Putin
Patriarch Kirill, Archbishop Ambrose and a lesson for Putin
Patriarch Kirill is Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’ and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church; and one of his…
Inside Putin’s mind: the lessons of Chechnya
The lessons of Chechnya
Turkey’s dilemma: whose side is Erdogan on?
Can Turkey’s President broker a peace deal?
Why I drove a lorry to Poland
‘Why the hell did you hire a lorry without a spare tyre?’ asked Rizvana. Fair question. Luckily we had just…
Francis Fukuyama on Ukraine, liberalism and identity politics
This week, Sam Leith spoke to Francis Fukuyama – the author of ‘The End of History and the Last Man’ and…
It doesn’t matter if Putin is mad
Mike Tyson put it simply: ‘Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth’. And Vladimir Putin has…
Russia has never been a part of the West
In 1697 Tsar Peter the Great set out on a great journey across western Europe, seeking the support of European…
Why do Russian tennis stars need to condemn Putin?
Nigel Huddleston is Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society, hardly the biggest job in government. Yet…
The fatal miscalculation that led to war in Ukraine
The war against Ukraine – or the ‘special military operation’ as it is compulsorily known in Moscow – has lasted…
Why does everything ‘embolden’ Putin?
The most emboldened man on earth must be Vladimir Putin. Everything seems to embolden him. Treating Russia as a pariah…
What if Putin hasn’t miscalculated – but the West has?
Has the West miscalculated?
The myth that Russia and Ukraine are fighting over
It seems strange now that any of us ever imagined that Putin might not invade. He thinks of Ukraine as…
What Tacitus knew about tyrants
Last week Aristotle offered a lesson in tyrant theory. This week Tacitus (ad 56-c.120) offers one in tyrant practice. Tacitus…
The courage on Ukraine’s front line
Central to the question of whether or not Ukraine can survive as an independent state is that of re-supply, not…
My one-way ticket out of Moscow
Things fall apart. Moscow friends call to say that I have to urgently send my 19-year-old son out of Russia.…
Putin is bored
At the beginning of this year, Vladimir Putin was sitting comfortably in the Kremlin: his legacy so far a steady…
The free world’s new reality
We are about to see brutality in Europe on a scalethat will be almost beyond our comprehension. Russia is turning…
The true meaning of 'emergency'
Much attention has been paid to how Vladimir Putin has learnt from western weakness over his earlier invasions, including into…
What the right gets wrong about Putin
A fracture on the international right may seem small fry given everything that is going on right now. But it…
The complicated business of swearing in Ukrainian
‘This will interest you,’ said my husband, looking up from the smeared screen of his telephone. For once he was…
The return of Actual Badness
In the spring of 2020, I advanced an abnormally hopeful proposition: that one blessing that might arise from a pandemic…
Nuclear war, magic mushrooms and a teenage trip I’ll never forget
Vladimir Putin’s decision on Sunday to put his ‘deterrence forces’ – code for nuclear weapons – in a high state…
Does Putin pass Aristotle’s tyrant test?
Is Putin a tyrant? Aristotle (384-322 bc) might well have thought so. Seeing the turannos as a deviant type of…
Putin’s rage: the Russian President won’t be easy to topple
Despite western hopes, the Russian President won’t be easy to topple
What does it mean to go ‘full tonto’?
The wild one Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that Vladimir Putin had gone ‘full tonto’. The word tonto is used…
