Archive - Jack’s Substack

Donald Trump’s nuclear nightmares

My in-depth interview with Fiona Hill for Engelsberg Ideas.

Jun 3 •

April 2025

How the Young Turks became tyrants

The course of a late-Ottoman revolution is a warning that liberators can easily turn into tyrants, and that new political dawns can be deceptive.

Apr 9 •

March 2025

Is Europe ready for a NATO without America?

Today’s Paris summit was a clear attempt to bring European strategic interests back into the picture on Ukraine.

Mar 27 •

Black Sea ceasefire is a potential win for Putin

A ceasefire in the Black Sea gives Russia’s embattled naval forces space to breathe, and allows Putin to continue changing facts on the ground in Kursk…

Mar 25 •

Is Macron moving out of lame duck territory?

The French president is enjoying a revival as a result of his robust response to the Trump administration.

Mar 20 •

Why emboldened Erdoğan has arrested his Turkish presidential rival

With allies in control of Damascus, and with little prospect of a backlash from Washington, Erdoğan has moved to pre-empt a potential challenge and…

Mar 19 •

February 2025

Sweden’s Zeitenwende

Like Germany, the Scandinavian state is undergoing an epochal shift in its position within Europe – and the world – in the aftermath of the Russian…

Feb 20 •

The roots of America’s oil anxiety

‘Drill, baby, drill!’ is a new riff on a familiar theme. American fears about an overdependence on imported oil have a long lineage stretching back to…

Feb 6 •

January 2025

Israel’s elusive peace

The Arab-Israeli ceasefires of 1949 were a missed opportunity for peace in the Middle East.

Jan 23 •

The quest for Croatia

A comprehensive history tells the story of Croat national aspirations, and provides a detailed account of Croatia’s long road to independence.

Jan 15 •

December 2024

A democratic dawn in Damascus is possible if we learn from recent history

While western governments shouldn't indulge in naïve optimism over unfolding events in Syria, nor should they give in to blind cynicism.

Dec 12, 2024 •

Assad’s jihadist reckoning

How the Assad regime turned the spectre of a Syria run by Sunni Islamists into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Dec 10, 2024 •

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts