I'm shocked to discover that a senior member of a party run by Nigel Farage had a dodgy relationship with Russia.

"If [Trump] were serious about punishing Russia for failing to move towards peace, he would have done it long ago." Always good to talk to @kyivindependent.com

Exactly. The logic of this position is that resisting any Russian incursion into NATO territory would be an act of war. Shooting down a plane? War. Stopping a tank crossing into Estonia? War. Resisting Russian troops invading Finland? War. 🙄

One last thing on Trump's embarrassing UN speech: watching it - in particular, listening to him read it - makes it clear that Trump has absolutely no interest in foreign policy. The only time he seemed remotely engaged was when he was complaining or bragging. That matters.🧵

The only really surprising thing about Trump's comments yesterday is how many people are still treating anything he says about Russia and Ukraine as indicative of a possible shift in the administration's policy of doing absolutely nothing.

Currently watching Trump's speech to the UN (was ill yesterday). Gore Vidal famously said of Eisenhower that he read his speeches with a "sense of discovery"; Trump read this one as if not only has he never seen it before, but he isn't even interested in it.

This is the most pathetic and undignified thing I've ever seen a US president do in the area of foreign policy. It makes George Bush Snr throwing up over the Japanese Prime Minister look like an act of brilliant diplomacy.

This escalation has been expected by many of us since at least the point when it became clear that Trump would be re-elected. I hope European NATO has a plan to respond, given the ample warning they've had to develop one, because this won't be a one-off. 🧵

Phase one involved taking no action against Russia for the first 8 months of the Trump presidency. Phase two will involve taking no action against Russia for the remaining 3 years and 4 months of the Trump presidency.

Caturday update on Sam: stitches almost gone, hair growing back fast, normal Sam behaviour resumed (trying to steal our dinner, spending the evening on the sofa with me, nicking almost all my side of the bed). Here he is with Freddie Purrcury, David Meowie, and his other favourite toys.

It's interesting to see how sensitive Trump is about the reaction to his humiliating hosting of Putin. He's tried several counter-narratives, but this is the most ludicrous.

Thoughts on the last week of frenetic diplomacy.

Someone just liked this post from December last year, so I re-read it and sadly it seems about right. I've got predictions wrong many times over the years; really wish this had been one of those times.

Putin came to Alaska because although he's a wanted war criminal who views the US as Russia's main adversary and has acted to undermine its interests for years, Donald Trump afforded him one of the highest possible diplomatic honours. India is still buying Russian oil.

Wednesday's excited reporting of Trump's "very severe consequences" threat feels like a long time ago.

*taps the sign*

However happy or unhappy Trump says he is with today's meeting, it's worth remembering that peace in Ukraine never appears to have been the main objective in US-Russia negotiations. Peace between Russia and the US seems to have always been the priority. They got that today.

My lovely mother-in-law died this morning, so apologies if you're trying to get hold of me to talk about the summit, I'm not going to be doing anything today or at the weekend.

A piece I've written for KCL's 'Our Divided Planet' forum on the Alaska summit and why it matters even though it's very unlikely to achieve its state goals: www.kcl.ac.uk/trump-putin-...

"The weakening of Washington’s foreign and security expertise [and] the administration’s pro-Russia orientation, puts the Kremlin in a stronger position than it has ever been before in relation to the White House." My @themoscowtimes.com piece on the summit. www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/08/14/t...

In non-summit news, Sam is doing very well - wound healing, hair returning, and he's back to trying to steal our breakfast. Cone off next week.

Trump claims there will be "very severe consequences" for Russia if they fail to stop the war. He doesn't want to say what they'll be but they will be severe. With wearying predictability, this wildly implausible claim is now the main headline on the BBC. 🧵

Not so much a summit as a deep depression.

30 years ago, Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin were invited to compete in a 1000 mile dog sled race in Alaska. Sadly, they declined, but I occasionally wonder what would have happened to US-Russia relations if they'd said yes. Maybe the idea could be revived on Friday.

I see that territorial adjustments that Trump promised are already happening. Best of luck to Lisa Murkowski on Russia's Federation Council

Who thinks that the man who doesn't know where he's going this week is likely to have even the most basic grasp of any of the issues he's supposed to be discussing when he gets there? Who in the admin *is* shaping policy on Ukraine and Russia for Trump?

Given the ridiculous media attention being paid to the Putin-Trump call, it needs repeating that the man who started the war and the man who admires the man who started the war cannot negotiate an end to the war between the two of them, without Ukraine.

Important to note that there are different types of US-Russia presidential meetings. This type is particularly significant and thus a very clear sign of the Trump administration's desire to align with the Kremlin. Long🧵

Since the end of the Cold War, summits have been used by US presidents as a mark of approval and withheld when they disapprove of Russian actions. Trump is, once again, signalling the value he places on Putin's friendship. It's a profound humiliation for the US.

10 days ago: newspapers report that Trump's 10 day deadline "hammers" Putin, increases the pressure on him to end the war, and threatens "crippling new sanctions". Trump today: “It’s up to [Putin] and we’ll see what he says.” A completely unsurprising climbdown.

Sam's operation went very well. He's now back home and deeply unimpressed with his cone. Will allow himself to be temporarily appeased with Dreamies.

Again, thanks so much to everyone who sent good wishes/ pics of their own cats (and, of course, Buckley the dog). This post has had about 4 times as many likes as anything I've ever posted about Russia or US foreign policy 😂- as it should have. I'll post a pic of Sam when he's home tomorrow.

Just heard from the vet that Sam's operation went well, all shotgun pellet fragments have been removed and he (Sam) is awake and fine. We'll hopefully get him back tomorrow. Thank you so, so much to everyone who responded to this post, it's helped enormously.

Our lovely cat, adopted from a rescue a year ago, is being operated on this morning to remove an old airgun pellet from his skull. We had no idea it was there until it caused an infection last week. Very grateful for any fingers you could cross for him.

So he doesn't describe the Witkoff-Putin meeting as a breakthrough, just as a highly productive meeting where great progress was made.

"We will work towards [ending the war] in the days and weeks to come" doesn't sound as if sanctions on Russia are coming in 48 hours. This is obviously a huge shock and was in no way predictable.

For some reason, our Foreign Policy job is marked as temporary on LinkedIn. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ It isn't, it's an indefinite contract. So if you're a Foreign Policy scholar looking for a permanent post, don't be put off!

"Trump claims to have moved nuclear submarines" would be significantly more accurate. Trump claims lots of things; occasionally, some are true, but there's no obvious reason to think this is one of them. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Just got blocked by an account when I asked them how they'd concluded from this post that I was happy to see Ukrainians being killed by Russia and was just the same as Donald Trump. This place is getting weirder.

Rubio on sanctioning Russia: "I think our hope is to avoid that and to sort of figure out a way that we can get the fighting to stop". You've had over 6 months, chaps, but no rush.

Once again there's lots of excitement that Trump has said something about sanctions, but not much here to actually get excited about. Short 🧵

Excellent job alert: KCL War Studies is hiring a lecturer in Foreign Policy on a full-time, indefinite contract. We already have lots of Middle East and East Asia expertise, but any other regional (and cross-regional) specialisms are of interest. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOA302/l...

On the one hand, this is not what should be occupying the time of the US president during an era of acute international crisis; on the other, this is going to be absolutely magnificent entertainment. www.bbc.com/news/article...

"President Trump [...] will continue to ratchet up the costs on Vladimir Putin." Not sure how you can "continue" to do something when you've only done the opposite. Trump has been weakening or removing the costs on Putin since he took office. No reason to expect any change.

The international order is in its moment of greatest flux for 35 years, destabilising conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, the US's global standing weaker than at any point since 1945, and this is how the president is spending his time.

Just spent two days discussing how/whether the Euro-Atlantic security community continues to hold together and in what form. Despite all the thoughtful analysis, you have to come back to the problem that its most powerful state is headed by someone who writes stuff like this.

Taking part in 2 day @rusi.bsky.social and FCDO event on the future of the Euro-Atlantic security architecture. Very useful conversation about European security architecture in the era of Trump and in the context of current and future Russian threats.

"He thinks Vladimir Putin is his friend [...] He doesn't like to impose these penalties on Putin." News media and analysts determined to see a turning point in Trump's approach to Russia appear unable to grasp this point. It's as if Trump's view is too simplistic to be real.

On a short holiday in Estonia last week. For those not lucky enough to have been in Tallinn recently, this is what the Russian embassy looks like: