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Until we know what actually happened (I mean in technical terms, what Russia actually did and what the effect was on aircraft, airport and ATC) we have no way of being confident it wasn’t all just a coincidence. But releasing those details is a political decision so I’m not holding my breath.
I’ve seen this one. www.imdb.com/title/tt0097...
Ukraine is gradually making for itself the kind of weapons it begged the West for at the beginning of fascist Russia's full-scale invasion. The military result will be the same - just tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives have been lost in the time wasted by Biden and the West.
Ah you've read Chapter 4 of this then? amzn.to/4cFI1b6
Yes, it's outrageous that Russia waged an electronic warfare attack on the EU President. Sadly, it's so normalised, nothing will change, says Russia expert Keir Giles, who warned about Russia's GPS jamming attacks in his 2024 book Who Will Save Europe. Me in The Nightly: latika.me/RussiaJamsEU...
I've been told my own conclusions from writing on the attitude to national defence of the UK's government, service chiefs and planners are "too harsh". Going by @edrusi.bsky.social's grim rollcall of ongoing failure, they weren't nearly harsh enough. A must-read. www.rusi.org/explore-our-...
And the encouraging result of these conversations has been some slightly more measured reporting, with a bit more background and context on Russia’s long-term electronic warfare against Europe. “EU chief von der Leyen's plane hit by suspected Russian GPS jamming” www.bbc.com/news/article...
And the encouraging result of these conversations has been some slightly more measured reporting, with a bit more background and context on Russia’s long-term electronic warfare against Europe. “EU chief von der Leyen's plane hit by suspected Russian GPS jamming” www.bbc.com/news/article...
News reporting today on von der Leyen's aircraft landing in Plovdiv has triggered more slightly bizarre conversations with media treating "GPS jamming" as something that has never happened before, because suddenly it has affected somebody they have heard of. Instead, it's normal: amzn.to/4cFI1b6
Good Lord, 90 of them? He must have practically worn out his pornogram.
Sadly, as we have seen demonstrated many times over the years, Putin being widely regarded in the West as having made a mistake is irrelevant if he himself is of a different opinion.
Sadly, as we have seen demonstrated many times over the years, Putin being widely regarded in the West as having made a mistake is irrelevant if he himself is of a different opinion.
Indeed they were.
Yes, both of them. The magnificent home made cake stand is the star attraction here.
It’s so good they can’t wait to get home before reading it.
FABULOUS. Highly recommended. Come on by!
Don’t bother me for a couple of hours, I am manning a stand of my books at the village church fair.
“Coalition of the willing”, “security guarantees” and now a “buffer zone”: the meaningless European pantomime continues while Russia contentedly proceeds with its murderous campaign. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PYB...
Moscow’s campaign of terror against Ukrainian cities is incomprehensible without direct experience of Russia, since it serves no military aim that makes sense to Western European minds. Here @the-independent.com asks us why Russia relishes murdering innocents. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...
I missed this paper by @keirgiles.bsky.social when it came out in March. It's brilliant. Read it!
Thank you, that is very kind. Sadly, like most genuine solutions to the problem of Russia, it had zero chance of ever being implemented.
@jamesnixey.bsky.social departed earlier this year.
Chatham House has appointed a new Programme Director for Europe and Russia (a remit which if I understand correctly also covers Central Asia and the Caucasus.) It is to be Mr Grégoire Roos. www.chathamhouse.org/2025/08/appo...
Time for another run to Specsavers so I can stop glancing out of the window and wondering whose brown cat is standing on the fence.
Because ( @mikecarpenter.bsky.social may not agree) it provides Keir Starmer and others with the opportunity to appear to be Doing Something, without much real danger that they might have to actually DO something. There is, and always has been, another way - media.voog.com/0000/0051/27...
Security guarranties is a fantasy. The size (5000 troops) is idiocy, American 'backstop' is rubbish all the while the Americans is siding with Russia, and the European stance that this will be implemented after a ceasefire which Moscow repeatedly has rejected, makes all these efforts pointless.
Same dissonance for many months now. This was back in February. www.ft.com/content/f268...
British defence chief Tony Radakin still playing down the broader threat from Russia: Russia “has been stopped”, he says, and will not be in a position to start a fight anywhere else after Ukraine. Is there any other European defence chief that says this? Genuine question.
Corby is indeed legendary round these parts for being That Kind Of Special.
A great opportunity to join our excellent team. If you've come back from your summer holidays feeling that you want a new challenge, this job at @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social could be just what you're looking for.
Ahhhh finally. I wrote this almost 20 years ago. www.files.ethz.ch/isn/94472/07...
BBC also links to the last round of this back in May - www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Ah no, that was my own adjustment. As you know, I myself am relatively chaste in speech, so I wanted to censor the profanity with an appropriate image.
Grok, show me somebody with too much time on their hands but too small a vocabulary to fill it with.
Come on lads - do you want to be seen or not?
What could possibly go wrong?
Best thank @tordenskjoldcph.bsky.social who flagged it and no doubt will continue to keep us posted.
A short partial translation (there is a great deal more at the original link, www.dr.dk/nyheder/indl... )
Really some major media organisation should attempt a consciousness-raising exercise trying to explain to the British public and its godforsaken government just exactly how they are on Russia’s front line… Oh yes right thank you. news.sky.com/story/the-wa...
There is a lethal feedback loop here. The only time raising your own national flag should count as an act of defiance is under hostile foreign occupation. Stigmatising or criminalising flag-raisers will only deepen their conviction that that is the UK's situation now. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Elbridge Colby has once again found a means of hobbling Ukraine’s war effort that runs directly counter to Trump‘s most recent stated intent. It’s because Colby is consistent and Trump is not; but I wonder how long before the White House notes Colby’s habit of doing the opposite of what Trump wants.
For people who are not fluent in Italian, here's a machine translation. "The reality is that there are no meaningful security guarantees for Ukraine that would be acceptable to Russia. To be truly meaningful, they would have to be capable of thwarting Russian objectives," Keir Giles notes. Cont...
For over a decade, part of the United States’ problem in dealing with Russia has been una paralisi mentale spaventosa. Domani quotes @mtsavill.bsky.social, Ryhor Nizhnikau and yours truly on the “Russia agreeing security guarantees for Ukraine“ nonsense www.editorialedomani.it/politica/mon...
"In the service... one must always choose the lesser of two weevils!"
Yes I'm not sure where the word "liberal" in that sentence came from.
Give the man credit for making good on at least one of his promises. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/why-do...
I had to drive four hours across southern England today. There were signs of the flag rebellion everywhere (although all Union flags, no St George’s) - no wonder the BBC is alarmed. “St George's cross 'intimidating', council says” www.bbc.com/news/article...
Or if you’re not a prof, it’s available here - amzn.to/3LePv6K
Reciprocity isn’t in Russia’s culture. “Russia defines its own security by the insecurity of its neighbours.” Keir Giles, ‘Moscow Rules’ www.jstor.org/stable/10.78...
Noteworthy if correct. I wonder why. Surely we are all pulling in the same direction with a shared objective of a just, sustainable peace that assures Ukraine’s future security. Aren’t we?
Well of course it has, British Airways, it just wouldn't be the same if your website actually worked.
Ah, no, we're back to staring at this for minutes on end while the hamster driving the website climbs wearily into his wheel.
Ah, no, we're back to staring at this for minutes on end while the hamster driving the website climbs wearily into his wheel.
Post 95 in the occasional "what is wrong with British Airways" thread. Possibly the last one for a while about their website, which may have given up working altogether as just too much effort.
Post 95 in the occasional "what is wrong with British Airways" thread. Possibly the last one for a while about their website, which may have given up working altogether as just too much effort.
Western media scratching their heads/balls today and asking themselves "Did we call it wrong after the second Trump-Zelenskyy White House meeting?" Yes, you did. Again. If you actually listened to what seasoned Russia/Ukraine/Trump-watchers have been saying - for years - you might get it right.
For Brits of a certain age, being added to Ze List has an especial savour.
Huge congratulations to @irgarner.bsky.social, @keatingetom.bsky.social, @bctallis.bsky.social, @johnsweeneyroar.bsky.social, @zarinazabrisky.bsky.social and other hugely talented but possibly Blueskyless colleagues on the recognition and endorsement of their work.
I'm just catching up with the latest Russian MFA honours list - the Brits (mostly) who are sufficiently good at frustrating the Kremlin that they are now denied the privilege of visiting Nizhniye Nuzhniki. Congratulations to all and once again I am left wondering how much harder I have to work.
Delighted to announce I have now achieved the rare honour of being banned by Russia TWICE: once as a Canadian, now as a Briton! 🇨🇦 🇬🇧
I think the realisation is now slowly starting to spread (again) in public commentary that Trump‘s claims of what has been achieved should not be believed without a robust reality check. But it’s wearying to have to go through this cycle each time, and damaging too.
I don’t think I used the word “moron”.
And “Just Trust Him” too short.
Blatant misinformation.
New performance criterion for top management positions: how many employees can you successfully save from the purges before you get purged yourself? www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/u...
24-minute discussion William Crawley of BBC Radio Ulster plays devil's advocate: #Ukraine should give up all of #Donetsk and east to get "peace deal" w #Russia @keirgiles.bsky.social and I explain why that is a terrible, dangerous, and unnecessary concession #UkraineWar
My latest episode of @thisisnotadrillpod.bsky.social is out now, featuring Russia expert at Chatham House @keirgiles.bsky.social discussing Alaska, Washington and those Putin-Trump-Zelenskyy talks. Out now at the link below or your favourite podcast provider! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
But at the same time entirely predictable.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am not, nor have I ever been, Russian.
I think even "Europe is planning" may be a little on the optimistic side.
Thank you, those are kind words. Is it bad that we get frustrated that from our perspective it just feels like stating the bleedin' obvious again?
🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 After a frantic week of international diplomacy, where has the Trump-Putin summit left the prospect of an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine? @ozkaterji.bsky.social and @keirgiles.bsky.social discuss in our latest edition ➡️ linktr.ee/drillpod
Very much so, but the "this" also applies to the prospect of a Putin-Zelensky meeting on the terms Trump promised. So both of the two main "achievements" of the White House meetings, really.
@ozkaterji.bsky.social per our conversation yesterday, it's still rolling on.
Another busy morning of media reality checks. Still a vast gap between (a) excitable reporting based on comments from European leaders who are humouring Trump instead of saying "this will never work", and (b) what anybody who knows Russia and has been paying attention knows is likely to happen.
Heartbroken.
European leaders have done their best to bring the situation back from the brink of disaster – but the coming days will show whether it was enough. Read @keirgiles.bsky.social latest on the aftermath of the Zelenskyy-Trump summit in Washington DC, for @the-independent.com⤵️
Let's see if the "coalition of the willing" will ever be a coalition of the able. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/t... (paywalled, sorry)
Tune in to hear the last few minutes of us violently agreeing with each other.
On air soon alongside the excellent Keir Giles on BBC Radio Ulster to analyze #Zelensky and #Europe success in White House on Monday And to ask if #Putin can flip #Trump once more #Ukraine www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
El cortejo de los europeos a Trump evita otra bronca y (por ahora) la entrega de Ucrania a Putin. Explico aquí lo que ha pasado desde la victoria de Trump y qué resquicios quedan. Con @keirgiles.bsky.social y @timothysnyder.bsky.social www.eldiario.es/129_bf5fdf?u...
Thank you. That and the sanewashing of Trump and his team are maddening.
Full credit to @lbc.co.uk presenter Nick Abbot for giving me plenty of space to let rip.
I’ve long argued that in its hour of crisis, European NATO should look to its easternmost members for the leadership that’s been so lacking from its former military heavyweights. But it could look West as well, because it still has one friend across the Atlantic.
Thank you, those are kind words. If only Canada were able to step up its defence spending and replace the former military heavyweights of western Europe, it would have an even stronger claim to leadership.
Almost 24 hours later, we're starting to get there, but it took the intervention of esteemed colleague @shashj.bsky.social to hammer it home for the BBC.
Why would anybody want to be an analyst with a think tank when they could be a searcher at the breast of a reflection group?
Flood Washington DC with National Guard, violent feds, and from tomorrow a slack handful of European heads of government too - looks like we at least have an answer to the question “what on earth can Donald Trump do that will finally distract people from the Epstein files?“
Excellent! Do let me know how you find it once you get stuck in!
That is very kind of you. (Although I’m not quite so sure it’s “worth the watch”, given that it’s radio…) www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
“Nobody should think for a moment that just because the Russians have mentioned a peace agreement, they are at all interested in ceasing their program of nightly casual murder in Ukraine’s cities.“
“Security guarantees, you know, like the Budapest Memorandum“ would be wearily unsurprising.
- and yet, despite Steven Witkoff’s apparently shaky grasp of the key issues, and his habitual failure to understand what the Russians are telling him, somehow most media are taking it for granted that he knows what he is talking about this time.
- and yet, despite Steven Witkoff’s apparently shaky grasp of the key issues, and his habitual failure to understand what the Russians are telling him, somehow most media are taking it for granted that he knows what he is talking about this time.
I’ll be on ABC RN Breakfast in about 90 minutes talking about guess what. Let’s see if we discuss the apparent lack of concern in media that with all the hype about “Article 5-like security guarantees“ (?), the primary source on them is Steven Witkoff - www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/au...
Well? Do you?
Grok, show me somebody with too much time on their hands but too small a vocabulary to fill it with.
An interesting background read here on the process by which Donald Trump ended up facing Putin with next to no competent Russia advisers in support. www.emptywheel.net/2025/08/15/d...
