The Economist (October 4)
“Vladimir Putin is testing the West—and its unity.” Whether it’s “drones over Poland” or airspace incursions, “mysterious explosions and assassinations” or cyber-attacks, “Vladimir Putin is waging a grey-zone campaign against NATO: a cheap, deniable and calibrated effort to unsettle Europe that is carefully short of outright conflict…. NATO must resist Russia’s efforts to corrode it from within.”
Tags: Airspace, Assassinations, Calibrated, Campaign, Conflict, Cyber attacks, Deniable, Drones, Europe, Explosions, Grey-zone, Incursions, Nato, Poland, Putin, Testing, Unity, Unsettle
The Guardian (August 13)
Ukraine’s attack on Russia has boosted momentum and may undercut “Putin’s strongman image,” possibly “prompting doubts among the elite” or “encouraging squabbling over who is to blame for this embarrassment.” Ultimately, however, “the final judgment on Kyiv’s bet” remains to be seen. “Taking the enemy by surprise is a short-term win. But the consequences of this bold gamble are still playing out.”
Tags: Attack, Blame, Consequences, Doubts, Embarrassment, Momentum, Putin, Russia, Short-term win, Strongman, Surprise, Ukraine, Undercut
Wall Street Journal (September 6)
Vladimir Putin’s meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un “underscores the global nature of the threat to U.S. interests.” Indeed, the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to Kyiv this spring was partly “because America’s allies in Asia understand that Ukraine isn’t a distant squabble. Russia has its own Pacific ambitions, including militarizing the Kuril Islands, some of which Japan also claims. A Russia that prevails in Ukraine will provoke elsewhere. Mr. Putin is also the junior partner to the neighborhood’s No. 1 threat: The Chinese Communist Party.”
Tags: Allies, Asia, CCP, Global nature, Japan, Kim, Kuril Islands, Kyiv, North Korea, Pacific ambitions, Prime minister, Provoke, Putin, Russia, Threat, U.S. interests, Ukraine
Time (May 22)
“Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky was the undisputed star of the G7. But Summit’s focus remained firmly on China…. The bulk of business in Hiroshima was not focused on Vladimir Putin’s war of choice, but some 3,600 miles east of Moscow: Beijing’s growing assertiveness.”
Tags: Beijing, China, G7, Growing assertiveness, Hiroshima, Putin, Star, Summit, Ukraine, Undisputed, War of choice, Zelensky
The Economist (March 23)
“On Ukraine China has played an awkward hand ruthlessly and well. Its goals are subtle: to ensure Russia is subordinate but not so weak that Mr Putin’s regime implodes; to burnish its own credentials as a peacemaker in the eyes of the emerging world; and, with an eye on Taiwan, to undermine the perceived legitimacy of Western sanctions and military support as a tool of foreign policy.”
Tags: China, Legitimacy, Peacemaker, Perceived, Putin, Russia, Ruthlessly, Sanctions, Subordinate, Taiwan, Ukraine, Undermine
Wall Street Journal (March 18)
“Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin is the latest marker of the deep ties between Beijing and Moscow as the war in Ukraine continues into its second year.” As Xi advances “an increasingly assertive diplomacy” to “pursue… his country’s rightful place as a great power…. China’s relationship with Russia is especially important.”
Tags: Assertive, Beijing, China, Deep ties, Diplomacy, Great power, Moscow, Putin, Relationship, Russia, Ukraine, Visit, War, Xi
Reuters (February 20)
“Europe, which was late to appreciate the danger posed by Putin, won’t quickly forget the lesson even if he goes.” National defense budgets are being hiked and “Europe will be paying more for its protection for years to come,” not to mention bearing costs related to supporting and rebuilding Ukraine. Still, “these costs pale by comparison with a scenario where Putin had triumphed in Ukraine. In that case Europe would now be worrying how to protect the Baltic States and Poland from his aggression. Yet even a Russia weakened by a year of war and sanctions remains a problem for Europe.”
Tags: Aggression, Baltic States, Costs, Danger, Defense budgets, Europe, Poland, Protection, Putin, Rebuilding, Sanctions, Triumphed, Ukraine, War, Weakened
New York Times (September 22)
“Rattling his nuclear saber, accusing the West of seeking to ‘destroy’ his country and ordering the call-up of 300,000 military reservists, Mr. Putin implicitly conceded that the war he started on Feb. 24 has not gone as he wished.”
New York Times (June 1)
“While the United States of America seems to be coming apart, the United States of Europe — the 27 members of the European Union — have stunned everyone, and most of all themselves, by coming together to make a fist, along with a number of other European nations and NATO, to stymie Putin’s invasion.”
The Economist (May 21)
“By invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin will destroy the lives of people far from the battlefield—and on a scale even he may regret. The war is battering a global food system.” Russia and Ukraine produce roughly 12% of all traded calories. If “the war drags on and supplies from Russia and Ukraine are limited, hundreds of millions more people could fall into poverty. Political unrest will spread, children will be stunted and people will starve.”
Tags: Battlefield, Calories, Children, Destroy, Food, Invading, Political unrest, Poverty, Putin, Russia, Starve, Stunted, Ukraine, War
