Edward Lucas

Weakly: Captive Nations The Trump administration remembers to mark Captive Nations Week. This year’s was perhaps not the White House wordsmiths’ finest effort.

Weakly: Captive Nations | "The Trump administration remembers to mark a Cold War anniversary." @edwardlucas.bsky.social

Discussed in this column by @edwardlucas.bsky.social today
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

There is only one warmonger on the European stage: Vladimir Putin | Letter Letter: Experts on Russia, Ukraine and international security respond to a letter that criticised Fiona Hill for her assessment of the Russian threat to Britain

delighted to sign this letter www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Banking: Moldova’s Winning Even if the Kremlin succeeds in toppling Moldova’s pro-Western government, the authorities in Kyiv won't tolerate Russian reinforcement.

Banking: Moldova’s Winning | "Russia’s grip on the unrecognized Transnistrian state is weakening. No stunts, please." @edwardlucas.bsky.social

Ukraine and Russia agree to swap dead and wounded troops but report no progress toward ending war Delegations from Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey for their second round of direct peace talks in just over two weeks.

“Battered, beleaguered, tired and outnumbered, Ukrainians have, at minimal cost, in complete secrecy, and over vast distances, destroyed or damaged dozens, perhaps more, of Russia’s strategic bombers [in the] the most audacious attack of the war.” @edwardlucas.bsky.social

National defence must include our elections It is time to tackle the misinformation and murky political funding that damage democracy

National defence must include our elections - as @edwardlucas.bsky.social argues those who want to damage our democracy are as likely to use electoral interference as bombs. An ambitious Elections Bill must urgently close the gaping loopholes in our defences.

www.thetimes.com/article/e280...

National defence must include our elections It is time to tackle the misinformation and murky political funding that damage democracy

Under our flimsy rules, any foreign kleptocrat or broligarch can promote such causes, shrouded in anonymity, so long as they do so outside an election period and without supporting a specific party or candidate.
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @edwardlucas.bsky.social

"The one thing you need to know about the Nordic Baltic region plus Poland is it has a GDP larger than Russia" — @edwardlucas.bsky.social, Senior Advisor at Center for European Policy Analysis @cepa.org

#LennartMeriConference

Tone-Deaf: Nobody’s Dancing The US and Europeans alike are failing to meet Russia’s strategic challenge. Seize Russian assets. Rush help to Ukraine. And rearm—fast.

"Amid the media fireworks of the tariff war, long-term strategic considerations are absent. By contrast, Putin does have a plan. Befriend Trump. Split the European Union. Wreak havoc. Wear down Ukraine. So far, it’s working." @edwardlucas.bsky.social

Rain (Fire) on the Parade The 80th-anniversary celebrations of victory in Europe after World War Two will be disappointing—for Russia.

"We have seen a new kind of warfare unfold in Ukraine, but most countries have barely started to devote the time and money needed to get ready to fight the new way." @edwardlucas.bsky.social

YouTube video by Times Radio Trump and Vance ominously hint at severing ties with 'enemy' Europe | Edward Lucas

Good interview with @edwardlucas.bsky.social on Times Radio. Completely agree that we’re not seeing an adequate sense of urgency regarding rearmament in Europe, and that we might not be as lucky this time around.

youtu.be/-oMHPtYb9jw?...

Our cover this week.

America Will Miss Europe’s Dependence When It’s Gone European self-reliance for security will cost U.S. jobs, profits, and influence.

my latest for @foreignpolicy foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/23/u...

China First? No Thanks In the past years, attitudes to China in the US and allies seemed to be converging. Transatlantic angst now clouds Europe’s strategic choice.

“The EU leadership and the CCP are jointly championing free trade, and denouncing the disruption caused by Trumpian tergiversation on tariffs.” @edwardlucas.bsky.social

China First? No Thanks In the past years, attitudes to China in the US and allies seemed to be converging. Transatlantic angst now clouds Europe’s strategic choice.

China First? No Thanks | "Transatlantic angst clouds Europe’s strategic choice." @edwardlucas.bsky.social

US-China tariff war: how should the EU respond? Now that the US has suspended its special tariffs for most countries, the focus of the global tariff dispute has shifted to the clash between Washington and Beijing.

How should Europe respond to the US-China tariff war?

America First or China First? The ultimate dilemma, @edwardlucas.bsky.social writes in Lithuania's LRT, is whether to throw Europe's hat in with the US, or tacitly accept Chinese dominance.

um that's Edward Luce not me

Sexual violence is a weapon in Putin’s conquest of Ukraine In her devastating polemic, Putin’s War on Women, the writer Sofi Oksanen shows how rape and humiliation is Kremlin policy

www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

@edwardlucas.bsky.social concludes, ‘Faced with the choice between a lucrative US-led rapprochement with Russia and the perilous confrontation involved in staying loyal to Ukraine, many countries may choose safety over honour. In the long run they will lose both’.

Choose loyalty. #SlavaUkraïni 🇺🇦

High Stakes: the Showdown Looms Europe is confronting the US over Ukraine—but with weaker cards. Strong, happy allies are better than weak, resentful ones.

“Strong, happy allies, bound by ties of friendship, are better than weak, resentful ones ruled by fear.” @edwardlucas.bsky.social

Airwaves: Turn the Dial America is abandoning its international broadcasters. Europe should step in and start filling the gap left by the US retreat.

Airwaves: Turn the Dial | "The US is abandoning its international broadcasters. Europe should step in." @edwardlucas.bsky.social

Trump slashes funding for US international media Donald Trump has issued a presidential order stipulating massive cuts to Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other US international broadcasters.

On the defunding of @rferl.org.web.brid.gy, opinions on how Europe should respond differ.

@edwardlucas.bsky.social at Eesti Päevaleht argues that Europe should take over the baton and run the station. But Mladá Fronta Dnes warns against pursuing an escalating culture war with Trump's US.

Airwaves: Turn the Dial America is abandoning its international broadcasters. Europe should step in and start filling the gap left by the US retreat.

“If Europe is going stand up to Russia, China, and the United States, it needs not just economic clout and military might, but a soft-power arsenal combining development aid and information.” @edwardlucas.bsky.social

Ukraine Ceasefire Deal — What Does it Mean? CEPA Fellows explain the US-Ukraine agreement on a ceasefire. The Trump administration says, “the ball is in Moscow’s court.”

Ukraine Ceasefire Deal — What Does it Mean? | "So far, Western interaction with the Kremlin has resembled a game of tennis, but with a few tweaks. One player — the Russian — always serves. The court is unevenly shaped. The Ukrainian has his shoelaces tied together." @edwardlucas.bsky.social

My friend Lennart Meri died OTD in 2006. A good opportunity to read his prescient speech from 1994. Footnote: Putin was at this dinner and walked out, slamming the door president.ee/en/official-...

NATO po nástupu Trumpa skončilo, teď je to jen na nás, říká britský novinář - Seznam Zprávy „Dochází k nejradikálnějšímu zlomu ve světové geopolitice za posledních 70 let,“ vyvozuje ze zahraniční politiky Donalda Trumpa známý britský novinář Edward Lucas. V rozhovoru pro Seznam Zprávy mimo j...

long interview in Czech www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/zahra...

European-led Ukraine air protection plan could halt Russian missile attacks Sky Shield proposal drawn up by military experts would be operated separately from Nato and deploy 120 fighter jets

European-led Ukraine air protection plan could halt Russian missile attacks

Sky Shield proposal drawn up by military experts would be operated separately from NATO and deploy 120 fighter jets

#SkyShieldNow

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

European-led Ukraine air protection plan could halt Russian missile attacks Sky Shield proposal drawn up by military experts would be operated separately from Nato and deploy 120 fighter jets

A key plea from Ukrainians since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 has been for allies to "Shield our Skies".

The UK should be part of the proposed Sky Shield air protection plan.

After all we did it for Isreal last year, so why not Ukraine?

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

The Sky Shield proposal shows Europe stepping up where NATO hesitates, offering a bold but cautious strategy to protect Ukraine without crossing Moscow’s red lines. It’s a reminder that sometimes security demands creativity,and a bit of strategic independence.
(Ukraine- Europe)

European-led Ukraine air protection plan could halt Russian missile attacks Sky Shield proposal drawn up by military experts would be operated separately from Nato and deploy 120 fighter jets

Sky Shield proposal: European air force of 120 fighter jets could be deployed to secure the skies from Russian attacks on Kyiv and western Ukraine without necessarily provoking a wider conflict with Moscow, according to a plan drawn up by military experts.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...