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Europe

Russia’s War Economy Lifeline: Inside the Sanctions Evasion Network

Russia’s War Economy Lifeline: Inside the Sanctions Evasion Network

DEEP DIVE — Nearly three years into the most comprehensive sanctions regime ever imposed on a significant economy, Russia’s defense industrial base [...] More

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Uber Krysha: How Russia Turns Crime into Power—and Poison

OPINION — Current discussion of Russian "hybrid warfare" tends to revolve around concepts like disinformation, proxy militias, cyber operations, [...] More

The Kremlin Files: Russia, the Modern Surveillance State

The Kremlin Files: Russia, the Modern Surveillance State

THE KREMLIN FILES / COLUMN — Ask any Russian intelligence officer about “naruzhka,” and you’ll see them nod knowingly. It’s the term for physical, [...] More

Putin Again Bungles Strategy: Why His War of Attrition will Sink Russia

OPINION — On February 14, 2022, with Russia poised to invade Ukraine, I questioned whether Vladimir Putin’s reign to that point had revealed him to [...] More

This is Perhaps Ukraine’s Most Dangerous Time

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Each of my eight trips to Ukraine since retiring from the CIA in the summer of 2023 has been filled with unique challenges. Each [...] More

Winter is Coming to Ukraine as it Faces a New Kind of War and Uncertainty About a Key Ally

Winter is Coming to Ukraine as it Faces a New Kind of War and Uncertainty About a Key Ally

EXPERT INTERVIEW — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Berlin on Monday for an intense round of diplomacy with top U.S. and European [...] More

Echoes of 1940: Learning from an Ally at War and Preparing the U.S. for the Next Fight

Echoes of 1940: Learning from an Ally at War and Preparing the U.S. for the Next Fight

EXPERT OPINION / PERSPECTIVE — Eighty-five years ago, as the United States cautiously explored an expanded alliance with Great Britain, our own [...] More

Russia is Waging a Sabotage Shadow War on Europe

Russia is Waging a Sabotage Shadow War on Europe

DEEP DIVE — In the darkness of night on November 15, a massive explosion ripped through a stretch of the Warsaw-Lublin railway line close to Mika, [...] More

Can Europe Survive the New Multipolar World?

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — For more than three decades after the Cold War, Europe lived under the illusion that history had settled in its favor. Liberal [...] More

Putin Sees “Useful Meetings”, the U.S. Should See a Trap Set for Inexperienced Negotiators

EXPERT OPINION / PERSPECTIVE -- Reports from Moscow suggest that U.S. representatives Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are “optimistic” about the [...] More

The Kremlin's Kill List: Inside a Culture of State-Sponsored Murder

The Kremlin's Kill List: Inside a Culture of State-Sponsored Murder

EXPERT OPINION / PERSPECTIVE — The 2024 spy swap between Russia and the West exposed a brutal truth: Moscow still treats innocent civilians as [...] More

The U.S. Needs to Restore Deterrence Credibility Against Putin

OPINION — President Donald Trump’s 28-point peace plan is a humanitarian attempt to halt the killing and destruction in Ukraine, although Russia’s [...] More

Do Oil Sanctions Still Work?

Do Oil Sanctions Still Work?

DEEP DIVE — On October 22, 2025, in his boldest move yet to force Vladimir Putin back to the negotiating table, President Trump unleashed sweeping [...] More