“I think the situation we face today in the world is much more dangerous than it was during the Cold War,” warned realist John J. Mearsheimer in this conversation.

As the much-hyped counteroffensive against Russian forces stalls, the West is asking hard questions about the war in Ukraine.

In 1919, John Maynard Keynes was a young economist with the British delegation negotiating the Versailles Treaty. Keynes strongly objected to the harsh economic treatment being meted out to Germany. He resigned and went home to write “The Economic Consequences of the Peace,” which accurately predicted how the treaty would sow the seeds for future conflict. Had Keynes been alive last year, he might well have written “The Economic Consequences of the War,” predicting how the economic sanctions being placed on Russia would, in fact, unravel Europe’s political order.

It all tallies. War, investments and returns. The dividends, solid, though the effort expended – at least by others – awful and bloody. While a certain narrative in US politics continues in the vein of traditional cant and hustling ceremony regarding the Ukraine War – “noble freedom fighters, we salute you!” twinned with “Russian aggressors will be defeated” – there are the inadvertently honest ones let things slip. A subsidised war pays, especially when it is fought by others.

The US will reportedly send ATACMS to Ukraine — yet another advanced weapons system that the White House had previously ruled out.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said his Western backers failed to supply Ukraine with weapons in a timely manner, allowing Russia to build up its defenses. The delay is responsible for Ukraine’s lack of progress during its three-month-long counteroffensive.

Slow gains on the battlefield, a cautious West and Putin’s record of breaking deals contribute to a deadlock that Kyiv fears plays in Russia’s favor

Ukraine’s forces have around a month left to push back Russian troops from captured territory before the weather halts Kyiv’s progress, according to the U.S. military’s top soldier.

A new defense minister, an encouraging visit from the U.S. secretary of state and another $1 billion in aid have fueled optimism in Ukraine this week. But will they have an impact on the war?

During a speech at the EU Parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg clearly and repeatedly acknowledged that Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine because of fears of NATO expansionism.