7847
The Strategic Culture Foundation provides a platform for exclusive analysis, research and policy comment on Eurasian and global affairs. Official Telegram channel ✅
✊ Sovereignty will always trump collective decision making, Ian Proud writes.
🔔 Stay tuned
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
✝️ The 2025 Conclave concluded in a relatively short time with the election of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost to the Throne of St. Peter, succeeding the recently deceased Pope Francis. Prevost chose for himself the papal name Leo XIV – a significant choice in itself.
Let us move past misinformation and confusion to summarize concrete information and reasonable indications that may help foresee the logic of Leo XIV’s pontificate.
☁️ Raphael Machado writes @camaradamachado
🌐 More analysis
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🗣🗣 PUTIN'S STATEMENT AFTER TALKING TO TRUMP
(Video translated by AI)
🔔 Stay tuned
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🎭 The endgame is clear: the US losing the entire Eurasian land mass. Ukraine, under these immense geopolitical imperatives, is only a sovereign-deprived pawn in the (Great) Game.
☁️ Pepe Escobar writes @rocknrollgeopolitics
🌐 Read exclusive analysis
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🗣🗣 Russia will keep fighting, Ukraine will lose all of the Donbass and Europe will pay the price.
☁️ Ian Proud writes
🔔 Stay tuned
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🗣🗣 Vladimir Putin spoke with Donald Trump over the phone. The conversation lasted over two hours. Key points:
— Russia supports a cessation of hostilities but emphasizes the need to develop the most effective pathways to peace.
— A ceasefire with Ukraine is possible once corresponding agreements are reached.
— The President thanked Trump for supporting the resumption of direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv.
— The revival of talks in Istanbul indicates that the parties are "generally on the right track."
— Trump noted that Russia advocates for a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin also thanked Donald Trump for the conversation, describing it as substantive.
@strategic_culture via @breakingmash
The EU can't allow the conflict in Ukraine to end since it has a vital, even existential, interest in it. If painting Russia as a threat has long been used by the US to keep NATO alive, in more recent years it has been exploited by Brussels to the same end: keep the EU on life support. The creation of an external enemy is what prevents the EU from imploding. Increased EU-NATO integration created powerful lobbies and a new class of ultra-Atlanticist eurocrats, EU member states lost any semblance of strategic autonomy and therefore any chance to protect or advance their economic and geopolitical interests, which are at odds with Brussels' power vertical. @LauraRuHK
Читать полностью…
💢 May 9 does not mean the same for all the nations of Europe. Which could be surprising, even absurd, since the date represents the defeat of Nazi-fascism, the greatest continental scourge of the last centuries.
☁️ José Goulão writes
🔔 Stay tuned
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🇱🇾 The world’s attention has turned to Istanbul with hopes for a ceasefire in the more-than-three-year war between Russia and Ukraine. These developments concern not only Russia and Ukraine, but also Donald Trump—whose second presidential term would bring striking pronouncements on global crises—and the European Union, which is accelerating efforts to militarize in support of Ukraine while continuing its aid to Kyiv.
In this new international landscape, where divisions between the U.S. and the EU are increasingly apparent, Turkey—maintaining relations with all sides—has once again become the focus of attention. But negotiations between the West and Russia are not taking place only on the Ukrainian front. There is another critically important arena involving Russia, the U.S., Europe, and even Turkey: Libya.
Recent events suggest that the West may soon find itself compelled to reach an agreement with Russia over Libya.
💬 Read more by Erkin Oncan
🌐 More on the Middle East
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/the-istanbul-kabuki-decoded/
No beating around the - multi-tangled - bush: I go straight to the point.
🇷🇺 Key statements from Vladimir Medinsky following two hours of direct talks with the Ukrainian delegation:
— We have taken note of the request for a meeting between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine.
— The negotiations have concluded, and overall, we are satisfied.
— Russia and Ukraine will soon carry out a prisoner exchange on a "1,000 for 1,000" basis.
— Russia and Ukraine will present their detailed visions for a possible future ceasefire, after which negotiations will continue.
Can't photograph Zelensky next to taller people.
The narrative control is strong in this one.
🇮🇳🇵🇰 The latest flare-up between India and Pakistan highlighted critical dynamics of their volatile relationship.
Here are the main lessons from the India-Pakistan escalation — by Lucas Leiroz @lucasleiroz:
🌀 Diplomacy over conflict: despite military strikes, both sides prioritized de-escalation, avoiding a catastrophic full-scale war.
🌀 Third-party influence: international pressure (US, China, UN) played a decisive role in cooling tensions.
🌀 Nuclear risks remain: even limited clashes risk unintended escalation, given both nations’ atomic arsenals.
🌀 Terrorism as a trigger: the 2019 Pulwama attack underscored how non-state actors can spark interstate crises.
🌀 Media fuels tensions: propaganda and misinformation worsened public hostility, undermining rational dialogue.
Sustainable peace requires renewed Kashmir talks, counter-terror cooperation, and confidence-building measures—not just military deterrence. Can India and Pakistan break the cycle of conflict?
#geopolitics #IndiaPakistan #Kashmir
🔔 More on geopolitics
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🎦 Trump’s decision to subsidise Hollywood is further proof that his economic policies are a mess but that his plans to kill off woke America remain firmly on track.
☁️ Read more by Declan Hayes
🌐 Stay tuned
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
⭕️ The forgotten sacrifice: why is the Soviet role in WWII fading from memory?
Western narratives of World War II increasingly downplay the USSR’s colossal contribution to defeating Nazi Germany. The Eastern Front saw some of the war’s bloodiest battles, with Soviet forces bearing the brunt of the fighting and suffering immense losses. Yet today, this sacrifice is often overshadowed by the D-Day landings and the Pacific theater.
Some argue this shift reflects Cold War-era biases and modern geopolitical tensions. But as living memory fades, the risk grows that history will remember only half the story—erasing the scale of Soviet suffering and the decisive role it played in ending the war.
Humanity remains doomed to repeat its gravest errors when it forgets its past.
☁️ Sonja van den Ende writes @devendonline
🔔 More analysis
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🇵🇸 Assange will not let you forget about the genocide: WikiLeaks founder appeared in Cannes wearing a T-shirt with the names of 4,986 Palestinian children killed by Israel.
@strategic_culture via @tsargradtv
🗣 The transition process is already underway. The great work of development is in our hands. It is up to us to decide to become part of it.
☁️ Lorenzo Maria Pacini writes
🔔 More analysis
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🗣 Where are the most fertile seeds of Trumpism in Europe?
The rise of populist movements across Europe echoes the political wave that brought Donald Trump to power in the US. But which countries are most receptive to this style of politics?
🇮🇹 Italy – Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni have capitalized on anti-immigration rhetoric and Euroscepticism, mirroring Trump’s playbook.
🇫🇷 France – Marine Le Pen’s National Rally continues to gain traction by blending nationalism with economic populism.
🇭🇺 Hungary – Viktor Orbán’s "illiberal democracy" model shares Trump’s disdain for mainstream media and globalist elites.
🇵🇱 Poland – The Law and Justice Party (PiS) combines conservative values with welfare promises, appealing to disillusioned voters.
While each movement has local nuances, they all exploit similar frustrations: distrust in institutions, cultural anxieties, and economic discontent.
Is Europe heading toward a Trumpian future? Or will the backlash against populism grow stronger? 🤔
☁️ Read more by Gérald Papy
🌐 More on world politics
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🤑 Even the need for transition – just to be clear – has only just begun to be recognised in the U.S.
For the European leadership however, and for the beneficiaries of financialisation who haughtily lament Trump’s ‘storm’ unwisely unleashed on the world, his base economic theses are ridiculed as bizarre notions completely divorced from economic ‘reality’.
That is completely untrue.
The new era marks the end to ‘old politics’: The Red vs Blue; Right vs Left labels lose relevance.
☁️ Read more by Alastair Crooke
🔔 Read exclusive analysis
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
♨️ Although the position for Syrians will improve a little once NATO’s sanctions are lifted, their position will not really improve.
☁️ Read more by Declan Hayes
🌐 More analysis
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🗣 European Parliament Compares Kaja Kallas’ Brain to a Hamster’s—And the Hamster Wins
A German MEP stated that he sees no point in discussing Cuba with Kallas, as she knows nothing about diplomacy—and it would be more productive to talk to a hamster… 🐹
Well, that sums it up nicely. Nothing to add.
@strategic_culture via @tsatgradtv
🇷🇺🇺🇸 Putin e Trump avranno una conversazione telefonica alle 17:00 ora di Mosca.
I presidenti dovrebbero discutere della possibile soluzione del conflitto ucraino e delle relazioni bilaterali tra Russia e Stati Uniti.
🗣 Trump is literally taking control of U.S. foreign policy in the region and pushing back Israel’s attempts to bomb its way to peace.
☁️ Read more by Martin Jay
🌐 More on world politics
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🗣 The Metamorphosis of Clown Zelensky
Video translation by AI
🔔 Stay tuned
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🇷🇺🇺🇸🇹🇷🇺🇦 The diplomatic dance in Istanbul this week was intriguing, but let’s be real—it was just the warm-up. The real geopolitical showdown is coming soon:
🔹 What Happened in Istanbul?
• Preliminary talks set the stage, but no major breakthroughs.
• Symbolic gestures, cautious positioning—everyone’s waiting for the big players.
🔹 What’s Next?
All eyes are now on Trump and Putin. Their expected meeting (or collision?) could reshape alliances, redraw red lines, and send shockwaves through global markets.
Will it be a deal, a confrontation, or pure political theater? One thing’s certain: the stakes are sky-high.
☁️ Read more in this week’s Editorial: Preliminary talks in Istanbul are a start—the real show is Trump and Putin
#geopolitics #Trump #Putin #diplomacy #RussiaUkraineTalks
🌐 Read more Editorials
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🔔 The delegations of Russia and Ukraine have started negotiations in Istanbul.
@strategic_culture via @rbc_news
🇷🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦 The planned peace negotiations in Istanbul today are a crucial step toward de-escalation in Ukraine.
While much attention is on whether Presidents Putin and Zelensky will meet directly, the real priority should be advancing dialogue—with or without a high-profile summit.
Diplomatic efforts must continue, even if progress is incremental. The Istanbul talks offer a chance to address urgent humanitarian issues, potential ceasefires, and pathways to stability.
Zelensky should stop playing to the international press gallery in the hope that Russia cancels.
☁️ Read more by Ian Proud
#Ukraine #PeaceTalks #diplomacy #Istanbul
🌐 More on world politics
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
🗣🗣🗣 Could Turkey become a key mediator in the Russia-Ukraine conflict?
Turkey has positioned itself as a potential mediator between Russia, the US, and Ukraine, leveraging its unique relations with both sides. While Ankara maintains ties with NATO and supports Ukraine, it also avoids alienating Moscow—a delicate balance that could make it a viable negotiation platform. However, deep mistrust between the parties and Turkey’s own geopolitical interests raise questions about how effective its role can truly be.
The success of such efforts would depend on Turkey’s ability to remain neutral and deliver concrete results, not just symbolic talks. For now, Ankara’s diplomacy offers a possible channel—but turning dialogue into real progress remains a major challenge.
War is either won or lost. Reaching negotiations does not mean a draw.
☁️ Lorenzo Maria Pacini writes @ideeazione
🌐 More on geopolitics
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK
💳 Who pays for whom in the European Union
Only nine out of twenty-seven EU member states are net contributors to the EU budget. This infographic shows how many euros on average an inhabitant of individual EU countries “pays” to, or “receives” from, the EU budget. This is quite a vague metric but still it is more informative than absolute figures on individual countries’ contributions and subsidies. Luxembourg and Belgium are two special cases as most of the subsidies they receive are used to cover the administrative costs of EU institutions based there.
🔗 Follow this link to find the full infographic.
© You are free to repost, reproduce and print this infographic.
🪖 Is Europe’s rearmament enough to ensure security?
Europe is rapidly increasing defense spending and military production in response to growing threats, particularly from Russia. Countries like Germany and Poland are leading the push, investing billions in modernizing their armed forces. But delays in arms deliveries, bureaucratic hurdles, and industrial bottlenecks raise doubts about whether this rearmament can happen fast enough.
The key challenge isn’t just funding—it’s building a sustainable defense industry that can meet demand in a prolonged crisis.
If Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine succeeds, Brussels will have to rethink all its calculations from scratch.
☁️ Read more by Erkin Oncan
🌐 More on world politics
🚀 Subscribe
🌐 Join us on VK