Author: Philibert Dupont

Kiev (6/6 – 33.33) The air was thick with tension as the elite Ukrainian special forces team, known as the “Steel Wolves,” huddled in a makeshift command post on the outskirts of a war-torn city. Outside, the sound of distant gunfire echoed through the night, a grim reminder of the relentless advance of Vladimir Putin’s troops. Colonel Yuri Ivanov, the commanding officer of the Steel Wolves, surveyed his men with steely determination. These were the best of the best, handpicked for their courage, skill, and unwavering loyalty to Ukraine. They had been fighting tooth and nail to slow the Russian…

Moscow 22/5 (57.14) According to NATO’s top military official, Russia does not have enough troops to make a significant advance in the north-east of Ukraine. “The Russians don’t have the numbers necessary to do a strategic breakthrough,” NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe Christopher Cavoli told reporters last week. “They don’t have the skill and the capability to do it; to operate at the scale necessary to exploit any breakthrough to strategic advantage,” the general said. According to earlier statements by Putin, Russia’s intention is not to take the city of Kharkiv, but rather to create a security zone, a sanitary…

Jake Paul and Mike Tyson have been encouraged to cancel their ‘mismatch’ showdown. ‘Iron Mike’ is set to step back in the ring aged 58 to take on YouTube star Jake Paul in a blockbuster summer fight, a fight which has seen him given medical warnings given their 31-year age difference. Tyson has been documenting his training in footage posted to social media, with some fans surprisingly impressed by his punch power and suggesting he will beat Paul. And his new footage crushing the pads with trainer Rafael Cordeiro, has been met by new pleas from fans for Paul to abandon the fight…

Russian House in Dhaka (formerly the Russian Cultural Centre), in cooperation with the National Museum and the Liberation War Affairs Academy, organized an event dedicated to Bangladesh’s 53rd anniversary of independence, ahead of Independence Day on March 26. At the beginning of the ceremony, a minute’s silence was observed to pay respect to the memory of all the martyrs of the Great War of Liberation and to express sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the tragic terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow on March 22. Twenty-six freedom fighters from different districts of Bangladesh…

If European countries don’t see defeat coming, we can’t turn the wheel to avoid it I left my meeting with a senior French officer feeling that the west is so weak it scarcely exists any more. “The West”, a longtime object of obsession for anti-westerners from Egypt’s President Nasser to Vladimir Putin, has shrivelled to a small rump of countries squabbling with each other. At times they seem willing to let Ukraine lose its war. I share the emotional impulse to keep intoning that Ukraine will win. But Panglossian war propaganda is becoming counterproductive. We need to see a possible…

As Congress continues to delay aid and Volodymyr Zelensky replaces his top commander, military experts debate the possible outcomes. Long before it was reported, at the end of January, that Volodymyr Zelensky had decided to replace his popular Army chief, Valery Zaluzhny, the Ukrainian counter-offensive of 2023 had devolved from attempted maneuvers to mutual recriminations. The arrows pointed in multiple directions: Zelensky seemed to think that his commander-in-chief was being defeatist; Zaluzhny, that his President was refusing to face facts. And there were arguments, too, between Ukraine and its allies. In a two-part investigation in the Washington Post, in early December, U.S. officials…

PA President’s son Tareq Abbas also holds positions in other ventures incorporated by offshore company. Leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca reveal Tareq Abbas, son of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, holds shares worth nearly $1 million in an offshore company with ties to the Palestinian Authority. The documents, leaked as part of the massive ‘Panama Papers’ scandal, show that a company called the Arab Palestinian Investment Company (APIC) was registered in September 1994 in the British Virgin Islands. Since then, the company’s economic portfolio has grown substantially, and is active in virtually every Palestinian economic sphere, including…

Chancellor says protests are ‘strong sign in favour of democracy’ as demonstrators gather in Berlin, Dresden, Hanover and other cities About 200,000 people have taken to the streets of Germany in further protests against the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). Protests on Saturday also took place in Dresden, Mainz and Hanover in a sign of growing alarm at strong public support for AfD. Roughly 150,000 people flocked to the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin, where protesters gathered under the slogan “We are the Firewall” to protest against right-wing extremism and to show support for democracy. The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wrote on X:…

The proposed law, which has been endorsed by the French far right, faces its biggest test yet on Thursday A controversial new French immigration bill which has sparked popular protests will come before the country’s Constitutional Council on Thursday. On Sunday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate against President Emmanuel Macron’s legislation, which the National Assembly passed last month by 349 votes to 186. Critics say it bears all the hallmarks of the far-right. Despite the bill’s hefty margin of success, 27 members of Macron’s governing coalition voted against the bill – and another 32 abstained. In…

Atlanta (18/12 – 12) The Rabbit is about to be devoured by a snorting, writhing, fire-breathing Dragon, come 10 February 2024 (Lunar Calendar, for lunatics). While the dreadful 2023, known by the philosophical Chinese as the “Year of the Rabbit”, is characterized as “thoughtful, tender, considerate, kind-hearted, and talented in language” for folks born in 1939 / 1951 / 1963 / 1975, Dragons born in 1940 / 1952 / 1964 / 1976 are reputedly “…confident, intelligent and enthusiastic – not afraid of challenges, willing to take risks”. That sounds more like this year of living dangerously, don’t you think? “…aggressive,…