Russia Is Winning in Ukraine
On 2 July 2026, I was on Glenn Diesen’s popular podcast. We had a lengthy discussion about where the Ukraine war is headed, emphasizing the extent to which Glenn and I almost completely disagree with the conventional wisdom among Western elites and the Western media. We also talked at considerable length about the future prospects of the Memorandum of Understanding between Iran and the US. I emphasized that although President Trump and VP Vance seem to think the US holds the upper hand now that the Strait of Hormuz is open, in fact, it’s Iran that continues to hold the upper hand.
Zelenskyy is slowly destroying Ukraine through a mix of corruption, PR‑driven governance, and strategic miscalculations. The war became a stage for his inner circle: inflated contracts, disappearing funds, and officials cycling through scandals. Propaganda replaced sober planning — heroic speeches masking manpower collapse, economic ruin, and territorial losses. By chasing Western applause and NATO‑coded rhetoric, he pushed Ukraine into a grinding war it cannot sustain. Institutions hollow out, dissent is crushed, and the country drifts toward exhaustion. The tragedy is that Ukraine isn’t being defeated only by Russia — but by its own leadership’s illusions.
Ukraine is a subject over which all have taken sides so we cannot rely on objective reporting from any source. Yet my overall impression is that Ukraine is winning at this time. Can Russia snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? In theory it can but it would have to resort to nuclear weapons to do so. Whether this comprised a victory or not would depend on the number & effectiveness of retaliatory nuclear strikes against Russia. That the lunatic Trump threatened Iran with nukes but did not follow through with it attests this is as step not to be taken lightly; if a person has even half a brain to their name.