Brian's unique explorations of the war and the historical context and events leading up to Russia's current assault against Ukraine

(Russian/Русский перевод) Brian's Ukraine journalism has been praised by: Mykhailo Podolyak, a top advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; the Ukraine Territorial Defense Forces; Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, U.S. Army (Ret.), former commanding general, U.S. Army Europe; Scott Shane, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times and Baltimore Sun journalist (featured in HBO's The Wire, playing himself); Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), one of the only Republicans to stand up to Trump and member of the January 6th Committee; and Orwell Prize-winning journalist Jenni Russell, among others.  His analysis of Ukraine has been featured by NewsweekReal Clear DefenseSmall Wars Journal, The National Endowment for Democracy’s DemDigest, The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Byline Times, the Arabic television stations Alghad TV and Alaraby TV (including his debate with former major Putin advisor, Kremlin insider, and Duma lawmaker Sergei Markov), interviews for the French news site Atlantico, the German news site Buzzard, the Ministry of Defense of Brazil, and Indian Strategic Studies.

Over two decades, Brian has majored in Russian history, studied Russia's war against Georgia in graduate school, and covered Russia and its foreign policy as a journalist, including writing for the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) from 2015-2017 as one of the most popular guest scholar contributors until he was censored for his post on Prevezon's corrupt work for the Kremlin.  Since 2014, he has covered Russia's longstanding campaign to dominate Ukraine and turn it into a de facto vassal, including the historical context of Russia's 2014 military aggression against Ukraine in Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk; The (First) Russo-American Cyberwar's 2016 U.S. presidential election interference, a central aim of which was to further the Kremlin's Ukraine campaign partnering with a pliant Donald Trump; Trump's first impeachment centering on Ukraine; Russia's 2020 election interference; and Putin's current exponential military escalation (he was possibly the only analyst to predict beforehand in writing Ukraine's sinking of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet Flagship, the Moskva), including a podcast with Ukraine's 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Oleksandra Matviichuk.  This coverage includes his groundbreaking eBook, A Song of Gas and Politics: How Ukraine Is at the Center of Trump-Russia, or, Ukrainegate: A “New” Phase in the Trump-Russia Saga Made from Recycled Materials (available in Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, & EPUB).

THE CURRENT WAR

An Urgently Needed Definition of “Fascism” as the West Fights It Anew at Home and Abroad

Happy New Year! Sadly, in 2023 and beyond, we will and must confront a dreadful specter of the past not only abroad but also at home: fascism. In our current era it is on the rise, but one of the ...
Dyagilevo

Russia-Ukraine War Settles into Predictable Alternating Phases, But Russia’s Losing Remains Constant

I have not weighed in with a major piece in a while because I did not feel enough has changed since my last major analysis, but that so much is explained by old analysis is itself telling and worthy of ...

Winter War in Ukraine: Seeing Through the Blizzard of Bad Takes

Winter is coming, but it won’t affect Russia and Ukraine equally in this war (Russian/Русский перевод; Если вы состоите в российской армии и хотите сдаться Украине, звоните по этим номерам: +38 066 580 34 98 или +38 093 119 29 ...
Ukraine Mordor Painting

Capturing the Unique Inspirational Quality of Ukraine’s Fight Against Russia via Two Writers

If you’re feeling something stirring deep inside your soul when it comes Ukraine’s fight for its freedom against Putin’s Russia, you should and here’s why (Russian/Русский перевод; Если вы состоите в российской армии и хотите сдаться Украине, звоните по этим ...
Ukraine war

This Is the Beginning of the End of the War

The current Ukrainian advances will be the ones to push Russian ground forces completely out of Ukraine, leaving any remaining combat to take place on or just over the border with Russia or with longer-range systems, ending major ground combat ...
ISW protests 9-26

Why Putin Has Doomed Himself with His Ukraine Fiasco

Putin’s mobilization is myopically feared by some but does more damage to him at home than anything to help the war effort, the dynamics of which have been set and cannot be altered by this mobilization or “referenda”/“annexation” gimmicks that ...
Putin meg

I Saw This War Could Be Putin’s Undoing All the Way Back in Early March

Revisiting my coverage from early in Putin's escalation campaign and a new excerpt (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook), September 16, 2022; with an excerpt from his article The Beginning of the End of Putin? Why ...
Victors of Kupyansk 2

Russian Army Collapses—and Revolution—Near-Certain as Russia Loses War: When/Where Harder to Predict

Losing this badly will help wake up millions of Russians to some level of reality, and they will blame Putin. It is doubtful that the Russian military will keep fighting under these conditions for much longer. (Russian/Русский перевод; Если вы ...
Russian flag captured

Why Is Russia Losing on 3 Fronts? Math (the Short Answer)

In moving troops from stronger positions in Ukraine's east to weaker positions in the country's south, Russia exposed those troops to more danger in the south while making its eastern positions more vulnerable to counterattack, with predictable results playing out ...

The 5 (English) Accounts to Follow on Russia’s Ukraine War

There are many Twitter accounts focusing a lot of their attention on the war in Ukraine, and a decent number of solid ones, but these five are the standouts of the standouts (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, ...
Suomussalmi

Ukrainian Prudence Meets Russian Limitations: Explaining the Current Pace and Nature of Russia’s War on Ukraine

The factors explaining why things are now happening the way they are happening (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook), August 23, 2022; adapted for and published by Small Wars Journal as Russia’s Limits Meet Ukraine’s Discretion ...
Germany Ukraine Refugees welcome

The West’s Humanitarian Response to Ukraine Should Inspire Repetition, Not Envy

What a brief comparison between today’s aid work in Ukraine and efforts during Iraq’s Battle of Mosul against ISIS can teach us (Russian/Русский перевод coming soon) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook), August 9, 2022 People offer rooms ...

BACKGROUND

Cohen’s Shady Family Business Dealings’ Unexplored Links to Key Trump-Russia Figures Demand Scrutiny

Trump’s Former Fixer’s Three Congressional Hearings Beginning Today Are a Great Opportunity to Demand Answers to Key Unsolved Mysteries that Show the Larger Trump-Russia Picture By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, ...
Gamsakhurdia Trump

Republic of Georgia Shows Trump & His Fans Depressingly Normal: Just Another Ethno-centric Nationalist Movement

Author's note: as Trump's presidency unfolds into its third year, the idea that Trumpism really is little more than banal and racist ethnocentrism is only more obvious than it was ...

Western Democracy Is on Trial, More than Any Time Since WWII

Author's note: when I wrote this, I was confident Clinton would win but still worried about the chance of a Trump victory being far higher than it should be. I ...

The Sex-Worker, the Oligarch, the Kremlin Insider, and the American Political Consultant

How an Entrepreneurial Russian Sex-Worker Further Exposed Team Trump’s Love Affair with Team Putin (Russian/Русский перевод) Author's note: the odyssey of "Nastya Rybka"—real name Anastasia Vashukevich—has only recently become even ...

Page-Turner of an Odyssey: The Details About Carter Page You Haven’t Heard and Why They Make Him Even More of a Person of Interest

Former Trump campaign advisor and Russophile Carter Page may seem goofy, delusional, and unimportant, but he is right smack-dab in the middle of the Trump-Russia saga, and the FBI would ...

The 1995 Gangster Meeting in Israel That Blows Opens the Trump-Russia Saga

After Monday’s New York Times piece on Trump business partner and associate Felix Sater’s efforts that began at least in November, 2015, to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to help ...
Trump Russia Chart definitive final

Think You Know How Deep Trump-Russia Goes? Think Again: This Chart/Info Will Blow Your Mind

(Russian/Русский перевод) Perhaps the main problem with coverage of Trump’s Russia ties is that many of the various actors’ less salient ties to each other are missed, with much time ...

U.S. Settlement of Prevezon Case Raises More Questions on Trump/Russia Ties; Bharara Led Case Before Trump Fired Him (CENSORED IN RUSSIA)

Author's note: In early January, 2019, Veselnitskaya was charged by SDNY for obstruction of justice in the Prevezon case. (Russian/Русский перевод) A major U.S. federal money laundering trial—one related to the ...

The Trump-Russia-Mob Connections Details You Won’t Find Elsewhere (Executive summary)

Apart from Flynn, there is so much more people need to know about Trump's ties to Putin, to Russia, to mobsters, to the plot to destroy Ukraine. With Comey's firing, ...

Trump’s Russia & Mafia Dealings Expose Him As Fool or Criminal (Traitor?) or Both: Biggest Scandal in U.S. History, Far Too Many Ties to Be Nothing

Author's note: as I tried following up in late 2016 and early 2017 on some loose ends from my pre-election piece, more and more material kept appearing in not just ...

Trump, the Global Democratic Fascist Movement, Putin’s War on the West, and a Choice for Liberals: Welcome to the Era of Rising Democratic Fascism Part II

Fascism comes in many forms; if Hitler and genocide can be one end of the spectrum, there’s plenty of room for fascism that falls far short of that standard, eschewing ...

The (First) Russo-American Cyberwar: How Obama Lost & Putin Won, Ensuring a Trump Victory

Author's note: I was able to put this narrative together—one strongly supported by the available information even right after the 2016 election—in early December, 2016. It still shocks me that, ...
Other Related External Articles by Brian:

The Jerusalem Post

DONATE TO SUPPORT UKRAINE! Слава Украине! Slava Ukraini!

Save the Children is one of the premier international aid organizations.

Come Back Alive is an organization that supports the Ukrainian military.

The Ukrainian government’s central bank, the National Bank of Ukraine, has also opened special accounts for people to donate to both the Ukrainian Armed Forces and for humanitarian assistance for civilians.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is another amazing humanitarian organization.

The main UN body to help refugees is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which does amazing work all over the world. Another vital UN agency involved in helping Ukraine is the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), a deeply experienced organization, provides emergency medical services for the wounded in Ukraine.