Edward Lucas

When a totalitarian regime topples, the first signs can seem trivial. Someone says the unsayable. It may be a small voice or a quiet one. But it punctures the climate of fear. The authorities look stupid if they respond, weak if they don’t. Taboos shrivel. Plots mushroom. Power evaporates.

When a totalitarian regime topples, the first signs can seem trivial. Someone says the unsayable. It may be a small voice or a quiet one.

As EU leaders return, they face a chance to reallocate Russia's frozen assets to support Ukraine, bolstering its position and easing EU political pressures.

Since Viktor Orbán's departure from power in Budapest, and before the next French president takes office next May, a rare period of consensus about support for Ukraine reigns in Europe.

As Russia cranks up its sabotage campaign, the US is distracted and Britain’s defence is flimsy

In late August 1938, US Secretary of State Cordell Hull flew to Berlin to warn the Nazi regime against attacking its neighbours.

While overstating hybrid threats against the Baltics, commentators often understate what Russia is doing right now. It commits daily war crimes against civilian targets in Ukraine. Sabotage, arson and cyber-attacks on European allies are deadly serious, and getting worse, writes Edward Lucas.

Floating bus stops, heavy e-bikes and reckless riders endanger all pedestrians, sighted or not

The US-Russia dynamic under Trump raises concerns about political and diplomatic impacts. Explore new books highlighting these global tensions.

The nauseating sight of the American envoy Steve Witkoff fawning on Vladimir Putin this weekend should have been a shock.