Europe News & Analysis (including Russia/CIS)
“Banderites”: What Russia Really Means When It Calls Ukraine Nazi and Fascist
Putin thought he could use Ukraine’s complicated history that even divides Ukraine to his significant advantage in his massive military escalation there. He was wrong. (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg, May 31, 2022 (Twitter @bfry1981; LinkedIn, Facebook); this is ...
A Brief History of Russian and Soviet Genocides, Mass Deportations, and Other Atrocities in Ukraine
War crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and mass killings carried out by their eastern neighbor are nothing new for Ukrainians; while not comprehensive, this brief outline focuses on what is most currently relevant from a series of horrors visited ...
A Terrifying Comparison Between Putin and Stalin
Looking at the geopolitics of Eastern Europe in 2022 and 1939 is both illuminating and disturbing (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg, May 23, 2022 (Twitter @bfry1981; LinkedIn, Facebook); this is the first of a series of articles excerpted and/or ...
A Super-Short Guide to Why Ukraine is Kicking Russia’s Ass in Putin’s Ukraine War
A quick-and-dirty brief on why Zelensky’s Ukraine is winning so handily and Putin’s Russia losing so badly on the battlefield (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg, April 30, 2022 (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook); excerpted from Brian's other recent April 24 ...
How Ukraine Can Take Back Crimea from Putin’s Reeling Russian Military
Russia’s position is deceptively weak; here are the main reasons Ukraine has a good chance to take Crimea (Russian/Русский перевод; Если вы состоите в российской армии и хотите сдаться Украине, звоните по этим номерам: +38 066 580 34 98 или ...
Ukraine Will Easily Destroy or Sideline Russia’s Navy with Game-Changing Anti-Ship Missiles
Just twenty anti-ship missiles and their accompanying systems could wipe out all of Russia’s big warships in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Anti-ship missiles that were announced yesterday will soon be deployed in significant numbers in Ukraine will ...
The Real Context News Podcast #9: Oleksandra Matviichuk, Head of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, on Democracy & War in Ukraine (2022 Nobel Peace Prize-Winner!)
By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981, YouTube) April 2, 2022 (recorded March 31, 2022); see Brian's other coverage of Putin's war against Ukraine here; UPDATE October 7, 2022: Ms. Matviichuk and her organization have won the 2022 Nobel ...
Time for the Russian Army and Russian People to Revolt and Overthrow Putin
While any NATO attack on Russia—including a no-fly zone where Russian military aircraft are operating in Ukraine—would likely mean World War III and Putin quite possibly using nuclear weapons, revolution from within does not pose such risks and is hardly ...
Putin’s Zombie Russian/Slavic Ethnonationalism Is Utterly Banal
As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the U.S. Congress, a look at the emptiness of his Russian counterpart’s ideological and revisionist historical underpinnings girding his revanchist, blatantly imperialist war against Ukraine (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg, March 16, 2022 ...
How Best to Penetrate Putin’s Media Iron Curtain in Russia? Dead Russian Troops
Why thousands of dead Russian soldiers are likely beyond the skill of Putin's disinformation propaganda gaslighters and can strike at the core of Putin's social contract with Russians and the foundations of his power (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg ...
On Casualty Counts in Russia’s War on Ukraine
Credibility and other factors lead to a far more honest accounting from Ukraine than Russia when it comes to Russians killed and Russian vehicles and aircraft destroyed (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) March 9, 2022; *update August 15, ...
A Look at Putin’s Disgraceful, Heartless, Barbaric Treatment of Russian Soldiers and Their Families
The Russian people need to know (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) March 9, 2022; updated to add Tolkien content March 11; excerpted and slightly adapted from his article The Beginning of the End of Putin? ...
