of Lysychansk, Russia now controls virtually all of Luhansk oblast (province). That’s one of the two Donbas provinces the Kremlin has decided to “liberate”, in rapidly-adjusted war aims made necessary by its botched assault on […]

The post Russia’s invasion reaching an inflection point appeared first on Asia Times.

The flurry of diplomatic activity last week over Russia’s latest military buildup near Ukraine ended, as expected, with no breakthrough agreement. Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a “dead end.” Washington was hoping the talks between Russia and the United States and its NATO allies, which took place in three different European cities, would de-escalate […]

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