Ted Snider

Getting a count of Ukraine’s dead that isn’t the output of someone’s propaganda machine is difficult to do. But the number of dead is indisputably a horror. Measuring the maiming of Ukraine solely in deaths, though, is an injustice to the depth of the Ukrainian wound. It is not just that using tens of thousands … Continue reading “Ukraine Is More Than Wounded”

At the end of June, 2023, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s coup attempt quickly began and quickly ended. Officials in the political West were quick to diagnose the weakness in Putin’s government and the vulnerability in Russia’s forces in Ukraine. Neither diagnosis turned out to be true. Putin seems to have emerged, not only unscathed by … Continue reading “Prigozhin Is Gone, but Wagner Is Everywhere”

As Ukraine’s counteroffensive and chances of winning the war begin to show signs of falling apart, and the realization that, eventually, Ukraine will end the war only through negotiations begins to dawn, Kiev has begun a campaign of conferences to court the neutral global south, or what Russia now calls the global majority, to their … Continue reading “The Global South Stands Up”

Poland has been one of the most assertive proponents of Ukraine’s entry into NATO and of NATO’s escalating involvement in the war, from providing tanks to providing fighter jets. As Ukraine’s chances of rapid entry into NATO have faded and their chances of victory in the war are falling apart, there has been talk of … Continue reading “Ukraine, NATO, and the Polish Problem”

There was a whole menu of peaceful ways the war in Ukraine could have been prevented. NATO could have kept its promise and not expanded east to Russia’s borders and across its long advertized “brightest of all red lines,” as now CIA Director and then Ambassador to Russia William Buns called Ukraine in 2008. Ukraine … Continue reading “Everyone Chose the Military Option”

On July 6, it was revealed that secret back-channel talks have been held between former US officials and “prominent Russians believed to be close to the Kremlin.” The US officials do not represent the White House but have briefed the White House. Though no current US officials have participated in the talks, on the Russian … Continue reading “Talking to Russia: Five Things You Won’t Believe Are Being Said Behind Closed Doors”

In the early days, the war in Ukraine had not escalated into the dangerous NATO-Russia nightmare that it is today. The massive amounts of death and destruction was not yet imagined. Though "the news keeps repeating that Putin is targeting civilians," according to a senior analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency in March 2022, "there … Continue reading “America’s Cruel War Policy in Ukraine”

Like the war that necessitated it, Russia’s decision not to renew the UN-Turkish brokered grain deal is bad for the world but not entirely unprovoked. The deal allowed Ukraine safe passage for its grain laden ships through the mined and blockaded Black Sea ports so it could export its grain to the world. On July … Continue reading “Russia Decides Not To Renew Grain Deal: Some Context”

In a rare public display of division and lost tempers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Western partners exchanged expressions of frustration with each other at the recent NATO summit in Vilnius Lithuania. The exchange exposed more than their frustration. It exposed raw questions about the origins and endings of the war in Ukraine. Zelensky … Continue reading “If You Don’t Want To be Treated Like Amazon, Don’t Promise To Be Like Amazon”

On July 11 and 12, NATO leaders met in Vilnius Lithuania for the annual NATO summit. The important summit brought into focus the many contradictions and conundrums in the difficult NATO-Ukraine knot. The Membership Action Plan In the weeks leading up to the summit, President Joe Biden was asked if the U.S. would “make it … Continue reading “Tightening the Ukraine-NATO Knot”