Kasparov: Putin is not just at war against Ukraine. He is at war against Europe, European institutions and the free world.
Dictators lie about what they have done, but very often they tell you exactly what they are going to do. Putin has for decades. 1/
Kasparov: Putin’s goal was, is and will be to restore the Russian Empire and push NATO back to 1997 borders.
Ukraine is the main target now, but not the ultimate goal. Europe still treats this as hypothetical. It is not a threat — it is a menace. 2/
Kasparov: Putin needs a success story: proving NATO is dead because Article 5 does not work.
Narva, Daugavpils, maybe Vilnius are ideal targets. It is not about occupying Europe; it is about showing NATO will debate, hesitate and fail to respond. 3/
Putin put a nuclear-capable Oreshnik into Russia’s overnight strike on Kyiv region.
The hypersonic missile hit Bila Tserkva as Moscow launched around 90 cruise and ballistic missiles plus hundreds of drones. 4 people died, at least 80 were injured — Telegraph. 1/
Oreshnik travels 10 times faster than sound and can carry nuclear warheads. Russia had used it before near Dnipro and Lviv with dummy warheads, causing little damage but sending a symbolic threat.
Ukraine said earlier this year Moscow had only 4 of these missiles. 2/
Zelenskyy: Putin can no longer even properly pronounce the word hurrah, he slurs and mumbles, yet he still wins against residential buildings with his missiles.
He launched his so-called Oreshnik against Bila Tserkva. They really are unhinged. 3/
Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba: Ukraine’s victory is not just a line on a map.
Victory is preserving an independent, sovereign, European Ukraine: not absorbed by Russia, not controlled by Russia, and not part of the Russian world. 1/
Kuleba: Putin’s death could seriously break the course of this war.
Apart from Putin and maybe Patrushev, there is no one in Russia’s elite for whom destroying Ukrainian statehood is the meaning of life at this level of obsession. 2/
Kuleba: Putin cannot become the first Russian ruler since 1654 who failed to keep Ukraine. For him, everything in life is now at stake.
That is why this war is personal, historical and much bigger than ordinary imperial pressure. 3X
Petraeus: The U.S. has not remotely learned the lessons it should from Ukraine.
This is the future of war: Ukraine alone uses 10,000 drones a day, and 90% of Russian casualties are caused by drones. That should force institutional change. 1/
You cannot even drive vehicles in the 35-km death zone on either side of the front, because drones can fly into trenches and kill people. This is a vast change. 2/
Petraeus: The U.S. has to overhaul its concepts of war: create unmanned-systems forces like Ukraine has, change how leaders train, and build weapons that can get software updates weekly and hardware changes every few weeks. 3/
A $14B arms package was held up, and Trump seemed to see Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with Beijing — trading an ally’s security for economic advantage while repeating false claims about Taiwan stealing U.S. chip technology. 1/
Fukuyama: The optics showed how far Trump had fallen in Chinese eyes.
Xi did not meet him at the airport, Trump was seated to look smaller, and the worst part was Trump’s constant flattery — calling Xi a great leader, a friend, someone from central casting. 2/
Fukuyama: American decline is a direct product of Trump’s rise since 2016.
It is as if Trump decided to weaken the U.S. against China: polarizing America, attacking universities, cutting science funding, and depleting advanced munitions in the Middle East. 3/