Sam Greene

Protests Break Out After Ukraine Moves to Defang U.S.-Backed Anticorruption Agency The demonstrations erupted outside the president’s office after Ukraine’s Parliament approved a law that would effectively strip independence from the anticorruption bureau.

www.wsj.com/world/europe...

I stand with Ukrainians, who have shown time and again that they will not abide tyranny, whether it comes from without or within. Zelensky made a mistake. He will pay the price when elections come. But Ukrainians will not thank us now or later if we use this as an excuse to abandon their defense.

TL;DRussia Weekly Roundup 15 July 2025: En garde, plus texts and tunes

The newsletter's back -- with a dive into the tortured psyches of Sergei Karaganov, Konstantin Malofeev and Russia's surprisingly anxious and fractured conservatives.

tldrussia.substack.com/p/tldrussia-...

Thoughts for Marc Bennetts and @thetimes.com on Trump & Putin

www.thetimes.com/article/93d3...

Генпрокуратура признала «нежелательным» в России Йельский университет. Потому что в нем учился Навальный — Meduza Генеральная прокуратура РФ объявила о признании нежелательной деятельности Йельского университета (Yale University, США) на территории России.

Russia declares VPOTUS’s Alma mater an “undesirable organization”

meduza.io/news/2025/07...

Deterrence is not back.

Не Киев русская — а Русь киевская?

Putin: “I’ve already said that Russians and Ukrainians are one people. In that sense, all of Ukraine is ours. … We have this old rule, that wherever a Russian steps foot — that’s our territory.”

Whatever this is, it’s not a president preparing his people for compromise.

Russia air attack damaged Boeing offices in Ukraine Aerial strikes hit US aerospace giant’s premises in Kyiv, raising questions about Moscow’s intent

Apparently, the deterrent effect of US investment in Ukraine is limited.

www.ft.com/content/c320...

Global Security Briefing: Can Russia-Ukraine Negotiations to End the War Succeed? Is there a real near-term prospect of an end of Russia's war against Ukraine? RUSI experts explain four and a half months of the Trump Administration's approach to the war. In this episode of Global S...

A sobering discussion with @andriypzag.bsky.social
and @neilmelvin.bsky.social for @rusi.bsky.social: the key ingredient for peace in Ukraine—Russian commitment—is absent.

sites.libsyn.com/341255/can-r...

Anybody remember NFTs?

Many thanks to the @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social for having me up for the day!

A New World Order? With Trump’s second presidency, are we returning to an era of Great Powers and ‘might means right’? What are the implications for the so-called ‘global rules-based order’? Join in the discussion with ...

At a loose end this Sunday afternoon? Somewhere in shouting distance of York? Join me at the @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social!

yorkfestivalofideas.com/2025/calenda...

www.heritage.org/sites/defaul...

Tell me you don't know anything about Judaism without telling me you don't know anything about Judaism.

The Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement

Define your political opponents as extremists. Abuse the power of the state to attack them. Cow institutions into submission. There's something oddly familiar about all of this...

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/u...

I never knew that! So, you’re saying all Hungarians are “magsplainers”?

What a marvelous phrase, “Englished by…”

TL;DRussia Rapid Reaction: Tick, tick, tick... 16 May 2025: Well, that was uninspiring

And a bit more in text: tldrussia.substack.com/p/tldrussia-...

YouTube video by Times Radio Putin’s downfall: Ukraine is buying time to crush Russia

Plus earlier thoughts from Times Radio youtu.be/69njbdAV3hw

Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul - The World from PRX Russian and Ukrainian officials are meeting in Istanbul for highly anticipated negotiations about the war in Ukraine. This is the first direct diplomatic meeting between Russia and Ukraine since the e...

A few thoughts for @ofmandaniel.bsky.social @theworld.org
on the method behind Putin's dithering, together with @ksvarnon.bsky.social and Michael Cecire.
theworld.org/segments/202...

EU set to impose much higher tariffs on Ukrainian imports ‘Transitional measures’ will apply as of June, when special measures lapse, if trade talks need more time

Link here: on.ft.com/4ki1ZMv

This is a bizarre graph. If you look at it quickly, you’d think EU exports to Ukraine were falling. On closer inspection, it’s the opposite — because they inverted the Y-axis.

Why?

TL;DRussia Special Edition: Turkish Delight? 14 May 2025: Waiting in Istanbul...

Thoughts on Putin's Istanbul two-step: Don’t invest your pension pot in a peace play just yet.

tldrussia.substack.com/p/tldrussia-...

Russia celebrates Victory Day - The World from PRX Today, Russia is celebrating Victory Day, the holiday that marks the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany 80 years ago in World War II. The main celebration took place in Moscow, with a grand military par...

Thoughts on “Victory Day” for @ofmandaniel.bsky.social & @theworld.org, with Ivan Grek & Victoria Smolkin theworld.org/segments/202...

Oh ffs: no, the graduate visa scheme did not lead to an elevenfold increase in overseas students in the UK from 2020 to 2023. Reclassifying EU students as overseas students as of August 2021 did that.

on.ft.com/4crwsVV

Seen in Britain

I agree with all of that. I just don't see why that means we should entirely ignore what the US is doing--and thus why threads like mine are a waste of effort. US power doesn't cease to exist just because the administration can't figure out how to wield it effectively.

As one of the authors of those threads, I (obviously) disagree. Can this create a lasting outcome? Of course not. Can it create increased insecurity en route to ultimate failure? Absolutely. There’s a difference between “this won’t lead where Trump wants” and “this will need nowhere.”

Rubio Skipping Ukraine Talks as Zelensky Rebuffs U.S. on Crimea The decision by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to pull out of the meeting and an objection by Ukraine’s leader to a key U.S. proposal raised questions about the state of the negotiations.

I’m going to take this as good news. The purpose of Rubio’s presence would have been to browbeat Zelensky into submission and get a bad deal over the line. Harder to do with no big guns there. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/w...