Articles from ‘Independent News Roundup’ in ‘Geopolitics’

The US-Israeli strikes on Iran test China’s energy security, diplomacy, and global ambitions all at once · https://www.rt.com/op-ed/authors/ladislav-zemanek/By Ladislav Zemánek, non-resident research fellow at China-CEE Institute and expert of the Valdai Discussion Club https://www.rt.com/op-ed/authors/ladislav-zemanek/ https://www.rt.com/op-ed/authors/ladislav-zemanek/ · FILE PHOTO: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Masoud…

In the objectively existing reality in which International Relations are unfolding, Russia has proven its reliability as an ally to the five countries that comprise the CSTO, while popular claims that it’s Syria, Venezuela, and/or Iran’s ally are bonafide “Potemkinism”, or nothing but an alternative reality. · Andrew Korybko · A popular Ukrainian media outlet, the Kyiv Independent, revived the narrative of Russia’s unreliability as an ally…

The goal is to obtain proxy control over Iran’s enormous oil and gas reserves so that they can be weaponized as leverage against China for coercing it into a lopsided trade deal that would derail its superpower rise and therefore restore US-led unipolarity. · Andrew Korybko · Trump claimed that the US’ military campaign against Iran is to “defend the American people”, while many critics have alleged (whether in jest or not) that it’s to…

The Islamic Republic either survives the latest onslaught, Iran goes the Venezuelan route, or “Balkanization” begins. · Andrew Korybko · The joint US-Israeli campaign against Iran officially aims to demilitarize the country and overthrow its government. The conflict has only just begun, but Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has already been killed along with several high-ranking military officials. These might be symbolic victories more than…

This is not Iraq. For 118 years, every government in Iran has served Britain's financial empire. Trump has spent a year dismantling that architecture. The Mullahs were the last piece on the board. As of this morning, he's clearing it. · Barbara Boyd · Barbara Boyd argues that the U.S. and Israel’s major combat operations against Iran, announced by President Trump as Operation Epic Fury, are being miscast as “Iraq 2.0” and “regime…

Megan Dobrodt · The deafening silence of the non-response from Western governments to [Tuesday’s revelations](https://eir.news/2026/02/news/russian-intelligence-services-warn-of-eu-plans-to-transfer-nukes-to-ukraine/ · ) from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) that it believes the U.K. and France are seeking to provide Ukraine with a nuclear weapon says a lot about the level of insanity in the current strategic situation—which…

This popular narrative, which Foreign Affairs was one of the latest to push, is very misleading. · Andrew Korybko · Foreign Affairs, the official magazine of the powerful Council on Foreign Relations that’s widely read among Western policy influencers and policymakers, recently published a piece about “The Limits of Russian Power”. The subtitle shows that it’s about “Why Putin Isn’t Thriving in Trump’s Anarchic World”. The narrative…

Trump's State of the Union reminded Americans why they voted for him — forcing Democrats to sit in silence on immigration, child safety, and insider trading while laying out his vision to rebuild America as a sovereign, producing nation. · Susan Kokinda · Susan Kokinda from Promethean Action discusses President Trump’s State of the Union, contrasting it with British media reactions and the Democratic response by Virginia Gov. Abigail…

Russia’s control over it, whether through Ukraine’s withdrawal or forcible expulsion, is considered to be the basis of the US’ peace plan that the Brits and French are dangerously trying to subvert. · Andrew Korybko · Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported on the four-year anniversary of the special operation that the Brits and French are plotting to help Ukraine go nuclear. The alleged plan is to provide it with relevant…

The purpose is to derail the peace talks by provoking Russia into either preemptively escalating against Ukraine as a deterrent or authorizing an overmatched retaliatory escalation right after that could in any case be spun by the Europeans to manipulate Trump against Putin. · Andrew Korybko · Putin warned on the fourth anniversary of the special operation that Ukraine and its Western patrons are plotting “a possible explosion targeting…