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1 week ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Alexander Vindman
With the war in Ukraine in its third year and the conflict in the Middle East expanding as Israel attacks Tehran, Alex Vindman joins Jen to discuss where these hostilities stand today, why Trump is enamored with Putin, and how the “appearance of strength” he desires is undercut by the short-sightedness of his foreign policy. Alexander Vindman is a Senior Fellow at SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, where he received his Doctor of International Affairs.
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1 month ago | 
open.substack.com | Alexander Vindman
On May 11, Vladimir Putin rejected a proposed 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine and instead offered to speak directly with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Istanbul, Turkey. On the eve of the summit, after Zelenskyy publicly accepted Moscow's offer, Putin quietly cancelled his visit to Istanbul and will send one of his least respected aides instead. Ukraine called Russia’s bluff and scored a significant diplomatic win.
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2 months ago | 
avindman.com | Alexander Vindman
The prospect of a diplomatic settlement to the War in Ukraine has eluded Trump since the start of his second term. After weeks of negotiations with Russian and Ukrainian policymakers, the White House has unveiled what would appear to be its final conditions for a peace process in Ukraine. Simply put, the Trump administration is pushing a plan of Ukrainian surrender.
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2 months ago | 
kyivpost.com | Alexander Vindman
Having run on the promise to end the war in Ukraine “day one” after taking office, Donald Trump has failed to secure any meaningful progress towards a diplomatic settlement to the conflict. What we have seen over the past three months has been the needless extortion of our besieged ally, the rapid decline in relations between Europe and the United States, and the bizarre parroting of Russian talking points by senior members of the administration.
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2 months ago | 
rsn.org | Alexander Vindman
Appeasing Moscow Didn’t Work in the Past, and It Won’t Work for TrumpPresident Donald Trump’s approach to Russia and Ukraine—deferring to Moscow, bullying Kyiv—may seem like a radical departure from precedent. In fact, it is only Trump’s extreme style of diplomacy that is novel, as exemplified by the public scolding he meted out to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February.
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2 months ago | 
foreignaffairs.com | Shannon O'Neil |Matias Spektor |Alexander Vindman |Alexander Gabuev
No great power sustained as dominant a position over its neighboring region as the United States did during most of the twentieth century. But in recent decades, Washington has largely disregarded its neighbors. Since a free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico and a military initiative to help Colombia combat drug cartels were negotiated more than 25 years ago, United States policy in the Americas has consisted mostly of failed measures to stem flows of migrants and drugs across U.S. borders.
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Mar 27, 2025 | 
contrarian.substack.com | Alexander Vindman
The Trump Administration has shuttered the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USGM). With this decision, Voice of America (VOA) has ceased production and grant funding for other USGM operations, like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and VOA Asia, thereby ending decades of democracy promotion and America’s ability to build influence.
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Mar 27, 2025 | 
foreignaffairs.com | Rebecca Patterson |Joshua Kurlantzick |Alexander Vindman |Andrei Soldatov
President Donald Trump’s approach to Russia and Ukraine—deferring to Moscow, bullying Kyiv—may seem like a radical departure from precedent. In fact, it is only Trump’s extreme style of diplomacy that is novel, as exemplified by the public scolding he meted out to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February. No American president has ever so publicly taken Russia’s side against one of Washington’s European partners.
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Mar 17, 2025 | 
rsn.org | Alexander Vindman
ALSO SEE: Alexander Vindman | Why It Matters
According to recent reporting, Donald Trump will be speaking with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, March 18th on the topic of a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. This conversation would be the first official high-level bilateral engagement between the presidents of Russia and the United States since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine (outside of a series of phone calls between Trump and Putin previously unknown to the public).
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Mar 14, 2025 | 
thedailybeast.com | Nandika Chatterjee |Alexander Vindman |Tim Teeman
The has removed key information from its website about prominent Black, Hispanic, and female service members as well as historical topics like the Civil War. The moves are part of a broader initiative by the Department of Defense to do away with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), the Washington Post . A spokesperson for the cemetery confirmed on Friday that, in compliance with new Pentagon directives, internal links leading to webpages about notable veterans who were minoritiesâsuch as Gen.
