Sam Olsen @samolsen.bsky.social · 16/08/2025The real enemy for Putin isn’t Ukraine alone. It’s the system that protects Ukraine: NATO, the EU, and the wider rules-based order. Break those, and Russia can dictate terms again. 100 0
Sam Olsen @samolsen.bsky.social · 16/08/2025That’s why Trump’s peace gamble was doomed. Putin doesn’t want compromise. He wants legitimacy restored: Russia elevated as an imperial great power, Ukraine reduced to a province, and the post-Cold War order dismantled. 100 0
Sam Olsen @samolsen.bsky.social · 16/08/2025Trump met Putin in Alaska to “end the war.” But Putin isn’t playing today’s game. He’s playing the game of 1914 — empire, spheres of influence, and small nations treated as objects, not subjects. 🧵 100 0
Sam Olsen @samolsen.bsky.social · 06/06/2025Episode 1 of States of Play drops tomorrow, asking what a world order actually is open.substack.com/pub/samolsen... 010 0