A woman will respond to her boyfriend’s anecdote about combined air attacks with unexpected fury, yelling that no, it’s not ‘amazing,’ it’s not even remotely ‘significant,’ and that no, it’s not ‘ironic’—it’s ‘inevitable.’ The distinction matters when you’re freezing to death.
For reasons that should have been glaringly obvious four years ago, we remain touchingly optimistic about Z and Trump, both of whom continue to believe that talking with Putin is the best prophylactic against gruesome death. Evidence to the contrary accumulates hourly, but why let reality spoil a good diplomatic photo-op?
“I think we’re doing very well with Ukraine and Russia. For the first time, I’m saying that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “I think we’re going to, maybe, have some good news.” - Trump (Oval Office, February 2, 2026)
Hours earlier, Z also sounded ebullient.
“The de-escalation measures ... are helping to build public trust in the negotiation process and its possible outcome.” - Z (pep talk, February 2, 2026)
As of this writing, Russia has hit a high-rise residential building in the middle of Kyiv. Five districts of the capital reported strikes. Two districts, more than 1,100 high-rise residential buildings, are without heat. The temperature is -25°C. De-escalation is going splendidly.
De-escalation map (February 3, 2026)
OUTLOOK (AUSBLICK) 2026
In 2026, it is to be feared (zu befürchten) that modified armament and guidance systems for Russian drones will lead to a greater threat (größeren Bedrohung). This can be countered by financing the production of defense systems in Ukraine. Financing them being, naturally, entirely distinct from actually financing them.
According to the British think tank RUSI, Russia will attempt to escalate the war in hybrid fashion. This could particularly affect the population in front-line regions and in the port city of Odesa. De-escalation (Deeskalation) continues apace.
A strategically sensible and effective response (sinnvolle und effektive Antwort) to the Russian threat is the targeted disruption of modernization and production of Russian air defense systems. Furthermore, European NATO states should supply Ukraine with highly effective long-range precision weapons and thus enable far-reaching airstrikes on Russian state territory (deep precision strikes). This recommendation has been filed under “things everyone agrees make perfect sense but will not happen” (Dinge, die perfekt sinnvoll sind, aber nicht passieren werden).
IN POSSIBLY RELATED NEWS:
Iuliia Mendel, a journalist, public figure and former press secretary to Z, has written that the president’s axed right-hand man, Andriy Yermak, was enthusiastically practicing witchcraft.
According to her account: In 2019, a journalist chased Yermak after a briefing asking what he was doing at a cemetery with [NAME]. In 2020, a terrified minister informed her that Yermak was practicing magic. In 2023, a source from an important service described how Yermak imported mages from Israel, Georgia, and some Latin American country for magical rituals. By 2024, someone from esoteric circles reported that Yermak’s mages were burning herbs, collecting water from corpses, and making dolls stored in a special chest—”a chest of the dead.”
“[Yermak] tried to block or use the energies of other people, as he imagined it.” - Iullia (January 31, 2026)
Today, as the country sits without heat, light, or basic needs, we can all laugh at this magical “politics”—if we have the strength.
Bumped into a gang of icebreakers yesterday. They were very cheerful. The large woman with her back to the camera was supervising.
