A history lesson for Joe Biden
Putin made no move in Ukraine during Trump’s administration. Coincidence?
Putin
Friday
Tuesday
How to win the war that everyone is losing
Europe must be left to police Europe and Asia to police Asia
Tuesday
There’s no excuse for Russia’s downing of a US drone
For now, Washington seems to be trying to keep tensions at a simmer
The strange ideology that could be driving Putin
Eurasianism, as it’s called, sees a common historical destiny for all the non-Russian peoples of Russia
Sunday
Welcome to the age of nuclear blackmail
In Taiwan and Ukraine, we are at the start of a perilous new era
What price must the West pay for Crimea?
We cannot leave the most consequential decisions for humanity to be made by Moscow
Tuesday
Russia’s brutal strategy of war is failing
The atrocities and civilian casualties are only rallying Ukrainians against their enemy
Tuesday
Is NATO about to get even bigger?
Sweden and Finland are ideal applicants, but expansion comes at a cost
Tuesday
Russia becomes a lost cause
As Putin turns to the Donbas, the West despairs of diplomacy. But what comes next?
Tuesday
Don’t let Russia end the old world order
If we allow Putin to tear up that order, any pivot to China will be made more difficult
Thursday
A state of virtual war
Most of us can’t tell the difference between high-quality video games and actual war
Wednesday
The right’s illiberal moment is over
Putin’s war has made it impossible to think that liberalism is our greatest threat
Did the realists underestimate Putin?
Russia’s Ukraine invasion is George W. Bush in Iraq all over again
Tuesday
Putin the reckless gambler
The supposedly cautious Russian leader has dug his country into a hole
Thursday
Russia’s war is not a Trump redux
Trump has nothing to do with Putin, or Ukraine, which have nothing to do with American democracy
Wednesday
The Russian Orthodox Church eyes Ukraine
Putin’s government is waging not just a military campaign but a spiritual one
Monday
How to turn the tide against Russia
The West has no choice but to wage the new cold war that Putin has begun
Friday
Putin’s path to war in three speeches
The time between 2007 and 2022 was a period of missed opportunities for the West
Thursday
Putin says he’s making Russia great again. In reality, it’s crumbling
This is Putin’s time. Next week, the Fifa World Cup kicks off in Moscow, and the Kremlin has spared no expense to showcase Vladimir Putin’s new Russia as a vibrant, safe and strong nation. Half a million visitors will be welcomed — with the Russian press reporting that the notorious ‘Ultra’ hooligans have been officially warned to behave themselves or face the full wrath of the state. Despite four years of rock-bottom oil prices, Putin has nonetheless found the cash to build or refurbish a dozen new stadiums. Moscow has undergone a two-year city-wide facelift that has left it looking cleaner, fresher and more prosperous than any European capital I
Friday
The 10 graphs that explain Vladimir Putin’s Russia
This is an edited version of a presentation given by Owen Matthews at The Spectator’s What does Russia want? event. What I’d like to do is give a run-through of how we got to where we are with Russia. From the end of the Cold War onwards, focusing on the economy – and how the economy, in true Marxist fashion, has shaped the politics and political realities that we see in Russia today. The first metric is the big story of the post-Cold War world. Very simply, the graph above shows what’s happened between the collapse of the Soviet Union and the present day. It’s very clear: America’s GDP has
