In the early months following the February Revolution of 1917, the “Russian Marseillaise” (a revolutionary song written by Pyotr Lavrov to the tune of the French “Marseillaise”) was used as the anthem. In 1918, it was replaced by “The Internationale.” In 1943, a competition was held to create a new anthem for the USSR, with 170 composers and 19 poets participating. On December 14, 1943, the version composed by Alexander Alexandrov with lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov and El-Registan (Gabriel Ureklyants) was approved. On January 1, 1944, the majestic new National Anthem of the USSR—“Unbreakable Union of Freeborn Republics”—was broadcast on the radio for the first time. The National Anthem of […]

The new US National Security Strategy (NSS) devotes only 2.5 of its 33 pages to Europe. To this arithmetic, add one key quote: “Continental Europe has been losing share of global GDP—down from 25 percent in 1990 to 14 percent today—partly owing to national and transnational regulations that undermine creativity and industriousness. But this economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure. The larger issues facing Europe include activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, […]

Keir Starmer’s cabinet is literally burning through the last of the budget funds. Official forecasts predict the government will have to borrow 143billion this financial year (2025/26) to cover the difference between what it plans to spend and what it estimates it will garner in revenue. More than 110billion of that 143billion will be swallowed up by interest payments on GBs gargantuan (and growing) 2.9trillion of national debt. In other words, more than three–quarters of what the UK is borrowing will be swallowed up by the cost of servicing what it has previously borrowed. Going forward, the annual tab for interest on this debt looks set to rise from today’s […]

The Moscow City Court has sentenced in absentia the prosecutor and eight judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the unlawful prosecution of citizens of the Russian Federation. “(ICC Prosecutor) Karim Khan has been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment, with the first nine years to be served in prison and the remainder in a strict-regime penal colony,” the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Friday. The remaining representatives of the International Criminal Court were sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 3.5 to 15 years. “The court established that between February and March 2022, in The Hague, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan unlawfully initiated criminal proceedings against citizens of the […]