The world is being stretched to a breaking point. From the frontlines in Pokrovsk to the corridors of the Kremlin and the fragile peace in Gaza, a volatile friction between stability and raw power projection threatens to shatter the old order.

This week, we cut through the noise on multiple critical fronts. We analyze the brutal battle for Pokrovsk, a "genuinely strategic target" and the last gateway to the Donbas, where elite Ukrainian forces are outnumbered eight-to-one. We then track a potentially "seismic" rift in the Kremlin, as public denials surface about a feud between President Putin and his 20-year Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

In Gaza, we unpack the massive contradictions in the US-led peace plan, which a former Shin Bet head calls "Swiss cheese" , and explore why Hamas's disarmament is an "existential unraveling". We also reveal how China is playing the long game in the Western Balkans, using Serbia as an "ironclad partner" to export its authoritarian tech model and build deep, strategic dependency. Finally, we cover the catastrophic fall of El Fasher in Sudan, a man-made famine, and the "intolerable carnage" fueled by external powers.

In this episode, we break down:

• Ukraine: The strategic, non-symbolic importance of Pokrovsk and the "Whac-a-Mole" strategy highlighting Ukraine's critical manpower crisis.

  
  

• Russia: The hard evidence fueling rumors of a Putin-Lavrov rift, including Lavrov's mysterious absence from the G20 and Security Council meetings.

  
  

• Gaza: The "impossible dilemma" of Hamas's disarmament and the contradictions between US envoy Steve Witkoff's "guns for butter" claims and on-the-ground realities.

  
  

• China & Balkans: How China is using "sharp power" —blending military hardware, "Safe City" surveillance tech, and infrastructure—to build dependency in Europe.

  
  

• Sudan: The catastrophic fall of El Fasher , the deliberate man-made famine , and the complete failure of international aid.

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