Articles from ‘Independent News Roundup’

The Ukrainian leader has taken aim at the Hungarian PM over his refusal to lift a veto on billions in EU loans for Kiev · ©  Ruptly · [RT] Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has issued an apparent military threat to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over the ongoing refusal by Budapest to lift a veto on billions in loans underwritten by EU members for Kiev. · Orban last month blocked a planned €90 billion ($106 billion)…

Before the Iron Curtain: The centuries-old roots of the Russia–Europe rift · In 1946, Winston Churchill’s Fulton Speech symbolically marked the beginning of the Cold War between the Western world and the Soviet Union. Since then, relations between Russia and the West have been fraught with tension. In recent years, this culminated in a strong and almost existential antagonism.  · Surprisingly, just a while ago, Russia viewed Europe…

The sex-trafficker and financier who killed himself in prison is widely suspected of enabling criminal depravity for global elites · The funeral of children killed in an airstrike on a school in Minab, Iran, amid a US-Israeli attack, March 3, 2026. ©  Stringer / Anadolu via Getty Images · The strike on an Iranian school that killed at least 160 pre-teen students and teachers on the first day of the US-Israeli regime-change…

Winston Churchill’s Fulton address was a signal for the Iron Curtain to drop, and for nukes to almost drop as well ByTarik Cyril Amar, a historian from Germany working at Koç University, Istanbul, on Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, the history of World War II, the cultural Cold War, and the politics of memory https://www.rt.com/op-ed/authors/tarik-cyril-amar/@tarikcyrilamartarikcyrilamar.substack.comtarikcyrilamar.com · © Legion-Media /…

Moscow is considering a withdrawal without waiting for a blanket EU ban on Russian resources, the president has said · Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow. © Sputnik / Gavriil Grigorov · [RT] Russia may withdraw from the European gas market and redirect its supplies elsewhere without waiting for the EU to ban its imports, President…

Slovakia has been locked in a bitter row with Kiev over Russian oil deliveries · FILE PHOTO. Power lines in Low Tatras, Slovakia. ©  Getty Images / NurPhoto / Oleksandr Rupeta · [RT] Slovakia will terminate an emergency electricity supply contract with Ukraine, state-owned energy operator SEPS has announced. · The move comes amid the continuing row between Kiev and Bratislava over the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which…

The Russian-Polish security dilemma will likely serve as the impetus for fully unleashing and properly managing the capabilities of European NATO as a whole per the US’ National Defense Strategy. · Andrew Korybko · RT drew attention in late January to a report by Izvestia about the West’s alleged plans to launch a “Defense, Security, and Resilience Bank” (DSRB) by 2027. Their article relies on in-depth research by the Atlantic Council, …

Iran perceives the Gulf States to be easy targets, the Turkish Armed Forces have thus far deterred Iran through their proven formidableness, and Iran doesn’t want to risk Turkiye requesting the intervention of its NATO and/or Azerbaijani allies in the war. · Andrew Korybko · Iran has attacked US bases in the Gulf States on the pretext that they were used to some extent by the US in its joint campaign with Israel against Iran. By that…

Trump called Britain "uncooperative," dismantled Lloyd's three-century grip on the Strait of Hormuz, and inherited a united Gulf alliance — all in 72 hours. This is what the end of empire looks like. · Susan Kokinda · In this Wednesday update, Susan Kokinda argues that President Trump has openly ruptured with the UK over Iran, base access, and broader British policies on energy and immigration, while treating Germany under…

Alex Krainer · Money laundering is rightly billed as the mother of all crimes or, the crime that enables all other crimes. Most organized crime operations—whether drug cartels, human trafficking networks, protection rackets, or other types of crime—generate large amounts of bulk cash. Cash enables these organizations’ crimes, but it also severely limits their scalability. · Consider that, according to the U.S. Treasury Department,…