A drone wall is a military capacity, not a defense strategy. Above all we need to deter Russia from violating EU airspace in the first place and break their war economy. Hit the archer, not just the arrows.

A Russian military reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted over the Baltic Sea today by the German Air Force. Because of course. Our nothing response on Friday guaranteed they would do it again. Russia will not stop until we stop them.

Time Russian jets allowed in Turkish airspace before getting shot down: 17 seconds Time Russian jets allowed in EU airspace before angry press release: 12 minutes “Quick and decisive” indeed.

First NATO refused to defend Ukraine’s skies. Now we refuse to defend our own.

Turkey already demonstrated the most effective response to Russian violations of NATO airspace 10 years ago: Warn them off, and if they ignore the warning, shoot them down. Do nothing and Russia will keep coming. Hit back and they back down. The choice is ours. #Article4 #Estonia

Thanks to Ukrainian strikes, Russia has lost 20% refinery capacity so far. At 50% they’ll have difficulties supplying the front. Ukraine is taking on Moscow’s economic war machine. Europe can do the same: Take down the shadow fleet in the Baltic & stop buying all Russian energy.

Dear Europe: Less talk about an American backstop, more actual stop Russia please.

❗️🇺🇦Ukraine has allocated a land plot for the construction of a 🇩🇪Rheinmetall plant for the production of 155-mm shells - Ukrainian Defense Minister Shmyhal

Russian drones hitting Poland aren’t a mistake. They’re a test, and NATO failed it. Expect more.

Impotent statements like these are why Russia feels free to attack us. This wasn’t an “incursion of drones.” Russia attacked Poland. We shouldn’t “condemn it.” We should hit Russia with serious, damaging consequences. We shouldn’t “call on Russia” to stop. We should stop them.

Trump’s meeting with Putin went really well, he totally knows who’s boss now

Europe’s three year “strategy” of too little, too late directly enabled today’s attack. Our weakness drives Russian escalation.

Promising Ukraine security guarantees only after a ceasefire is like promising water to someone dying of thirst in the Sahara only after it rains.

Trump: “I’m not gonna start wars, I’m gonna stop wars.” Also Trump:

I welcome today‘s show of support in Paris. However the hard truth remains: As long as the Coalition of the Willing insists they will only act after a ceasefire, they guarantee Russia will never accept a ceasefire.

Europe: Watch it Russia! Once you agree to a ceasefire we’ll arm Ukraine to the teeth & send air support & troops to keep the peace Russia: Cool thanks for the heads up. We’ll escalate the killing now then & ensure no ceasefire ever happens so we can keep destroying Ukraine undisturbed 👌

Merz says again that no troops would deploy to Ukraine until a ceasefire, & even then only with reservations. @bundeskanzler thinks he’s reassuring his voters, but he’s actually reassuring the Kremlin: You have nothing to fear as long as you keep the war going. We won’t stop you.

1/Die SED-Diktatur war mehr als Stasi und ein paar durchgeknallte SED-Funktionäre. Diktatur funktioniert, weil viele, ganz viele, sehr viele auf allen Ebenen mitmachen – die meisten wollen davon nichts mehr hören und wissen. Kommunistische Diktatur heißt, Gesellschaft töten,

What are Europeans willing to do to bring about the day when peace is signed? Until Europeans answer that question and act on it, theoretical future security guarantees are meaningless and actively incentivize Russia to ensure no peace deal ever comes about.

not sure you’d be allowed to write this in North Korea, lads

Russia considers Ukraine in NATO unacceptable. Ukraine considers Russian interference, troops, tanks, drones, missiles, and mines in countries that are not Russia unacceptable.

🇮🇳🛢️ Russian crude is getting even cheaper for India, - Bloomberg The price of Urals crude has dipped to a discount of $3 to $4 a barrel to Brent on a delivered basis. Last week, Urals was being offered at a discount of around $2.50 a barrel, wider than $1 in July.

Oxymoron of the day: European deterrence.

For 3.5 years the EU has shown Russia that they can jam GPS in the EU with zero repercussions. Having learned the lesson well, Russia is now even taking out GPS for von der Leyen’s travel, & no doubt laughing their heads off. A strongly worded statement from Brussels will follow.

Thank you all for the kind words & caffeine/babysitting support this weekend! At a time when so many have crisis fatigue & seem not to care, thanks above all for the morale boost. Never forget how strong this community is & hang in there 💙💪 Your voice & deeds matter in this war.

BREAKING SCANDAL: The US Dept of Labor hired a foreigner, a Russian poster model for their America First propaganda campaign

The EU is weighing legal ways to bypass unanimity in foreign policy, Bloomberg reports. A group of 12 countries backs shifting to qualified majority voting to speed up decisions on Ukraine and Russia, often blocked by Hungary. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The assassination of Andriy Parubiy, the former speaker of Ukraine’s parliament and a fierce opponent of Russia, is the most significant killing in a string of high-profile murders since the war with Russia began. www.ft.com/content/d08a...

In Feb. 2022 I dropped everything & paused my normal work to help Ukraine. 3.5 years, 12 trips to 🇺🇦, & even one baby 🥰 later, that “pause” never ended. If you appreciate my work, you can buy me a coffee (or babysitter :) here: Paypal: [email protected] buymeacoffee.com/jberlin

Mit anderen Worten: die Russen schlagen uns ständig mit einem Stock auf den Kopf. Anstatt ihnen den Stock wegzunehmen, nehmen wir ein paar Aspirin und setzen einen Helm auf.

“European leaders appear willing to let Russia punch us in the face as much as they want, and are unlikely to react with force until they see Russia is about to shoot us in the head.” From this month’s reader Q&A: open.substack.com/pub/berlinbr...

Good morning Europe

Don’t just summon Russia’s envoys. Close their embassies in the EU and UK and send their “diplomats” back to Moscow. That would be an appropriate response to their murdering civilians and bombing the British Council and EU delegation offices last night.

Things would need to get much worse before any NATO member directly intervenes in Ukraine. And there’s a lot you can do to mobilize at home and expand your reach online. I answered your questions in this month’s Q&A: open.substack.com/pub/berlinbr...

Europe's disunited governments are in denial about the extent to which violence is shaping global politics and must step up to assert their combined force as a hard power, the chief of defense staff of the French military has warned in a sweeping interview.

”Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has led to any number of unintended consequences, but none so quick and profound as the consolidation of the Nordic and Baltic regions under the NATO umbrella. The Nordic and Baltic states have also been the most enthusiastic supporters of Ukraine.”

Things would need to get much worse before any NATO member directly intervenes in Ukraine. And there’s a lot you can do to mobilize at home and expand your reach online. I answered your questions in this month’s Q&A: open.substack.com/pub/berlinbr...

Take that Russia. Strongly worded condemnation #1 even includes the words ‘strongly’ and ‘condemn’

BREAKING: Moscow braces for impact of incoming strongly worded condemnation from Europe

Another morning, another Russian war crime. At least 10 people dead this morning in Kyiv, 2 of them children.

Imagine if the US would put this kind of effort into infiltrating and destabilizing Russia instead of Denmark

The US says they’d support a European mission in post-war Ukraine with intel & air defense. Sounds good, but a couple problems here: 1. What 🇺🇸 says today can be reversed tomorrow 2. Read the fine print: post-war? These theoretical offers bring us no closer to ending the war. on.ft.com/4g1zYIu

The Kremlin knows Trump’s threats are empty and Europe has no plan. As long as Russia has nothing to fear, they have nothing to lose by continuing the war. Full article here: berlinbridge.substack.com/subscribe

We have no interest in territories. We have the biggest territory in the world which we got by being so concerned by the people in territories that we killed them and replaced them with Russians in the territories we did not have an interest in.

Link: berlinbridge.substack.com/p/the-chance...

Ah yes, who can forget the Hitler-Stalin-Truman summit that we still celebrate every 8 May, Negotiated Settlement in Europe Day. Or when Emperor Hirohito and Truman cordially met in Hawaii to agree mutual territorial concessions and end the war. Those were the good old days.

The Kremlin knows Trump’s threats are empty and Europe has no plan. As long as Russia has nothing to fear, they have nothing to lose by continuing the war. Full article here: berlinbridge.substack.com/subscribe

Freedom has a price. Ukrainians are paying it for all of Europe. Happy Independence Day, thank you, and godspeed to all who defend Ukraine, in and out of uniform.

Happy Ukrainian Flag Day 🇺🇦

If North Korea or China feared *any* retaliation from the EU or US for NK sending troops to help Russia attack a European ally, they‘d deny it. Instead they‘re bragging about it in PR videos. Western deterrence might as well be a white flag at this point.