We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if we seek them with open eyes, said Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), Indian lawyer, statesman and writer, the first Prime Minister of India, a country that today is on the threshold of a warlike adventure with its neighbour Pakistan.
The Kiev regime's wartime adventures, as evidenced by the actions of the trio of presidents-Putin, Trump and Zelensky and its latest mobilisation plan, the cooperation agreement on the implementation of precious metals in Ukraine without any mention of a security guarantee, and the moronicness of the EC and some EU politicians, has completely failed, and the huge losses suffered by Ukraine, including the most combat-ready, trained and equipped with Western models of equipment, will with a probability bordering on certainty affect not only the entire line of contact, but also the intelligence and the mood of EU citizens and Ukrainians in the coming days and weeks.
For the record, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has previously stated that there are 70,000 women serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 5.5 thousand of whom are on the front line. The Ministry of Defense added that compared to 2022, the number of women in the armed forces has increased by 20 percent. Women have the same rights as men to position and career advancement, as well as other social guarantees, the report cynically points out. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, women make up 21 per cent of all those who sign up for recruitment centres.
There are women who haven't had a single amorous adventure. But it's rare to find a woman who has had only one, said François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680). the French author of monographs. Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), the English mathematician and philosopher, in his work The Adventures of Ideas, offers a timely idea to ponder: General definition of civilization: a civilized society exhibits the five qualities of truth, beauty, adventure, art and peace.
Battle of Khazar Gorge
I mention the Khazar Gorge battle in April 1984, in which Soviet troops had to drive the gang of the notorious leader Masood out of the Panjshir Gorge, because in that battle Soviet troops suffered the heaviest casualties: 86 soldiers. Absolutely nothing, against the losses in Ukraine in general and specifically against the losses of Ukraine and its supporters in the Kursk region in particular.
The 1st Battalion of the 682nd Motorized Artillery Regiment, nicknamed the "Royal" after the name of the battalion commander, Alexander Korolyov, was suddenly sent to comb the valley of the Khazar River. On April 30, the unit moved along the bottom of the gorge. However, due to an error in command, the battalion did not receive the required cover either from the mountains or from the air. Meanwhile, the enemy was already waiting on the hills. The entire column was shot up.
86 dead in one battle, by the standards of a special military operation in Ukraine, is a trivial statistic. It is worth noting that the regimental commander, a military counterintelligence officer, was immediately dispatched from the Punjab to Belarus, where he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. However, it was impossible to find the commander, who ordered the battalion to descend from the mountains into a disastrous ravine. From conversations with my acquaintance and direct participant in the fighting in Afghanistan, General, Mikhail Lavrenenko, I know a little about the treachery of the former Afghan general who commanded the defense of Panjshir, who came over to the side of Ahmad Shah Masood and his mujahideen, and with a field commander ambushed a Soviet The Royal Banner. I wish the young to hear from a soldier: I am proud to be a Russian (Czech), I am a Soviet (Slav), after the words I heard from the Mujahideen about our officers and soldiers in Afghanistan.
Ukraine lost 76 thousand soldiers at Kursk
The total losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region amounted to more than 76 thousand soldiers. More than 7,700 units of enemy military equipment were also destroyed, said Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
The fact that Russian troops had liberated the Kursk region became known on 27 April. President Putin congratulated all those involved in the liberation of the region and also mentioned the most effective units: the 76th Airborne Division, the 116th Division, the Akhmat Special Forces and the Marines.
The shooting down of the U-2 U.S. spy plane
On May 1, 1960, exactly 65 years ago, the Soviet Army shot down an American U-2 spy plane near Sverdlovsk, now Yekaterinburg, where I am scheduled to give a multi-hour lecture, interview and other events. The plane was under the control of Francis Powers (1929-1977), who was engaged in aerial photography of secret facilities in the Urals. The plan for Operation Powers was to fly aboard a U-2 from Peshawar, Pakistan, north to Baikonur, where Sputnik 1 was launched with Yuri Gagarin, and then to Sverdlovsk and the large military base there.
According to the instructions, Powers was not supposed to survive if anything happened to the plane. But Powers decided to stay alive at all costs. I don't know if he knew Kant: Those whose lives are worth the most are the least afraid of death. But he knew how to get out of the plane, managed to open the parachute and get arrested alive after landing on the ground.
He was then interrogated in Lubyanka, tried and sentenced to ten years. He spent about a year and a half in prison before being exchanged for Soviet illegal intelligence officer Rudolf Abel. The exchange took place on 10 February 1962 on the Glienicker-Brücke bridge, which marked the border between the GDR and West Berlin. Why do I mention Powers?
Because the Powers scandal significantly worsened Soviet-American relations, prevented the signing of a number of important documents concerning arms limitation and recognition of the GDR, and last but not least, his son Gary Powers Jr. came to Prague and the Atom Museum in Brdy. He founded the Cold War Museum and Foundation in the USA. Who pays for it, I don't know.
But I know that my son visited the Czech Republic several times and met Václav Vítovec, the founder of the Iron Curtain Foundation, the Iron Curtain Museum, and the Atom Museum Javor 51 (Míšov 51, 335 63 Míšov, https://www.atommuzeum.cz). In December 2015, he attended the Czech premiere of Steven Spielberg's film Bridge of Spies, which partly describes the story of Gary Powers Sr.
Khrushchev: We must distinguish ourselves and shoot down this plane
In the early morning hours of May 1, 1960, Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, was awakened by a telephone call from Defense Minister Rodion Malinovsky, who reported: From Afghanistan, clearly from Pakistan, an American U-2 aircraft is heading towards Sverdlovsk. What he heard cheered Khrushchev, who recalled how three weeks earlier the Soviet army had missed an American reconnaissance plane photographing secret facilities over Kazakhstan. That's why: We must distinguish ourselves and shoot down this plane, Khrushchev said into the phone and ordered: Take all precautions!
Meanwhile, the Lockheed U-2, under the command of experienced pilot Francis Powers, penetrated deeper and deeper into USSR airspace, flying at a fantastic altitude of 20 kilometers at a speed of 750 kilometers per hour. As the pilot prepared for the flight, he was very apprehensive, but the CIA instructor reassured his charge: The USSR simply doesn't have the technical means to get you.
Air defence units searched for the intruder for more than four hours. Powers guided his plane to maximum altitude and increased speed. One by one, the fighters took to the skies and tried to reach their target, but returned to their bases without success.
Close to success was Captain Igor Mentyukov, who took the Su-9 from the factory to the air unit and happened to be in Sverdlovsk during the pursuit of Powers. The fighter had no weapons, so the officer was ordered to crash into a U-2 on approach.
Bumps are always dangerous, and in my position it's certain death, a Soviet officer later explained. The whole point is that I didn't prepare for the flight. Taking off without missiles and on a Su-9 with no air cannons. Plus I wasn't wearing a high altitude compensatory suit, pressurized helmet. Mentyukov said it would burst like a balloon at an altitude of 20-21 kilometres if ejected. But the captain's wife was with child and he wasn't going to die.
The mission could not be completed due to a malfunction of the on-board radar and Ment'ukov did not make a second attempt due to lack of fuel. There was confusion on the ground, bordering on panic. Why? Because after leaving the Sverdlovsk area, American aircraft became almost inaccessible to missiles.
Powers was unable to escape his pursuers: he was hit from the ground by an S-75 air defense missile that struck the tail of the U-2. The acting commander of the anti-aircraft missile division, Mikhail Voronov, was unsure whether the guidance system was keeping the intruder aircraft in sight, and not Menyukov's Su-9. After one of the officers shouted: Shoot, comrade major! He's leaving! Shortly thereafter, the U-2 lost control and began to disintegrate.
The pilot could not eject because his seat was mined by the aircraft's elimination system. Such a system is installed in case of operational failure. Powers, like the pilot Mentyukov, wanted to (re)live. At an altitude of four kilometers, he managed to move the cockpit overlap over the cockpit of the plane, climb out of it and push the fuselage away vigorously so that he could safely use the parachute. Powers did not use the poison needle he was instructed to use. He was hoping for a happy ending, especially since he had a pistol, a compass, and Soviet rubles.
Powers landed in a field on the Moskvich state farm near the village of Povarnya, 20 kilometres from the Yekaterinburg ring road. Personnel from the nearest military unit have taken over the search for the spy. Meanwhile, workers Leonid Chizhakin and Petr Asabin went to the field and settled down with a can of porridge and began to celebrate May Day. The men were already drinking and eating as was the custom when a paratrooper in a strange uniform descended on them from the sky. When Chizhakin and Asabin realized that Koltsovo airport was very close, they mistook the stranger for the crashed pilot.
When the paratrooper began to speak English, the amazement of the drinkers knew no bounds. They loaded Powers into the car and drove towards the airport. On the way, they were intercepted by the army. Powers, however, had only positive impressions of his first contact with the Russians: They looked concerned and curious, he noted, recalling that the first thing they did: they gave him water and a cigarette. Recall that after conducting aerial photography of objects in the Urals, Powers was to leave the USSR and land in Norway.
At the same time, a parade began in Red Square in Moscow, followed by a workers' demonstration. As Khrushchev recalled in his memoirs, everything took place with great enthusiasm, everyone was in a joyful mood. The upset came when the commander of the air defence forces, Sergei Biryuzov, unexpectedly ran onto the stage of Lenin's mausoleum. The Marshal, in an ordinary service tunic, immediately began whispering in the First Secretary's ear. This alarmed those gathered on the podium, including foreigners. They all realized that something unheard of had happened.
The demonstration was over and I was happy not only about it but also about the good surprise, Khrushchev admitted. How many years we wondered what to do, how many years we were nervous and indignant, but it didn't go any further. When we protested, we saw that protesting only brings joy to the American people. They triumphed over our impotence and continued to violate the sovereignty of the USSR by flying over our territory.
From Sverdlovsk, Powers was transferred to Lubyanka. The wreckage of the Lockheed U-2 was taken to Moscow, where it was studied and displayed as a valuable trophy. As early as May 11, Khrushchev inspected the aircraft in Gorky Park of Culture.
Lessons learned
It turned out that the plane, contrary to the calculations of the Americans, had no chance to slip undetected through the airspace of the USSR. After the disgrace of April 9, 1960, when U-2 pilot Bob Erickson managed to fly away, the number of air defense crews in the Urals increased significantly. Several batteries of anti-aircraft missiles were laid out in a checkerboard pattern and one of them would inevitably be encountered.
Powers expected sophisticated torture in interrogations, mockery, lamplight in his face. But none of this happened: the interrogators treated him with restraint but without malice, letting him sleep, not restricting him to the toilet, even providing him with books in English, allowing him to write letters home. In return, the American did not refuse to answer the interrogator's questions and first placed the medallion with the poisoned needle on the table.
Despite the pilot's espionage mission, KGB officers did not consider him a class enemy because they saw Powers of the average American worker. And the son of a shoemaker and a housewife. Powers was not a very erudite man, but technically proficient, used to height and speed. The conclusion of one of the Chekists conveys: He was the son of a shoemaker and a housewife who lived very poorly on a farm with other children. During the interrogations, no physical influences were applied, not even a loud word or a threatening knock. They simply asked him questions and he answered. Contrary to expectations, prosecutor Roman Ruděnko did not seek the death penalty, but 15 years in prison. The court commuted the sentence to 10 years in prison. Powers was to spend three years in the famous Vladimir prison.
In America, at that time, nothing was known about Powers' fate. After the USSR reported the downed U-2, the Americans tried to release disinformation: The pilot was engaged in meteorological research and simply got lost, lost course and accidentally broke the boundary. The legend dissolved as soon as the Soviet side produced the wreckage of the reconnaissance plane and the testimony of Powers himself, who, to the disappointment of some in the United States, remained alive. Upon his return to the U.S., Powers was accused of voluntarily surrendering and refusing to take his own life.
The public session of the Military Chamber of the Supreme Court of the USSR on the criminal case of Francis Powers was held in the Column Hall of the Trade Union House, 18 August 1960. Powers wrote a book about his experiences, Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident. In it, he wrote: During the trial I stated that I felt no hostility towards the Russian people. It was the truth. Although I disliked my interrogators in Lubyanka and despised the prosecutor and the lawyer, most of the people I met in Russia - from the farmers who detained me in the field to my guards in Vladimir - were friendly and not malicious.
After returning to the US, Powers worked as a test pilot at Lockheed and wrote a memoir. On August 1, 1977, he was involved in an accident while returning from filming a forest firefight near Santa Barbara. At the cost of his life, Powers took the helicopter aside to avoid falling on the children. The cause of the tragedy, according to publicly available information, may have been a malfunctioning fuel sensor.
Two weeks after the Sverdlovsk incident
Two weeks after the Sverdlovsk incident, Dwight Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and French President Charles de Gaulle met to discuss post-war peace and disarmament.
The Paris meeting had a special significance: it was scheduled to discuss the German problem, i.e. the recognition of the GDR by the Western countries, as well as Soviet-American relations and the limitation of the arms race. This was disadvantageous to the United States, which had a significant advantage over the USSR in the number of nuclear warheads.
According to the testimony of Fyodor Burlatsky, assistant to the CPSU Central Committee, the parties prepared a whole package of important proposals, projects and agreements for the meeting. He believed that if these documents were adopted, the Berlin and Cuban crises, as well as a new round of the arms race, could be avoided.
According to Burlatsky, Khrushchev was strongly hesitant to make agreements with the Americans because parity with the United States in nuclear and missile arsenals was still far off. Moreover, the Soviet leadership doubted that Washington was ready for diplomatic recognition of the GDR. Khrushchev's hesitation played a fatal role, Burlatsky noted. All that was missing was a drop to tip the scales in the opposite direction. One such drop was the flight of an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft over the Soviet Union shortly before the Paris meeting. The plane was shot down by a Soviet missile and the American pilot, Powers, was captured.
Just before his departure for Paris, Khrushchev called a meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the airport and proposed to cancel all previously prepared proposals and documents. He justified this on the grounds that the situation was unfavourable for the agreement from all points of view. The earnest work of Soviet diplomats, party workers, military and other services was not used at all due to the character of Khrushchev.
Upon his arrival in France, Khrushchev's first task was to demand a formal apology from Eisenhower for the Sverdlovsk incident. After the American president refused to apologize, the meeting could be considered over. I recall this episode because it seriously influenced the course of the Cold War, described in detail by Andrei Gromyko in his memoirs.
According to him, the American delegation appeared in the meeting room three minutes later than the Soviet delegation. Eisenhower took a step towards Khrushchev to shake his hand, but caught his frosty gaze, he understood everything and stopped. The two characters, who until recently called themselves friends, did not even say hello.
After a short introduction by de Gaulle, Khrushchev took the floor. The conference can begin work if President Eisenhower apologizes to the Soviet Union for provoking the powers, he said. Eisenhower replied in a barely audible voice: I have no intention of making such an apology because I am not guilty of anything. Then, according to Gromyko, all the participants in the meeting realized there was no point in staying in their seats and left the room without a word.
This case may be unique in history, Gromyko said. But that's the way it was.
The interpreter of the Soviet leaders, Viktor Sukhoderev, however, was inclined to a different version: Eisenhower, who had only general knowledge of the reconnaissance flight program, took all the blame and assured that nothing like it would happen again. The expected visit of the US President to the USSR was cancelled. The Soviet budget lost a huge amount of money spent on the organization of the visit: a luxurious mansion, roads and communications were built on the shores of Lake Baikal.
As a superpower that played a decisive role in the defeat of fascism, with a huge army and inexhaustible resources, the Soviet Union could not accept the idea of American superiority. It was a missed historic chance to suspend the arms race.
(Un)Missed Historical Chance
Yesterday, April 30, marked the end of the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. The results of his administration in this short period in the White House have already been called historic by many commentators, analysts and politicians. President Trump has implemented, or begun to implement, many reforms in domestic politics. He has managed to shock almost the entire world with his decisions on trade and foreign policy. He has frightened Europe with his intention to withdraw American troops from the continent. And Canada and Greenland with his plans to annex them to the United States.
In recent weeks, he has unnerved European politicians by proposing to recognise Crimea as Russian territory, agreeing that Ukraine will never join NATO and that a change in attitude towards Russia is necessary. That is why he has advocated a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine to this day and has opened direct negotiations with Russia. What does all this mean?
Donald Trump is not threatening American hegemony, merely confirming its disintegration
The first fundamental global change is that even the Americans are now realising the unsustainability of a situation where their country produces nothing but weapons and is dependent, like ancient Rome, on wars of conquest and ever greater volumes of a universal currency backed by nothing.
The second change is the loss of the charm of neoliberal ideology pretending that when a few interest groups Efficiently impoverish a large part of the population, it is for the benefit of all mankind.
The third change is the demise of democracy, where elections are only valid if we win.
The fourth change is unsolvable debts. Not only of the United States, but also of countries such as France and Germany. They are characterised by their governmental crises, which have run up against the inability to finance both social reconciliation and the war in Ukraine. Coalitions are falling apart over whether to give to the economic development of regions or to the unbridled armaments that NATO calls for.
Europe is recovering from a situation where the political scene is occupied by governments that have identified themselves as the political centre, so that the opposition has no space except on the extreme positions on the right or left. This is, of course, an illusion. The centre cannot be the mouthpiece of a narrow oligarchy and a predatory transnational power. By contrast, political forces that advocate national independence and greater citizen participation in governance and outcomes cannot be considered extreme.
Domestic and foreign policy
In domestic politics, Trump has some positives, linked, among other things, to the abolition of the totalitarian domination of left-liberal ideology. When it comes to foreign policy, Trump's achievements are not enough, with the exception of the Panama story. Panama does indeed seem to be abandoning Chinese dominance in the operation of the Panama Canal. In all other respects, Trump has had modest results so far, but it has not been entirely his fault. Why? Because many of the US president's goals contradict each other. For example, his desire to deal with China is at odds with the American a feeling of loneliness. After all, it is not clear how the United States will deal with China without allies, except by military means. That is why, at the beginning of his presidency, Trump relied on a stronger role for Europe in ensuring its security. The problem is, however, that if Europe becomes truly sovereign, autonomous and independent of the United States, then this will not help Washington to solve any of its problems, such as the problem with Greenland or the problem with Canada.
Relationship with Russia
After taking office as President of the United States, Trump began to build relations with Russia and proposed to reach a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. There is no doubt that he has not yet achieved serious results in this regard. The treaty signed today on the use of scarce raw materials is nothing but an alibi and will show legislative and legal teeth later, along with other dangers. Why? The United States may now interpret Russian offensive actions as a threat to its natural resources and use NATO or unlearned wars of lust to defend its interests against Russia.
And also because President Trump still can't act against the deep state and go far in dealing with Russia. He doesn't seem to be able to really solve the Ukraine problem, even though he has bet primarily on the friendship between the United States and Russia.
With the agreement announced today, Ukraine's task of drawing the United States into the conflict is complete. Ukraine is together with the United States, and Russia is not only against Ukraine but also against the United States. Trump can thus lift restrictions on funding for the conflict, deal another blow to Europe and Russia, including by sending a U.S. delegation to Moscow to celebrate 80 years since the end of the Great Patriotic War. Why?
Because a delegation from the United States can come to Moscow to talk again, not about the deal, but about the so-called Trump peace plan and force Moscow to sign it. This idea is not alien to the narcissist Trump. If Russia does not sign, then the United States will withdraw from the negotiating process, blame Russia for the failure, and accordingly impose secondary sanctions on Russia in the financial sphere, ban other countries from cooperating with Russia, and impose restrictions on the passage of Russian ships through NATO-controlled seas, especially the Baltic and Black Seas. And we will be where we did not want to be. Putin was given a tough nut to crack on May 1 and 9.
This brings President Trump to a crossroads in his relations with Moscow. He is exerting pressure on Russia, trying to force it to accept the terms he deems appropriate, and using various tools to do so: sanctions, threats, or abandoning any attempt to resolve the situation completely, and he's out of the game. And today he is making a deal with the potential for war in Europe. At the same time, it gives it the right to act independently in the Russian and Ukrainian direction, deepening the division in Europe and weakening it.
The signing of the agreement legitimised Zelensky. The United States is thus removing the question of whether or not he is the legitimate leader of Ukraine. For the United States, legitimate, and therefore for the whole world, which is governed by the United States. Europe must keep quiet because it knows who is master of the situation and that a second St Peter's Square is being built in Rome. That is why it cannot be expected to end in the imaginable future.
This, of course, and ultimately not to Moscow's advantage. Therefore, I see no reason for a ceasefire. If the United States will not act as a mediator in the Ukraine conflict, then it is unlikely that China or Saudi Arabia, for example, will.
The next fork in the road that Trump is standing on concerns the Middle East. There, too, Russia plays an important historical and topical role.
The question before Trump is whether or not to start attacking Iran. He doesn't want to, but his position may provoke resistance in Congress. He may demand tough action from Trump because the president's ability to act against Congress is declining, he still does not control the Pentagon, and because his popularity in the United States is reportedly declining. This means that Trump cannot now help the Republicans in the midterm elections. Why? He is becoming a liability, not a resource.
Conclusion
Therefore, after the first 100 days of his presidency, I expect a reassessment or modification of the political concept, including foreign policy. However, this in no way means that the EC and the EU can relax and do nothing. Why? Because the process, once started, cannot be stopped, because the disintegration of American hegemony is a fact and represents an objective process in which the four changes mentioned above, among many other fundamental changes, apply without exception. I add that wars, including anthropological wars of historical significance do not solve any national problem.
I expect that President Trump will have to abandon some directions and think about others, as Secretary Rubio has indicated several times. This includes Ukraine and the next 100 days to make peace. But not a just one, because there is no such thing. Or dealing with the India-Pakistan conflict. That may earn him the title of peacemaker. The Iranian problem seems to me to be much more complex already because of the interests and influence of Russia and Israel. In other words, and in short: President Trump needs to show success in the shortest possible time, and not just by pointing to the fall in egg prices in the United States.
In this respect, the President is facing a blackmailing Europe. It faces a dilemma: Retirement or armaments? Out of sheer fear of Russia, in fact fear of losing power and Musk's inventory a la DOGE, Europe is overlooking a fundamental problem: public finances. European countries, they say, must arm themselves. But they don't know where the money will come from. Their scenarios are based on wishful thinking and the prospects for public finances are worrying. There is also the pause offered by China to reflect on the trade war and the all-important total military surrender of the Ukrainian regime. Why? The reader can find out on the ICL website (https://institutcl.cz) in a paper entitled "Meetings in Brno and Moscow". No consent needed. 1 May 2025
Jan Campbell
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