by John Helmer, Moscow   @bears_with Buried in the small print and legalese of the new European Union (EU) sanctions announced on June 24 is the re-establishment of the old European and American empires’ operation of privateering. That’s piracy on the high seas licensed by the monarch or the head of state on condition that the proceeds […]

by Editor - Tuesday, June 25th, 2024
No Comments »

by John Helmer, Moscow   @bears_with The British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, MI6) continues to celebrate itself as the master of deception operations, at least when it comes to fooling their own population and their US allies. Successful deception is the principal weapon London contributes in its special relationship with the US, since in money, men, weapons, […]

by Editor - Monday, June 24th, 2024
No Comments »

by John Helmer, Moscow   @bears_with The balloon didn’t quite go up at Wednesday’s session of European Union (EU) officials in Brussels to decide on a new round of anti-Russian sanctions, the fourteenth package of the EU’s economic war. Stopping Russian helium exports, one of the items in the package, wasn’t the sticking point.*   The Russian […]

by Editor - Thursday, June 20th, 2024
No Comments »

by John Helmer, Moscow   @bears_with June 12 marks the anniversary of Boris Yeltsin’s election as President of Russia. It is no moment for celebration. The government which he led successfully over the attempted putsch of last August and through the disintegration of the Soviet Union now lacks credible authority in the Russian federation and among its […]

by Editor - Tuesday, June 11th, 2024
No Comments »

by John Helmer, Moscow   @bears_with The Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte (right, centre) was the first leader of a NATO state to try to send his soldiers on to the Ukrainian battlefield to fight Russian forces directly.  That was in July 2014, in the aftermath of the Ukrainian shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. That Rutte […]

by Editor - Thursday, May 30th, 2024
No Comments »

by John Helmer, Moscow   @bears_with In war, exaggeration is a killer. In the media, exaggeration is a bestseller. In the current war there is a dearth of military and political analysts who for truth or money will tell the difference. Instead, when the mentality of the war fighters is a combination of racial superiority and spetsnaz derring-do, […]

by Editor - Wednesday, May 29th, 2024
No Comments »

by John Helmer, Moscow   @bears_with This year 2024 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of my first two books in New York in 1974. To contemplate what to scribble next, I’m taking a few days of May break.

by Editor - Monday, May 6th, 2024
No Comments »

by John Helmer, Moscow   @bears_with A senior Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) officer, who is the Assistant Chief of Staff at the NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), faces court martial, “dismissal with disgrace”, and loss of his military pension for having disagreed with Canadian, American, and British military planners of  Ukrainian battlefield operations against Russia. His […]

by Editor - Thursday, May 2nd, 2024
No Comments »

by John Helmer, Moscow   @bears_with Following yesterday’s publication  on the work of Lawrence Freedman (lead image, left*), he was sent a request that “in the event you detect error of fact or interpretation in this piece, please inform me at once so that the appropriate remedy may be taken”. A reply signed by Freedman has been […]

by Editor - Thursday, May 2nd, 2024
No Comments »

by John Helmer, Moscow   @bears_with The kings of Europe used to pay clever men to pretend to be fools in order to make jokes to amuse the monarch and his court. They were called jesters. A man who pretends to be cleverer than he is, and who tells jokes in order to fool others into making […]

by Editor - Wednesday, May 1st, 2024
No Comments »