Mainers Donate to and Rally With Platner After Reporting on Past Relationships

“If Graham Platner and all of you find a way to build that redemption through this campaign,” Congressman Ro Khanna told a Maine crowd, “maybe you would show a way for this country to start to redeem itself.”


Graham Platner, a Democrat running for US Senate in Maine, speaks to a crowd in Bar Harbor on June 5, 2025.
(Photo by Andrew Estey/Graham for Maine)

Jessica Corbett
Jun 07, 2026
COMMON DREAM


Since The New York Times on Thursday published reporting about some of US Senate candidate Graham Platner’s past relationships—including allegations of physical aggression that the Democrat denied—Mainers have continued to rally with and donate to the political newcomer’s disruptive campaign, which has focused on promoting working-class priorities and defeating the oligarchy.

Maine’s primary is on Tuesday, but Platner has been the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November since Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign over a month ago, citing a lack of financial resources.




Calling Attacks on Platner ‘Politics as Usual’, Mainers Say They Have Back of Working-Class Champion



Platner Campaign Says Fundraising Up, Polling Lead Over Collins Holding, Despite Latest Smear Effort

In the wake of the Times reporting, Platner “raised more money than on any day since Gov. Mills’ withdrawal from the race,” according to his campaign. Specifically, as of 7:00 pm ET Friday, the 41-year-old oyster farmer and combat veteran had collected “over $200,000, from over 5,000 donors, with an average contribution of $40.”

A Graham for Maine spokesperson said in a statement that “the people of Maine know what’s on the ballot Tuesday: not Graham Platner’s past, but whether their voice in the Senate works for them—or billionaires and special interests.”

The Times spoke with more than two dozen people, including six women who had been romantically involved with Platner. The interviews arranged by his campaign were with three exes who now support his candidacy. The other three “offered a far more complicated assessment, describing volatile and ‘toxic’ relationships that were unsettling and at times emotionally wrenching.”

Much of the coverage and commentary has focused on Lyndsey Fifield, who dated Platner from roughly 2013-15. The 40-year-old previously worked for former Republican South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s 2024 presidential campaign and right-wing organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Independent Women’s Forum, and Ladies for Kavanaugh—a group she co-founded to support the US Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, who faced sexual misconduct allegations but was still confirmed as a justice by a majority of senators, including Collins.

“I know it looks like a bitter ex-girlfriend Republican trying to take down a Democrat—it has nothing to do with that,” she told the Times. “If he was running as a Republican, I would be doing this exact same thing.”

Fifield said that Platner’s offensive posts on Reddit—an early controversy in his campaign—“reminded me of just how much he hated women,” and she challenged his insistence that he did not know the skull and crossbones tattoo he got with fellow Marines in Croatia closely resembled a Nazi symbol until last fall, when it became another campaign controversy, and he got it covered up.

According to the Times:
Mr. Platner could be rough with her, Ms. Fifield said, particularly when they were drinking, leaving her shaken and sometimes afraid. In the interviews, Ms. Fifield grappled with how to process her experiences. She was quick to note that he “never hit me, he never punched me.”

But she said he regularly grabbed her by the shoulders—sometimes hard enough to leave marks—and, on one occasion, yanked her out of a cab by her wrist after an argument when she wanted to stay in the car.

During one argument, she recalled, he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom, and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn’t get out, telling her to remain there until she was “calm.” Eventually, Ms. Fifield said, she fell asleep and left the next morning.

“It hurt,” she said. But she added: “It didn’t cause an injury, it didn’t break my arm.”

Platner acknowledged to the newspaper that he had “too often self-medicated with alcohol, and was a far from perfect boyfriend” during what he called a “very dark period of my life,” but he also strongly denied any claims of physical intimidation or altercations with past partners or knowing about the tattoo’s Nazi ties.

Phil Proschko, who served with Platner in the Marines and also got the symbol tattooed on him, said in a brief interview with Zeteo on Friday: “No, we did not purposely get hateful fucking shit because we’re racist people... We got matching tattoos because we were in our 20s, drunk in Croatia, and that’s it. That’s all that fucking happened.”

Platner reiterated his responses to the Times during a nearly 25-minute interview with Chris Hayes on MS NOW. After the host read portions of Fifield’s allegations, Platner said that “anything alleging physicality” and “anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was” is “simply not true,” and is coming from “someone who’s politically motivated.”

“I’ve been very upfront since the beginning of this campaign that that was a pretty dark period of my life after I came back from my combat service,” added Platner, a veteran of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Hayes also invited the candidate to discuss reporting by the Times and The Wall Street Journal late last month that during an internal vetting process, Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, told campaign staff that he had exchanged sexual messages with multiple other women early in their marriage, and they had addressed it in counseling—plus Gertner’s video response supporting her husband, which Platner shared on social media.

Since Thursday, some have criticized the Times, with reporters from other outlets saying that the paper “breezed past” the full scope of Fifield’s right-wing work history for an article seen by critics as “a hit job against an anti-oligarchy, anti-Israel populist.”

Fifield also spoke out against the final product, writing in a long social media post on Friday that “it dawned on me that this really was a setup all along. The journalists I trusted who convinced me to share a story I never wanted to tell methodically delayed and twisted this into a gift to the Platner campaign.”

Responding to Fifield’s post, a spokesperson for the Times told Newsweek: “We published accounts provided by several women who were in romantic relationships with Graham Platner. Our story accurately presents each of these accounts as told to our reporters and according to our standards. We stand by our reporting of the accounts from Ms. Fifield and the other women, who provided a revealing look at the behavior of a major candidate for the US Senate.”

After the sexting reports, Mills said that “people have the impression that I ‘withdrew’ or ‘dropped out,’ but I simply suspended active campaigning. I am still on the ballot.” The newer reporting on Platner’s exes has directed fresh attention toward the governor.

As NBC News detailed late Friday:
A source close to Mills told NBC News: “The governor remains on the ballot, and in the wake of this week’s stories, people across Maine are reaching out to tell her they’re voting for her and encouraging her to get fully back into the race.”

One Democrat who had been involved in Mills’ campaign said she would move forward anew only if Platner were to step aside, not to challenge him. The Democrat said losing to him “especially now” would serve as an embarrassment to the outgoing governor.

That person, and others, noted that Tuesday’s primary was not the deadline they are looking at, but rather a mid-July deadline under state law. That’s when Platner would have to step aside to be replaced as the nominee.

Platner made clear during his interview with Hayes that he hasn’t considered stepping aside, and since the Times’ Thursday reporting, MS NOW and Fox News have spoken with various voters on Maine streets who continue to back the candidate:

Platner has stayed on the campaign trail, joining Maine gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson; Matt Dunlap, who is running for the state’s 2nd Congressional District; and Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a potential 2028 presidential candidate, for a “Changing the Tides” rally in Bar Harbor on Friday.

Platner stressed that “we are up against one of the most powerful political systems in the history of the world. It is a system of billionaires and special interests. It is a system of corrupted politicians like Susan Collins... who for years has given us some charade that she’s a moderate, that she stands up against her party, that she cares more about her constituents more than she cares about those that donate money to her. We see through it.”

He also addressed the various controversies throughout his campaign, saying: “Since the beginning, Maine, you had my back. When hurtful things I said on the internet a decade ago came out into the public, as I shared my personal journey through PTSD and darkness, of recovery and accountability and growth, Maine had my back.”

“Now, as every single piece of that past and journey gets dug up, litigated, and weaponized, you have my back,” he told a cheering crowd. “And when politically motivated, serious, and false accusations are made against me, Maine, you have my back. The state of Maine raised me, and the state of Maine saved me. And to all of you out there, Maine, I will always have your back.”

Meanwhile, Khanna, a Philadelphia-born son of immigrants, said during the event that “sometimes I think we’re broken right now as a country,” with so many Americans who “feel unseen, unheard, undervalued.”

“We can barely talk to each other. Sometimes it feels like we’re having different conversations, even about the situation we see with Graham and Amy... no ability to have dialogue,” he continued. “For this country to heal, we need to find some way of having grace. We need to find some way of having redemption. We need to find some way of saying that if someone... felt hurt by Graham in a past relationship, we can listen to them, and we can listen to Graham, and we can have conversations as mature Americans, as fellow citizens.”

“If Graham Platner and all of you find a way to build that redemption through this campaign, through this transformation,” he added, “maybe you would show a way for this country to start to redeem itself, because we sure need that as we approach this 250th anniversary.”

From Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who initially backed Mills in the Maine primary, to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), an early supporter of Platner who caucuses with Democrats and twice sought their presidential nomination, the party “is united” behind “a single goal,” Khanna also told the crowd. “We will defeat Susan Collins in November.”

Sanders renewed his support for Platner in a Saturday social media post highlighting key campaign issues:



US Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) is set to help rally donors for Platner during a virtual event on Sunday. As Politico noted: “The event is the first public stamp of approval from Schatz, who has not endorsed Platner previously. Making it even more notable is Schatz’s status as a rising leader in the party: He is currently deputy conference secretary and chief deputy whip for the Senate Democratic Caucus, and he has secured the votes—and Chuck Schumer’s endorsement—to take over the No. 2 role next year.”

FASCIST UKRAINE

Zelensky ignites fury by honouring Ukrainian WWII fighters who massacred Poles and Jews

EXPLAINER


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to name a military unit after a World War II-era militia infamous for massacring Poles and Jews has led to a sharp spike in tensions between Kyiv and Warsaw.


Issued on: 07/06/2026 - 
FRANCE24
By: Paul MILLAR

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) attends the reburial ceremony of Andriy Melnyk, who died in 1964 and was the leader of a branch of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), along with his wife Sofia, at the National Military Memorial Cemetery near Kyiv on May 25, 2026. © Genya Savilov, AFP


Some things are better off staying buried. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a presidential decree on May 26 bestowing the honourary title of “Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army”, or UPA, on an elite unit of the nation’s special forces.

As the armed wing of the far-right Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), the UPA carved out a gruesome name for itself in the shifting borderlands between Poland and Ukraine during World War II.

It remains infamous in Poland for its role in the massacres of ethnic Poles and Jews in Volhynia and eastern Galicia – massacres that Polish historians believe killed tens of thousands civilians, and that the Polish state considers part of a deliberate campaign of genocide.


Zelensky’s decree was all the more striking for having the uneasy makings of a pattern. The day before, the Jewish president had presided over the reburial of the repatriated remains of Andriy Melnyk in the national military ceremony near Kyiv.

Melnyk, who died in Germany in 1964 and had been buried in Luxembourg, was the leader of a branch of the OUN – and a staunch advocate for collaboration between the Ukrainian nationalist movement and Nazi Germany and its fascist allies.

Melnyk now lies buried with full state honours alongside Ukrainian soldiers killed during the four-year struggle against the Russian invasion, hailed as a national hero by the same Zelensky who once spoke proudly of his own grandfather’s fight against the genocidal Nazi regime in the ranks of the Red Army.
Under strain

The president’s actions have been met with shock across the border in Poland.

Former Polish president Lech Walesa, who had led the Solidarity trade union movement that brought down the Soviet-backed Communist government in Poland at the close of the Cold War, said on social media that he had wrenched the Ukrainian flag badge from his chest upon hearing of the decree. While he said he would continue to support Ukraine’s fight against Moscow, he would not – could not – support its president.

Left-wing former prime minister Leszek Miller described the decree as akin to Germany renaming a military unit after the Nazis’ Einsatzgruppen death squads.

And conservative President Karol Nawrocki called for the Ukrainian president to be stripped of the Order of the White Eagle, the nation’s highest state honour that was bestowed on Zelensky by Nawrocki’s predecessor Andrzej Duda in the wake of the Russian onslaught.

"Glorifying the UPA has provided Russian propaganda with plenty of fuel for disinformation," he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long justified his assault on Ukraine in part as a campaign to "de-Nazify" the country.
An open wound

The legacy of the fierce partisan fighting between Polish and Ukrainian forces remains an open wound between the two countries.

Anita Prazmowska, emeritus professor of international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said that the roots of the conflict could be traced back at least to Polish independence in the wake of World War I.

Following the collapse of the German, Russian and Habsburg Empires that had carved the country up between them, a newly independent Poland drove back an advance by the nascent Soviet Union and staked out territories that included a substantial Ukrainian minority in the eastern borderlands.

“During the inter-war period, the attitude of the new Polish state towards the Ukrainian minority was profoundly negative,” Prazmowska said. “Essentially, the attitude was that Ukrainians are not mature enough to form a state, that they are Slavs, yet not [Slavs] – essentially, that they should be incorporated in the Polish state.”

As Nazi and Soviet troops poured into Poland in 1939 under the terms of their non-aggression pact, many Ukrainian nationalists who had long fought a clandestine fight for independence became willing collaborators with the Nazis.

The twin wings of the OUN, led by Melnyk and his more radical rival Stepan Bandera, saw Hitler’s Third Reich as a force powerful enough to prise an independent Ukrainian state from Moscow and Warsaw – one swept clean of Jews, Poles and Russians.

“During the Second World War, Nazi Germany made use of the Ukrainian nationalists as foreign levies, and therefore exploited the very strong desire for independence in the Ukrainian community to draw them into policing – and policing the ghettos in particular,” Prazmowska said.

“Later, the levies who were brought into the Waffen-SS were brought in to [deal with] the [1944] Warsaw Uprising, where they distinguished themselves with their extreme brutality.”

'A defiant gesture'

Founded by the OUN after Hitler’s forces stormed into the Soviet Union, the UPA variously fought against Soviet, Nazi and Polish Resistance forces as it became clear that an independent Ukraine had no place in the Fuhrer’s plans to cleanse Eastern Europe for a new generation of German colonists.

As the Red Army drove the Nazi war machine back, the UPA launched a desperate campaign to cleanse the borderlands of their Polish communities – what Warsaw now describes as a genocide.

“Zelensky ... honoured certain people who had been involved in those activities – elevating them to positions of Ukrainian nationalists, Ukrainian heroes,” Prazmowska said. “And that's not how the Poles see them.”

This is not the history of the UPA as it is understood in much of Ukraine.

Lesia Bidochko, a senior lecturer at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, said that Zelensky’s actions fit into the country’s efforts to forge a common narrative of the country’s long march towards independence.

“From a historical standpoint, some of the figures being heroized in contemporary Ukraine are genuinely contested. Their significance is less historical than symbolic – most people simply do not engage deeply with the history itself,” she said. “What matters to many people is that these figures annoy Russia. They serve as a defiant gesture. This emotional and political significance often overshadows the more detailed aspects of historical record.”

Ukraine’s now four-year struggle against Russia’s advance has sharpened nationalist appetites for the public celebration of figures who fought for the country’s independence – though sometimes under the same blood-and-soil banner that unleashed some of the worst horrors of the twentieth century.

“There is a demand within parts of Ukrainian society for a rehabilitation of historical memory,” Bidochko said. “Ukrainian authorities have been responsive to that demand – unofficially framing it within a decolonisation discourse.”
'The first step'

With Ukraine still struggling to mobilise the troops it needs to the front despite widening conscription, the idea that Zelensky would extend further support to an intensely motivated – and ideologically hardline – minority within the country might make some sense.

The far-right Azov movement, which has steadily grown in influence throughout parts of Ukraine's military since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, has campaigned heavily for the public rehabilitation of ultranationalist figures.

Whatever the reasoning, Melnyk will likely not be the last of his nationalist compatriots to find his way back to his native soil.

The remains of OUN leader Yevgen Konovalets, who was killed by a Soviet agent in Rotterdam in 1938, will also be brought back to Ukraine for burial. Local media has also reported that Kyiv is campaigning for the return of Bandera, whose remains are currently buried in a Munich grave.

"Now is only the first step," Zelensky said during the ceremony.

"I am grateful to every person who worked so that return of great Ukrainian figures could happen and so that the Ukrainian people would receive their pantheon of heroes," he added.

Residents of French village say US defense chief Hegseth not welcome for D-Day visit

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday marked the 82nd anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings with a visit to Normandy, but did not attend the international ceremony hosted in Langrune-sur-Mer. Residents said his "warlike views" were unwelcome in their village and questioned his commitment to "democratic values".


Issued on: 07/06/2026 - 
By: FRANCE 24

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visits the US cemetery to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France on June 6, 2026. © Jeremias Gonzalez, AP

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday travelled to Normandy to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings.

But after making a speech at the American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, he conspicuously skipped afternoon’s main international ceremony marking the anniversary of the Allied landings, which helped herald the end of World War II.

His presence was not missed by some residents of the village hosting the ceremony, Langrune-sur-Mer, who said the US official was not welcome there.

"He has very warlike views and it seems to us that this man does not share our democratic values," Sylvie Lamy Thepaut, a member of the municipal association Langrune en commun, told BFM TV.

A message on the association’s website called for Hegseth’s visit to be cancelled on the grounds that the Pentagon chief “espouses values contrary to democracy, human rights and peace” and had made “numerous anti-European remarks”, “warlike statements” and “American supremacist pronouncements".

“The honor of Langrune, that of France, and the memory of the young Allied soldiers – American, British, Canadian – who died on our beaches in the name of democracy would dictate canceling this individual’s visit,” the statement concluded.

Langrune-sur-Mer Mayor Franck Jouy declined to comment on Hegseth's visit, underscoring that the event was a memorial.

“We are here for a commemmoration and I don’t want to make it political,” he told BFMTV. “I’m here to remember the people who came to make sure that France was liberated.”

Attendees of Saturday’s ceremony in Langrune-sur-Mer included veterans from the United States and British Defence Minister John Healey, who hailed the "resilience" of the UK during the war and US allies as "this great people, friends of liberty".

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu paid tribute to the "3,000 men, barely 20 years old", who died on D-Day, offering "the breath of their youth and the sacrifice of their lives".

In his earlier speech at the American military cemetery, Hegseth utilised dehumanising anti-immigrant rhetoric, urging Europe to counter what he termed an "invasion" of its coastline by migrants.

Echoing the rhetoric of the US administration, he also called on European countries to do more to contribute to their own defence. European defence spending has been on the rise.

In an apparent reference to European defence initiatives, Lecornu said the continent had to meet "the challenge of our generation" to build "our autonomy, our capacity to defend ourselves" to face threats that are "getting closer, intensifying and multiplying".

The Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, were the largest amphibious operation in history.

An armada of 6,939 ships and 132,700 British, Canadian, American, Belgian, Norwegian and Polish troops stormed 80 kilometres (50 miles) of beaches in northern France.

The operation contributed decisively to the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, which was also being squeezed by USSR forces to the east.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Pete Hegseth 'backtracks' on 'repugnant' religious policy after GOP beatdown

David Edwards
June 8, 2026 

RAW STORY

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Department of Defense's FY27 budget request on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reversed course Monday on a Pentagon religious classification policy that had enraged Republican allies — after Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) called it "repugnant," phoned President Donald Trump directly, and demanded an immediate fix.

The controversy stemmed from a May 20 memo, first reported by Military.com, signed by Under Secretary of Defense Anthony Tata, that slashed the military's religious affiliation codes from 211 to just 31. The overhaul was designed to help chaplains better track and serve troops' beliefs — but the initial redone list left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints out of the Christian category entirely, classifying it separately from every other faith that professes belief in Jesus Christ.

The backlash was swift and bipartisan. Lee, a Utah Republican and Latter-day Saint himself, posted a video Sunday calling the policy an affront to "tens of thousands" of LDS service members. "It's just repugnant to any sense of decency, any sense of our common heritage," he said. Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) called it "unacceptable." Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) insisted Hegseth explain the exclusion to "hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saints veterans."

Lee then posted that he had spoken with Trump by phone. "I won't speak for him, but I'm thrilled about where this is heading," he wrote.

By Monday afternoon, the Pentagon's rapid response account announced the reversal, framing the original list as containing "redundant and unnecessary labeling" — and an updated Religious Affiliation Codes list now includes "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" as a standalone entry. Capitol Hill correspondent Jamie Dupree described the move plainly: the Pentagon had "backtracked."

Curtis welcomed the fix. "Thank you to the Department of War for listening to our concerns, engaging thoughtfully and respectfully with my office on this issue, and for delivering a swift correction," he wrote on X.

Not everyone was satisfied. Atheist commentator Hemant Mehta argued the revised list still lumps together atheists and agnostics, collapses dozens of smaller faiths into a catch-all "Other Religions" category, and that "the 2017 list was better."

A Disgraceful Hegseth Dishonors Those Who Gave Their Lives on D-Day

It is not surprising that Hegseth cannot identify with the men who fought on D-Day.


Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the U.S. cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, at a D-Day commemoration, on Saturday, June 6, 2026.
(Photo: Jeremias Gonzalez/Associated Press)

Martin Burns
Jun 08, 2026

Common Dreams

If you have ever had the opportunity to visit the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France it is something that stays with you. The rows of white gravestones silhouetted against green grass and blue sky bear silent and eloquent witness to what happened on June 6, 1944. The cemetery contains the graves of 9,389 of Americans, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and the battles in France in 1944.

From the cemetery, you can see down to Omaha Beach the bloodiest part of the D-Day battlefield. While estimates vary, 2,400 to 3,600 total American casualties (including killed, wounded, and missing) occurred on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. For me, the most moving part of the Cemetery is the Walls of the Missing where inscribed 1,557 names of the soldiers and sailors who were missing in action and have never had their bodies recovered.

For decades, American politicians have been visiting the Normandy Beaches to pay tribute to all the Americans and Allies (primarily British and Canadian) who fought on June 6, 1944. Particularly well-known is the speech that President Ronald Reagan made in June of 1984:
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge—and pray God we have not lost it—that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt. You all knew that some things are worth dying for.

For an American politician, remarks at the Normandy beaches ought to be simple and straightforward. All you have to do is pay tribute as best you can to the extraordinary sacrifice made on June 6, 1944. As hard as it is to believe, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth failed this simple task. Rather than just pay tribute to the efforts of those who “hit the beach” on June 6, 1944, Hegseth launched into an anti-immigrant and far-right rant. As the New York Times reported:
In his remarks, Mr. Hegseth said that “freedom is not free” and especially praised the role played by American troops, but said that over the past eight or so decades, some European countries had grown “comfortable.” “Today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” he said. “Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late?”

I am sure it escaped Hegseth the fact that many of the Americans he heralds for their sacrifice were the sons of immigrants to the United States. To compare refugees coming to Europe fleeing war and economic oppression with Nazi tyranny defies belief.

It is not surprising that Hegseth cannot identify with the men who fought on D-Day. They were not the much hyped “war fighters” ignoring politically correct rules of engagement that Hegseth celebrates. Instead, they were ordinary men doing extraordinary things to defeat the most terrible tyranny the world has ever seen. History will remember the deeds of those who defeated Nazi tyranny, while Hegseth’s far-right rhetoric will be nothing more than a footnote to a sad chapter in American history.


Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.


Martin Burns
Martin Burns has worked as a congressional aide, polling analyst, journalist, and lobbyist. He was on the campaign trail for Harris-Walz in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. In addition to Common Dreams, his work has been published by The Hill, Irish Central, and the Byline Times. Martin resides in Washington, DC with his wife, and regular coauthor, Mary Liz. His website is Martinburns.news.
Full Bio >

'Hoo boy': Pete Hegseth slammed by both sides after 'huge own goal' offends Christian sect

David McAfee
June 6, 2026 

RAW STORY



Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (not pictured) in the Cabinet Room at the White House, in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 20, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Pete Hegseth's decision to strip the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of its Christian designation in the Pentagon's new religion classification system has ignited a rare cross-aisle pile-on, with Republican lawmakers, conservative commentators and Democratic senators lining up to call it a mistake.

As Raw Story reported, Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) moved quickly Saturday to condemn the change as "unacceptable," saying he was working to reverse it. He wasn't alone.

Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT) — a Utah Republican congresswoman — stopped short of criticizing Hegseth directly but made clear where she stood on the underlying question. "Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are Christians," she wrote on X. "We worship Jesus Christ, strive to follow His teachings, and His name is even in the name of our Church. Just last year, President Trump himself recognized Latter-day Saints as Christians." She said she looked forward to "conversations that will ensure all service members receive the religious support and First Amendment protections they deserve."

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), whose handle is @BasedMikeLee, kept it simple: "Can anyone tell me why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was left out of the list of Christian churches?"

The answer, based on the list published by Hegseth's office, is that the Pentagon placed LDS in its own standalone category — "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (CJ)" — separate from the two dozen denominations listed under the "Christian" umbrella.

Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a prominent conservative commentator, said Hegseth shot himself in the foot: "Failing to characterize Mormons as Christians is a huge own goal by Hegseth."

The backlash wasn't limited to the right. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) — an Arizona Democrat whose state has a significant LDS population — replied directly to Lee: "I don't know why but I am with you. This needs to be fixed ASAP."

Not everyone was displeased. Milo Yiannopoulos, the far-right provocateur who goes by @Nero on X, used the moment to attack the LDS church itself. "It's not a religion. It's certainly not Christian," he wrote. "LDS is referred to by academics as a 'new religious movement,' polite sociological jargon for cult." RedState writer Bonchie offered a more succinct assessment of the situation: "Hoo boy."

The classification overhaul was announced by Sean Parnell, Hegseth's assistant for public affairs, who framed the reduction from more than 200 categories to 31 as a streamlining effort to help "religious support personnel" provide "spiritual care to our warfighters." Whether it accomplishes that — or simply hands Hegseth's critics a gift — is now a matter of bipartisan consensus.

Hegseth hammered for his 'disrespectful' D-Day speech in Normandy: 'Shameless'

"Why did he construct an analogy in which he is on the side of the Nazis?"

David McAfee
June 7, 2026

RAW STORY

WILDROOT OR BRYLCREME?!

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Department of Defense's FY27 budget request on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the 82nd anniversary of D-Day to compare migrants crossing the Mediterranean to the Nazi invasion of Europe — and the backlash was immediate and bipartisan.

Speaking at the Normandy ceremony, Hegseth departed from solemn remembrance to deliver an anti-immigration political statement. "Sadly, today different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies," he said. "In Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late?"

Greg Bagwell, a retired British Air Marshal and former senior RAF commander, was among the first to respond. "The commemoration of the bravery, tragedy and importance of D-Day is not ever the place to try and score cheap political points. What an ignorant and disrespectful dumba--."

Tom Nichols, a national security expert and staff writer at The Atlantic, noted a glaring historical problem with Hegseth's framing — one that multiple people picked up on. "Making an analogy where the West is the defender of the beaches — you know, where the Nazis were — is not the smartest speechifying," Nichols wrote, "even for the man some inside the Pentagon refer to as 'Dumb McNamara.'" His post was reposted by former Republican congresswoman Barbara Comstock.

Reed Galen, a Republican strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, was less clinical about it. "If you've been to the American Military Cemetery in Normandy, and you've looked out over those rows of crosses and stars of David, you'll know how odious this man is," he wrote. "Those men didn't die for this ideology or a------- like Pete Hegseth."

British attorney Jessica Simor pointed to Hegseth's "Deus Vult" tattoo — the 1095 Crusader rallying cry of Pope Urban II to expel Muslims from Jerusalem, which has since been adopted as a symbol by far-right extremists. "As a far-right Christian nationalist, likely of the kind that favoured the Final Solution, he should have been banned," she wrote.

Political commentator Anna Neumann put it plainly: "The heroes of Normandy deserve remembrance, gratitude and humility. Using D-Day commemorations as a platform for culture-war politics is shameless."

Occupy Democrats noted the core absurdity: Hegseth had compared migrant boats to the Allied invasion — placing Europe's governments in the rhetorical position of the forces that were trying to stop it.

Tim Kaine also weighed in, saying, "Apparently our nitwit Secretary of War(drobe) thinks a D-Day commemoration is an appropriate time to push his far right ideology in Europe."

Podcast host Matthew Yglesias chimed in with a question:

"Why did he construct an analogy in which he is on the side of the Nazis?"

Pepper-sprayed yet undeterred: Faith leaders keep ministering at Delaney Hall

(RNS) — ‘We are called by our faith to put our bodies on the line if that’s the call,’ said the Rev. Robin Tanner, a Unitarian Universalist minister.

Jack Jenkins
June 4, 2026 

RNS



(RNS) — Moments before Department of Homeland Security agents fired a hail of pepper balls at the feet of demonstrators outside the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey, last Monday (May 25), faith leaders say they were frantically working to calm things down.

Kathy O’Leary, coordinator of the Catholic group Pax Christi New Jersey, said she was helping to push the crowd back. Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, executive vice president of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, said she and a Christian pastor had placed themselves between agents and demonstrators, raising their hands aloft. And the Rev. Robin Tanner, a Unitarian Universalist minister in Summit, New Jersey, said she was conversing with DHS agents as she stood beside U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, who had come to visit Delaney amid reports of a hunger and labor strike staged by detainees alleging inhumane conditions inside.

Then, unexpectedly, DHS agents unleashed the volley of pepper balls. All three faith leaders — along with Kim — were exposed, some left coughing and sputtering as bystanders rushed to help.



“We got hit with the same pepper spray,” said Tanner. “(Kim) got his in his eyes, and I got mine up my nose.”

A DHS spokesperson said in a statement to RNS that the agents used the “minimum amount of force necessary” against “rioters” who “obstructed law enforcement from exiting the ICE facility,” but demonstrators allege the incident is one of many cases of law enforcement using unnecessary force outside Delaney Hall in the last two weeks. During that period, one religious organizer interviewed estimated that at least a dozen clergy and other faith leaders have been hit with nonlethal projectiles or exposed to pepper balls, pepper spray and other crowd-control measures deployed by DHS agents and state police outside the facility. RNS was unable to independently verify that number but spoke with four faith-led advocates who said they have experienced such measures in that time frame.

Yet the faith leaders who spoke to RNS were almost matter-of-fact about the violent encounters, with all expressing greater concern about the people they are advocating for: immigrant detainees inside Delaney Hall, as well as their families.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pepper-spray protesters and media outside the Delaney Hall detention center during demonstrations near the entrance gates, May 27, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki) TOP PHOTO: Masked federal agents stand outside the Delaney Hall detention center during a protest against the transfer of detainees, May 27, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Charlene Walker, who leads the multifaith advocacy group Faith in New Jersey, noted that clergy and other religious leaders have been present both outside and inside Delaney Hall long before the recent surge in demonstrations, with many protesting or advocating for immigrants at the site for roughly a year. Her group, she said, pushed for legislation designed to discontinue the use of places such as Delaney Hall as immigrant detention centers in 2021, so when news broke last spring that it was being reopened to house immigrant detainees, Faith in New Jersey quickly organized protests. In May 2025, dozens of faith leaders associated with the group were arrested outside Delaney Hall, where they had linked arms and physically blocked all of the building’s entrances for several hours.

Walker, a Unitarian, said she was dragged, “pushed and prodded by ICE and the police” during her arrest.



Also around the same time, Pax Christi’s O’Leary said she and a friend began showing up at Delaney Hall, handing out flyers to prospective workers about the “basic teachings from every major religion on welcoming people who were migrating.” Once the facility began operating fully that month, O’Leary noticed families coming to visit loved ones who were being detained inside.

“We started talking to them and finding out what kind of hurdles they were having” when visiting the facility, she said. “We started advocating for them with the guards at the gate.”

The facility’s strict dress code was a frequent issue. O’Leary said one woman traveled from Boston to visit her father who was being detained inside, only to be denied entry because she was wearing ripped jeans. A staffer with the Episcopal Diocese of New York, who was volunteering with O’Leary that day, offered to swap pants with the woman, and the two quickly changed in a nearby minivan.

Kathy O’Leary speaks during a prayer service outside the Delaney Hall detention center, Aug. 24, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (RNS photo/Fiona Murphy)

The staffer, O’Leary said, still has the woman’s pants.

“She calls them the ‘holy jeans,’” O’Leary said.

That incident spurred volunteers to begin bringing more clothes for other visitors, which eventually resulted in the pitching of several tents — stocked with water, food, snacks and diapers — outside Delaney Hall. The tents were staffed with a wide variety of volunteers, but many were affiliated with faith groups, including Catholic nuns. Propped against the walls were an array of religious signs and symbols, including many commonly associated with Catholicism.

“We called that the radical hospitality zone,” O’Leary said.

Faith leaders say they that as early as last summer, they began to hear unsettling reports of deteriorating conditions inside Delaney Hall. Last June, four men escaped the facility amid internal unrest after what Kim, the New Jersey senator, and others alleged were instances of infrequent meals and overcrowding. In February, more than two dozen detainees managed to sign and release a letter that, among other things, reportedly complained of flu being “a constant problem among the detainees,” as well as “stress, fever, and general body aches which could lead to an outbreak of illness or an epidemic.”



Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility on Feb. 18, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (RNS photo/Fiona Murphy)

In addition, a lawsuit filed this week by the New Jersey attorney general listed allegations that the facility is beset by “overcrowding and lack of ventilation; lack of or inadequate medical care or hygiene practices; unsanitary food and drink preparation and storage; and the unchecked spread of communicable diseases like COVID-19 and Influenza.” The suit also alleges that inspectors who toured the facility last month were barred from accessing the “medical unit; toileting and shower facilities; ventilation; HVAC; and sleeping areas.”

DHS has publicly derided many of the allegations as “smears” forwarded by “sanctuary politicians.”

But Tanner, the Unitarian Universalist minister, said she has seen evidence of issues inside the facility. Accompanying some families into Delaney Hall during visits, she said, she has witnessed detainees growing physically weaker over time. “I saw it with my own eyes,” she said, describing detainees losing weight over the course of a few weeks. “They reported not getting enough food or water. Medical care, if it came, took several weeks.”



The situation escalated last month, when the New Jersey Monitor reported that roughly 300 Delaney Hall detainees had launched a hunger and labor strike. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has dismissed the situation as a dispute over “ethnic food,” but the news spurred a surge of protests outside the facility.

Walker said Faith in New Jersey has been offering pastoral care and sometimes even first aid amid confrontations between law enforcement and protesters. She recalled a recent instance when a protester walked over to clergy and asked for help dressing her wounded arm, only for the group to realize the arm was broken. Walker also noted that a faith leader with her group was the person who helped Kim wash out his eyes after being exposed to pepper balls.

For her part, O’Leary stressed the “radical hospitality” tent is not meant to be a protest space, but rather a center for assisting visiting families. Even so, the space appears to have become a target: This past weekend, Pax Christi New Jersey posted a video claiming the tents had been “trashed,” showing supplies strewn about the ground inside. The images showed many religious signs and symbols, such as images of the Virgin Mary, thrown to the ground, including one that read “The Empire can kidnap Joseph and jail Mary but Baby Jesus is still coming back.”

Photographs taken by Reuters on Sunday appeared to show FBI and Homeland Security investigations agents inside the tent. DHS did not respond to direct questions about whether federal agents raided the tent, and why they would do so. But O’Leary said that conservative-leaning media outlets have suggested the tent is a hub for the protests — a claim she called “absolutely not true” — and that the New York Post described it as a place where “rioters enjoy puzzles and games.”

“The puzzles and games are for the children,” she said.

Since last week, state police have become a regular presence at Delaney Hall, distancing demonstrators from DHS agents and often using force as well, particularly in the evening. Tanner said one of her clergy colleagues was also struck with a nonlethal projectile during a protest that took place in the past few days.



The Rev. Erich Kussman, from St. Bartholomew Lutheran Church, center, prays with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent outside Delaney Hall detention during a protest against the transfer of detainees, on May 26, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Still, all of the religious leaders RNS spoke to said they were undeterred. Walker recently returned to the site for another evening of protests. O’Leary has already begun cleanup at the radical hospitality tent.

“I have been thinking about this call from the Holy One to redeem the captives,” said Kahn-Troster, the rabbi who stood between demonstrators and DHS agents when pepper balls were fired. “It’s not just a good deed, but a commandment — a guiding force to free those who are unjustly held and reunite with their families.”

Tanner agreed. She pointed to the symbol used by Unitarian Universalists — a chalice with a flame. It’s an image with a specific history: During World War II, she said, it became associated with efforts to aid those attempting to flee parts of Europe occupied by the Nazi regime.

“Literally the core symbol of our faith, the essential ritual that we begin every Sunday with, comes from that assertion that every single person has worth and dignity, and we are called by our faith to put our bodies on the line if that’s the call,” she said. “I could not just be silent and ignore what’s happening at Delaney Hall.”

Tanner added: “It would be immoral, according to my faith, for me to do so.”

People gather for a prayer service outside the Delaney Hall detention center, Aug. 24, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (RNS photo/Fiona Murphy)

HubMP2012

An inspiring memoir by an architect of international humanitarian law

JUNE 1, 2026

Mike Phipps reviews A Thousand Miracles: From Surviving the Holocaust to Judging Genocide, by Theodor Meron, published by Hurst.

Theodor Meron’s memoir follows an extraordinary journey — from the Częstochowa ghetto and a Nazi forced-labour camp to the founding of the International Criminal Court, the landmark genocide trials of Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, and his recent role advising the ICC on cases in Israel and Gaza.

Meron’s happy childhood was cut short at the age of  nine when the Nazis invaded Poland. Fleeing with what they could carry, his family headed first east, then southwest,  on foot, sheltering in ditches when German planes attacked. Like many others, they were forced to live in a ghetto. Coming home one evening in 1943, he found Germans surrounding his and neighbouring houses: the residents were loaded onto trucks, driven out of town and executed. “I would never see my mother and my maternal grandparents again.” He, his father and uncle were put in a labour camp, where they stayed until liberation two years later.  

Meron lost most of his family to the Holocaust. Furthermore, anti-Jewish sentiment in Poland did not disappear after the defeat of the Nazis. “The new communist regime was trying to gain popularity by adopting a nationalistic, even antisemitic tone.” An outbreak of anti-Jewish violence in July 1946 in the city of Kielce led to 42 Jews being killed and more than 40 wounded.

“Resuming our pre-war lives was a pipe dream.” Meron, who had had only three years of primary schooling, set off for Palestine at age 15, and studied hard to pass his high school exams.

In Haifa, relations between Jews and Arabs, once good, soon became tense, following the 1947 UN partition of Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state. When neighbouring countries invaded, Meron and other high school boys were mobilised to fight. “We all honestly believed that we were fighting a just war… Only later did I learn that the Israeli army used pressure and violence to force much of the Arab population to flee and become refugees, creating an intractable humanitarian and political problem.”

In 1950, Meron moved to Jerusalem to study Law and four years later enrolled at Harvard in the US, before going on to Cambridge University in the UK. In the mid-1950s, he started work in the Israeli foreign service where he stayed for about twenty years. In the aftermath of the Six-Day war, he wrote legal opinions concluding that civilian settlements in the West Bank violated international law, which his political masters did not want to hear and disregarded. He also gave opinions that stated that the demolition of houses and the deportation of Arabs suspected of subversive activities constituted both violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and collective punishments.

The International Criminal Court

Finding the political pressure restrictive, Meron left Israel for good and moved to New York to pursue an academic career, teaching human rights at New York University. In 1998 he was part of the US delegation to the international conference that established the International Criminal Court. A few years later, he worked at the US State Department on international law and in 2001 was elected as a judge by the UN General Assembly for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), soon assuming its presidency. He also served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

This was important work. During his tenure, Meron made key legal pronouncements on the crime of genocide, perhaps most importantly confirming it could be committed in even a small area or region, and that the 1995 Srebrenica massacre was indeed genocide. The author argues that both tribunals succeeded in bringing a substantial number of high-level suspects from the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to justice. In particular, “The most singular achievement of the ICTY and the ICTR has been their focus on and success in prosecuting and elaborating the crime of rape. This is in stark contrast with the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials. In the ICTY alone, 80 individuals, or almost half the 161 accused, had charges of sexual violence included in their indictments, and 36 were convicted for such crimes.”

Speaking at the 2015 commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide, Meron said: “Those who devise and implement genocide seek to deprive humanity of the manifold richness its nationalities, races, ethnicities, and religions provide. This is a crime against all of humankind, its harm being felt not only by the group targeted for destruction but by all of humanity.”

In 2004, the ICTY published a list of five accomplishments: “Spearheading the shift from impunity to accountability”, pointing out that, until very recently, it was the only court judging crimes committed as part of the Yugoslav conflict, since prosecutors in the former Yugoslavia were reluctant to prosecute such crimes; highlighting the extensive evidence-gathering that tribunal judgments produced; “bringing justice to thousands of victims and giving them a voice”; fleshing out several international criminal law concepts which had not been ruled on since the Nuremberg Trials; and “strengthening the Rule of Law”, referring to the tribunal’s role in promoting the use of international standards in war crimes prosecutions by former Yugoslav republics.

That said, the ICTY inevitably came in for criticism, perhaps most significantly for over-lenient sentences and excessively long trials. The tribunal’s rejection of an invitation from the UN General Assembly president to participate in its debate about their work also came under attack, although Meron sidesteps these controversies in his memoir.

in June 2022, at the age of 92, Meron was appointed as special adviser of the prosecutor of the ICC on international humanitarian law. He was involved in the case that led the ICC to issue arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children’s rights, for the war crime of unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation. Many of these children were adopted by Russian families and given Russian nationality, despite their status as protected persons under the Geneva Conventions.

In 2024, Meron was part of an ICC  panel that called for Israeli leaders to be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. In response, President Trump issued an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC, threatening, in Meron’s view, its very survival. Meron says: “The sanctions regime imposed on the ICC prosecutor in February 2025 is a major retrogressive step, which will inevitably promote impunity and make it much harder for the ICC to perform its mission.”

Mike Phipps’ book Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: The Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn (OR Books, 2022) can be ordered here.

War, Economic Crisis, and Discontent in Putin’s Russia

Ashley Smith

 June 5, 2026

FacebookTwitterRedditBlueskyEmail

As this article was being prepared for publication, the Russian state designated those associated with the website Posle as a “foreign agent.” Russia’s “foreign agent” law is highly repressive, and places the editors at significant risk of criminal prosecution and other threats to their basic civil rights. Russia’s law is a model of what Human Rights Watch has identified as a critical tool in the authoritarian playbook. “The primary target of these laws are civil society and media organizations” whose activities are “aimed at influencing public policy…[and] organizing public debates, events, rallies and demonstrations.” Thus, among other purported sins, the Putin regime has based its decision on Posle’s alleged “promotion” of “LGBT relationships”. This is part of a broader attack on democratic rights internationally. It has its own parallels in the U.S., as the authoritarian creep has been escalated by Trump. Tempest stands in unconditional solidarity with Posle and its editors. We see in Posle fellow “agents”, not of any state, but of a democratic project of international solidarity which is the antidote to a future of unbridled capitalist barbarism. 

Ashley Smith:The U.S. and Israel have expanded their joint genocidal war on Gaza into Lebanon and Iran. They expected a quick victory, but it has turned into yet another disastrous forever war. The Iranian regime has launched asymmetrical warfare; it has struck the region’s oil infrastructure, shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and thereby disrupted the flow not only of oil but also petrochemicals, fertilizers, and helium, which is essential for the manufacture of microchips. While stagflation threatens every corner of the world economy, it appears that Russia has benefited from the war: President Trump has lowered sanctions on Russia oil and increased fossil fuel prices have poured profits into Putin’s coffers. Is this an accurate assessment? What impact is this having on the Russian economy?

Posle: Indeed, in the short term, Russia has benefited from the surge in oil prices and the lifting of sanctions. For example, Russian budget revenues from oil exports in April doubled compared to March. However, these additional revenues are not enough to halt the catastrophic rise in the budget deficit (for instance, the deficit currently stands at 2.5%, exceeding the government’s planned threshold of 1.6% for this year).  This has a  negative, knock-on impact on other government spending and the strength of the rouble.This adds further pressure on the creaky financial system.

Furthermore, almost all of the windfall profits were channeled to oil companies to modernise infrastructure (which has been severely damaged by effective attacks from Ukrainian missiles). It is worth noting that Ukraine’s attacks targeting oil refineries and oil loading terminals have seriously undermined Russia’s ability to export raw materials. In recent months, ports on the Baltic Sea, for instance, have reduced oil shipments by a third.

At the same time, a sustained increase in oil prices will inevitably lead to a decline in global oil consumption, which could seriously damage the Russian economy that is already in recession. Therefore, the ongoing war in Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz are not in Russia’s economic interests, although they undoubtedly offer it political advantages.

AS: Trump’s war on Iran has further disrupted the so-called rules based order, already discredited by the U.S. and Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and Russia’s imperialist war on Ukraine. Trump launched the attack on Tehran without consulting or even alerting Washington’s NATO allies. Now that alliance is fraying with Trump increasingly threatening to pull U.S. troops out and abandoning support for Ukraine. As a result, Europe, especially Germany, is rapidly re-arming. Given this reality, what do you believe is the current perspective of the Putin regime regarding the inter-imperial rivalry within Europe, and that between NATO and Russia, and Ukraine’s struggle for self-determination?

Posle: In fact, declining support for Ukraine in the U.S. and America’s further distancing from European security issues due to the war in Iran represent Putin’s main political gain to date. In this sense, it is clear how the interests of Russia and its population (suffering from a falling standard of living and intensifying missile attacks) diverge sharply from those of Putin and his regime, which is prepared to prolong the conflict in order to achieve its geopolitical ambitions. These objectives include crushing Ukrainian resistance (at the cost of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers’ lives) and destabilising Europe in order to expand his influence across the post-Soviet space and in Eastern Europe.

Currently, the situation around Armenia is escalating, where President Pashinyan is seeking to gradually withdraw the country from the CSTO (a pro-Russian military bloc) and strengthen cooperation with the EU. Tensions are also rising with the Baltic states, which are becoming increasingly targeted by Russian military sabotage. All these developments are of great significance to Putin, as they raise questions about the reality of NATO’s support for its members and allies.

If aggression against Iran escalates, the U.S. will continue to rapidly reduce its presence in Europe, and NATO risks turning into a “paper tiger,” whose members’ mutual commitments are worthless. It is clear that these challenges not only lead to the remilitarisation of Germany, but also call into question the entire ideological model of the German state, built upon the trauma of Nazi militarism and the colossal sacrifices of the Second World War. All these values are threatened today, as demonstrated by the growing support for the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has effectively become the country’s most popular party.

In these circumstances, the German Left must certainly fight against the danger of fascism and militarisation, but not by ignoring the Russian threat facing Eastern European countries. On the contrary, only consistent support for Ukraine can curb the ambitions of Putin’s regime and, consequently, the need for Germany’s remilitarisation, which ultimately plays into the hands of the far right.

AS: In another development that impacts Russia, voters kicked out Victor Orbán after 16 years of his increasingly authoritarian rule in Hungary. He was an ally of Putin who had blocked the EU’s $106 billion loan package to Ukraine. What is the significance of Orbán’s defeat for the Putin regime?

Posle:This is certainly a serious setback for the Kremlin, as Orbán served as its chief agent within the EU. Today, the only country remaining in this role is Slovakia, which is led by the right-wing populist Robert Fico. He, like Orbán, holds anti-Ukrainian views and is focused on securing supplies of cheap Russian gas. This model of Russian influence clearly demonstrates how the Kremlin has turned energy supplies into a powerful political weapon that it will continue to wield against other European countries.

Orbán’s defeat resulted from the fatigue of Hungarians (and particularly the youth) with his corrupt and authoritarian rule; however, it does not, in our view, signal the beginning of the end for far-right populists on a pan-European scale. On the contrary, this trend continues to gain momentum, and the Kremlin is placing its main bets on it – including in countries such as Germany and France.

AS: The war in Iran will also impact Russia and China, both of whom have supported Tehran in various ways. With oil supplies disrupted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, will China turn more to Russia for its oil and natural gas supplies? What will this do to their so-called “friendship without limits”? What will their policies be toward Iran? How will this scenario impact Russia and China’s rivalry with the U.S. and Europe?

Posle:The loss of Iran as a reliable oil provider (as was previously the case with Venezuela) has indeed made China more dependent on Russian supplies. Furthermore, the failure of “Operation Epic Fury” in Iran has highlighted the vulnerability of U.S. military power. Nevertheless, a distinctive feature of Putin’s position remains his efforts to develop a bilateral dialogue with Trump, despite his “friendship” with China. It is telling that Russian diplomacy, whilst repeatedly condemning the “war started by the U.S. and Israel,” has emphasised “Russia’s commitment to providing goodwill services to the parties.”

Putin and other Kremlin officials have consistently stressed that, despite its alliance with Iran, Russia is distancing itself from the conflict and prefers to play the role of mediator. Just recently, Putin repeated his proposal to transfer enriched uranium from Iran to Russia. It appears that following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Russia is not ready to become seriously involved in conflicts in the Middle East and is seeking to focus on Ukraine and European affairs.

AS: What is the impact of these inter-imperial and macro-economic dynamics on Russia’s ability to continue its invasion of Ukraine?

Posle: Almost five years of war in Ukraine have severely undermined Russia’s economic and human resources, but this has not yet affected Putin’s desire to “achieve the objectives of the special military operation” at any cost. Recently, Kremlin spokesperson Peskov stated that the withdrawal of the Ukrainian army from the Donetsk region is not a matter for possible negotiations with Kyiv, but a precondition for them.

In other words, once Ukraine voluntarily cedes part of its territory, further demands are likely to be made. It is clear that the Kremlin is not interested in a ceasefire and is planning a major offensive in the Donbas this summer and fall. The aim of this offensive is not only military but also political – it is necessary to convince Trump that Russia continues to dominate on the battlefield, and therefore the U.S. must increase pressure on Kyiv, forcing it to accept the Kremlin’s terms.

Putin’s plan clearly highlights a conflict between his personal ambitions and the interests of the Russian people. The Russian army’s losses on the front line have reached their highest level this year – for example, in the second half of April alone, around 4,500 soldiers were killed (in total, at least 350,000 Russians have died over the five years of the war). The number of civilian casualties is also rising due to Ukrainian missile strikes on military and energy infrastructure (though this is completely incomparable to the casualties of Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities).

Ordinary Russians are paying this price for Putin’s desire to tell Trump about his army’s advance of a few dozen square kilometres. The gap between the perception of the war in the Kremlin and among ordinary people keeps growing rapidly.

AS: Now, let’s turn to the domestic impact of all this in Russia. Ukraine has persisted in resisting Russia’s invasion and is militarily striking increasingly deep into Russia. As a result, Russian casualties have mounted at what appear to be an escalated rate during the recent spring offensive. Meanwhile, due to sanctions, and the dynamics of the war economy generally, economic conditions have worsened. There are signs of increasing dissent, expressed in a deflected way by quisling politicians and influencers. What is the domestic political situation in Russia? What should we make of the various expressions of discontent by public figures? Is this a sign of mass discontent developing among workers and the oppressed within Russia? How stable is the Putin regime?

Posle:Indeed, the first half of 2026 was marked by rising inflation and a fall in living standards. It is fair to say that the effect of the “military Keynesianism” associated with the sharp rise in public spending at the beginning of the war has now run its course. Even according to government forecasts, inflation this year will stand at 5.2 percent, whilst wages will rise by 2 percent. At the same time, the Kremlin intends to offset the growing budget deficit, as mentioned before, by increasing taxes on small businesses, as well as by cutting welfare programmes and infrastructure projects.

Against this backdrop, earlier this year, the Russian authorities took entirely unprecedented measures to restrict access to the internet in the country. Specifically, they attempted to block Telegram (used by 105 million Russians – that is, the majority of the population) and VPNs (used by around 40% of Russians to bypass blocks on Instagram, YouTube and other platforms). Furthermore, in Moscow and other major Russian cities, wireless internet was frequently cut off entirely, causing immense damage to the economy and resulting in a dramatic increase in cash withdrawals from banks.

Behind all these measures, which have provoked widespread discontent, stands the Federal Security Service with its “sovereign internet” project, entirely controlled by the authorities. The official reason for all these restrictions, according to the authorities, is to prevent attacks by Ukrainian drones, a claim that seems highly implausible given that the increase in internet restrictions has coincided with an intensification of Ukrainian strikes. A mood prevails in the country that those in power are preoccupied solely with their own war and constant prohibitions, and are not interested in how ordinary people live.

These sentiments were further fuelled, in particular, by government attempts to cover up an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among cattle in Siberia and other regions. This move was prompted by the fact that Russia remains a significant international meat exporter. As a result, the Russian authorities seized and slaughtered tens of thousands of cattle and pigs belonging to farmers without any explanation or compensation for the damage. In several cases, this has already led to direct clashes between the police and rural communities. Nevertheless, to date, countries such as China and the U.S. have effectively acknowledged the existence of this dangerous epidemic in Russia, which will inevitably lead to a ban of Russian meat exports.

All these factors are clearly leading to a loss of trust in the authorities and increasing discontent. However, by now, any possibility of legally expressing any dissent has been completely eradicated in Russia. For example, young activists who tried to organize a protest against the shutdown of Telegram, as well as dozens of farmers attempting to protect their cattle from slaughter, have been arrested and subjected to heavy police pressure.

Increased repression and government attempts to restrict the flow of information are an answer to the growing discontent. Whereas previously the regime largely enjoyed legitimacy among the population as a guardian of the stability of everyday life, it now relies more and more on fear of the police and secret services. In this sense, Putin may be moving towards the Iranian model, where a regime that does not enjoy the support of the majority retains power through violence.

As for the mood among the political and business elite, they are, of course, dissatisfied with the endless continuation of the war, the economic downturn, internet restrictions, and the growing power of the security services. However, contrary to the rumours being spread by a range of Western media outlets, there is not a conspiracy brewing against Putin.

This is the case for a few reasons. First, the fear of repression among the elite makes them divided and suspicious. It is worth recalling that over the past year, the number of arrests of government officials has risen sharply: dozens of employees of the Ministry of Defence (including several former deputies to Minister Sergei Shoigu) have been arrested, as well as representatives of other departments. In 2024, Transport Minister Roman Starovoit committed suicide due to the threat of arrest, whilst Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Denis Butsaev fled to the US. Several prominent businessmen suspected of political disloyalty have lost their property and their freedom (for example, this happened to Vadim Moshkovich, the owner of one of the country’s largest agricultural companies).

Second, the agenda and prospects of such a conspiracy are unclear in the current circumstances, as this elite has no common clear vision of an alternative foreign policy direction or conditions for ending the war. It also does not possess any legitimacy in the eyes of the population.

Finally, Putin’s disappearance could trigger large-scale conflicts within the Russian elite over control of property. Having destroyed all the country’s political institutions over the 25 years of his rule, Putin himself has become the sole factor maintaining a relative balance of interests within the ruling class. And that is why the elite fears his departure more than the continuation of his destructive military adventures.

This piece first appeared in Tempest.

Ashley Smith is a socialist writer and activist in Burlington, Vermont. He has written for various publications including Harper’s, Truthout, Jacobin, and New Politics.