Maxime Marquette
MadMax is an independent bilingual news outlet based in Québec, publishing analysis on geopolitics, technology, democracy, and culture.
Our mission: rigorous, source-cited analysis carried out with full editorial independence — no sponsorship, no party line.
Our editorial standards: sources are cited inline, corrections are fixed and logged publicly, and any use of artificial intelligence is disclosed.
“Burn rather than rot. Write rather than stay silent.”
Fire first. Sentences after. No lukewarm takes.
Always answer the strongest version of the opposing point. No strawmen.
No commissioned pieces. No editorial masters. No compromise.
Columns by Maxime Marquette
4,540 columns published
ANALYSIS: The Ankara Summit, Between Spectacular Promises and Real Timelines
The 36th NATO summit, held in Ankara on July 7 and 8, 2026, will be remembered for a striking contrast: between the scale of…
INVESTIGATION: Kostiantynivka, the City Putin Claims to Hold Without Ever Holding It
There are military claims that even the most obedient allies of Russian power eventually can't repeat without wincing. Kostiantynivka has become the clearest example…
ANALYSIS: Pokrovsk, the City Moscow Never Finishes Taking
There are city names that, over months of war, turn into barometers. Pokrovsk is one of them. Since the summer of 2025, this crossroads…
COLUMN: Syzran Burns a Third Time, and Moscow Still Says Nothing
On the night of July 11 to 12, 2026, Ukrainian drones once again struck the Syzran refinery in the Samara region, more than eight…
ANALYSIS: NATO's $1.8 Trillion, the Real Price of Deterring Putin
Combined defense spending across the thirty-two NATO member states surpassed, in 2026, the 1.8 trillion dollar mark, according to projections confirmed in early July…
FACT-CHECK: NATO's €70 Billion Pledge to Ukraine, What's Actually New
On July 8, 2026, at the close of a summit held in Ankara, the thirty-two member states of NATO signed a joint declaration promising…
ANALYSIS: Ukrainian Patriots, why coproduction could take years, not months
Every promise made at a NATO summit gets measured, in the first 48 hours, by the emotion it generates rather than the calendar it…
ANALYSIS: The Patriot license for Ukraine, Lockheed and RTX caught off guard
Some admissions carry more weight than the announcement they were meant to support. At the NATO summit in Ankara, President Donald Trump promised Volodymyr…
ANALYSIS: Trump's Patriot promise to Ukraine, where things actually stand
Some of the most consequential lines in modern diplomacy get said almost in passing, between two handshakes. At the NATO summit in Ankara on…