Alexander Vershbow

Amb Alexander Vershbow was NATO Deputy SecGen 2012-2016, previously US Amb to NATO, Russia and S.Korea and Asst Secretary of Defense, now at Atlantic Council

[Ambassador Jonatan Vseviov @vseviov]

Wars end when one side realizes its strategy has failed.

Putin’s Russia is nearing that moment. It has lost the initiative, is losing the narrative, and is watching its last remaining hope fade: the illusion that it can gain at the negotiating table what it has failed to win on the battlefield.

This is no time to throw the aggressor a lifeline. Our task is simple: keep calm, stay the course, and maintain the pressure.

Only when Moscow understands that time is decisively against it will a path to a just peace emerge.

[Michael Kofman @KofmanMichael]

Good piece by @Jack_Watling in FA today https://t.co/kCxXKtB1FT

[Julia Davis @JuliaDavisNews]

Meanwhile in Russia: leading political philosopher Alexander Dugin, described by some as "Putin's brain," lays out his vision of the Motherland's shining future and admits that Russia overestimated its strength in the war against Ukraine.
https://t.co/nsqHH4MWvQ

[max seddon @maxseddon]

After Trump and Putin met in Alaska last summer, the Kremlin spent months talking about the "spirit of Anchorage," insisting the US and Russia had reached some mysterious understanding there.

Now Putin's foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, claims there is no such thing!

[Steve Rosenberg @BBCSteveR]

Powerful editorial in one Russian paper today criticising “high-ranking Russian officials” for making nuclear threats. “To allow, in thoughts and words, the possibility of a nuclear conflict is a sure step towards allowing it in reality.” #ReadingRussia https://t.co/TAO0rho35y

[Alexander Vershbow @ARVershbow]

Yuval Noah Harari: Trump’s world of rival fortresses via @FT
https://t.co/q2t4qvXDjo

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

“That day, we realized the Russians had come to kill us” is how one theater survivor put it to me. “They didn’t come to fight with Ukrainian soldiers. They just wanted to kill us.”

from James Verini, an excerpt from his book "The Theater"

https://t.co/Hc3g9Lr8Vv

[Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky_en]

I have listened to Putin speak for over twenty years. Last week, he did something I have not seen since the full-scale war began: he called Zelenskyy 'господин Зеленский.' Mr. Zelenskyy.

That single word is why a negotiated peace now feels within reach (🧵 Read on)

[Burak Keskin @Burak_Keskin85]

@nexta_tv Putin expects us to call it a negotiation while he puts his own guys on both ends of the table. Who is Schroeder going to represent after years on gazprom's payroll? It's like appointing a wolf to guard the sheep.

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Boris Pistorius, Defense Minister of Germany, has arrived in Kyiv.

Welcome, Minister!

[Alexander Vershbow @ARVershbow]

Congratulations to @AmbDanFried and his teammates for their excellent performance at the @OxfordUnion debate.

[Daniel Fried @AmbDanFried]

Good to report that tonight’s @OxfordUnion debate concluded with a 2-1 vote in favor of supporting Ukraine. All credit to my fellow debaters @FrancisDearnley & @OKhromeychuk! @ACEurasia

[Daniel Fried @AmbDanFried]

Good to report that tonight’s @OxfordUnion debate concluded with a 2-1 vote in favor of supporting Ukraine. All credit to my fellow debaters @FrancisDearnley & @OKhromeychuk! @ACEurasia

[Ivo Daalder @IvoHDaalder]

Few people have been better positioned to dominate foreign and national security policy than Marco Rubio, who serves as both secretary of state and national security advisor. But what’s most remarkable about Rubio is his ever shrinking role. My latest https://t.co/I3WHKNXEx5

[Daniel Fried @AmbDanFried]

From @JJCarafano & Kaush Arha, a constructive US strategy of “free and open spaces” v spheres of influence. Solid stuff. They assert that this is already Trump’s strategy, but they are more advocating than describing. Still, good if the administration were to pick it up.

[Alexander Vershbow @ARVershbow]

The end is nigh for @Putin? https://t.co/JMTf8Cupl4

[Nicholas Burns @RNicholasBurns]

The State Department fired 200 experienced U.S. Foreign Service Officers today. No Administration has been more dismissive of our nonpartisan career diplomats. Shameful.

[Richard N. Haass @RichardHaass]

Vladimir Putin & Donald Trump launched wars of choice they expected would end quickly & decisively. Both must decide how to conclude them now that their assumptions have proven wrong. https://t.co/5KqkrH2rH6

[New Eurasian Strategies Centre (NEST Centre) @nestcentreorg]

Is Russia's war machine running out of steam?

The NEST Centre and The Atlantic Council's @ACEurasia will cohost a discussion on the implications of Russia’s grinding war, struggling economy, and tightening internet controls.

May 8 | 10:00 am ET | Online and in-person

[Trudy Rubin @trudyrubin]

#KingCharles reminded Congress about the need to check the poser of monarchs (and wannabe kings). So why did #JDVance and #MikeJohnson clap? https://t.co/klQe9s3RYp @PhillyInquirer @UKinUSA @UKinNewYork

[Alexander Vershbow @ARVershbow]

“The good news is that Congress, the administration and the Pentagon can all now see our military shortcomings. …The bad news is that our adversaries can see them too.”

https://t.co/AMCiKv6R2V via @NYTOpinion