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Like all of us, I am enraged and heartbroken over the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine. As you know, in addition to being the proprietor of this corner of The Atlantic, I’m also a contributing writer for the magazine, and I have been trying to keep up with events in Europe with a series of articles there. We’ve been sending everything I write out to you—and thank you again for being subscribers to the newsletter—but I thought I would recap where we are and add links here for those of you who may have missed what I’ve been writing over the past few weeks.
Be assured that because you are newsletter subscribers, all of my pieces for The Atlantic about this war will come to your inbox. I hope that you will rely on me and the other Atlantic writers for informed discussion and analysis during what I know is an anxious time for all of us.
- This is what I wrote just before the invasion.
- Here is my evaluation of Putin’s decision to invade and his choice of a Russian “forever war.”
- I described here how Putin (or an accident) could escalate the Ukrainian crisis to a nuclear confrontation.
- Putin declared a nuclear alert two days into the war. Here’s my analysis of that.
- This is my advice to Americans to stay calm and not let Putin bait us into war between Russia and NATO.
- Russia will provoke to NATO to intervene. This is a dangerous idea and as I note here, would be a gift to Putin.
- It's normal to be concerned about nuclear scenarios; I share those worries here. But don't panic.
- Speaking of nuclear weapons, here's a glossary of terms in case you're rusty on the Cold War era concepts that are now, sadly, back in the news.
- Making peace is going to be tough. Did Joe Biden make it tougher with his unscripted comment that Putin can't remain in power? Probably not, but it was unwise in the moment, as I wrote later.
- This is a strange war, in which two sides are fighting for existential stakes and yet moving energy resources through the field of battle. Few people know more about those issues than Thane Gustafson, and I interviewed him about it.
- I wrote about my anger and grief as an Orthodox Christian watching the Russian church bless the slaughter of the Ukrainians here.
- What will Putin say about the war on Victory Day? Prediction is always a risk. I considered some possibilities.
- Are things in the Kremlin changing? I'm not sure, but I examined three recent events (in May 2022) made me wonder if there is a new reality setting in.
- How does this war end? Who decides when it's over? Not us, as I explain here. It's up to the Ukrainians - and Putin.
- What does "Russia" want? It depends on who we mean by "Russia."
- The stakes, six months into the war, have not changed.
- Why is the Russian military campaign so brutal? I talked about that with Nick Gvosdev.
- I explain here why I think Putin's mobilization September 2022 mobilization order is another self-inflicted wound.
- Here, I discuss Putin's nuclear threats.
- I argue that Putin's speech on Ukraine in September 2022 is essentially a declaration of war on the international order.
That should catch us up for now. I will keep updating this post on the web whenever I publish a new piece about the conflict.
Thanks again for joining me here at Peacefield.
Tom