Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
Russia has threatened to invade Kazakhstan. Russia is producing more weapons than it has in a long time. If it didn’t need them in Ukraine, it could use them to invade Kazakhstan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANW_qQFXAyk
Russia likes to heavily support breakaway regions to have influence in a country and to weaken and divide those who may oppose Russia’s power.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgxVmB0rvCE
“For Russian men, war now advertises itself like any other job.
Offers for front-line contracts appear on the messaging app Telegram alongside group chats and news alerts, promising signing bonuses of up to $50,000 — life-changing money in a country where average monthly wages remain below $1,000. The incentives go beyond cash, with pledges of debt relief and free childcare for soldiers’ families and guaranteed university places for their children. Criminal records, illness and even HIV are no longer automatic disqualifiers. For many men with little to lose, the front has become an employer of last resort.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/05/russia-planned-war-of-attrition-00672960
““On the territory issue, Americans are simple: Russia demands Ukraine to give up territories, and Americans keep thinking how to make it happen,” a senior European official familiar with the negotiation process told POLITICO on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
“The Americans insist that Ukraine must leave the Donbas … one way or another,” the official added.
Ukraine has insisted that any peace deal must involve the war being frozen on current lines. At present, some 30 percent of Donbas is still in Ukrainian hands.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/us-wants-from-ukraine-leave-donbas-one-way-or-another/
Although stealth delays radar detection, its more important role is making stealth planes hard to target with weapons. The wide bands of radars that can detect the planes are not able to locate them accurately enough to target them with weapons. No stealth is invincible, so mission planning is also key.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CvdMbWGHTA
Europe is divided. Countries close to the Russian threat take that threat a lot more seriously than countries further away. If the former militaristic European countries ever wake up and return to their martial ways, they could be a danger to Russia and the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qc2ZRV5znQ
Defenders are more likely to win longer wars. So, the idea that Ukraine can’t win because the war is going on so long, is backwards. The U.S. revolution was an eight year war.
The Americans were largely getting their asses kicked and were dependent on foreign aid, but in the end, they won.
The aggressor usually sustains more casualties compared to the defender. The defender often gains resolve the longer the war lasts, while the invader questions why they are doing this in the first place. The defender is fighting for their homes, their territory, and their independence, while the invader is fighting to gain something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wMCTv_9alQ
Russia’s privatization after the Cold War, failed partially because the Russian government was too weak. It could not enforce property rights and the rule of law. Instead, the government was corrupted by the oligarchs. When Putin took over, he exchanged many oligarchs for one–himself.
When the U.S. tries to deregulate for potentially good reasons, and avoids taxes, we need to be careful that we are not setting up our own oligarchs who avoid helpful taxes and regulations at the expense of the people.
https://www.capitalisnt.com/episodes/the-failure-of-russian-capitalism-with-bill-browder
Russia’s Autumn Offensive – Pokrovsk, the Coming Winter and a Changing Battlefield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A2-7y85Du0
Putin doesn’t want to use nuclear weapons. If he did, he risks the destruction of his country. Putin, like the Soviet Union in history, uses nuclear weapons as bluster to threaten countries whose leaders and people believe the likelihood of Russia using nukes is higher than it is. Trump is scared. He’s happy to use or threaten military force against countries without nukes, but Russia invades its neighbor in a war of conquest while committing many atrocities, and Trump is obsessed with peace, even, at times, weakening support to Ukraine to appease Putin. Letting Russia gain things with nuclear threats increases the incentive for other countries to get nukes, and one of those countries may be more willing to actually use them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikUspOj8Ee0