Kazakhstan is angrily denouncing and protesting the “deliberate attack” on critical energy transport infrastructure of the international Caspian Pipeline Consortium in the waters of Russia’s port city of Novorossiysk, after on Saturday a naval drone sent by Ukraine severely damaged one of its three loading points.

Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, “We emphasize that the Caspian Pipeline Consortium plays an important role in supporting the stability of the global energy system.”

It added: “We view what has occurred as an action harming the bilateral relations between the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and we expect the Ukrainian side to take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.”

This marks a rare moment that the former Soviet satellite state in central Asia is directly calling out the Ukrainian government and military.

A key section of Caspian Pipeline Consortium near Novorossiysk has as a result of the attack been taken offline until repair and restoration works are completed.

The consortium’s over 930-mile pipeline connects oil fields in western Kazakhstan and Russian offshore fields in the Caspian Sea to a marine terminal in Novorossiysk, which means the location serves as the main export route for Kazakh oil, and is one of the world’s largest oil conduits by volume.

Regional sources note that the pipeline transports about 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports. According to the consortium’s confirmation of the weekend attack:

CPC said on Saturday that a November 29 naval drone attack on its terminal had “significantly damaged” Single-Point Mooring (SPM) 2 – essentially a floating buoy which connects to tankers to load oil.

“Further operation of Single Point Mooring 2 is not possible,” CPC said. “Loading operations and other operations were stopped [and] tankers were withdrawn from the CPC water area.”

“We believe that the attack on the CPC is an attack on the interests of the CPC member countries,” CPC said.

Kazakhstan Has No Choice. It Changes Oil Export Route After Attack on Novorossiysk

Following a nighttime attack by Ukrainian naval drones on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s marine terminal in Novorossiysk, Kazakhstan has announced that it is forced to seek alternative routes… pic.twitter.com/SerTXJtYK4

— Belsat in English (@Belsat_Eng) November 29, 2025

Moscow for its part decried the Ukrainian attacks as amounting to terrorism and further alleged that European powers are currently engaged in an intense hybrid war against Russia.

However, Ukraine can in turn point to constant and devastating Russian aerial attacks against its energy grid, ahead of what is likely to be a harsh winter – at a moment much of the country is under a rolling power blackout regimen.

Over in Europe, Hungary has also long complained of these Ukrainian attacks on pipelines and energy infrastructure. This summer crude oil flows from Russia to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline suffered forced disruptions after Ukrainian drone strike crippled transformer stations and other elements.

After launching ZeroHedge store a year ago, we’ve been humbled by the overwhelming response. Between die-hard fans of IQ Biologix supplements, ZeroHedge gear, Rancher-Direct clean meats, hand-made knives, and more – your support is greatly appreciated. 

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TikTok influencers push boundaries to stay visible and relevant in feeds. Some of the stunts have become so outrageous that these clout-chasing fools will do anything for views – even if it means jeopardizing public safety.

The latest absurdity comes from TikToker PovWolfy, who in recent weeks has been handing out machetes and vodka bottles to the homeless population.

The metros where PovWolfy handed out machetes and vodka to the homeless and mentally unstable were not mentioned, but X user Unlimited L’s claimed the 18-inch blades and alcohol were distributed to people experiencing homelessness in Austin, Texas, and New Orleans, adding that the creator is now headed to New York.

NEW: “Influencer” hands out 18-inch machetes and alcohol to homeless people in Austin and New Orleans

Keith Castillo — known online as “povwolfy” — posted the video on Thanksgiving

The caption read, “Keeping the homeless in the streets.”

He is now heading to New York pic.twitter.com/DsetrscSEE

— Unlimited L’s (@unlimited_ls) November 30, 2025

PovWolfy made countless videos …

Handing out vodka and weapons to vulnerable people is nothing more than reckless behavior. There is a possibility that this influencer could face charges such as reckless endangerment, contributing to a dangerous situation (akin to the movie Purge), or even aiding and abetting if harm occurs.

*  *  * BLACK FRIDAY IS STILL HAPPENING

Three key Trump administration officials are meeting with Ukrainian negotiators in Miami, Florida this weekend in a push to broker an end to the war Russia began with its 2022 invasion, while setting the stage for talks between Washington and Moscow planned later this week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner plan to meet with the Ukrainian delegation to discuss portions of a proposed peace deal.

During talks in Geneva last Sunday, the sides reached agreements in principle on all but two issues: territory and security guarantees.

A senior U.S. official said the White House wants to close the gaps on those last two issues on Sunday, saying: “The Ukrainians know what we expect from them.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian delegation lost its lead negotiator between Kyiv and Washington, according to an announcement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.

Zelenskyy said his chief of staff Andrii Yermak has resigned following a home search by anti-corruption investigators.

Government investigators had uncovered that $100 million was embezzled from Ukraine’s energy sector via kickbacks that contractors had paid.

While neither Zelenskyy nor Yermak has been accused of wrongdoing by those leading the investigation, the Ukrainian president’s political opponents have pushed for more accountability of senior leaders in Kyiv’s government.

As Jacob Burg reports for The Epoch Times, the meeting in Florida is occurring just a week after Rubio met with Yermak in Geneva, with both sides expressing positivity over a revised peace plan from Washington.

Prior to his resignation, Yermak told Axios that territorial concessions could only be negotiated at the presidential level.

But Trump said last week that he would only meet Zelensky and Putin once the parties were close to an agreement to end the war.

“The dialogue based on the Geneva points will continue. Diplomacy remains active. The American side is demonstrating a constructive approach, and in the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end. The Ukrainian delegation has the necessary directives, and I expect the guys to work in accordance with clear Ukrainian priorities,” Zelensky said on Saturday.

Following Yermak’s resignation on Friday, responsibility for negotiations was passed to Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the country’s National Security and Defense Council.

He has been implicated in the corruption probe but is not a suspect, according to authorities.

He was joined by first deputy foreign minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, an experienced diplomat and negotiator who sat at the table with the Russians in peace talks this spring that made no progress.

Umerov said on Sunday morning that talks had begun to find a “dignified peace”.

The meeting between the Ukrainian delegation and the American side on steps toward achieving a just peace has already begun in the United States.

I remain in constant contact with the President of Ukraine. We have clear directives and priorities: safeguarding Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/herwCpylWd

— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) November 30, 2025

As The FT reports, Russian forces this week continued their large-scale missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital and critical infrastructure as troops on the ground in the eastern Donetsk region pressed ahead with assaults on key strongholds.

Ukraine, meanwhile, continued its drone attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities and vessels belonging to its shadow fleet in the Black Sea, including the Russian oil terminal near the southern port of Novorossiysk that is owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

That attack on Saturday prompted a stern response on Sunday from Kazakhstan, which called on Kyiv to halt strikes on the facility that handles about 1 per cent of global oil supplies, including from Kazakhstan, where the pipeline begins.

The biggest question hanging over the US-Ukraine talks is how any proposal agreed between them might be agreed by the Russians, who have maintained a maximalist position and have expressed confidence that they currently hold the battlefield initiative in the war. Putin has shown openness to a deal only if it is done on his timeline and terms.

Earlier this week, Russia blamed the Europeans and Kyiv for spoiling the initial proposal, or what the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov described as the “only substantive thing” on the table. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned that if the revised plan “erased . . . key understandings” reached earlier between Putin and Trump, the situation would be “fundamentally different”.

Nevertheless, Zelenskyy appeared optimistic, telling Ukrainians in his evening address on Saturday that the American side was “demonstrating a constructive approach” to the talks that were set to continue on Sunday.

He added: “In the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end.”

 

The ex-CIA-linked Afghan national who gunned down one National Guard soldier and critically injured another (an ambush terror attack) blocks from the White House has finally forced a long-overdue reckoning over reckless immigration policies. 

Afghans arrived in the U.S. through Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) and related evacuation efforts. Migration-policy analysis estimates that approximately 90,000 people from the collapsed, war-torn country were flown into the U.S. in the aftermath of the Biden-Harris regime’s disastrous fall of Kabul.

Afghan nationals were rounded up like cattle and put onto massive cargo planes destined for the U.S. 

Planeload of Joe Biden’s fully-(un)vetted Afghans en route to America

Is the shooter on this bird? pic.twitter.com/yEcCMXFayY

— Jim Hanson (@JimHansonDC) November 27, 2025

FBI Director Kash Patel warned reporters last week that the previous administration “decided to allow thousands of people in without doing a single background check or vetting.” 

🚨 BREAKING: Kash Patel just said it PERFECTLY on the Biden administration’s BETRAYAL

Q: Did authorities miss any signs in the asylum process?

PATEL: “Well, you miss ALL the signs when you do absolutely ZERO vetting – and that’s exactly what happened in this case!”

“When the… pic.twitter.com/2SRJNArblK

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 27, 2025

The American people had no vote and no say in unvetted Afghans being funneled into their communities. Just like the broader illegal alien invasion, these disastrous immigration policies were put forth by Washington Deep State elites against the will of the American people – and anyone who questioned these nation-killing policies was immediately labeled “racist” by Democrats. 

The result of these terrible immigration policies is materializing in real time, and what’s been known for some time is that a small percentage of evil people have entered the homeland due to minimal, as per Patel, or in some cases, virtually no vetting under the Biden-Harris regime. 

Video of the attack on a National Guard Soldier & Airman earlier this week in Washington, D.C.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a muslim from Afghanistan, can be seen in black holding a revolver and a fellow National Guardsman returns fire on the jihadist invader.#CityLife #DC… pic.twitter.com/apwf4BiHXB

— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) November 27, 2025

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, LA. (ISIS)

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, threw Molotov cocktails at a vigil in Boulder, CO. (Egyptian)

Jihad Al-Shamie, drove his car into a synagogue. (Syrian)

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, murdered two National Guardsmen. (Afghan) pic.twitter.com/cxu4N7snci

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 28, 2025

A small percentage of the millions of migrants that have flooded into the U.S. under the Biden-Harris regime adds up quickly – and as former CIA targeting officer Sarah Adams has repeatedly warned, the threat is real: “We have more than 10,000 Islamist terrorists on our soil.”

It’s past time @DHSgov stops playing pretend and finally raises the terrorism threat level in this country. We have more than 10,000 Islamist terrorists on our soil, and they cannot keep looking the other way. They don’t get to pad their stats by slapping the terrorist label on…

— Sarah Adams (@TPASarah) November 27, 2025

Again, the American people did not vote for their communities to be transformed into a terrorist playground while being looted by the federal government, especially for the rescue and resettling of Afghans into U.S. communities at a cost of more than $14 billion. 

One resettlement contract that stands out is a $287,195,045 award in 2022 for Cherokee Nation Management & Consulting, L.L.C., a government contract company with “8a” status, for “HUMANITARIAN AFGHANISTAN REFUGEE“…

Afghan Refugee Assistance – Subcontract (2022)

Prime Awarding Agency: Department of State (DOS)
Prime Award Amount: $287,195,045

Prime Awardee: Cherokee Nation Management & Consulting, L.L.C. (Catoosa, OK)
Prime Award Description: humanitarian Afghanistan refugee

Sub-award…

— RandoLand.us (@RandoLand_us) November 29, 2025

Last week, Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and the investigative journalist who broke the Clinton Cash corruption story, uncovered the “DEI Fraud Machine” inside the federal contracting complex, or to be more percise, the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program, where DEI-driven preferences opened the door for fraudsters to siphon off lucrative no-bid federal contracts.

🚨 MASSIVE FRAUD ALERT: For years, DC insiders have exploited a federal DEI contracting program that provides windfalls to beltway elites. This open secret isn’t about helping the downtrodden; it’s about bagging no-bid paydays. The SBA’s 8(a) program is long overdue for reform.🧵 pic.twitter.com/G7X0hCQdYt

— Peter Schweizer (@peterschweizer) November 26, 2025

So why exactly was a tribal company handed a massive “HUMANITARIAN AFGHANISTAN REFUGEE” contract on a silver platter? There are many questions here.

Meanwhile…

BREAKING: An Afghan national was arrested this week after posting a video of himself on TikTok indicating he was building a bomb with an intended target of the Fort Worth area, according to DHS.

Mohammad Dawood Alokozay is charged at the state level with making a terroristic… pic.twitter.com/Dmbmtp3gNs

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 29, 2025

Trump prepares course correction:

• Trump Pushes ‘Reverse Migration’ As National Guard Member Dies Following Potential DC ‘Terrorist’ Attack

Insane migration policies will now make a whole lot more sense.

The CIA Dimension Of Mass Immigration pic.twitter.com/miIYhwmx7V

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) November 29, 2025

Why was mass migration prioritized over national security? Now, a dead soldier on Thanksgiving is the result.

🚨 NEW: DHS Sec. Kristi Noem just REVEALED that up to 100,000 Afghans may have been let into the U.S. by Joe Biden

“We could have up to 100K people that came in from Afghanistan that may be here to do us harm — and President Trump is absolutely dedicated to getting them OUT.” pic.twitter.com/jD57KTbdvK

— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) November 30, 2025

Be viligilent. The consequences of failed Biden-era migration policies are far from over. 

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The Trump White House unveiled a scathing new website Friday, “Media Offenders,” complete with a “race to the bottom” leaderboard ranking outlets like The Washington Post as the worst for “false and misleading stories”—flagging everything from exaggerated Trump “sedition” claims to immigrant horror tales as “heinous” manipulations.

The interactive page features an “Offender Hall of Shame” logging repeat offenders and a weekly spotlight, like the current “Media Misrepresents and Exaggerates President Trump’s Calls for Democrat Accountability,” where Democrats and “Fake News” implied Trump issued “illegal orders” to the military—contrasted with “THE TRUTH”: “Every order President Trump has issued has been lawful.”

The site pits outlets like The Washington Post (worst for bias), MSNBC, CNN, CBS News, The New York Times, and Politico in a humiliating tally of “false and misleading stories flagged by The White House.”

See it for yourself ?https://t.co/bRfpnhKjbT

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 28, 2025

Users can sign up for “Offender Alerts” delivered weekly, promising “Scroll for the Truth” on each entry.

The “Offender Hall of Shame” catalogs hits like “L.A. mother says she was taken to U.S. border, being held until she self-deports” and “Trump’s new wall: His push to oust immigrants legally in the U.S.,” debunking them with White House counters.

The spotlight today falls on “Media Misrepresents and Exaggerates President Trump’s Calls for Democrat Accountability,” where outlets like the Boston Globe and The Independent twisted Trump’s push for accountability on Democrats’ military mutiny calls into “execution” threats.

From the site:

“THE OFFENSE”: “The media misrepresented President Trump’s call for Members of Congress to be held accountable for inciting sedition by saying that he called for their ‘execution.’”

“THE TRUTH”: “Democrats released a video calling for service members to disobey their chain of command, and in turn, implied President Trump had issued illegal orders. Every order President Trump has issued has been lawful. It is dangerous for sitting Members of Congress to incite insubordination in the United States’ military, and President Trump called for them to be held accountable.”

This counteroffensive directly exposes MSM’s scripted “talking point” directives amid the info war, where CNN, MSNBC, and NYT puppets cordinate “balanced” spins on Trump’s policies. The leaderboard’s “false and misleading stories” section catalogs such distortions, from immigrant “horror” tales to “Trump wall” exaggerations, proving the “enemies of the people” script is real.

The White House takedown also resonates with FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s November probe into BBC corruption for “rigging the news,” where he slammed “heinous” manipulation as a “threat to democracy” that erodes trust.

As Carr vowed to “expose and prosecute” such tactics, the leaderboard’s “repeat offenders” section—flagging outlets that “don’t just get it wrong – they do it over and over again”—mirrors his call for structural reforms, tying scripted bias to broader info war threats.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Volkswagen says it can build an electric car entirely in China at roughly half the cost of producing one in Germany, helped by quicker development, lower labor expenses, easier battery sourcing and a more efficient supply chain, according to FT.

After heavy investment in its new R&D base in Hefei, which includes more than 100 labs for software, hardware and powertrain testing, the company says it can now validate software, hardware and full vehicles at the same time.

According to VW’s China technology chief Thomas Ulbrich, the facility gives engineering teams “an entirely new level of integration,” allowing them to shorten decision cycles and speed up innovation. VW says the development timeline for new Chinese EVs is about 30 per cent shorter than the traditional 50-month process.

FT writes that the carmaker intends to introduce around 30 EV models in China over the next five years as it tries to regain momentum in the world’s largest auto market, where competition from domestic EV makers has eroded its earlier dominance.

Although the strategy began as “in China, for China,” executives say the company is now considering exporting Chinese-built models and applying Chinese-led advances to its global operations.

Other European manufacturers, such as Renault, are also trying to match China’s rapid development pace by simplifying components and relying more on local engineering talent.

Still, VW stands out for the scale of its investment, committing almost €4bn in China since 2022 through efforts including its partnership with Xpeng and its funding of Horizon Robotics, with which it is developing an AI chip for autonomous-driving features.

These moves come as VW continues to cut costs in Germany, where high production expenses and weak European demand have led to a plan to reduce its domestic workforce by 35,000 by 2030.

Authored by Ron Paul,

Last week’s surprise release of a draft Ukraine war peace plan has raised hopes that the nearly three-year bloody conflict may finally come to an end. Ukraine has suffered horrible losses that may change the demographics of that country for decades to come.

If this peace plan can be negotiated in a way that satisfies all sides and the guns finally go silent, I will be the first to cheer.

However, the continued failure to understand the nature and origin of the current conflict leaves me skeptical that a real peace can be reached this way.

From the Orange Revolution in the early 2000s to the Maidan revolution in 2014, the US and its NATO partners have been interfering in Ukraine’s internal affairs in attempt to manipulate the country into a hostile position toward its much larger and more powerful neighbor, Russia.

We must remember how directly coordinated the 2014 coup was by the United States.

US Senators, including John McCain and Lindsey Graham, were on the main square of a foreign capital demanding that the people overthrow their duly elected government. Victoria Nuland was caught on a telephone call planning who would run the post-coup government.

Outside intervention led us to the terrible situation of today. This peace deal is another chapter in that same intervention, with the US and its partners desperately trying to manage and solve a problem that they created in the first place. Can you solve a problem created by outside intervention with more intervention?

For the entirety of this conflict politicians and the media have been unwavering in blaming Russia entirely for what has occurred. I agree that they’re no angels. But the real villains here are the US neocons and their European counterparts who knew it was suicidal for Ukraine to take on Russia but pushed Ukraine to keep fighting anyway. Early in the conflict a deal was on the table and nearly signed that would end the war, but the neocon former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson demanded that Ukraine keep fighting.

Ukraine is the victim here, I agree. But it is as much a victim of the US and European neocons as of the Russians.

They believed they could put NATO on Russia’s doorstep and face no consequences. If the tables were turned and a hostile China set up a new Latin American military alliance with the US as its designated enemy, would we sit by idly as military bases were constructed on our southern border? I don’t think so.

President Trump promised he would end the war 24 hours after he was elected. It was an unrealistic boast, but he actually could have ended it rather quickly. The antidote to intervention Is non-intervention. Biden drug us into the war, that is true. But Trump could have pulled us out by quite simply ending all US involvement. No weapons, no intelligence, no coordination. No need for sanctions or the threat of sanctions, no need for elaborate peace plans.

A real peace deal would realize that it was always idiotic to believe that Ukraine could stand up to Russia’s war machine – even with NATO’s backing.

It is unimaginably cruel to demand that Ukraine keep fighting our proxy war down to the last Ukrainian.

No 28-point plans can fix this. The real fix is much simpler: walk away.

At a moment many European and NATO leaders are pushing back against Trump’s peace plan for the Ukraine war, given it offers to cede large parts of the Donbass and Crimea to Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is in Moscow on a warm and cordial visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The focus of their discussions centered on continuing supplies of Russian oil and gas, as well as efforts to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. Such meetings have been rare examples of an EU head of state flying to Moscow where’s he’s given a warm and very friendly welcome, despite the still raging war in Ukraine.

Orbán emphasized to Putin that Hungary accepts and is comfortable with the fact that Hungary’s energy security has long depended on Russian fuel. He said Budapest places significant value on the consistency and reliability of Russian deliveries.

Just ahead of the trip Orbán announced on X, “This is why I am going to Russia today: to make sure Hungary’s energy supply remains secure and affordable this winter and in the year ahead.”

He also noted that Russian energy supplies remain “cheap relative to international price levels” and made clear that this is vital to the stability of the Hungarian economy.

The Russian president responded Friday during the Hungarian prime minister’s visit, “Our cooperation in the field of energy is very strong. There are, however, issues and challenges that require our discussion.” According to state media, Putin hailed that—

Relations between Moscow and Budapest are currently based on pragmatism and “all the best that was” in their history.

And Orbán said, “We have important areas of cooperation, and we haven’t given up on any area of that cooperation, no matter the external pressure.” He added: “Russian energy forms the basis of Hungary’s energy supply, now and in the future.”

On the question of Ukraine peace, the leaders talked about the stalled peace summit that was supposed to take place in Budapest between Trump and Putin, as a next step after the August Alaska summit.

Putin told Orbán “I would also be very pleased if Budapest is used as a venue during our negotiations,” and further praised him for his “measured” approach to the conflict.

🚨⚡️ JUST IN:

Putin shakes hands with “Europe’s voice of reason” Viktor Orbán at the Kremlin! 🇷🇺🤝🇭🇺

Putin:

“We’ve built an atmosphere that lets us speak frankly and discuss any issue. Strong Russia-Hungary relations allow us to find solutions to all problems.” pic.twitter.com/330yFWDyAw

— RussiaNews 🇷🇺 (@mog_russEN) November 28, 2025

The Hungarian leader has of late severely criticized the Zelensky government for the ongoing energy corruption scandal, which has resulted in the dismissal of top ministers, and even close aides of President Zelensky. Orbán has questioned why European populations should put their grandchildren in debt while going to “absurd” lengths to support and fund an obviously corrupt regime.

Naturally, this rare commentary from an EU and NATO member is music to Moscow’s ears, and in return there will likely be perpetual “cheap energy” for Budapest.

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

This would be nothing but “another (faux) victory over Putin” that could be spun as having made the populace’s reduced living standards worthwhile after they dropped due to the anti-Russian sanctions.

Former Russian President and incumbent Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev published a piece at RT in late August about “NATO’s Anschluss” in which he warned about the consequences of Austria joining the bloc like some there want to do. This issue affects his country’s prestige since the USSR was one of the guarantors of Austrian neutrality. Any unilateral moves towards NATO membership in violation of Moscow’s veto would therefore provoke an international legal crisis.

This would accelerate the breakdown of international law that’s been in progress for a while and bring the West closer towards fully revising the post-WWII order in Europe. Germany’s remilitarization plans from 2022 onward arguably made this a fait accompli but Austria’s moves towards NATO membership might finally provoke a long-awaited political crisis over this issue. Medvedev also proposed that international institutions in Vienna be relocated abroad to a truly neutral country in that scenario.

As for the military-security consequences, he warned that “Austria’s Bundesheer units may find themselves included in the Russian Armed Forces’ long-range mission plans. A package of countermeasures was adopted against Sweden and Finland after their NATO accession, and Austria should not expect any exceptions here.” Any NATO-Russian war would likely result in Austria becoming unlivable whether it’s neutral or not, as well as a lot of the Northern Hemisphere, so that’s a moot point.

Nevertheless, it’s important for Austrians to realize that they’d be shattering their country’s neutral reputation and putting a target on their backs in the event of war, but none of that matters for NATO. Its potential “Anschluss” with Austria would be for purely narrative reasons in order to spin it as “another (faux) victory over Putin” to go along with Finland and Sweden’s membership in NATO. The scenario of Serbia sanctioning Russia and Bosnia fast-tracking its NATO membership would complement this notion.

The goal of NATO’s proxy war on Russia through Ukraine has always been to inflict a strategic defeat upon Russia, first by using Ukraine as a platform from which Russia could be blackmailed into submission via NATO infrastructure there and then via more direct means after the special operation sought to preempt that. After the special operation, this goal was openly declared and advanced through the dual means of sanctions and then 2023’s counteroffensive, but both failed and a strategic defeat was averted.

Accordingly, any political resolution of the Ukrainian Conflict will therefore be seen as a defeat for the West, ergo the need to engineer faux victories that could be spun as having made the populace’s reduced living standards worthwhile after they dropped due to the anti-Russian sanctions. Formalizing Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO memberships after years of them being de facto members and the bloc’s “Anschluss” with Austria are easy means to this end while the mentioned Balkan ones are a bit tougher.

Circling back to Medvedev’s article, he’s right about the legal-political and military-security consequences of Austria joining NATO, but his piece could have benefited by addressing the question of why this is being discussed right now despite it having no significant impact on the balance of power. The answer is that it’s all for perception management purposes vis-à-vis the Western public after the Ukrainian Conflict failed to result in Russia’s strategic defeat despite the costs that they’ve paid for this.