News compilation and comments by the editors of The Multiplural World, January 20, 2026
Enclosed are four items (with photo further below). Comments by the editors of The Multiplural World [are in square brackets]:
1. Analysis of Russia’s new, powerful ‘Oreshnik’ hypersonic missile, interview with physicist and rocket scientist Theodore Postol, broadcast on the YouTube channel of host Glen Diesen on Jan 18, 2026 (Theodore Postol is professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.)
The Oreshnik is a powerful conventional missile. The only ‘game changing’ characteristic of the missile its ability to carry nuclear warheads. ‘My main concern is the misunderstanding among policy makers who would treat the Oreshnik as an intended nuclear weapon, which it is not.‘
[Professor Postol is asked by the interviewer about the capabilities of an aggressor to intercept Russia’s Oreshnik intermediate-range missile (range 1000 km, speed Mach 10) or its intermediate-range Iksander missile (range up to 500 km, speed Mach 6-7). He had a one-word answer: ‘none’. “There is no possible interception”, he said, explaining that this is due to both missiles’ high, delivery trajectory and the hypersonic speed of their re-entry into Earth’s lower atmosphere (troposphere).
[Postol also had harsh words for the Trump regime’s announced ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense project, to cost hundreds of billions of dollars. “Fiction, pure fiction. There is no question that neither Trump nor Secretary of War Hesgeth had any idea of what they were talking about when they announced their ‘golden Dome’ project in May 2025.”
2. Professor Theodore Postol and YouTube broadcaster Glenn Diesen discuss the ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense fiction, interview broadcast on June 6, 2025 (70 minutes)
[“The ‘Golden Dome’ has no merit technically nor scientifically,” Postol tells Diesen. “But it does allow Trump to play to his base about defending against small and large against nuclear weapons.”
[As concerns the threat of use of nuclear weapons in today’s world, Postol calls Russian President Vladimir Putin “the only adult in the room”. He says the main concerns of the leadership of the president and government of the Russian Federation is the ignorant and ill-informed leadership of the United States. “In such conditions, the American leadership can make highly dangerous decisions.”]
3. Russia strikes target in Lviv, western Ukraine on Jan 8 using Oreshnik missile, analysis published by Black Mountain Analysis (Mike Mihajlovic) on Substack, Jan 16, 2026
4. U.S. Army misses another deadline of its first hypersonic missile weapon, falling further behind Russia and China, news report by Defense Blog, Jan 18, 2026
