Jan 22, 2026

Gregg Hilton

Davos Update

It took them a long time, but serious military modernization is finally happening. Many EU nations have now committed to spending 5% of their GDP on defense. United Europe has the biggest armed forces in the world, but what they don`t have is tactical nuclear weapons.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb at Davos today: “What has Russia achieved in the past 4 years?
“They have taken 20% of Ukraine at a cost of 1 million dead/serious casualties.
“Putin has greatly decreased Russia’s sphere of influence and imploded their economy. They have 30% inflation, 16% interest rates, 0% growth, no more military reserves, and an incapacity to pay soldiers when the war ends.
“They cannot afford to keep going. The war has been a major strategic failure for Putin. He increased the size of NATO and made Ukraine European.
“He also significantly increased the defense budgets of European nation. Are we able to defend ourselves now? Yes, we are.”

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Bryan Tyler Cohen

Let that sink in.

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Mark Shockley

BuMysteries

American Woman Fighting for Ukraine Responds to Trump:

An American combat medic saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines has spoken out about U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. In an interview with The Independent, Matsirowska shared her frustration with his remarks.

“You know what’s crazy? I’m watching [the live feed from an armed drone] as hit after hit lands on my [soldiers’] position. We’re waiting to hear who’s dead or injured. And in the background, I hear Donald Trump saying,

‘They could have made a deal, and it would have been a really good deal.’ It was so ironic. You’re watching your friends and colleagues—people you care about—potentially die in front of you, while the leader of a democratic country suggests it doesn’t even matter,” said the 31-year-old combat medic.

Originally a trauma nurse from Denver, Matsirowska became a volunteer to help Ukrainian defenders on the battlefield.

When asked about the possibility of a ceasefire, she expressed deep skepticism.

“I would love to be able to get my wounded guys out, give them some rest and a break. But given history and Russia’s repeated behavior, I can’t imagine a world where they would actually honor a ceasefire,” she said.

“Which one do you like more?”🤔

military #war #Putin #zelensky #ukraine #news #war #Trump #russia

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Alexander Stratienko

Krasnov makes more sense every day.

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Elizabeth Makis

Tucker Carlson : only just recently an honoured guest at the White House, has just said this :

“Most people in the West haven’t imagined how large Russia is. Russia is larger than China and India put together. You combine the landmass of China, so big you can barely get your head around it, and India, almost as big, and together they’re smaller than Russia. Siberia itself is about the size of the continental United States, and there are like 10 million people living there. In all of Russia, there are about 140 million, something like that, in all of Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia has the deepest energy reserves in the world. Some of the highest uranium enrichment in the world. It has, by some measures, the most gold in the world. Silver. Bauxite for aluminum. Timber, by far the largest timber reserves in the world, which people still need, by the way. Pulp for paper, dimensional lumber for building. People still need trees. And Russia has more than any other place, primarily in Siberia, but not just in Siberia. And of course, farmland. And agricultural products. Fertilizer. Wheat. Russia has as much or more than anyone and very few. So the promise of access to Russian resources and space and land has been a siren that has called invaders for centuries. And no judgment, by the way, you can see why. If Greenland is a prize, what is Russia? The biggest prize of all.

And you saw this attitude on display the moment the wall fell. And rapacious foreigners, mostly bankers, moved into Russia and stripped it. And they were helped along by a lot of unscrupulous indigenous Russians. It wasn’t just outsiders who did it. Some Russian oligarchs did it to their own people. But the fact is a small group of people denuded the country, looted it. And unfortunately, this always plays out in exactly the same way. It’s not enough to loot. You have to take everything and drive everyone else into despair, hopelessness, and poverty. And that’s exactly what happened. Russia 30 years ago, 35 years ago is one of the most, certainly the poorest country west of, I don’t know, who even knows? I mean, Bhutan? Really poor and divided and sad and defeated. And alcoholism and drug use and gasoline huffing and suicide were endemic. And who did that?

Well, the Russians, to some extent, did it to themselves. They were living in this Soviet system for 70 years. But outsiders did it to them too. That’s a fact. And whatever you think of Putin, “he’s bad.” Putin got that under control. And Russia in 2026 bears no resemblance whatsoever to Russia in 2000, the year Putin took over. And one of the main changes he made is he kicked the money changers out of the temple. He did. Sorry. Everyone else has forgotten that, ignores it. He kicked the oligarchs out, or he brought them to his side. You can’t act independently of the national interest. Sure, you can become a billionaire, but some of it has to go to the country.

And that was spun in the West as cartel behavior. He’s the mafia boss. Okay, fine, he’s the mafia boss. But the real answer to the question, “did it work or not?” is obvious not just in the numbers, but in the state of the country, the visible state of the country now versus 25 years ago. It’s a completely different place. It’s no longer Bhutan. It’s not Africa. By some measures, it’s much richer than any country in Western Europe. In fact, by every measure it is. By every single measure. Is it richer than Spain? Is it richer than the UK? Oh yeah, much. That is tempting to elites from around the world. Wait a second, why do 140 million Russians get all this stuff? We should have some too.

But it is also an indictment of their leadership. If you’re Boris Johnson and your ancestors ruled the waves, ruled the British Empire, and your country is a kind of sad Urdu-speaking museum now, that’s insulting. Really, the Russians? Those weird half Slavic, I mean, they dominate world chess, but like really they’re not really white and how are they doing so well? This is outrageous. It is an indictment of your own leadership and in countries across Europe, the leaders feel that way. Russia is an embarrassment to them because it is, relatively speaking, thriving.

And so they all, as one, backed the Biden administration’s plan to have a war with Russia. And let’s stop lying. This was not an unprovoked invasion. Putin just randomly went over the line into Eastern Ukraine and stole these oblasts, he stole this land that belonged to another people. That’s a total lie. And it’s not a defense of Putin to call it out as a lie because it is, and everybody knows it now. The truth is that in 2001, Putin, same guy, same leader, asked the Bush administration in person, directly to George W. Bush, “I would like to join NATO. I would like to join the defensive alliance that exists to keep me from moving west into Western Europe.” In other words, you won. I’m joining your team. And due in part to his own limitations as a leader and due in part to the counsel that he received from Condoleezza Rice at the time, George W. Bush turned down that offer. Prevented Russia from joining NATO.”

Watch the full monologue here: https://tuckercarlson.com/jan-14-live-show

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Roman Sheremeta

Jeffrey Sachs continues to spread Kremlin propaganda — shifting blame for the war onto NATO, accusing the EU of “rejecting a peace deal” with russia, and accusing the West of “russophobia.”

What he consistently fails to do is to condemn russia’s aggression — the invasion, the occupation, the war crimes.

But hey, he’s a professor at Columbia University.