Mark Urban

London

Writer and Columnist at The Sunday Times

Writes for Sunday Times, BBC 1990-2024, author; Big Boys Rules, Generals, Rifles, TF Black, The Tank War, The Edge, Skripal Files, Red Devils, trustee @I_W_M

Featured in: Favicon

bbc.co.uk

uol.com.br Favicon

theguardian.com Favicon

nytimes.com Favicon

bloomberg.com Favicon

dailymail.co.uk Favicon

nature.com Favicon

terra.com.br Favicon

telegraph.co.uk Favicon

yahoo.com (+7) + 83 more

Articles

Why Did Putin Call a 2am Press Conference?

3 days ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

Once again the focus of Ukraine/Russia diplomacy is ceasefires. One has to use the plural because even on this subject the parties have different ideas: let’s start on Monday says Zelenskyy, no let’s meet in Turkey on Thursday to get a few things straight, argues the Kremlin. And all the time people wonder is this real or is it performative? Do they want to stop just or is this about a blame game with Donlad Trump?
India Stikes Pakistan

1 week ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

India’s overnight strikes on Pakistan, Operation Sindoor, were intended as retaliation for the terrorist attack last month that killed 26 people in Kashmir.
The Houthis have the upper hand. This is why

1 week ago | thetimes.com | Mark Urban
The Law of the Jungle

1 week ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

The 80th anniversary of VE Day will inevitably trigger a torrent of prose and cascade of speeches. But sadly, the passing of the war generation is being accompanied by a forgetting of that conflict's most important lessons. The first, that I never tire of repeating, is that good intentions are not enough to save you from falling victim to aggression – we learnt that with appeasement.
Putin Announces a Truce

2 weeks ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

President Putin has announced a three day ceasefire to coincide with Victory Day celebrations in Moscow. Inevitably people will look for the connections with the Trump administration’s ongoing peace efforts. But equally or perhaps even more important is the avoidance of a big embarrassment for the Russian military. This holiday is always a big moment for the regime, but this year marks the 80th anniversary of the war ending with major celebrations planned in Red Square.
Audiobooks Are Rising

2 weeks ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

I've been spending a few days at Penguin’s very smart headquarters in London on the south bank of the Thames, recording the audio version of my new book, Tank. They've got several studios and they've made quite an investment, because in this day and age for a major publisher like Penguin, audiobooks are an important part of what they're doing, and increasingly so.
Ukraine Peace Talks & 'Rewarding Aggression'

3 weeks ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

Today's Ukraine peace talks in London have been billed as a last chance to get some sort of agreement before the Americans stop their mediation efforts, for the time being at least. Reports suggest the US package involves acceptance of the loss of Ukrainian territory - Crimea permanently and their eastern lands ‘de facto’.
It's 250 Years Since The American Revolution Started

3 weeks ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

It’s 250 years to the day since the American rebels clashed with British troops at Lexington and Concord. And while I’m not going to mark anniversaries every week on this blog, it’s big one and perhaps the question of what these Redcoats aimed to achieve, trying to suppress this revolution, and how they thought their enemies differed from them are topics relevant even today. Was this the moment when an American national character emerged?
Britain's Carrier Strike Force

4 weeks ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

Britain has just declared that its F-35 Lightnings have achieved full operating capability from the Royal Navy’s carriers – the timing fits neatly with the imminent deployment of two dozen of the jets on board the carrier Prince of Wales. But let’s look at that with a hard eye. It’s 13 years since the UK took delivery of its first F-35 and it’s only just achieved full operating capability (at sea, that happened five years ago for land operations). But what is this ‘full capability’?
China's Challenge to US Maritime Power

1 month ago | markurban.substack.com | Mark Urban

Chinese/US rivalry is at the centre of today’s global struggle for power. President Trump has launched a trade war while officials in Beijing breathe defiance and restrict the supplies of key minerals and components for American industry. Their armed forces meanwhile run near constant drills around Taiwan, so the fear that a trade war might lead to an actual one begins to rise.