Kristo Nurmis

Lecturer/Assistant Professor @TallinnUni | Historian of Modern Europe and Russia | Stanford PhD ('22) @StanfordHistory @DCRES_Harvard @unitartu @TallinnHum

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Good idea, Mr. President. Glad to see you are finally acknowledging the Russia threat instead of trying to convince us that Putin is a great guy.

But can you please enhance deterrence in Greenland without invading? Our 5th Fleet does that in Bahrain without annexing that country. The 7th Fleet does so in Japan without annexing territory there. Easy day.

[Kristo Nurmis @KristoNurmis]

@AmbDanFried @atrupar So, the goal of ownership is precisely to decouple oneself from the alliance

[Daniel Fried @AmbDanFried]

@atrupar Well, the US defended Western Europe during the Cold War from “rented” bases. Worked out, too.

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Now that the US is emulating all things Kremlin, here comes the "America must save the ethnic Greenlanders from Danish Oppression" campaign.

[Yaroslav Trofimov @yarotrof]

Imperialism is a hell of a drug once it gets going.
Trump’s idea to seize the territory of another sovereign nation finds understanding even among some Democrats. Sen. Fetterman says it’s “not an absurd idea.” And Sen. Schumer, while denouncing Trump’s drive to get Greenland, calls it merely “quixotic.”
Coercing and threatening friendly nations with war as part of a naked land grab is not “quixotic.”
I can think of many more appropriate adjectives.

[Tom Wright @thomaswright08]

Thinking of this quote by @VP JD Vance last April as his administration tries to take over Greenland:
"I think a lot of European nations were right about our invasion of Iraq. And frankly, if the Europeans had been a little more independent, and a little more willing to stand up, then maybe we could have saved the entire world from the strategic disaster that was the American-led invasion of Iraq....I don’t want the Europeans to just do whatever the Americans tell them to do. I don’t think it’s in their interest, and I don’t think it’s in our interests, either.”

[Kristo Nurmis @KristoNurmis]

@McFaul I’m worried about all these other smiling and approving faces there

[Kristo Nurmis @KristoNurmis]

@Madz_Grant @Roger_Moorhouse Is it any better than what Alan Clarke did in the early 1980s?

[Gideon Rachman @gideonrachman]

I think it’s often those in Europe who have been most pro-American that are now reacting most strongly to what Trump is doing. Huge sense of betrayal and disgust

[Gideon Rachman @gideonrachman]

Really important piece by Katie Martin who has fled this site. Investors are edging away from the dollar. If the EU could get its act together, now is the time to issue joint debt. There would be huge demand from investors desperate to diversify https://t.co/ahHxejjTFH

[Mitt Romney @MittRomney]

All know that a strong America is the best ally of peace—the world’s avaricious dictators of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran are hesitant to invade and brutalize in the face of 1) American strength and 2) American resolve. Our tepid response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia and Crimea surely contributed to Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

American strength is greatest when we have friends that stand with us; we must not let economic squabbles fray the bonds of our alliances.
American resolve is greatest when we stand with the victims of oppression and invasion. After Russia invaded Ukraine with hundreds of tanks and hundreds of thousands of troops, America - together with Europe - rallied to give Ukraine the weapons and aid to defend itself. Three years later, Russia continues its brutal assault. We must not let personal squabbles weaken our resolve to stand with the freedom fighters and to oppose the authoritarian aggressors.
Lasting peace will only be achieved if America demonstrates strength and resolve and if Ukraine is certain that it will not be invaded again. Anything short of that would elicit only temporary celebration; it would open the door to global conflicts that we may be unable to contain.

[Kristo Nurmis @KristoNurmis]

@bopanc Would you say that Trump’s “He can come back when he is ready for Peace” is rather welcoming?

[Kristo Nurmis @KristoNurmis]

This!

[Seva @SevaUT]

I mean sure, if you equate russia to a non-sentient object that can never make choices and only reacts to its environment, then it's never responsible for anything. A bear, a storm, a loose cannon. Very common and pernicious trope

[Kristo Nurmis @KristoNurmis]

@AlexValchyshen Exactly. Zubok doesn’t care what Russia does or might have done in its former imperial realm. He laments Ru's loss of superpower status and isolation by the West. It’s the classic Cold War binary: smaller states are mere “nationalist” nuisances in the grand strategy game.

[Kristo Nurmis @KristoNurmis]

The likes of Zubok would do well to explain how NATO’s non-enlargement would have bolted the door on Russia’s revanchism in its former imperial realm. There was no guarantee and everyone knew it. Zubok knows well what Ru elites thought about Ukraine in the early 90s.

[Vladislav Zubok @VladislavZubok1]

I have re-read a brilliant op-ed by John Gaddis against NATO expansion in April 1998. All Cold War historians were against the expansion then. I would welcome an honest poll on this issue now, after a decade of war in Ukraine.

[Kristo Nurmis @KristoNurmis]

@SokovNikolai Since “shutting Russia out” is doing the heavy lifting here, enlighten us on a “wiser” policy and might-have-been.

[ian bremmer @ianbremmer]

@Kasparov63 i know roman from the 90s, a very solid citizen. warmly endorse this appointment.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

The next US ambassador to Estonia, Estonian-born Roman Pipko, deserves attention, especially for his remarkable Jewish mother, Simona Pipko, who was a prominent defense attorney in the USSR in political cases and has staunch anti-authoritarian credentials. Remarkable.

[Kristo Nurmis @KristoNurmis]

@GiancarloSopo The Leopard isn’t conservative. It portrays a wise yet disillusioned aristocrat secretly yearning for a progressive historical change, only to find the emerging bourgeoisie equally decadent; he’s the happiest when Tancredi dons Garibaldi's red shirt.

[Kristo Nurmis @KristoNurmis]

@llisjak виктор пшонка