Eric Johnson

Institutional investor/advisor, former National Security DC AskNot (DoD, IC, White House) & Cambridge Associates. Int’l Working Group on Russ. Sanctions. RT≠E.

[Eric Johnson @EricTJohnson20]

@BarbMcQuade Maybe it is time for updating our expectations about constitutional duty of Senate and House to approve, affirmatively, any “emoluments”. Public should know who is paying POTUS, and whether payments come with strings or compromising conditions, to ensure they are NOT bribes.

[Eric Johnson @EricTJohnson20]

@NormOrnstein …To the degree there could be a judgment call that his foreign payments should be overlooked or OK’ed, GOP will control both houses. They could provide “Consent of the Congress”. Why not press them to do so? Start with hearings now to identify payment streams & focus attention.

[Maria Popova 🇨🇦 @PopovaProf]

"How, then, does the Russia’s war end?
The denouement will be abrupt, but it's unlikely to be immediate. It will manifest not through the slow hammering out of a negotiated settlement, but through the sudden, cataclysmic collapse of the Pu regime. Russia will have to be defeated"

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Ukraine believes that every democratic nation in Europe deserves to be a full member of the EU. And we are working as actively as possible to achieve this.

Please, do not forget that Ukraine merits it because it has paid more than any other European country for its right to be free, independent, and European. This right is not only for Ukraine. It is also the right of other nations to be independent from Russia.

The future of Europe – free, united and in peace – is being decided in our defense. That shows how unique our situation is. I’m grateful to everyone who recognizes this and who takes the necessary steps to show that Europe truly values and supports it.

The most important such step could be a fast-track path for Ukraine to join the EU.

From an address at the EU Council meeting. (1/3)

[George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway3d]

"This isn't really about politics. It's about the moral, constitutional and legal obligations of Congress.

The Framers didn't intend for us to just sit back and say, 'Well we just have to wait out a criminal president who's acting continually in derogation of his duties, undermining the country and running it for his own ego and benefit.'"

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Kuleba: Zelenskyy's letter to Russians — right move, right timing, right content. Like fertilizer in soil: it changes nothing in the moment.

But it sows seeds of doubt, hesitation, anger, and protest inside Russia. It was an investment in Russia's negative future. 2/

[toomas hendrik ilves @IlvesToomas]

There goes the NPT…
@RadioFreeTom

[Timothy Ash @tashecon]

Disaster for Putin - oil prices collapsing, Lukoil/Rosneft sanctions back in place which will see return of 30% Urals discount, OPEC price war looming, & refineries in Russia are burning as will the budget deficit & the econ. Russia cannot win in Ukraine.

[Roderich Kiesewetter🇪🇺🇩🇪🇮🇱🇺🇦 @RKiesewetter]

The rules-based international order is facing its most critical test since 1945. For too long, the West has been trapped in a state of dangerous complacency, setting self-imposed red lines out of fear of escalation. We must realize that Putin treats our self-restriction not as an invitation to de-escalate, but as a red carpet to exploit. While Russia struggles to achieve decisive victories on the conventional battlefield, it is successfully shifting the conflict to the cognitive and hybrid domains. The recent destruction of Ukraine's cultural heritage, combined with the thousands of coordinated drone incidents, sabotage acts against critical infrastructure, and arson attacks on EU soil, demonstrates that Europe is already firmly in the crosshairs of Moscow's imperial ambition. Germany is a primary target of this campaign, not as a frontline state, but as the central logistical hub for Euro-Atlantic defense.

We must abandon the romantic, naive belief that a revanchist power will negotiate in good faith without a clear demonstration of strength. True peace, freedom, and self-determination cannot be achieved by forcing Ukraine to cede territory or by accepting a artificial buffer zone. Ukraine's resistance makes Europe safer, and its ultimate integration into the Euro-Atlantic security architecture is a geopolitical necessity for a resilient Europe. To deter the broader axis of authoritarian regimes—including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea—Europe and esp. Germany must urgently step up. This means implementing a modern mandatory service to rebuild civilian and military resilience, fostering independent capability in our defense industry, and maintaining unwavering strategic clarity. True stability requires predictability, reliability, and the courage to meet systemic threats with absolute resolve. FrontlineDailyPodcast with @amykelloggmilan

https://t.co/QttdGZ6iPD

[Jack Watling @Jack_Watling]

It's a bit like Whiplash spending time with Ukrainian units who desperately wish they were supported by decent numbers of modern combat aircraft as it would genuinely solve so many tactical problems, while commentators advocate swapping these for slow, low payload munitions.

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Applebaum: Putin doesn't want to end the war — he wants to win it. Winning still means the same thing it always meant: occupying Ukraine, changing the government, making Ukraine a satellite of Russia.

Donbas is where he'd start, but he's never given up the bigger idea. 1/

[Janis Kluge @jakluge]

Reminder that Putin can stop this whole war in one day. Ukraine has offered a ceasefire many times. But Russia chooses to continue fighting.

[Yaroslav Trofimov @yarotrof]

Fascinating points all these, but I think the most important outcome of the Iran deal, from Russia’s standpoint, is that oil prices are crashing again and its windfall was too short. Moscow had hoped for a prolonged conflict and a prolonged closure of the Hormuz that would have also affected European politics and would have made a return to Russian oil and gas indispensable. Not happening.

[Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸✈️🏍️⭐️🎖️ @RepDonBacon]

Ukrainian sanctions are best. Even better if the U.S. adds strong sanctions against Russian exports.

[Jack Goldsmith @jacklgoldsmith]

Why (I think) domestic law prevents Trump from waiving Iran sanctions as contemplated by the new MOU; what the USG counterarguments will be; and why the legal bar is likely unenforceable.
https://t.co/sFo7guV48N

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Applebaum: Putin went back into Soviet history books and re-imposed old plans.

The Soviet occupation of Ukraine in the 1930s and Czechoslovakia in the 1940s looks like Ukraine today — filtration camps, arrests of teachers, mayors, political leaders. It's the old playbook brought back. 3X

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Applebaum: Putin has presented a fake image of Russia to the world. He talks about leading a traditional society

In reality, divorce is very high, abortion is common, very few Russians go to church and less than 5% have ever read a Bible. It's not a traditional culture at all 1/

[Alexandra Prokopenko @amenka]

A new research paper is out. About the mechanism of depoliticization of Russia's ruling stratum: how it was built, what set it in motion, and what it will leave behind. The people running Russia are not an "elite" in the classical sense - I call them nobiles: they have retained access to power and resources, but lost the ability to reset the system's coordinates, question its goals, or offer alternatives. They have the agency to adapt — as 2022 showed. They have no agency to change.
The most uncomfortable conclusion: post-Putin Russia will not automatically become a different Russia. The void left by a depoliticized ruling stratum will not be filled by democratic actors. It will be filled by whatever force proves best organized when the political vacuum emerges. History suggests that it is far from certain to be the outcome many are hoping for.
Based on research for my forthcoming book From Sovereigns to Servants (Hurst, summer 2026) https://t.co/nsVksZdGDt

[Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky_en]

It's a convenient setup for the Kremlin: a disposable stranger is cheap and deniable. If he is caught, he serves the sentence, while the officer who hired him stays in Moscow and opens Telegram to find the next one.

[10/12]

[Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky_en]

While this may sound shocking to some, it's nothing new. Since 2024, @dossier_center has documented how a special unit of Russian military intelligence recruits saboteurs across Europe through Telegram and TikTok. [6/12]

[Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky_en]

He was never told it was Keir Starmer's house.

The man who set fire to the family home of the British PM was promised a few thousand dollars. The sole condition: it had to make national news. 🧵[1/12]

[Velina Tchakarova @vtchakarova]

If the price of defending EU members from future Russian aggression is Ukraine‘s accelerated membership into the EU, so be it! There‘s no high enough price for freedom and without Ukraine‘s defence capabilities, the EU will be hollowed out from within amid perpetual hybrid war.