Dr Oliver Hartwich: Trump’s Iran war is paying for Putin’s

Russian power has always sat on a contradiction. The country can put satellites into orbit and tanks across borders, but it cannot build a normal economy.

Helmut Schmidt caught the contradiction in the 1970s when he called the Soviet Union “Obervolta mit Raketen,” Upper Volta with rockets. The line was brutal then, and it has aged well (even though Upper Volta is now called Burkina Faso).

Dr Will Jones: Britain Signs Deal to Deploy Troops to Ukraine

Britain has signed a deal to deploy boots on the ground in Ukraine as part of a proposed ceasefire deal backed for the first time by the United States. The Telegraph has more.

Dave Patterson: When Putin Visits India, the White House Pays Attention

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has developed a fragile relationship with India as a counterweight to China and Russia. So the White House watched closely when Russian President Vladimir Putin joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit to assess what strategic agreements the two leaders had forged.

Dr Michael Bassett: Duplicity in the modern world

We have entered a new world where few things are on the level. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Dictatorland. Vladimir Putin’s forces brazenly invaded Ukraine in 2022, breaking a vital stipulation in the United Nations Charter to which Russia signed up at the end of World War Two. It specifies that no sovereign state shall invade another. In 2022 Putin knew that Russia’s veto at the UN would prevent any united action against Russia so long as his delegates weren’t temporarily absent from the Security Council, as they had been in 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea, thus triggering the Korean War.

Ryan Bridge: Putin's game of chicken

Putin’s playing a game of chicken with the Europeans and Europeans are the chickens.

NATO’s so far done nothing but talk about these fighter jets and drones.

Take your pick of experts and former military bosses chiming on the why over the weekend, and you’ll get 10 different answers.

Clive Pinder:

History, we are told, is written by the victors. Yet in Ukraine, the story may end up being written by those clever enough to redefine what ‘victory’ looks like.

Two tribes have been shouting across Western commentary trenches since 2022. On one side sit the realists, like John Mearsheimer, shrugging that Russia was provoked and that Ukraine must accept the grim realpolitik of geography. On the other side perch the idealists, like Matthew Syed, wagging fingers that anything short of total victory is appeasement.

Ryan Bridge: Putin and Trump decide their fate

You've got to feel for Zelensky on weeks like this.

Friday's the big day. Putin will fly to Alaska and meet Trump for cup of tea and biscuit.

They'll negotiate the terms of ceasefire for what the Russians are calling a 'Ukraine crisis', rather than a bloody war they started.

Dave Patterson: Trump Not Cowed by Russia’s Nuclear Saber Rattling

America doesn’t tremble just because some flunky in Russia pushes threatening rhetoric.

Unlike his predecessor, when a Russian flunky threatens nuclear consequences, President Trump does not back down. He calls his bluff. Dmitry Medvedev tried to do just that. Who is Medvedev? He’s the former Russian president. Or, rather, he played the role while Putin pulled the strings and Medvedev’s mouth moved. In Texas, they refer to this as all belt buckle and no cattle. However, just so there is no mistake about who is who in the world, if you want to talk big, then you’d better understand your audience.

DTNZ: Russia-West clash not about ideology – Putin

The standoff is only about geopolitical interests, the Russian president has said.

Western nations’ hegemonic aspirations and dismissal of Russia’s security concerns have led to the ongoing standoff between Moscow and the West, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released on Sunday. Ideological differences are only a pretext to advance the West’s geopolitical interests, he claimed.

Dr Oliver Harwich: Trump’s retreat in Europe shocking but not surprising

Was it really an “excellent” phone call with Russia’s dictator, Vladimir Putin? Did it signify, as President Donald Trump declared last week, an imminent breakthrough for peace in Ukraine?

The President’s public pronouncements certainly suggested so. Yet behind closed doors, a starkly different mood prevailed.

Robert G Patman: Peace in our time?....

Peace in our time? Why NZ should resist Trump’s one-sided plan for Ukraine

Is it possible to reconcile increased international support for Ukraine with Donald Trump’s plan to end the war? At their recent meeting in London, Christopher Luxon and his British counterpart Keir Starmer seemed to think so.

Bob Edlin: A headline we were pleasantly surprised to read…

SBS News today posted that headline on news that:

President Donald Trump has questioned whether President Vladimir Putin is “serious” about ending the war in Ukraine and hinted that Russia could soon face “secondary sanctions” from the United States if it doesn’t stop attacking civilian areas.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities, and towns over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war.

Bob Edlin: Trump spells out his disapproval in CAPS.....

Trump spells out his disapproval in CAPS – and the Kremlin will be jolted – but NZ leaders prefer not to mention Putin’s name

You can learn a lot from caps.

For example, the Trump organisation’s online store is peddling “Trump 2028” merchandise – caps, t-shirts and what-have-you.

Roger Partridge: Putin’s dangerous war games

Geopolitics offers no shortage of distractions. Ukraine peace negotiations lurch forward then stall. A global trade war gathers momentum. The United States pivots in its stance towards Russia, sometimes multiple times in a single week.

It is all too easy to become absorbed in trying to understand today’s events. Yet it is crucial that we also look ahead to developments already visible on the horizon. Especially those with long and troubling historical precedents.

Ele Ludemann: One of these was not like the others

Russia. Iran, North Korea, USA.

One of those wasn’t like the others, it stood for democracy, freedom and the rule of law but last week the USA voted with Iran, North Korea, Russia and 14 other pro-Russian countries at the UN.

DTNZ: ‘Putin wants to meet’ – Trump

The incoming US president has repeatedly promised to mediate an end to the Ukraine conflict.

US President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday that a meeting was being set up between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Bert Olivier: Is Peace Possible Today?

As we approach Christmas, with its connotations of peace and goodwill to all people, and the New Year, when one traditionally comes up with ‘resolutions’ for the year ahead, with the intention of compensating for mistakes made during the past year, and of initiating creative projects for the future, one has to ask: is all of this just Heideggerian ‘idle talk,’ or is peace a realistic possibility?

Centrist: Putin bans adoption of Russian children to countries allowing gender changes

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill banning the adoption of Russian children by individuals in countries that permit gender reassignment procedures.

“It is extremely important to eliminate possible dangers in the form of gender reassignment that adopted children may face in these countries,” stated Vyacheslav Volodin, a Russian politician who backed the legislation.

David Farrar: Evil vs Evil

The attack by islamic state terrorist in Moscow was an act of evil. 133 innocent people died. Islamic State is an evil organisation.

The response of the Putin Government was also evil, albeit in a lesser way.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Conflict resolution for dummies

Our esteemed Pontiff, Pope Francis, has once again had a brilliant epiphany. His solution to the Ukraine conflict is so obvious that one wonders why nobody thought of it earlier: Ukrainians just need to raise the white flag, and there will be peace on Earth.

Sounds simple? It is!