Ukraine is a country where a president can’t pardon corrupt cronies, and where law enforcement is not subjected to presidential guidance. Hence corruption gets punished.

“In the days after Alaska, a European intelligence agency distributed a hard-copy report in a manila envelope to some of the continent’s most senior national security officials, who were shocked by the contents: Inside were details of the commercial and economic plans the Trump

The risk (being sued in a court, causing some measure of concern among other investors) must be measured against the risk of allowing Ukraine to be fully invaded, pillaged, spilling millions of refugees into Europe and threatening security. This is the real question

Timeline -EU not consulted on 28-point plan -Germany's Merz finds out in press -Demands call with Trump (NYT) -Hurries G20 meeting/EU statements -EU officials rush to Geneva, uninvited -Wait OUTSIDE ROOM, briefed at end of day -New plan hatched, not shared -EU again in the dark

Reuters reports Rubio is going to skip the NATO ministerial next week, at critical moment in Ukraine peace talks. Former NATO spox: "I can’t remember anything like this in recent history."

It's obviously a dynamic situation. The Europeans were in a different world 3 years ago. They have caught up on support to Ukraine and even exceeded the US. They "deserve" to have a say on the war. But they are too divided and too subordinate to US to take powerful initiatives.

Trump is now giving Belgium an excuse to stop frozen Russian assets from being used for Ukraine. "Prévot went on to describe the reparation loan as a problem for ongoing peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine: 'It is now clear that the assets can play an important role

Punchy stuff from Sandbu "3 times Trump has tried to bounce Ukraine into conceding to Russian demands... 3 times Europeans have scrambled to change his mind... how many more lessons do they need to conclude that the transatlantic relationship is over?" ft.com/content/89f172…

Dun dun dun Graham's "bone-crushing" sanctions bill?

What did we think was going to happen? Just two weeks ago, the United States threatened to withhold arms sales for Ukraine that were *already paid for* by European allies. After a year of policy like that, it's hard to make the case that the United States is reliable.

So much attention has focused on Belgium's arguments for not using Russian assets for Ukraine. Not enough has looked at the politics — esp at Flemish nationalist PM De Wever's sympathy toward Russia. France's former envoy to DC says Belgian government has "chosen Moscow"

Lots of feedback on this tweet, which I'm grateful to hear - esp that Vlaams Belang is the more pro-Russian party vs NVA. Tks and duly noted. That said, how is Belgium showing this unwavering support? GDP-based support for Ukraine ranks among lowest of the EU

Merz's last-minute move highlights the extremely fragile state of the political debate. Von der Leyen is forging ahead. Belgium is holding firm on its opposition. The US and Russia want to profit from the assets. And Ukraine needs a fresh injection of assistance as of April.

If true, this is earth-shattering stuff. The shortness of the timeline is staggering. EU populations are not prepared for what this means - illusions crumbling, brutal choices ahead reuters.com/business/aeros…

You know what will hit the euro far far more? A Russian invasion of the eurozone if Ukraine is allowed to collapse.

In its official response the EU "takes note" of the U.S. pivot and says it agrees Europe must spend more on defense No mention of the US openly saying it will seek to influence EU elections

Let's not forget the EU as a project was actively supported by the US. One admin after another has backed it as basic US interest. JFK wanted to go much further - a "United States of Europe". Everyone understood it's good to have a big, liberal market to sell to

The weakness of the EU's fine against X has obviously emboldened Musk to go much harder against Europe When X tried to defy the Brazilian government, Brazil simply shut the platform down X quietly complied and was reinstated Weakness invites aggression

Between the Natl Security Strategy, the Musk fine and the coordinated critiques of the EU, this weekend marks some kind of transatlantic Rubicon Not the first, probably not the last

Suggest European friends and allies read not only the National Security Strategy but also the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2026, which was published last night. It's very long, so skip to this section: rules.house.gov/sites/evo-subs…