Marc Champion

Trump Doesn’t Have to Be Bad News for Ukraine His “peace-in-a-day” is ludicrous, but if he does the groundwork he can avoid capitulation and engineer a win.

Israel's military has transformed the balance of power in the Middle East. But reliance on force is not improving security anymore. My column for Bloomberg @opinion

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The EU Is the Wrong Power Player for Ukraine Late in the summer of 1939, the Soviet and German Foreign Ministers Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the infamous non-aggression pact that divided Eastern Europe between their nati...

The EU is incapable by design of projecting the hard power required to compete in a geopolitical world, and yet Europe has to. The answer lies outside the bloc and in Ukraine's defense. My column for @opinion.

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Erdogan and Putin Have Something to Teach the West Turkey has recently taken a range of steps that together look a lot like a realignment with the West. It reduced imports of Russian oil and natural gas; is considering US and South Korean companies ov...

Turkey's Erdogan looks a lot like he's realigning with the West latey, but in reality it's the West that's turning toward Erdogan. My column for Bloomberg Opinion
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Ukraine’s Pokrovsk Is Falling. Don’t Make It a Defeat. First Bakhmut, then Avdiivka, now Pokrovsk. In each of the last three years, Russia’s generals have identified a midsize Ukrainian town as their invasion’s next critical target, expending vast amounts...

Whether or not the apparently imminent fall of Pokrovsk proves an important Russian victory and worth the enormous price paid for it will depend on how Ukraine's allies respond. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Ukraine Has a Plan for Victory. Its Allies Don’t. Ukraine is about to suffer its most brutal winter since Russia invaded in 2022. That isn’t a risk but a certainty as both sides sense they’re blocked on the ground and focus on the long-range air war....

Putin has a plan for victory, and Kyiv has a plan to survive it. I returned to Ukraine to see what that is and how much it depends on inconstant allies. My column for Bloomberg
@opinion
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Sanctions or Tomahawks? Only Credible Threats Will Convince Putin. Could the US imposition of sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil companies, backed by similar measures from Europe, mark the moment when the transatlantic alliance finally does what it takes to pressu...

Sanctions, seizing assets and the threat to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles will only deter Putin if they're integrated into a coherent transatlantic strategy that shows genuine resolve. So far they don't. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Trump’s Peacemaking Is as Lethal for Ukraine as Ever There’s every reason to believe leaked accounts that a shouting match erupted between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy when they met in Washington last week. We’ve seen it before, after all, on ca...

One phone call and Trump is back to pressing Ukraine into a deal crafted by Putin to further his war aims, not peace. Ukraine and Europe face some disastrous choices as a result. My column for Bloomberg @opinion www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Europe’s Most Important Startups Are in Ukraine At the General Chereshnya drone factory, Maxym, a tattooed former aircraft engineer with ear tunnels the size of quarters in his lobes opens a door to the whirr and clatter of 74 busy 3D printers. The...

The first rule of 'drone wall' is to change the name: It should be nothing like a wall and more like a Porcupine. The second is to build it with Ukraine. My column for Bloomberg @opinion. (Temporarily no pay wall)
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Gaza Ceasefire Is No Peace, But Even So It’s ‘Huge’ Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire deal, the first stage in a 20-point plan to end the war. Does this, as Donald Trump says, mean we’re on the cusp of everlasting peace in the Middle East? Will...

Trump's ceasefire has a long road to get to peace, but it has more promise than its predecessors and he'll deserve credit if it lasts. My column for Bloomberg @opinion www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

US Gaza Plan Is Working, But Will Take Sustained Pressure When Donald Trump returned to office promising to end to the war in Gaza, he not unreasonably touted his first term success in negotiating the so-called Abraham accords between Israel and its Arab nei...

Trump's decision to make time for negotiations over his Gaza peace plan was a good one, but he'll need a patience and focus he isn't renowned for to produce a lasting peace. My column for @opinion.bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Ukraine Is Now The Strongest Ally Europe Can Rely On Trump’s U-turn leaves the pair to fight Putin on their own.

Trump walked away from the Russia-Ukraine war and is clearly ambivalent about NATO. What next for Europeans? To recognize that Kyiv, its army and drones are now their strongest reliable defense against Russia. My column for Bloomberg Opinion
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Russia’s War on Elections in Moldova Is No Hoax Sunday’s vote may decide if it’s too late for Europe there.

We all need to watch and learn in Moldova on Sunday. Russia is exploiting the new reality of elections by TikTok to the full, and it won't be the only one. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
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Five Lessons From Putin’s Reckless Polish Drone Strike The US and Europe have a lot to learn from Russia’s warning shot at Poland

The drone is very much in NATO's court after Russia's shot at Poland. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
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Netanyahu's bet fails The consequences of Israel's attack in Qatar

This is an (unsurprisingly) excellent post from Lawrence Freedman on Netanyahu's miss in Qatar. Well worth the read. open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/n...

Western Dysfunction Is Bolstering China This week’s Tianjin military summit shone by its coherence alone.

China didn't have to build new institutions or lasting alliances for its summit to succeed. It just had to show coherent goals and the means to achieve them - the contrast with chaos and weakness in the West do the rest. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
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Trump Says Ceasefires Don’t Matter. Oh Yes They Do. Even the six peace deals he cited as evidence don’t support him.

Trump says he ended six wars and they prove his belief that ceasefires -including for Ukraine - are just "nice to haves." That's wrong on so many counts. My column for Bloomberg Opinion
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Ukraine Got a Reprieve in Washington — Not an Escape Trump thinking that Putin wants to make peace as a favor really is “crazy.”

The Alaska de-brief went better than expected, but don't lose track of the ball: no ceasefire and no US pressure on Putin means the war goes on. My column on @opinion.bloomberg.com

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Trump and Putin’s Alaska Theatrics Imperil Ukraine — and Europe Two versions of the US president could have attended the tete-a-tete. Unfortunately, the wrong one did.

In Alaska, Putin looks to have gotten all he needed: Trump's permission to continue the war while pretending the negotiate a peace. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
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Putin Is About to Outplay Trump Again in Alaska Talking to foes is a great idea, but successful summits demand a lot more preparation.

Trump looks set to get outplayed by Putin for a second time when they meet in Alaska this week. He'd be better off delaying and doing more to pressure and prepare. My column for Bloomberg @opinion www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Israel Is Heading Toward an Isolation It Can’t Afford Netanyahu has doubled down on war in Gaza — again. That can only threaten his country’s long-term survival.

Netanyahu has doubled down on war, again, in pursuit of security. It's a strategy that works for now but at enormous cost to Gaza's civilians and Israel's long term interests, if not survival. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
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Palestinian Recognition Is a Political Gesture, Not a Strategy The UK’s diplomatic conditions give needless and risky leverage to Hamas.

The UK says it will recognize Palestine unless there's a ceasefire in Gaza. Great. Except that gives Hamas a reason to block one,
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Volodymyr Zelenskiy Needs to Rescue His Own Presidency A misstep on corruption has punctured his once heroic image.

It's great Zelenskiy has backtracked on seizing control of Ukraine's independent anti-corruption bodies. Now he needs to clean house to restore trust and his presidency. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
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Is There Famine in Gaza? Let’s Not Wait to Find Out. Enough is clear to know that a ceasefire should be the only priority.

Instead of debating whether there is a famine yet in Gaza, stop the war and there won't be one. My column for @opinion.bloomberg.com

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Ukraine Has a Self-Inflicted Handicap in Its War for Survival Corruption threatens European aid for arms.

Ukraine is cracking down on ... anti-corruption agencies and NGOs. This is something Russia can get away with, but Kyiv cannot afford. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
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Bomb Moscow? Trump Surely Couldn’t Be That Reckless Will he or won’t he? That’s a question nobody needs right now now.

The Financial Times reported Trump asked Zelenskiy if, given US missiles, he could bomb Moscow. Let's hope these are fantasies for Kremlin consumption, writes @MarcChampion1 www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Russia’s Frozen Assets Can Pay for New US Ukraine Bill Make Moscow foot the tab for the European aid to Kyiv that Trump just doubled.

Trump just doubled Europe's bill for aiding Ukraine's defense, and Putin knows that can't last. To make him end the war, send the billions in frozen Russian assets to Kyiv, @MarcChampion1 writes www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Ukraine Doesn't Need a Recovery. It Needs a Rescue A donor conference in Rome this week is well-meant but off point.

Ukraine's recovery conference in Rome is a little surreal. What's needed first is a rescue conference. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
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Ukraine Doesn't Need a Recovery. It Needs a Rescue A donor conference in Rome this week is well-meant but off point.

Ukraine's recovery conference in Rome is a little surreal. What's needed first is a rescue conference. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
shorturl.at/eqDz7

The US Bombing Iran Was a Win for ... Putin The possibility of another war in the Middle East has sucked attention, energy and resources away from Ukraine.

Many people think Putin lost from the US-Israeli bombing of Iran. This is wrong. It may well allow him to break Ukraine, which is vastly more important to him. My column for Bloomberg @opinion.
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There Is No One-and-Done on Iran Trump still faces tough calls that will decide the future of non-proliferation.

Trump's Iran intervention couldn't have gone better, but now comes the hard, non-military part, because there's no one-and-done on the nuclear program. My column for Bloomberg @opinion
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