World
Cracks are already showing in the EU's Russia response
‘The EU is united and acting fast,’ said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, as she condemned…
Has Putin lost control?
As the Soviet Union fell to pieces around our ears, we in the Moscow embassy used to discuss the Weimar…
How Putin is following Hitler’s playbook
Like many rulers of Russia before him, especially Stalin, Vladimir Putin is a keen student of History. Judging by his…
Putin's next move
Budapest Russian troops, many apparently without insignia, began advancing into the disputed Donbas region yesterday. The question now is how…
Why the silence over Biden's links with Ukraine?
‘He has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.’ So…
Connecting the dots between Russiagate and Hillary
Let’s connect the dots between John Durham, Russiagate, the FBI, and Hillary Clinton. They strongly suggest the Clinton campaign ran…
Putin must look at the West and laugh
Whatever the West’s response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty, the crisis demonstrates the limitations of western politics and policy…
Unmasking 'panda diplomacy'
The star of the Beijing Winter Olympics wasn’t an athlete: it was Bing Dwen Dwen, the spacesuit-clad panda mascot. It…
Macron’s diplomatic failure in Russia was still a political success
President Emmanuel Macron may or may not have imagined that his mission to Moscow would head off armed conflict in…
Are the lights about to go out across Europe?
Today’s snap decision by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to halt Nord Stream 2 — the new pipeline intended to export…
It's too late to break Europe's gas reliance on Russia
So, Nord Stream 2 will not be plugged into Germany’s gas grid. A little surprisingly, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been…
Germany's canning of Nord Stream 2 will hit Putin hard
Vladimir Putin’s threats towards Ukraine have, in part, been an operation in stoking divisions throughout the West. As James Forsyth…
Sanctions won't stop Putin
The Lithuanian prime minister, Ingrida Šimonyte, put it well yesterday: ‘the way we respond will define us for the generations to…
Russia's Ukraine invasion is an own goal for Putin
Vladimir Putin does like to keep us guessing. While Western governments were warning in increasingly apocalyptic terms of a full-scale…
Will Putin now roll on to Kiev?
The White House told us with absolute certainty that there would be an invasion of Ukraine this week — instead…
The seismic importance of Putin’s latest move
Vladimir Putin has tonight unilaterally recognised the two breakaway republics in Ukraine. In doing so, he has effectively ended the…
Ending restrictions won't save Boris
Boris Johnson certainly managed to rally the troops on their first day back from recess this afternoon as he told…
The Globe adds Shakespeare anti-Semitism warnings
Mr S enjoys a good show: many of the best dramas are to be found on the Westminster stage. After all, what…
Is an anti-Xi resistance emerging?
From the 1980s to 2017, at least every five years, China’s National Party Congress would be a moment of intriguing…
How the Ukraine crisis ends
Vladimir Putin does not think in the way the West does. Of course sanctions will hurt. But so what? He…
Get well soon, your Majesty
The news that the Queen had tested positive for Covid must have sent a shiver of dread down the spines…
What if we aren’t ready to live with Covid?
Quite the constitutional twist, yesterday. Just as what Walter Bagehot called the efficient side of our ruling set-up was merrily…
Will Boris Johnson's big week be undone by partygate?
When Boris Johnson gave an interview on Sunday to the BBC’s Sophie Raworth, he was not keen to talk about…
China and Russia are an alliance of disruptors
Four years ago, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping made pancakes together in Vladivostok while thousands of their military forces conducted…
The cost of living
“The test of a first-rate intelligence,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the…
