🚨 Margarita Simonyan compares Donald Trump to former US presidents

🗣 “Trump is not even Reagan. He’s not even Kennedy. In terms of his ambition to grind down everything he touches and create something new, Trump is Lincoln. Whether he succeeds or not, I don’t know," Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik's parent media group Rossiya Segodnya, told Russian media.

🔊 "Is it good for Americans? For Americans, of course, it’s good. Is it good for the rest of the world? Not really. Because whenever something is good for one, it’s bad for another. When the wolf is full, the lamb is dead. And when the lamb is alive, the wolf is hungry,” she continued.

📍 In her view, Trump’s actions have led to a change in the “label of the era” worldwide — something she says last happened after World War II.

💬 “What did it say back then? ‘Human rights,’ ‘freedom of speech,’ ‘respect for minorities.’ Can you imagine how people in Venezuela are now laughing through tears at all those slogans?” Simonyan asked.

👉 She described the new name of the era with a line from a fable by Ivan Krylov:

💬 “Starting this year, our era is called this: ‘You’re guilty simply because I’m hungry.’ You could say that’s how Donald Trump, the leader of the so-called ‘free world,’ has named it,” the editor-in-chief noted.

📍 She stressed that she does not approve of this at all. Nevertheless, she said, Trump belongs to a “dying breed of Americans who ‘built’ the country.”

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

▫️ The Russian Armed Forces struck an airfield in the Sumy region, from which Ukrainian forces launched jet-powered drones toward Russia's Kursk and Bryansk regions

▫️ Russian troops struck drone assembly plants, as well as energy and transport facilities operating for the Ukrainian Army

▫️ Air defense superiority: 6 guided bombs, 9 HIMARS missiles and 220 drones shot down

▫️ Ukrainian losses: around 1,210 troops killed or wounded

Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🚨🇫🇮 ‘Greater Finland’: Leaders staked expansionist delusions on Nazi Germany

After gaining independence from Soviet Russia in 1917, Finland wasted no time turning rabidly aggressive towards it, Russian historian Professor Mikhail Myagkov, head of the Center for War & Geopolitics at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, tells Sputnik.

👉 Fueling this stance was the idea of a so-called ‘Greater Finland’ – an expansionist concept that had emerged in nationalist circles prior to the revolution, says the historian, who is also Scientific Director for the Russian Military Historical Society.

This imaginary ‘state’ was to include all of Soviet Karelia, Estonia, the mouth of the Gulf of Finland together with Petrograd, the Kola Peninsula, and Arkhangelsk.

To advance this agenda, brutal acts were perpetrated against Russians and Russian-speaking residents on Finnish territory.

💬 “The Vyborg massacre in early 1918 is a stark example: Russian workers, soldiers, and officers were simply exterminated in a nationalist frenzy that engulfed the country’s leadership and parts of society,” says the historian.

1919 - 1921 Finnish offensive against Soviet Russia

🔸 Citing the alleged threat of a ‘Red’ takeover, troops under Carl Gustaf Mannerheim first crushed local leftists, then used the pursuit of ‘Red Finns’ as cover to invade Soviet Karelia

🔸 The Finns advanced on multiple fronts, including toward Petrozavodsk, but were repelled

🔸 Finnish troops carried out deep raids into Soviet Karelia, burning villages and killing thousands of civilians

Nazi Germany - key to ‘Greater Finland’ dream

Even during WW I, despite Finland being part of the Russian Empire, pro-German organizations operated there, and fighters were secretly recruited to serve on the German side, notes Myagkov.

📍 After the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, pro-German sentiment in Finland became virtually dominant, since many Finns saw Germany as the key to fulfilling their expansionist ambitions.

After Hitler came to power, influential Finnish circles pinned their hopes on Nazi Germany, convinced it would inevitably go to war with the Soviet Union.

This was seen as a golden opportunity to finally realize the dream of a “Greater Finland.”

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🚨🇺🇸 If Trump acquires Greenland, it would be the LARGEST land grab in US history

📍 The idea to get Greenland would mark the largest territorial addition in US history — even surpassing the landmark Louisiana Purchase of 1803, according to the New York Post.

The numbers that stand out:

🔶Louisiana purchase (1803): 2.14 million km²

🔶Texas annexation (1845): ~1.01 million km²

🔶Alaska purchase (1867): ~1.53 million km²

🔶Greenland: ~2.17 million km²

👉The US hasn’t added major territory in nearly a century.

👉 The last significant US territorial acquisition came in 1917, when Washington purchased the US Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million. The islands - St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John - were acquired during World War I for their strategic value in protecting Caribbean sea lanes and the approaches to the Panama Canal. They remain unincorporated US territories.

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🇭🇺 Orban: 'War councils' replacing political talks in Europe

💬 "27 ministers and heads of state are sitting around the table when we are meeting in Europe. And I say to you most definitely that they… will go to war. These meetings are not political discussions; these are lately war councils," Hungarian PM Viktor Orban states.

According to him, European officials are now openly discussing scenarios of defeating Russia, extracting reparations, and forcing Moscow to "pay back the money we're now giving to the Ukrainians."

Elected European leaders are spending money on weapons, arming themselves, as well as Ukraine, Orban says, adding:

💬 "There's a real preparation for war in Western Europe."

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🇬🇱 Is Greenland a return to era of US expansion?

🗣 "The potential acquisition of Greenland can certainly be viewed as a continuation of the classic tradition of United States territorial expansion, which dates back to the Louisiana Purchase under Thomas Jefferson and includes the 19th Century purchase of Alaska as well as the acquisition of Hawaii. If such an acquisition were successful, it would fit squarely within that historical trajectory," Dr. George Szamuely, senior research fellow at The Global Policy Institute and author of Bombs for Peace: NATO’s Humanitarian War on Yugoslavia, tells Sputnik.

📍 However, he adds that it's not necessarily modern "neo-imperialism" since "it represents a reversion to a policy of territorial aggrandizement rather than the construction of a traditional empire."

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🤔🇬🇱Would acquiring Greenland change the US' geopolitical status?

🔊 If the US became the world’s second-largest country by area after acquiring Greenland, it wouldn’t change Washington’s global standing, Dr. George Szamuely, senior research fellow at The Global Policy Institute, tells Sputnik.

💬 “The United States is already the leading power economically, financially, and militarily.”

📍 He noted that Greenland’s main value would be “for military purposes and the extraction of raw materials.”

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🇬🇱⚔️ Greenland acquisition and the Arctic rivalry: A symbolic move?

🇺🇸 A US move on Greenland could sharpen great power competition, Dr. George Szamuely, senior research fellow at The Global Policy Institute, warns.

💬 "Such a move could certainly trigger a reassessment of spheres of influence and intensify competition between the United States, Russia, and China. However, this competition is already quite intense due to melting ice, which facilitates raw material extraction and opens Arctic waters for navigation. While the acquisition of Greenland might further heighten these tensions, it is important to note that Russia and China are already aware that the 1951 treaty allows the United States to operate freely in the territory," he tells Sputnik.

🗣 "Regardless of whether the US officially acquires Greenland, it was always destined to be a major player in the Arctic as regional competition intensifies. The situation ultimately reflects a desire for symbolic national prestige rather than a necessary requirement for maintaining American influence in the North," he adds.

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🇺🇸🇬🇱 Acquiring Greenland would make Trump go down in history for tangible boost of US power - expert

The idea to grab Greenland is not a superficial move but rather a deep geopolitical calculation, political scientist Levent Ersin Orallı explains to Sputnik:

🔹 Greenland holds strategic significance, as it has energy and rare earth elements such as oil, gas and minerals — placing a hand on them would reduce US dependence on China and allow it to produce advanced technologies domestically

🔹 The melting of Artic ice creates another aspect, as Greenland becomes a key point of shorter trade routes and cost-effective pathways along the Asia-Europe-North America line

🔹 The crucial factor is security. Greenland is strategically located to serve as an outpost for radar detection and missile defense systems

💬 "Since the Cold War, the island has played a vital role in the US defense architecture, guarding against threats from the north," the expert says.

🗣 "Hypothetically, if Trump were to succeed in annexing Greenland to the US, this move could go down in history as an exceptional achievement in American political history. He could potentially create a presidential legacy that expands US territory, secures long-term strategic benefits, and enhances the global competitiveness of the United States," Orallı concludes.

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🚨🇺🇸 With Greenland in focus, US enters a 'new era of imperialism' - analyst

📍 Washington has moved away from the old “collective West” model of a transatlantic bloc of the US and Western Europe that once set global rules under American financial, military, and nuclear backing, and into a new phase of power politics, independent political analyst and former Russian Presidential Adviser Sergey Stankevich says.

💬 "The United States has returned to a policy of national egoism and imperialism, reviving the Monroe Doctrine… and declaring the Western Hemisphere its exclusive security sphere."

👉 Stankevich argues that this shift puts specific regions in the spotlight, especially in the Arctic and the Western Hemisphere.

💬 “The main threat of American imperialism now is linked to Greenland and Venezuela. The next target could be Cuba,” he notes.

🔶 He says control over Greenland would carry major strategic weight for Washington "because it gives influence over the adjacent Arctic shelf, making the US a key player in the division of the Arctic."

🔶 At the same time, he believes this "new imperialism" does not require a vast global military footprint since "they do not need a large network of military bases as before."

🔶 Instead, he believes a shift in focus, with a reduced US presence in Europe and a stronger emphasis on Asia, while warning that the Arctic dimension could sharpen global rivalries.

💬 "This could affect Arctic boundaries and intensify rivalry between the United States, Russia, and China."

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🇺🇸US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Greenland is “essential to US national security,” as Trump looks ahead to a potential “battle in the Arctic” and vows not to “outsource our hemispheric security.”

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🇺🇸🇬🇱 US reach for Greenland revives Monroe Doctrine - expert

The US interest in Greenland reflects a revival of classic hemispheric thinking, Professor Joe Siracusa, political scientist and dean of Global Futures at Australia's Curtin University, tells Sputnik.

💬 "The pursuit of Greenland represents less a continuation of modern imperialism and more a throwback to the early 20th Century era of financial receivership under Theodore Roosevelt," he says.

🗣 "Between 1904 and the early 1930s, the United States intervened in places like Nicaragua and Cuba to manage their customs houses and ensure foreign debts were paid, thereby removing any pretext for European powers to intervene. This strategy reinforced the Monroe Doctrine, which declared the Western Hemisphere closed to colonization."

Siracusa cautions that such a strategy "may not be as effective in a modern context."

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🇺🇸 Becoming second-largest by area won’t boost US global power

📍 If the US became the world’s second-largest country by area, it wouldn’t change its global standing, political scientist Prof. Joe Siracusa tells Sputnik.

🗣 "Regarding the geopolitical impact of the United States becoming the second-largest country by area, such a change would likely not alter its global status or role. The US already maintains a significant presence in Greenland through defensive assets, radar installations, and forward bases. While adding over 800,000 square miles - an area slightly larger than the Louisiana Purchase - would increase the nation's physical size, it would not necessarily improve its safety or security."

💬 "More territory simply means more ground to cover and defend," he concludes.

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🇺🇸🇷🇺🇨🇳 US' Greenland move would intensify Arctic rivalry with Russia and China, expert warns

👉 The US acquiring Greenland would sharpen great power competition in the North, Prof. Joe Siracusa warns.

💬 "Such a move would almost certainly trigger a reassessment of spheres of influence in the Arctic and intensify competition with Russia and China," he tells Sputnik.

🗣 “By claiming Greenland as part of the North American landmass, the United States would be asserting regional dominance. By asserting such a sphere of influence, the United States provides a pretext for nations like Russia and China to do the same."

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🚨🇫🇮 Nazi ally Finland complicit in genocide of Russians during blockade of Leningrad - historian

Finland touts its 'defensive’ stance ahead of WWII, but in reality, troops — Finnish or allied — were being massed for an attack against the USSR, Russian historian Professor Mikhail Myagkov tells Sputnik.

Western historiography pushes the false narrative that the Soviet Union, by signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, sought to occupy Finland in line with alleged ‘secret protocols’, notes the expert.

In reality:

🔸 In 1939, the USSR sought to reach a security deal with Finland, Soviet and Finnish documents show

🔸 The USSR worried Finland might serve as a launchpad for a third-party assault — by Germany, Britain, or France

🔸 Heavy artillery on Finland’s border and its airfields could have put Leningrad under constant fire

⚔️ War prep against USSR

🔸 Britain & France had Operation Pike planned — bombing southern Soviet oil fields (Baku, Grozny, Maikop) and landing troops in the north (Soviet-Finnish war was just a pretext)

🔸 Stalin offered Finland a deal: move the Karelian Isthmus border 40–50 km from Leningrad, and in return, the USSR would cede twice as much land in Karelia

🔸 Finland refused, prepping for war, and convinced Britain & France would help defeat the USSR

🔸 Mainila incident on Nov. 26, 1939: Finnish forces shelled Soviet territory — deliberate provocations to trigger war

🔸 USSR breached the Mannerheim Line, and on March 13, 1940, a peace treaty ended the Winter War

🔸 Finland lost the Karelian Isthmus; Leningrad was safe from the north

🔸 By summer 1940, Germany had crushed France; allied bombing plans were irrelevant

🔸 Finland allowed German troops on its territory: the objectives were Murmansk and northern ports

🔸 On June 22, 1941, Hitler openly announced Finland as a full-fledged ally of the Third Reich

🔸 June 22–23, 1941: Finnish & German ships mined the Gulf of Finland; German aircraft used Finnish airfields for attacks

💬 “From June 1941, Finland fully joined Nazi Germany’s aggression against the USSR as Hitler’s ally. This was outright Finnish aggression, not a war aimed merely at reclaiming lost territory,” says Myagkov.

🔸 Finnish troops advanced into Soviet Karelia, aiming to cut off the Murmansk railway and block Lend-Lease supplies

🔸 By late 1941, the Finns reached Vyborg and approached Leningrad, trying to breach the 1939 border, but were stopped by Soviet defenses

💬 “Finland, alongside Germany, participated in the blockade of Leningrad, contributing to the genocide of its population. Hitler’s orders were clear: blockade the city and starve its people,” says the professor.

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🇪🇺 EU trapped itself into total dependence on US — Kim Dotcom

The European Union is forced to get supplies of energy and arms from the US as well as to pay it tariffs due to its own policies, German businessman and political activist Kim Dotcom writes on X.

💬 "Who's leading the EU?" he wonders.

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🇺🇸🇬🇱 Trump’s Greenland push aims to turn US economic power into lasting geographic influence - expert

🗣 Trump's focus on Greenland stems from its rising strategic importance for the US National Security and its objective to establish a "defense umbrella" under his missile defense plan, Egyptian political analyst Dr. Ismail Al-Turki says.

🔶 The Arctic Ocean has become a new defensive and offensive frontier for the US, leading to clashes with its traditional NATO and EU allies, he notes.

🔶 Al-Turki adds that Trump is seeking to secure the Pacific by expanding territorial control, following in the footsteps of US Presidents James K. Polk and William McKinley.

🔶 Trump’s ambitions regarding the island are also driven by a pragmatic assessment of Greenland’s vast reserves of oil, gas, and rare earth metals, especially as European investment in this strategically important region continues to weaken, Al-Turki concludes.

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💥 Russian drones and artillery devastate Ukrainian positions

UAV operators and Grad MLRS crews hit and destroyed Ukrainian positions in the Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) area.

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🇫🇮 Russophobia & genocide fueled Finland’s WWII atrocities on Soviet soil

📍 Finland’s sordid chapter in World War II has long been hidden — but historians have been exposing the brutal history of concentration camps, slave labor, and mass killings in occupied Soviet Karelia, Russian historian Professor Mikhail Myagkov tells Sputnik.

Finland’s chilling legacy

👉 Finland had its own racial theory, similar to the German one, says Myagkov, who is also head of the Center for War & Geopolitics at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

🟠 Some peoples - like Swedes or Norwegians - ranked a bit closer, but Finns viewed themselves as superior to others

🟠 Russian-speaking Karelians were condescendingly regarded as a “related people,” but still placed lower in their racial hierarchy

🟠 Russians were deemed “subhuman”

📍 ‘The Black Book: A Brief History of Swedish and Finnish Russophobia,’ published by the Russian Military Historical Society and translated by Finnish political scientist Johan Backman, details witness accounts of atrocities committed in Petrozavodsk, where the Finns set up six concentration camps.

💬 “Up to 50,000 civilians were driven into windowless barracks across Soviet Karelia, according to historians from Petrozavodsk University. As many as half of them perished to executions, torture, starvation, and beatings,” the scholar notes.

The fate of Soviet POWs was equally tragic.

🔶 Over 60,000 Soviet soldiers fell into Finnish captivity and over one-third died

🔶 That mortality rate is directly comparable to figures in German camps

🔶 Prisoners faced beatings and summary executions

🟧 A Finnish propaganda book supporting the ‘Greater Finland’ ideology – Finnlands Lebensraum (‘Finnish Living Space’) was published in 1941 in Berlin, recalls Myagkov.

🟧 It openly justified plans to seize all of Soviet Karelia, the Kola Peninsula including Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, and even Estonia, which they also claimed as their own. Concrete negotiations on these ambitions took place with the Nazis.

🟧 When the Germans occupied the southern suburbs of Leningrad, they transferred around 90,000 Ingrian Finns to Finland “as slave labor,” says the expert.

🟧 They toiled on Finnish enterprises and in private homes, and when they returned home in 1944, they reported that the Finns treated them like cattle.

💬 “Archival evidence leaves no doubt: Finland fought on Germany's side as an aggressor, and Finnish atrocities in Leningrad and Karelia were genocide,” says the professor.

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