Snyder: The U.S. is not just unreliable, it is behaving strangely.
Allies like Romania, Poland, Taiwan and South Korea expect America to save resources for serious moments, not waste munitions, reputation and focus on wars it cannot explain. 1/
Snyder: Trump wants to be Putin but cannot. He wants Putin’s money, Putin’s ability to fight wars, Putin’s power.
But he lacks the patience, attention span and competence and he is afraid of American public opinion. 2/
Snyder: Putin does have a vision for Russia. It is terrible, totalitarian and built on a false past where Russia and Ukraine were supposedly one.
He wants to be remembered as a ruler who brought more territory into Russia. 3/
Snyder: Right-wing populism claims to defend the nation, but often hurts it by pulling the country away from the European Union.
What looks like nationalism often becomes cooperation with far-right oligarchy across borders. 1/
Snyder: The foreign policy of right-wing populists is predictable: Trump, AfD, Orban, again and again, they are pro-Putin.
That is not in Romania’s interest, or in the interest of any state threatened by Russian imperial aggression. 2/
Snyder: If Romania cares about its national interest and survival, the conclusion is obvious: support Ukrainian territorial integrity, a strong Ukrainian state, and Ukraine’s military effort against Russia. 3/
Sen. Mark Kelly: Odessa’s port is critical, around 40–50% of Ukraine’s economy goes out through it.
Russia is aggressively attacking Odessa because that port is a huge source of revenue, and Crimea gives Moscow easy access to strike it. 1/
Kelly: The night I spent in Odessa, five Shahed drones came in and all were intercepted.
We toured a bunker at the port; 48 hours later Russia hit it with a drone or cruise missile. Being there shows what Ukrainians live through every day. 2/
Kelly: Russia’s attacks on Moldova and Romania look intentional.
They are trying to tell neighboring countries: you are not safe, and we can hurt you if we want. These strikes are threats, not accidents. 3/
Sen. Mark Kelly: Every Ukrainian I spoke to felt more positive about the future. I think it is fair to say right now Ukrainians are winning.
Russia usually launches bigger offensives this time of year, but they are struggling and the momentum is shifting. 1/
Kelly: Russia is losing upwards of 35,000 troops every month.
Ukraine is trying to push that closer to 50,000, and Russia is having a hard time replacing killed and wounded troops. This is becoming a very challenging time for Putin’s army. 2/
Kelly: Ukraine is even starting to regain some territory.
It is always easier to defend than to take land back, but the fact that Ukraine is doing it shows how much the character of land warfare in Europe has changed. 3/