Edward Lucas

Vladimir Putin is tacitly conceding that Russia is now on the back foot: militarily, economically, diplomatically, politically and psychologically.

Vladimir Putin is on the back foot but any halt to the fighting will pose different dangers to our safety

If the US wanted to destroy its credibility in Europe deliberately, it could hardly have done it better.

If the US wanted to destroy its credibility in Europe deliberately, it could hardly have done it better.

A spectre stalks Europe: of leadership, late and lamented. The disorderly US withdrawal from Nato is denting defence and deterrence and creating a vacuum in command.

What does western Europe know about "eastern Europe"? It is "ex-Soviet", with everything that implies: ie Russia's backyard.

The gloomsters have gone quiet. A leading British pundit wrote in October "I hate to say it, but Kyiv won’t last till spring". Foreign Affairs proclaimed in February "Ukraine is losing the war", a line echoed by a Finnish thinktank report in March.

When I hear Russian spoken on the street my ears twitch. I try to start a casual conversation, just to see what kind of Russia-speakers are breathing the same air as me.

Geopolitics leaves little room for sentiment. The blunt truth for US allies in Europe and Asia is that it is better to have the global hegemon on your side than not.

Geopolitics leaves little room for sentiment. The blunt truth for US allies in Europe and Asia is that it is better to have the global hegemon on your side than not. Still commonsense in Japan, this is now contentious in Europe. The Trump administration demands ever-more from its allies, and puts ever-greater burdens on them. Eventually, tempers snap.