Russo-Ukraine War Archives

We Must Destroy Russia’s ‘War Economy’

September 3, 2025 Buck Banks

“We must ensure that Russia can no longer sustain its war economy. I am talking about economic exhaustion, which we must achieve — for example, through tariffs on those who still actively trade with Russia. And here we again come back to the United States.”

— German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called Russian President Vladimir Putin “perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time,” while warning against appeasing him, TVP World reports.

Trump the Concessionaire

August 18, 2025August 25, 2025 Buck Banks

<The media’s reporting on the Alaska summit left the wrong impression.
While there, Vladimir Putin conceded that Trump won the 2020 election.
And he conceded the Ukraine fighting
Was the fault of President Joe Biden.
See? Trump did successfully negotiate a couple of Russian concessions.

Tangling in Anchorage

August 14, 2025August 14, 2025 Buck Banks

Trump’s Friday Alaska summit with Putin will test him.
Already, pundits are saying the Russian dictator will best him.
Some say it’s just an opportunity for Putin
To program Comrade Don with new instructions.
If Trump wants to prove he’s not Putin’s “asset,” he’ll arrest him.

Brink Has a Message from the Brink

May 19, 2025May 26, 2025 Buck Banks

“I cannot stand by while a country is invaded, a democracy bombarded, and children killed with impunity. I believe that the only way to secure U.S. interests is to stand up for democracies and to stand against autocrats. Peace at any price is not peace at all ? it is appeasement. And history has taught us time and again that appeasement does not lead to safety, security or prosperity. It leads to more war and suffering.”

— Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, writing in the Detroit Free Press.

Oval Office Ambush

February 28, 2025 Buck Banks

It was a planned Oval Office ambush on “Must-See TV”,
With Mafia Don Trump and JD Vance, his eye-lined buttinsky.
One’s the underdog for whom we’re rootin’
They’re just two thugs working for Putin,
Giving a televised beat-down to Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy.

Tillis Calls Putin a ‘Cancer’

February 21, 2025 Buck Banks

“I support President Trump and I believe that most of his policies on national security are right. I believe things are pretty good. But what I’m telling you, whoever believes that there is any space for Vladimir Putin and the future of a stable globe, better go to Ukraine, they better go to Europe, they better invest the time to understand that this man is a cancer and the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime.”

— Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), quoted by the Raleigh News & Observer.

2023 Was a Profitable Year for Arms Manufacturers

December 9, 2024 Buck Banks

$632 billion

Major companies in the arms industry saw a 4.2% increase in overall revenue in 2023 with sharp rises for producers based in Russia and the Middle East, a new report said Monday, reported the Associated Press. The report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said revenues from the top 100 arms companies totaled $632 billion last year in response to surging demand related to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Russian Ruble Now Worth Less than a Penny

August 17, 2023 Buck Banks

>1¢

“The ruble hit a 17-month low against the dollar Monday, highlighting the growing squeeze on Russia’s economy from Western sanctions and a slump in export revenues,” CNN reports.

Ukraine Has Retaken 50% of Territory Seized by Russia

July 23, 2023 Buck Banks

50%

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that Ukraine has already retaken about 50 percent of the territory that Russia initially seized, stressing that Kyiv’s counteroffensive is still in its “relatively early days,” The Hill reports.

U.S. to Give $1.3 Billion in Military Aid to Ukraine

July 18, 2023 Buck Banks

$1.3 billion

“The United States will announce a new pledge to buy $1.3 billion worth of military aid for Kyiv in its conflict with Russia in the coming days,” Reuters reports. “The previously unreported weapons package includes air defenses, counter-drone systems, exploding drones and ammunition.”

Tag: Russo-Ukraine War

We Must Destroy Russia’s ‘War Economy’

“We must ensure that Russia can no longer sustain its war economy. I am talking about economic exhaustion, which we must achieve — for example, through tariffs on those who still actively trade with Russia. And here we again come back to the United States.”

— German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called Russian President Vladimir Putin “perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time,” while warning against appeasing him, TVP World reports.

Trump the Concessionaire

Tangling in Anchorage

Brink Has a Message from the Brink

— Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, writing in the Detroit Free Press.

Oval Office Ambush

Tillis Calls Putin a ‘Cancer’

— Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), quoted by the Raleigh News & Observer.

2023 Was a Profitable Year for Arms Manufacturers

$632 billion

Russian Ruble Now Worth Less than a Penny

>1¢

“The ruble hit a 17-month low against the dollar Monday, highlighting the growing squeeze on Russia’s economy from Western sanctions and a slump in export revenues,” CNN reports.

Ukraine Has Retaken 50% of Territory Seized by Russia

50%

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that Ukraine has already retaken about 50 percent of the territory that Russia initially seized, stressing that Kyiv’s counteroffensive is still in its “relatively early days,” The Hill reports.

U.S. to Give $1.3 Billion in Military Aid to Ukraine

$1.3 billion

“The United States will announce a new pledge to buy $1.3 billion worth of military aid for Kyiv in its conflict with Russia in the coming days,” Reuters reports. “The previously unreported weapons package includes air defenses, counter-drone systems, exploding drones and ammunition.”

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

— Charlie Cook

“Sharia law seeks to destroy and supplant the pillars of our republican form of government and is incompatible with the Western tradition. The use of taxpayer-funded school vouchers to promote Sharia law likely contravenes Florida law and undermines our national security.”

— Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, introducing an Islamic law scare into the public discourse via an X post magnifying claims that state universal school choice dollars were paying for instruction in Sharia in Tampa charter schools, reported Florida Phoenix.

“I’m the speaker and the president.”

— President Trump, quoted by the New York Times, noting how he’s marginalized Speaker Mike Johnson.

Numerati

1.1 million

$279 billion

18

“President Donald Trump littered his new ’60 Minutes’ interview with a wide-ranging assortment of false claims, the vast majority of them previously debunked,” CNN reports. “We counted at least 18 inaccurate assertions.”

~42 million

$14 billion

“The U.S. economy will lose between $7 billion and $14 billion due to the federal government shutdown, according to a new report released by Congress’s nonpartisan bookkeeper,” the Washington Post reports.