Russian President Vladimir Putin is starting 2025 with a bang. In a nod to U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire for a settlement in Ukraine, the Kremlin has announced its readiness for negotiations “without preconditions.” However, the devil is in the details. For Russia, “without preconditions” translates to cutting off Ukraine from any meaningful security guarantees and downgrading NATO’s ability to deter and defend member states in Eastern Europe. This outcome, if realized, would be disastro

Another week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has gone by, and Moscow has crossed yet another line with its aggression against Western targets. This time, the violation came in the form of a parcel bomb in the hold of a German aircraft. The device exploded on the ground at a logistics center tarmac rather than in mid-air due only to fortuitous delay. The head of German domestic intelligence told the Bundestag that if the plane had been airborne, it would have crashed. The United Kingdom suspects