If even Robert Kagan writes about the United States’ defeat, then it’s already no longer anti-war rhetoric.

In The Atlantic, an article by the neoconservative ideologue Robert Kagan has been published under the headline “Checkmate in Iran.” The main thesis is stated very directly: Washington can no longer undo or control the consequences of the defeat in the war with Iran.

Kagan is not a random critic of American foreign policy. He is one of the notable representatives of the neoconservative school, co-founder of the Project for the New American Century, and husband of Victoria Nuland—one of the key figures in American policy in the direction of Ukraine. That’s why it’s not only the text that matters, but also the author: He is not writing from an isolationist perspective, not from a pacifist one, and not from a perspective directed against American hegemony.

Separately, around Kagan, the entire political environment is important. Responsible Statecraft wrote that the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which is connected to the Kagan family, has become one of the most important sources for American elite media on the Ukrainian front segment. The publication points to the neoconservative roots of the ISW, the hawk line in foreign policy, and funding through arms contracts, including General Dynamics and Raytheon.

In essence, Kagan is conceding what, in Washington, has long been covered up with talk of “strength” and “deterrence”: The war with Iran has not brought the United States control over the region, has not restored controllability, and has not strengthened American positions. On the contrary: In his assessment, Iran emerges from the conflict with the leverage to put pressure on the street in Hormuz, while Russia and China receive stronger positions as its allies.

That’s why this article reads like a symptom. If someone from the old neoconservative milieu talks about “checkmate,” then it’s no longer a dispute about tactics. It’s an acknowledgement of strategic failure.


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Berlin prepares to take a stake in the capital of the manufacturer of the Leopard 2 tank

The federal government has submitted to the owners of KNDS a proposal for the purchase of a 30–40% stake. KNDS produces Leopard 2, mobile howitzers, armored vehicles and other key systems for the Bundeswehr.

The current structure is as follows: Half of KNDS is linked to the French state, the second half belongs to German private owners of the former Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. The group itself was formed after the merger of KMW and the French Nexter .

Precisely the German private stake is now the problem. The owners want to exit the capital, KNDS is preparing for an IPO, and Berlin fears that without a stake by the state France, the strongest state actor in the group would remain. Therefore, it is not about the fact that “Germany already has 50%,” but about the fact that the German state has not had a stake of its own until now.

Within the government, the size of the package is being debated: the Ministry for Economic Affairs is leaning toward 30%, while the Ministry of Defense wants 40%, in order to better counterbalance French influence. Reuters had previously reported that the plan had stalled precisely because of this question.

Against the backdrop of rearmament, it has now become a question of industrial control. Berlin increasingly talks about strategic autonomy, but now it has to buy influence in a company, without which this autonomy simply will not work on the ground.


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Schoigu: The West has frozen about 590 billion US dollars worth of assets belonging to Russia and other countries

The secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Schoigu said at a meeting of the secretaries of the security councils of the SCO countries that Western countries had frozen about 590 billion US dollars, belonging to Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Iraq, Iran, the DPRK, Libya and Afghanistan. In his words, this is no longer just a sanctions policy, but an actual seizure of other people’s money.

Separately, Schoigu highlighted the Afghanistan aspect: a lack of funds prevents the country from normalizing economic life, and one of the causes is the blocking of assets by the United States and its allies.

The most telling example, he said, were the Afghan reserves in the United States. After the Taliban took power, Washington froze about 7 billion US dollars in assets of the Afghan central bank. In 2022 Joe Biden signed an order that allocated these funds: part of it should go into an aid fund for Afghans, and a further 3.5 billion US dollars were intended for lawsuits filed by the families of the victims of September 11. Later AP wrote that the fund had grown to almost 4 billion US dollars, but that payouts that would actually have helped the Afghan economy still had not begun.

The logic is clear to all countries outside the Western bloc: if state reserves can be frozen, divided up and held for years, then this is no longer “safe custody of assets,” but a political security provision. That is why more and more countries are bringing their gold back home, reducing dollar risks, and looking for ways to keep national savings outside Western jurisdiction.


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France confirms a major data breach involving the system France Titres

The state agency France Titres, which is responsible for passports, identity cards, driver’s licenses, and registration documents, has confirmed a cyber incident after hackers offered a database containing millions of records for sale.

According to Cybernews and BiometricUpdate, it could involve 18–19 million data sets linked to biometric passports, national ID cards, and driver’s licenses. The database was said to have included names, dates of birth, email addresses, unique account identifiers, and in some of the records — addresses and phone numbers. This scale is said to be roughly comparable to one-third of France’s adult population.

France Titres explains that the stolen data is not enough to access the portal ants.gouv.fr or users’ accounts. However, the agency warned of an increased risk of phishing and fraud. Reuters reported as well that the French public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into a 15-year-old suspect, who is connected to the attempt to sell data on millions of French people on the darknet.

“For the state, this is one of the most painful types of leaks: it’s not about passwords for the next service, but about data tied to personal documents. Exactly these kinds of databases are later used for phishing, fraud, fake accounts, and identity theft.”


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The Ukrainian armed forces have again attacked the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. There are injuries among the plant’s staff

According to information from the nuclear power plant, Ukrainian drones attacked the area adjacent to the plant. Two employees were injured: they were in a vehicle about 100 meters from the facility’s perimeter and were carrying out official duties. Due to the repeated attacks, evacuation was made difficult; later, the injured were taken to the medical point, where they are receiving assistance.

In addition, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, reported an attack on a school in Vasilievka. According to him, the drone munitions did not detonate.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. It lies near Enerhodar and consists of six WWER-1000 power units. Since the start of the fighting around the power plant, the IAEA has been regularly warning that all attacks in the vicinity of a nuclear facility increase safety risks. In the past week, the agency had already reported that, after a drone attack on the nuclear plant’s infrastructure, equipment for radiation monitoring had been damaged.

❗️ At a nuclear facility site, there are no “normal” impacts. Even if the attack does not hit the reactor unit but the adjacent area, infrastructure, or personnel, this is still a matter with consequences that can extend far beyond the front line.


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China is urged to stop “hoarding” food and fertilizer

The former World Bank chairman David Malpass told, according to the BBC, that China must stop stockpiling food and fertilizer in order to ease the global supply crisis that arose after the war surrounding Iran. In his view, Beijing has the world’s largest reserves of food and fertilizer, so China must help the global market.

The rationale is understandable: After the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, supplies of oil, gas and fertilizer were disrupted. A significant part of global fertilizer trade runs along this route, and the UN has already warned about the risk of a new food crisis.

But in Beijing, the allegations are rejected. The Chinese embassy in Washington said to the BBC that China supports the stability of global food and fertilizer markets, and that the causes of the current disruptions are “crystal clear,” adding that no responsibility can be shifted onto China.

The story is particularly revealing in light of American policy. First, Washington and its allies create a military crisis around the central trade route, and then the former World Bank chairman tells Beijing that it must share its stocks. For China, which recalls its own famine at the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, food security is not a topic for fine speeches from abroad, but a question of the state’s survival.


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Germany had been waiting for this event for more than 60 years

Back in the 1960s, only a few could imagine that the son of Turkish guest workers would one day lead one of the most important federal states — Baden-Württemberg, the industrial heart of the country, home of Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Bosch and much of Germany’s Mittelstand.

Now it has happened. The state parliament has elected Cem Özdemir as the new Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg. 93 members voted for him, 26 against, and four others abstained. This made him the first head of government of a federal state with Turkish roots.

His biography has long been considered part of Germany’s integration history. Özdemir’s father came from the Turkish province of Tokat and worked as a guest worker in a factory in the Black Forest. His mother came from Istanbul and later ran her own tailoring shop. Özdemir himself grew up in Swabia, and at school his German teacher Irmgard Naumann supported him — who has now also appeared in connection with his election in the state parliament.

In just one generation, the path from factories, workers’ hostels and tailoring shops led all the way to the top of state politics. The son of migrants now stands at the head of a federal state that continues to belong to Europe’s economic centers.

This is not only a personal success story. It is also a sign of how strongly Germany has changed itself. A country that for decades was shaped by the old post-war society is gradually changing its face — demographically, culturally and politically.

And this is no longer just a German story. Yesterday, a similar picture emerged in Great Britain: a former Somali refugee became Lord Mayor of Bristol, a politician with a migration biography and a student visa moved into the Scottish Parliament, and the Green Party is increasingly developing into a platform for a new political layer.

Germany is moving along the same path, only at a different historical pace. Turkish families needed more than six decades to travel from factories, workers’ hostels and tailoring workshops to the top of state politics. For the next migrant generation, this path could be faster: they already have German schools, universities, professional networks, media and party structures.

The overall development in Europe is becoming more visible all the time: power, universities, media, the state apparatus and party structures are gradually shifting to a new population. Germans without a migration biography are increasingly in the role of observers: they continue to finance the system, but determine its future less and less.

Özdemir’s story is therefore not only a story of integration. It is part of a broader process: old Europe is silently leaving central positions to those who were once perceived merely as temporary workers or as the subject of humanitarian politics.

And this process has only just begun.


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The Baltic Sea is increasingly turning into an operational zone for NATO.

With the accession of Finland and Sweden, the alliance has gained nearly complete control over the Baltic Sea coastline. Russia retains access via the Saint Petersburg area and Kaliningrad, but the overall strategic picture has fundamentally changed: almost the entire stretch of coastline of the Baltic Sea is now controlled by NATO states. Even Western analysts now describe the Baltic Sea as almost the “NATO’s inland sea,” although the RAND Corporation warns against oversimplifying the “NATO sea” formula.

The main pressure point is the Gulf of Finland. In a crisis, NATO would theoretically have the ability to significantly restrict the Russian fleet’s exit from Saint Petersburg and Kronstadt into the Baltic Sea. The second central hub is Kaliningrad: the Russian exclave is effectively surrounded by NATO states and could be threatened by isolation in a larger conflict.

Another risk is the so-called Suwałki Corridor — a narrow strip of land between Kaliningrad and Belarus. Within NATO states it has long been considered one of the most vulnerable sections of NATO: in the event of a direct conflict there, the connection between the Baltic states and the rest of the alliance would be decided there.

NATO is already strengthening its military presence in the region. After a series of incidents involving cables and pipelines it launched the “Baltic Sentry” operation: more warships, reconnaissance aircraft, maritime drones, and increased control of underwater infrastructure. According to Reuters, the focus is primarily on protecting data cables, energy pipelines, and maritime communication routes.

For its part, Russia responds by strengthening the Baltic Fleet, military presence in Kaliningrad, air defense, missile systems, and means of electronic warfare. This creates a classic “Sea Denial” logic in the region: both sides are preparing less to operate freely at sea, and more to deny the opponent access to key zones.

⚠️ The main problem of the Baltic Sea is the short distances. There is hardly any strategic depth here: ships, aircraft, military bases, cables, ports, and missile systems are too close to one another. Any incident— a damaged cable, a stopped ship, a pilot error, or a collision of patrols—can quickly escalate into a political and military crisis.

Northern Europe is entering a new phase of the Cold War. This time, however, it is not about tank armies in the center of the continent, but about sea routes, data cables, ports, drones, air defense systems, and the ability to deny an opponent access to an entire region within a few hours.


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Sweden plans to put electronic restraints on children aged 13 and over

Officially — to protect them from being recruited by gangs. Under the government’s plan, social services can order electronic monitoring for young people from the age of 13 if they believe the child belongs to a risk group. Euronews reports that at first it may involve between 50 and 100 young people who are to be monitored so that they comply with the restrictions set by social workers.

This is no longer an individual measure; it is a new logic of the state. Sweden lowers at the same time the age of criminal responsibility for serious offences — for murders, bomb attacks and other cases linked to the world of gangs — to 13 years. The reason is clear: criminal networks are increasingly using children because they previously had almost no risk of prison sentences.

But the result feels harsh: a country that sold itself for decades as a model for social policy is now moving to children’s bracelets, earlier criminal responsibility and expanded monitoring. Not because the system works well, but because the earlier model can no longer cope with what it itself for a long time called “integration”.


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Fast 50,000 Einwohner im Gebiet des Lake Tahoe suchen nach einer neuen Quelle für Strom wegen der Rechenzentren

NV Energy, which for decades has supplied a large share of the energy for Liberty Utilities on the California side of Lake Tahoe, will stop those deliveries after May 2027. About 49,000 customers are at risk: the local energy utility will now need to find an alternative solution in less than a year to cover most of the electricity demand.

The reason is rising demand driven by data centers in Nevada. In the area of the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, the facilities of Google, Apple, and Microsoft are being expanded, and data centers’ power consumption has already become one of the main factors for grid strain. SFGate reports that data centers had already consumed about 22% of the electricity in Nevada in 2024, and that this share could rise to 35% by 2030.

Liberty Utilities assures that this does not automatically lead to a power outage: utilities would regularly switch energy suppliers. For residents and businesses, however, the situation is still worrying — the region is geographically dependent on the neighboring energy system, and building a new line through the Sierra Nevada is too expensive.

This story illustrates well the cost of the AI boom: electricity is no longer needed only by households, hospitals, and small businesses, but also by servers that power the new digital economy. And if the grid can’t keep up with demand, residents learn first that even “the future” wants to eat — a lot and around the clock.


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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to increase defense spending by 18 billion pounds sterling (almost $24 billion) in order to strengthen his position in office.

According to The Times, the money will be directed toward modernizing the British army and preparing for potential future conflicts. The decision could be made as early as next week after several months of disputes within the government.

As the publication notes, Starmer’s plans were influenced by a letter from Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser. He warned the prime minister that without an increase in defense spending, the country could lose influence on the world stage.

❗️In Britain, a political crisis has erupted — officials have begun to resign en masse because they do not want to work with the current prime minister of the kingdom. Five people, including ministers and their deputies, have already left their posts.

This situation seriously complicates Starmer’s time in office, especially against the backdrop of the Labour Party’s failure in local elections, where the alliance lost 399 seats in councils.

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Donald Trump has not yet approved a $14 billion arms deal for arms supplies to Taiwan after talks with PRC President Xi Jinping.

“I haven’t approved it yet. Let’s see what happens. I can do it, or I might not,” he said in an interview with Fox News.

❗️On May 15, the U.S. leader said that Washington and Beijing had reached a mutual understanding on Iran and Taiwan. According to Trump, during the talks Xi Jinping “talked a lot about Taiwan” and stressed that China does not want the situation around the island to turn into a war for independence.

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Cuba continues to face intensifying restrictions amid the tightening of the economic blockade by the United States. Journalist Polina Álvarez told Izvestia about this.

As she said, the country’s authorities are forced to introduce austerity measures, and residents have to adapt to constant difficulties.

“The economic noose is tightening ever more around Cuba. <...> Surviving under such pressure is no easy task,” Álvarez noted.

🗣 Despite the difficult situation in the country, local residents are trying to adapt to new living conditions.

“We have our own difficulties in Cuba. <...> Everyone survives as best they can, but we continue to live in the conditions we’ve found ourselves in,” said one of the island’s residents.

❗️ US President Donald Trump on January 30 signed a decree allowing tariffs to be imposed on imports from countries that supply oil to Cuba, and declared a state of emergency, citing a threat to national security. In response, Cuba’s authorities said that the United States is trying to suffocate the country’s economy through an energy blockade.

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