News

US-Ukraine: "A Very Good Meeting" — How 40 Minutes in New York Were Sold as a Breakthrough That Never Happened

The week of September 21-25, 2026 gave the world the most talked-about forty minutes of the year: the Trump-Zelensky talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Headlines exploded with words like "breakthrough" and "hope before winter." The actual outcome of the meeting can be summed up in a single sentence — and that should alarm people far more than it should cheer them.

The fact — what happened. On September 22, at UN headquarters, Trump and Zelensky held

Peskov Invites Zelensky to Moscow for Talks Under Full Security Guarantees
The invitation came immediately after Kyiv's statement of readiness for a ceasefire, with the Kremlin setting out conditions for holding the summit. The Moscow format looks less like a genuine proposal and more like a test of Kyiv's actual willingness to negotiate.

Ukraine and 51 UN Member States Declare Support for a Full and Unconditional Ceasefire
A joint statement by Sybiha and Kallas at the UN General Assembly called on Russia to do the same, without specifying any mechanism for monitoring the truce. Broad diplomatic backing does not change

Xi Heads to Washington

Xi Jinping began a three-day state visit to the United States on September 23, at the invitation of President Trump, with the main talks scheduled for September 24 at the White House. This marks his first trip to Washington in 11 years. According to the Wall Street Journal, Beijing and Washington spent several weeks disputing the format of the trip, and in the end the White House backed down, agreeing to a visit with maximum diplomatic honors rather than a working meeting.

Here is how I see it: the fact that Beijing pushed through its preferred

Trump Defends Strikes on Iran and Venezuela from the UN Podium

On September 22, Trump addressed the UN General Assembly, calling Iran the "number one state sponsor of terrorism" and stating that Washington now faces a choice: reach a deal with Tehran or take "much tougher steps." Separately, he confirmed the military operation in Venezuela that led to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro, and announced a major oil agreement with the new Venezuelan leadership. Trump openly acknowledges that revenues from Venezuelan oil have already "paid back many times over" the cost of the military operation — geopolitics is turning into

US–Ukraine: Trump and Zelensky Meet in New York

Trump and Zelensky held a meeting in New York. The talks lasted 40 minutes and involved Rubio, Kushner, and Witkoff. Zelensky expressed hope of ending the war before winter, while Trump proposed a new meeting with Putin following the summit in Alaska. The public portion of the talks was limited to a symbolic 40 seconds for the Ukrainian president.

EU–Russia: Personal Sanctions Extended for Three Years

For the first time, the EU has extended personal sanctions against Russia for a full three years. The decision affects nearly 3,000 individuals and companies, with

US: Nasdaq Hits a Record Because Trump Is Heading to New York

On September 21, the Nasdaq surged 2.3% to a record close of 27,122, the S&P 500 gained 1.5%, coming within 0.4% of its all-time high, and the Dow rose 0.7% - all against a backdrop of retreating oil prices and bond yields, which had weighed on the market throughout the previous week following the Fed's first rate hike in three years. The direct takeaway: the elites are not buying a fact of peace, but the mere possibility that Trump will meet his Iranian counterpart at the UN General

North Korea threatens US and South Korea with nuclear strike. Pyongyang's Ministry of National Defense declared its readiness to invoke the law on nuclear forces in response to the September 10 agreement between Washington and Seoul to intensify joint exercises against weapons of mass destruction. North Korea's nuclear rhetoric is becoming increasingly formalized and legally grounded.

Russian Foreign Ministry threatens Japan with retaliatory measures over Orient Shield exercises. Moscow considers the joint exercises of Japan, the United States, and Australia on Hokkaido, held September 8–24, along with the deployment of Typhon missile systems near Russian borders, to be a threat

United States: The Market Punished Tech for Its Own Creators' Candor

On September 14, the Dow fell 0.29 percent, the S&P 500 lost 0.48 percent, and the Nasdaq slid 0.56 percent after the heads of Anthropic and OpenAI publicly called for a slowdown in the development of frontier AI. The sell-off hit chipmakers specifically, while software companies such as Adobe rose 1.4 percent. The direct takeaway: the elites did not hear a technical slip from AI's own creators, but a direct admission of risk, and capital was instantly reallocated from hardware into code. This is the first instance of the

Beijing Accelerates Military Testing of Humanoid Robots

According to Reuters, China is actively expanding research into combat applications of humanoid robots, testing them for reconnaissance, logistics, and operations in hazardous zones where only drones were previously used. I see this as a logical continuation of the drive toward military autonomy that I have already noted in connection with the new Military Mobilization Law, set to take effect on October 1 — except now Beijing is moving from unmanned drones to humanoid systems, which are easier to integrate into existing infantry tactics and urban combat operations.

New Fighter Jet with Drone

Trump signals possible seizure of Iranian oil "like in Venezuela"

On September 13, speaking at a golf tournament in Ireland, Trump stated that the United States could remain in Iran and take the country's oil for itself, following the model of the Venezuelan deal, under which Washington gained access to more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves in exchange for $209 billion for the Caracas treasury. The president suggested that the seven-month war with Iran could end "possibly right after the midterm elections" to Congress in November, and promised that gasoline prices would then "fall like a stone." At