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By John Helmer, Moscow  @bears_with In the new Reason2Resist podcast, Dimitri Lascaris and I discuss the operational mistakes and strategic misjudgements which President Vladimir and his spokesman are making, as they reveal  in  statements this week their interpretations of the new Ukrainian drone  attacks, and the role the US is playing in encouraging them and guiding […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow  @bears_with When President Donald Trump (lead image, 3rd left) announced the resignation of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (right) to make sure he would announce it himself without delay, he threw overboard the special relationship. He also declared that British foreign and domestic policy is to become – already has become — a […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow  @bears_with There is a mistake that warfighters sometimes make, and that wartalkers – diplomats, academics, journalists, podcasters  – always make. That’s the mistake which Carl von Clausewitz, Prussian staff officer and mercenary against France,  made when he repeatedly told his superiors (between 1816 and 1832) that “war is no more than the […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow  @bears_with On Friday (June 19), the Governor of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), Elvira Nabiullina, returned from a three-week silence and absence from office that was due, she claimed, to a “cold” and the “loss of my voice”.   The anti-Russia propaganda platform, Financial Times of London, reported three people in the […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow  @bears_with US Vice President JD Vance, a Roman Catholic, has launched his presidential campaign for 2028 with the sharpest attack ever made on Israel and the Jewish bloc around President Donald Trump. He has also promised American voters their pockets are about to start filling up as their gas tank costs less […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow  @bears_with Russian officials are insisting in private that tomorrow’s (June 19) signing of the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with its fourteen points, is the signal for finalizing a similar multi-point term sheet for agreement with the US to halt the war on the Ukrainian battlefield. They also insist —  add sources […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow  @bears_with The general rule on the battlefield is Bang! Bang! You’re dead! The general rule of White House and Kremlin politics is Bang! Bang! Maybe you’re dead! Maybe I’m dead! Maybe we’re both alive to fight the next round! Meantime let’s all get richer! Hors de combat in war means you’re either KIA […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow  @bears_with As they study the record of the US negotiations for an end to the Iran war, Russian and Chinese intelligence reporters have recently concluded that President Vladimir Putin should now refocus his talks strategy on Vice President JD Vance; ignore Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner, discredited by their performance in Israel […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow  @bears_with On Sunday afternoon, just before he began to eat what his calendar  called a “family dinner”, President Donald Trump believed he had ended his and Israel’s year-long war against Iran. He told the global oil and betting markets: “I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow  @bears_with Rulers often declare official holidays to celebrate what they require those they rule to forget – battlefield defeats, acts of surrender, crimes of treason. Long weekends under a warm summer sun are best for forgetfulness. And so it has been for Russia Day, as the annual June 12 public holiday is […]