Russia

Belarus joins Putin’s new Russian empire

By Brian Whitmore

Vladimir Putin appears to have succeeded in the unofficial annexation of neighboring Belarus with news that Russian troops deployed ostensibly for military exercises will now remain in the country indefinitely.

Fried in Foreign Affairs: Putin’s long game in Ukraine

Putin believes that time is on his side—that if he continues to squeeze Kyiv but avoids a large-scale invasion, the United States and Europe will eventually grow weary of a protracted struggle for Ukraine's freedom, write the Atlantic Council's Daniel Fried and CEPA's Alina Polyakova.

Time to go after the Kremlin’s wallets

By Doug Klain

Going after the Kremlin’s oligarchs who stash their illicit wealth in the West is an essential move that should happen now before Putin goes further in his campaign to end Ukrainian independence and revise Europe as we know it today.

China and Russia are proposing a new authoritarian playbook. MENA leaders are watching closely.

By Ahmed Aboudouh

It’s on major Western democracies to make democracy appealing again by aggressively filling the gaps China and Russia exploit to make the world more accommodating to their political models and the new trend of rising authoritarianism.

FAST THINKING: The West strikes back against Russia’s Ukraine incursion

By Atlantic Council

Germany canceled Nord Stream 2, while the US and Europe hit Russian banks and elites.