Sam Greene

Professor @KingsRussia. Political sociologist. Progressive. Opinions my own. 🇬🇧/🇺🇸

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

For the avoidance of doubt: The opinions and analysis I express on this platform are my own and do not reflect the positions of any particular institution.

Just in case:

https://t.co/NTZxAI2gbI

https://t.co/ykAMNJbdos

https://t.co/ujpScNii69

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

This is correct in principle, but unless it’s backed up by credible deterrence, and back channel will just be another vector of obfuscation.

https://t.co/G8vJC0dZYy

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Something tells me that when Trump talks about a deal “involving Europe”, he doesn’t mean a deal negotiated *with* Europe. He means a deal negotiated *about* Europe.

https://t.co/8SBvybBwfg

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Thoughts on *that* piece in the FT, and what it does and doesn’t tell us, in the newsletter.

https://t.co/0px7Bs3tJC

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

RIP @novaya_gazeta.

Novaya epitomized what journalism could be, or could have been, had Russia chosen a different path. Novaya saved lives. It tried to save a country. For that, the regime murdered Novaya’s reporters. Today, they murdered the newspaper itself.

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Уходят великие. «Новая» — лучшая, что когда-либо было в российской журналистике. Она спасала жизней людей и пыталась спасти страну. За это убивали ее журналисты, а в итоге и ее саму.

https://t.co/oFZRdhRHdJ

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Уходят великие. «Новая» — лучшая, что когда-либо было в российской журналистике. Она спасала жизней людей и пыталась спасти страну. За это убивали ее журналисты, а в итоге и ее саму.

https://t.co/oFZRdhRHdJ

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Oh no.

https://t.co/dn2qEr8yiD

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

@HelloMrBond Of course. Because why would you want to negotiate with your actual adversary.

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Zelenskyy: Nothing about Europe without Europe.

https://t.co/LyJsFstCa2

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

@BrianMcDonaldIE It’s a joke, not peer-reviewed research. Rather self-evidently. A degree of comedic license is part of the genre.

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Breaking: Vucic, Orban, Yanukovych and Assad, seeking the exciting next chapter of their storied careers, announce the debut season of “Strictly Come Dancing with Dictators”.

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

TL;DRussia is back
https://t.co/AmjkgbdO4a

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Join @MikhailFishman at @KingsRussia next week!

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

How We Got Here: Launching 26 and 27 October, a free, 10-part cycle of public lectures and discussions with @MikhailFishman at @KingsRussia! Join us!

https://t.co/szFJGQKKmF

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

The Trump administration first pulled the plug on intelligence sharing with Ukraine in March 2025. It’s been 19 months. Europe does not appear to be 19 months closer to coming up with an autonomous alternative.

https://t.co/BduQrJ38Jd

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Which means parroting the pan-European position is exactly what Stubb ought to do.

[Jorge Liboreiro @JorgeLiboreiro]

Dmitry Peskov says Russia is “prepared to view Finnish President Alexander Stubb’s participation in the negotiations on Ukraine in a positive light, provided he makes a constructive contribution to resolving the conflict rather than simply parroting the pan-European position”.

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

How We Got Here: Launching 26 and 27 October, a free, 10-part cycle of public lectures and discussions with @MikhailFishman at @KingsRussia! Join us!

https://t.co/szFJGQKKmF

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush…

[Barak Ravid @BarakRavid]

🇺🇸🇺🇦🇳🇴🇫🇮A U.S. official said the talks President Trump’s Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held today with President Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland were "very productive and constructive” 
🇺🇸🇺🇦The U.S. official said Ukraine "brought forward new ideas and proposals, which were discussed in detail” and claimed the parties made "meaningful progress in aligning on a coordinated approach to engaging Russia and advancing the diplomatic process”
🇺🇸🇺🇦🇪🇺The U.S. official said there is now "strong alignment at the working level” between the U.S., Ukraine, and Europe on the next steps and there is "a shared commitment to finding practical solutions to end the war”
🇺🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺The discussions on Tuesday in Oslo covered the elements of a comprehensive peace framework, including long-term security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic and prosperity plan, and a "broader European security architecture designed to create lasting stability”.
🇺🇸🇷🇺Witkoff will meet with President Putin tomorrow, with Jared Kushner participating virtually, the U.S. official said.
🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦The U.S. official said: "The goal is to build on the progress made with Ukraine and Europe, discuss the proposals with Russia, and create a pathway toward direct trilateral and broader multilateral negotiations”

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Ukraine is being asked to abandon its sovereignty and territorial integrity so that two great powers can more easily help each other overcome the consequences of aggressive wars they should never have started.

And yet we’re still debating the “irresponsibility” of smaller powers

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

How We Got Here: Launching 26 and 27 October, a free, 10-part cycle of public lectures and discussions with @MikhailFishman at @KingsRussia! Join us!

https://t.co/szFJGQKKmF

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

What's remarkable about this clip (which I've now watched five times to see if I'm missing something) is that Rubio's own analysis leads inexorably to the conclusion that the current US position -- placing the onus for peace on Ukraine -- makes no sense even in its own terms.

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Rubio: The war in Ukraine is about one region, Donetsk. Russia occupies all but about 11% of it.

Ukraine's line there is its last defensible one: beyond it, a straight shot into Kyiv. Russia demands all of Donetsk, including that line, as its definition of victory. 1/

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Recognizing democratic sovereignty over foreign policy isn’t irresponsibility. It’s reality. Attempts to subdue publics in the name of great-power stability simply move the violence from the inter-state realm to the intra-state realm. From where it, of course, escapes.

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

It’s jarring to see a supposed leftist pining for a world that isn’t populated by people.

States aren’t unitary actors. Publics demand a say in international relations. What Branko is calling “responsibility” is, in fact, repression.

[Branko Milanovic @BrankoMilan]

People misinterpret whatever they want. My point was and is that small countries (including Serbia in 1914, Israel for 30 years, and the Baltic states now) are often irresponsible --because they look at their own narrow goals only-- and are quite happy to draw into the rest of the world into a larger coflict
If you cannot understand that simple thing, pl. say nothing: because the issue is not *independence* of small countries but their *irresponsible* international behavior.
Read again:
On European hypocrisy and warmongering
https://t.co/zcMSxxQyWN

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

It’s also a rather forthright rejection of sovereign equality: great powers are allowed to pursue narrow interests and impose those interests on smaller ones. Smaller powers aren’t allowed to resist.

Except they do. Because their public’s demand it.