Anders Åslund

Wonderful to see that Alexander Vucic's semi-authoritarian and utterly corrupt regime lost the elections in Serbia. Congratulations, Serbia! This election will turn Serbia away from Russia and toward the EU. www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...

Ukraine was winning the war, so Trump kneecapped Ukraine to help Russia. I wish it weren’t that simple, but it is. Our president is in bed with our enemies.

Reuters: "Donald Trump said that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had restored Ukraine's Starlink access but the US president declined to comment when asked whether he had spoken to the billionaire about the matter." Translation: Trump ordered Musk to slow down Starlink for Ukraine.

A review of Trump's lies about Ukraine on October 20: Why does the US have a president who lies all; the time? www.kyivpost.com/post/87759?u...

NYT: "Staying quiet is riskier than speaking up, Ukrainian officials say, as President Trump goes further than ever in prioritizing Russia’s interests." True, we all need to stand up to the dictatorial Trump kleptocracy. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/w...

Trump has transformed the US to the homeland of lying. This ought to be a top issue in any US election. The US needs a truth commission to reestablish the truth in the US.

Wonderful illustration of the lying in the Trump circle. First, they all deny that they have hurt Ukraine. Second, in all probability, Trump ordered the damage to Ukraine, but when he encountered a backlash, he ordered his people to tell Wall Street Journal that Musk had done so. Liars & saboteurs!

"The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has accused US negotiators of trying to push Ukraine into surrendering to Russia, saying Washington had pursued that approach for around 1.5 years as she called for tougher pressure on Moscow." www.kyivpost.com/post/87647

How can this brute be US president?!

What I cannot understand is why most people think Trump cares about US national interests, when he shows no sign of doing so. Trump cares about: 1. How much money he, his family and friends are making. 2. Vanity. He does not care about the American people or what his policies cost the US.

Trump has established himself as the most notorious liar in the world. Everybody should just dismiss him with the words: "Why should I listen to you, the biggest liar in the world?!"

My article in the Kyiv Post today, discussing how Ukraine and Europe should handle Trump after he has come out fully in support of Putin. www.kyivpost.com/opinion/87471

Of course, Trump will never impose any significant sanctions on Russia because he supports Putin and Russia against Ukraine and Europe. All lobbying for this Russian sanctions law was a meaningless endeavor. Congress should instead have given Ukraine arms & funds www.ft.com/content/836e...

Tom Friedman, NYT: "If...Trump ... proceeds with his plan to trade away support for Ukraine’s democracy for Russian diesel, let me spell it out: He will enter the history books in the chapter on leaders who sold out their country’s democratic values to appease a dictator."

Amusing, Lukashenko, of all people, calls Trump out: "‘Not Trump’s Decision’: Lukashenko Says Ukrainians Must Choose Their President", seemingly implying that he is more democratic than Trump... www.kyivpost.com/post/87306?u...

At its meeting of the accession conference with Ukraine on 13 October, the EU and Ukraine opened negotiations on cluster 2 (internal market) and cluster 3 (competitiveness and inclusive growth). Two of 6 clusters had been opened in June. The remaining 2 are expected to be opened by the end of 2026.

My article in Kyiv Post today, "Trying to Make Sense of Trump’s Ukraine Policy." My main argument is that Trump, Kushner and Witkoff seem most interested in making big money with Putin on Ukraine's misery www.kyivpost.com/opinion/86772

How can we know that Trump supports Putin? Because he refuses to condemn anything Putin does. He refuses to condemn Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine, Putin's terror bombing of Ukraine, Putin's terror actions in Europe, and even his bombing of US companies in Ukraine.

Trump announced on Sunday an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, saying it was taking effect “immediately” and that “both parties have agreed.” As usual with Trump: A complete lie. Nobody had agreed on anything. How can the US tolerate a POTUS who usually lies?!

Ukraine: Headline inflation in Ukraine accelerated to 10.0% y-o-y in September from 8.1% in August (Dragon Capital). Unpleasant and unexpected but not surprising rise in inflation. To a considerable extent this rise appears to be an effect of Russian bombing of the Ukrainian economy.

What I cannot understand is why so many people think that Trump works for the US when he all along shows that he works for his family and friends and nobody else.

As long as US citizens in DC and Puerto Rico are not allowed representation in Congress, the US cannot be considered very democratic.

"Scott Bessent to miss IMF annual meetings in Bangkok" How good for the IMF and the World Bank not to have any hostile American official damaging their meetings. Then they might become constructive. www.ft.com/content/9496...

How can anybody be surprised that Trump makes a for the US meaningless Diesel deal with Putin to end sanctions on Russia? Have you not understood that Trump supports Russia against Ukraine, the West & the US? Few things are more obvious.

Wouldn't it be nice if the US president was not a mafioso?

No surprise, two of Trump's closest political advisors worked for Dodik, the pro-Russian Serb extremist, previously sanctioned by the US for organized crime. "President says Chris LaCivita and James Blair guiding pro-Russian party less than a month before midterms could be a ‘conflict’" (FT)

I had the pleasure of talking with Ian Masters about Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff's receipt of Putin's offer of purchasing Lukoil assets abroad on the cheap while they were supposed to further peace between Russia and Ukraine. www.backgroundbriefing.org

Noting that Putin turned 74 on Wednesday, Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X: “On Putin’s birthday, Russian generals brought him his favourite present: war crimes.” (FT)

Andrei Kolesnikov: "It is amazing that a contemporary modernized and urbanized society can degenerate at such a staggering rate, especially in terms of morality and psychology." He writes about Russia, but the same is true of Trump's US. What a tragedy!

"Ukraine's Drone Forces Hit 300 Russian Shadow Fleet Tankers in 3 Months" This is how Ukraine - and the West - must deal with the Russian shadow fleet. The Russian shadow fleet and its oil should be ceased to pay Russian unpaid debts in arbitration verdicts. www.kyivpost.com/post/85121?u...

To voter for the republicans (=Trump) in the mid-terms can only be interpreted as a sign of stupidity or immorality or both.

Many new Ukrainian missiles: "President Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukrainian forces used multiple Ukrainian-made long-range weapons during the operation, including FP-1, RZ-100, MICH-2000, Palianytsia, Vendetta, Liutyi, Bars, Flamingo, Sichen and the previously little-known Pelican." (UBN)

Is there any US republican who is so dumb that he or she has not understood two things: 1. Trump owns the GOP. 2. Trump supports Putin. To vote for the GOP anywhere means to support Putin.

"US preparing 'massive' potash deal with Belarus, Trump says. Trump said that the deal would be more advantageous than buying the fertilizer from Canada." Of course, Trump prefers Lukashenko's dictatorship over Canada's democracy. Shamer on all his US supporters! kyivindependent.com/us-preparing...

KI: "69% of Russian soldiers on Zaporizhzhia front line have criminal records, Ukrainian military says. According to internal analysis conducted by the military, 31% of Russia's overall force had signed up to avoid criminal charges, and 24% were in the military to improve their financial situation."

Kyiv Independent: "Russia 'lost control' of its oil refining industry due to Ukraine's attacks, Trump says. A large number of Russian "refineries have been blown up and are, at least temporarily, out of commission," Trump said, urging an end to the fighting." Trump defends Russia but not the US.

Kyiv Independent: "Russia's total oil refining capacity down 45% due to long-range strikes, Ukrainian military says. The assessment comes a day after major strikes on the Moscow Oil Refinery by Ukrainian drones and missiles." Trust Trump to work for Putin. kyivindependent.com/russias-tota...

Anne Applebaum: "The Trump administration has just announced a new “deal” with Greenland. It seems to be more or less the same deal that the U.S. has had with Greenland since 1951...Denmark...agreed to give the US the right to build military bases on Greenland, in the context of the NATO treaty."