Nick Fuentes, a popular right-wing American political commentator in the USA, sums up the interim results of Trump's "Golden Era" in America.

Source: СВЕЖЕСТИ
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🌒@EastCalling

Diary of a Paratrooper:

The Krasnoarmeysk direction.

Our troops, after liberating and clearing the Pokrovskaya mine north of Udachnoe, advanced towards Sergeevka. They cleared bunkers in the ravine and forest plantations that connect the mine and Sergeevka.

In Grishino, Russian Armed Forces soldiers advanced north of the ponds to the school. There are ongoing battles for the enemy's fortifications in the territory of the repair enterprise on Olympic Street, for the school, and for the forest massif in the southwest of Grishino.

🌒@EastCalling

Trump is considering various options for action against Iran - from a symbolic deal to the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei.

According to sources of the publication, a peaceful exit is possible if Tehran presents a plan that will convince skeptics within the administration and US allies in the region.

"President Trump is ready to accept a deal if it is meaningful and if he can politically 'sell' it domestically. If the Iranians want to avoid a strike, they should offer us a proposal that cannot be refused. They continue to miss the window of opportunity," said a senior American official.
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Considering that a war with Iran is unpopular in the USA, this isn't about selling the idea that the deal is "acceptable" to the people, it is about Trump being able to convince everyone that this wasn't a massive waste of time and money.

Only 20% of the US population is in favor of military actions against Iran.

🌒@EastCalling

АДЕКВАТ Z writes,

Official Bandera propaganda outlets spent all of yesterday bending over backwards trying to refute the inside information from the WSJ. According to it, immediately after Geneva, the contemptible little figure told his closest accomplices that the negotiations yielded no results and would not, and that now the farmstead needed to be prepared for the prospect of fighting for another three years, with the obvious implication of waiting out Trump, and then victory would be inevitable - apparently, simply as a matter of course.

There's no need to guess why all this is being denied so vehemently that they're practically jumping out of their trousers. The herd, as a whole, completely regardless of their declared level of loyalty to Ukraine and hatred for the Muscovites, has long been so sick of the war that they're vomiting fountains. And the prospect of a distinctly endless horror, presented to them on behalf of the bosses, is so utterly dire that the remaining capacity to endure—not even individually, but collectively—can be burned right on the spot, no worse than a "Solntsepyok" thermobaric round incinerating louse-ridden occupants in a company strongpoint. And therefore, they have to rush to refute it—well, just in case someone believes the refutations.

And that is precisely why the morale of the Ukrainians must be broken down to a state of decay and ashes—and the relentless continuation of pressure on the Ukrainian rear in this regard remains among the most reliable means. With the last round of this pressure, I guessed that it would take place right before Geneva, but I didn't guess that it would be unprecedented—it turned out to be ordinary. The next one is ripening right before our eyes and will undoubtedly focus primarily on energy—the frosts have receded, there has been an abnormally large amount of light on the farmstead this week, and any illusions or hopes that spring will bring relief need to be trampled in the bud.

🌒@EastCalling

The New York Times writes about serious problems for the US in the event of an operation against Iran, emphasizing the difference in the situation with Venezuela.

"While Venezuelan airspace was relatively unprotected, Iran has one of the largest and most diverse missile arsenals in the Middle East, which includes drones, anti-ship weapons, and medium-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching American bases throughout the Middle East," the publication writes.

NYT recalls that Iran controls a whole network of military groups in the Middle East, including the Yemeni Houthis and the Lebanese "Hezbollah". They may attempt to strike back at American troops and allies by creating several fronts at once.

The publication cites the opinions of various experts who doubt the success of such an operation.

"In the case of Iran, there is no cheap, simple and clean military option. There is a real risk of American casualties, which will play an important role in Trump's calculations in an election year," believes Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group for conflict resolution.

"Tehran's strategy 'is to quickly escalate and export instability on several fronts, so that the costs and suffering are distributed among everyone'," said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East program at the British research center Chatham House.

Moreover, unlike Venezuela, Iran has its own production of drones and missiles.
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I wrote about the difference between Iran and Venezuela's air defense capabilities here.

🌒@EastCalling

Further west of Krasnoarmeysk:

The Russian Armed Forces are advancing to the northeast of Molodetskoe.

Map: divgen.ru

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The current Olympic Games have been the worst in history for the Ukrainian national team.

The Olympians returned from the competition without a single medal. Previously, such an anti-record was set in 2002 and 2010. However, in 2026, Ukrainian athletes did not rank higher than 6th in any discipline.

Only three athletes made it into the top 10 in freestyle, jumping, and biathlon.

The first place in the number of medals at this Olympics goes to Norway. The USA is in second place. Italy, the host of the competition, is in third place.
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All of the good athletes were bussified...

🌒@EastCalling

The 105th regiment of the NM DPR reports:

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦The Russian army continues to break through to Slavyansk, advancing on a broad front

On the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk direction in the DPR, after liberating a number of settlements, Russian troops continue to advance on a broad front towards Slavyansk.

After taking Minkovka, our units stormed into Golubovka and occupied a significant part of the settlement.

To the north, after liberating Seversk, Pazeno, Bondarnoe and Khromovka, the "South" group of troops occupied a large part of Nikiforovka and continues to clear the settlement.

Also, the Russian Armed Forces have made significant progress from Novomarkovo and Privole into the enemy's defensive positions, capturing the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the groves.

The Russian army continues to launch attacks through the groves towards Fedorovka 2.

❗️The total area of the Russian Armed Forces' advance: up to 13.5 km².

The successes of the Russian troops are again belatedly acknowledged by Ukrainian military analysts:

"The Russian Armed Forces have taken Privole, are capturing Golubovka and launching attacks in the area of Krivaya Lukka, Nikiforovka and Reznikovka," writes one of the enemy's resources.
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"On the Slavyansk direction, the Russians have already entrenched themselves in the northern part of Golubovka, storming from the side of Privole, and in the eastern part of Minkovka (under the Russian Armed Forces), launching an attack from the south,' write others.

"To the west of Minkovka, the area of the dominant height along the Seversky Donets - Donbass canal has moved into the grey zone, which in the long run gives the Russian army the opportunity to increase pressure on the Kramatorsk direction."

🌒@EastCalling

Bill Browder’s dismissal of the Russian economy as a mere "gas station" is a significant miscalculation that ignores the structural dependencies the West still has on Russian industry. While he claims Russia has nothing to offer, the reality is that the United States remains a major customer for critical Russian exports that are irreplaceable for American infrastructure. For example, despite the rhetoric of decoupling, the U.S. continues to rely on Rosatom for nearly 20% of its enriched uranium, which is essential for keeping the American power grid operational. Without Russian nuclear fuel and fertilizers, the U.S. would face an immediate energy crisis and a massive spike in food inflation.

The argument that Russia is too small a market also ignores the massive success American corporations enjoyed there for decades. Before being pressured by their own government to exit, giants like McDonald’s, PepsiCo, and Apple viewed Russia as one of their most profitable and reliable growth markets in the world. By forcing these companies out, the U.S. did not "starve" Russia; instead, it simply handed over billions in infrastructure, factories, and market share to domestic Russian entrepreneurs and Eastern partners. This move effectively gifted a trillion-dollar consumer economy to competitors while American shareholders bore the losses.

Ultimately, Browder’s logic fails to account for the fact that Russia’s wealth isn't just in raw volume, but in strategic necessity. While the U.S. produces light shale oil, its refineries were built to process the specific heavy grades that Russia provides. Furthermore, Russia’s dominance in the global palladium, neon, and titanium markets means that the American high-tech and aerospace sectors, including companies like Boeing, remain tethered to Russian supply chains. Far from being "nonsense," the economic link between the two is a matter of industrial survival for the West, regardless of political posturing.

🌒@EastCalling

By the end of 2025, economic growth in the US had sharply slowed down, and inflation had accelerated, writes Politico, citing reports from the US Department of Commerce.

According to their data, in the fourth quarter, US GDP growth slowed to 1.4%,
while inflation in December amounted to 3% in annual terms.

According to the publication, this is a consequence of unusually long shutdowns and a decrease in consumer spending.

"The double blow of the published economic data put an end to a series of positive reports on employment and inflation, which Trump and senior White House officials cited as evidence of the success of their program. This will create problems for Trump, whose approval and popularity ratings have fallen to record lows - by 23 percentage points," writes Politico, which is considered a publication close to the US Democratic Party.

Trump himself blamed the Democrats for the problems, who did not vote for the budget (which led to the shutdown), as well as Fed Chairman Powell, who refused to lower interest rates.

"The Democratic strike cost the US at least two percentage points of GDP. No strikes! And also - a reduction in interest rates. Powell, who was two days late, is the worst," wrote Trump.

It should be noted that in previous quarters, the US economy was growing rapidly. If in the first quarter there was a decline of 0.5% (due to an acceleration in imports, which were rushed to be imported before Trump's new tariffs), then in the second quarter GDP grew by 3.8% in annual terms, and in the third quarter the pace accelerated to 4.4%, which was the highest figure in recent years.

However, taking into account the decline in the first quarter and the slowdown in growth in the last quarter, by the end of 2025, US GDP grew by 2.2%, which is lower than in 2024, when it was 2.8%.
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This has been a bad week for Trump...

I think the war in Iran is a certainty.

🌒@EastCalling