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Shannon Monaghan

@shannonmonaghan.bsky.social
415 followers 141 following 192 posts

Historian of modern war (PhD, FRHistS) / Ukraine book TO DIE WITH SUCH MEN (Hurst 2025) / WWII-Cold war book A QUIET COMPANY OF DANGEROUS MEN (Viking 2024) www.shannonmonaghan.com

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Reposted by Shannon Monaghan
The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 20h
⚡️️️️️️️Musk suggested Trump restrict Ukraine's Starlink service, Telegraph reports. Four sources familiar with the discussion said that Elon Musk approached U.S. President Donald Trump with the idea of slowing down Ukraine's Starlink service on the battlefield.
kyivindependent.com
Musk asked Trump to restrict Ukraine's Starlink service, Telegraph reports
Four sources familiar with the discussion said that Elon Musk approached U.S. President Donald Trump with the idea of slowing down Ukraine's Starlink service on the battlefield.
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Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 21h
Trump will never blame Putin, even when asked a direct question like this. In 2018, when a journalist tried to get him to acknowledge that Putin was responsible for the annexation of Crimea, he deflected to blaming Obama instead.
https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-press-conference-midterm-elections/
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 16/10/2026
I have no doubt that a bunch of Zelensky's epic responses are going into the history books and this one might make the cut. Still, I wish Western journalists didn’t use him as a foil to express their criticism of Trump. Speak bravely to Trump, ask HIM this same question.
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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Trump’s policies kill Ukrainians who are trying to get gas and raise prices for Americans who are trying to get gas. And he wants the Americans to blame the Ukrainians. This is wrong and despicable. snyder.substack.com/p/a-meditati...
snyder.substack.com
A Meditation on Gas Stations
On Total War and Individual Responsibility (1/2)
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Shannon Monaghan @shannonmonaghan.bsky.social · 16/10/2026
“Did I betray my oath? I pledged to defend freedom, independence, and the constitutional order,” he said. “But Putin destroyed all three.” www.wsj.com/world/russia...
wsj.com
The Defector: A Russian Officer Turned Against His Country and Helped Ukraine Kill Hundreds
One of the deadliest saboteurs in recent military history, Lt. Lev Stupnikov fed troop locations and battle plans to the enemy before making a daring escape.
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Jimmy Rushton @jimmyrushton.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
My latest: Nobody wants to admit to crippling Ukraine's communications... and that's telling. "The fact that nobody in Washington wants to own up to helping Russia kill Ukrainians shows how politically toxic this decision was," Michael Weiss told us. kyivindependent.com/no-ones-owni...
kyivindependent.com
No one's owning up to crippling Ukraine's military Starlink
Nearly 48 hours after Ukraine's Starshield terminals started mysteriously malfunctioning, nobody in Washington, nor at SpaceX, has taken responsibility for the apparent decision to hobble Ukrainian mi...
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Every move Trump has made in the last few days is purely anti-Ukrainian. It's not a negotiation and it has nothing to do with energy prices, with a peace process, or with Zelensky's attitude.
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Shannon Monaghan @shannonmonaghan.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
A must read from fellow @hurstpublishers.bsky.social author @keirgiles.bsky.social. Pair with Calder Walton's book Spies for an even longer-term look at Russia's war on the West
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Brian Taylor @bdtaylor-su.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
"Since last week, the Trump administration has been in a downward spiral of betraying Ukraine and embarrassing the U.S." Please read this short, damning editorial.
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Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Nothing has changed since the start of Trump's second term.
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Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
A couple of days after the 2024 US elections I posted a thread on Twitter on what a Trump administration policy on Ukraine and Russia was likely to be. What they're doing now is appalling, but it shouldn't be a surprise.
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Seva @seva.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Russia has a name for neighbors that aren’t supposed to have their own foreign policy: the Near Abroad. It’s a wonderfully dialectical term, each half negating the other to create an imperial synthesis that treats sovereignty as a plaything of the Russian imagination. new post
hegemon.substack.com
Trump’s Near Abroad
A complaint from across Lake America
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Ian Bond @cerianbond.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
This should set off a siren in every defence ministry in Europe: there needs to be much more urgency about developing autonomous capabilities, not subject to US caprices, for early warning of attacks, countering ballistic missiles, communicating with forces or controlling offensive weapons.
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Olga Lautman 🇺🇦 @olgalautman.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
South Korea secretly shipped Russia fuel, including diesel, and then picked a diplomatic fight with Ukraine. Meanwhile, Moscow is training North Koreans in drone manufacturing and helping them gain battlefield experience that threatens South Korea and the region. My latest for @cepa.org
cepa.org
Ukraine Has Problems With Both Koreas
South Korea’s recent behavior toward Ukraine seems mystifying given its vulnerability to attack from the North Korea.
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Christopher Miller @christopherjm.ft.com · 14/10/2026
NEW: Ukrainian troops were caught off guard by restrictions on Starlink satellite internet systems that disrupted frontline operations, as Kyiv received no advance warning from its partners of a Russian missile attack on its energy facilities for the second day running, Ukrainian officials tell me.
ft.com
Ukraine blindsided by Starlink restrictions and intelligence gaps during Russian attack
Moscow ignores Donald Trump’s ‘energy ceasefire’ while Kyiv’s forces experience connectivity problems on Elon Musk’s satellite network
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Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
People keep coming back to the question of why (understandably), but it's irrelevant. Whatever the reason, Trump is absolutely immovable on his support for Putin and his desire to "get along" with Russia. It's been that way before his first term in office. It's not going to change.
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Everybody needs to be crystal clear that “the deal” in Trump’s mind is Ukrainian surrender. Of course, Putin wants it. But neither Putin nor Trump can compel it or wishcast it.
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John Sipher @johnsipher.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
“This makes plain the implicit quid pro quo in these lucrative deals offered to Trump’s family and friends: If you compel Ukraine to surrender, we will enrich you beyond reckoning…Putin is attempting to leverage…Trump’s weakness for corruption.” (Gift article) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...
theatlantic.com
Trump Is an Easy Mark for Putin
The president’s diesel deal sells out Ukraine, and does nothing for Americans.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 12/10/2026
"The amount of fuel Russia could export is too small, the impact on pricing too slight, the narrative too late to shape electoral outcomes: This looks, instead, like something very different: an abrupt, Hail Mary attempt to force Ukraine to surrender" www.theatlantic.com/idea/2026/10...
theatlantic.com
Trump’s Message to Ukraine Is Now Crystal Clear
The president’s actions over the past 72 hours look like an effort to force Kyiv to surrender.
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Alina Pereverzieva 🇺🇦 @perevaa.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Ukraine gets to decide whether Russian oil refineries keep running – so Zelenskyy sarcastically wondered why the US hasn't struck a deal with Ukraine to secure its diesel supply.
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Sven-Erik Volberg @volberg.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
PURL is fully foreign funded, and goes directly to US businesses. This isn't aid, its literally a free $6.7bn subsidy to the US defence industry. This isn't a threat to aid. They're treating to cut off their own industry to protect a tiny diesel deal with russia.
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Alina Pereverzieva 🇺🇦 @perevaa.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Rescue operations in Zaporizhzhia after the Russia's strike on Oct 10 are over. That attack killed 20 people, including 4 children, and injured 32, including 3 children.
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Anders Puck Nielsen @anderspucknielsen.dk · 08/10/2026
Zelensky seems tired of the American administration. But he is right: It is dishonest to claim that there is a diplomatically impossible situation when there are plenty of levers they could pull if they wanted to.
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Sarah Kirchberger @sarahkirchberger.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Same experience here. I wonder whether those people who think military studies experts think war is fun also believe oncologists have chosen their field due to a special liking for cancerous tumors, and that they consider chemotherapy fun?
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Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yes since 2025 European involvement in Ukraine’s defence effort has both deepened and widened. Trump’s return to the White House was a watershed moment. European countries now host Ukrainian production and logistics to the extent that Russia has started to consider Europe as Ukraine’s ”rear”.
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Sven-Erik Volberg @volberg.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Key point here. Baltics are not a pushover. They are not "next". (or "tiny" or "ex-Soviet republics") They are vigilant, increasingly well-armed with weapons that will deter aggressors. The real "frontline" is elsewhere: Germany, France, UK and the USA.
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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 05/10/2026
““We have to start from the border and win from the first battles,” said Colonel Tarmo Kundla, commander of the Estonian First Brigade, the country’s main fighting force.” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Estonia shifts troops closer to Russia in ‘active defence’ push
giftarticle.ft.com
Estonia shifts troops closer to Russia in ‘active defence’ push
Baltic state prepares to carry out deep strikes inside its neighbour if it is attacked
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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 04/10/2026
This really made something click for me. Found this extremely insightful on why liberal societies - which want to be the freest societies - struggle so much with freedom restrictions. (Translation in Alt)

What actually bothers people is a symptom of any liberal society. It liberates its citizens and then restricts them once more.
A woman born into an ultra-conservative family that envisages only the role of mother for women is protected by liberal society and can instead lead a childless life in a lesbian relationship with a Muslim woman in Berlin-Mitte. Liberal society is constantly on the lookout for people who have not yet been able to realise their full potential because the traditions, customs and morals of their social milieu prevent them from doing so. Anyone who says that something is improper, contradicts a divine plan or is contrary to public decency will find a reliable opponent in liberalism. Liberalism does not condone everything, but it permits whatever does not restrict the freedoms of others.
In this movement, liberal society challenges all communities that provide a sense of purpose. Parents no longer have as much say over what their children should do, and the churches should not dictate how long a marriage must last or what a woman does with her body. And just because things used to be done the way tradition dictated, nobody has to do them that way today. This devaluation of old institutions does not mean that the liberal state wants no churches, no families, no traditions. It merely curtails their authority. It gives them less weight. What is truly permitted and what is not is to be determined solely by the state through its laws, and not by a normative milieu. The motto is: anything that is not forbidden is permitted.
In this way, even what is good is lost. A vulgar, boorish man who, in the past, would not have dared to describe a sexual fantasy to a female politician for fear of social censure from his family and colleagues, can today feel free to do whatever he pleases. The only authority that can legitimately stop him is the law. So he need only ask whether it is forbidden and how he must phrase it so that it is sufficiently ambiguous to still be covered by freedom of expression. And if he manages to string together a series of ambiguities that make his intention obvious but do not constitute a criminal offence, he presents the liberal state with a major problem: the state cannot ban what is simply naughty, tasteless and repulsive.
This creates a vacuum. Much of what was previously curbed through dialogue, social respect, parental discipline, upbringing and moral authority is now left unregulated. Yet there is an urgent need amongst citizens for immoral behaviour to continue to be curbed. So the liberal state is called upon. It is expected to sanction thoughtless words, inappropriate physical contact, prejudiced speech, reckless driving, unbridled consumption, unhealthy eating and the infliction of discomfort. This blurs the distinction between legality and morality.
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John Sipher @johnsipher.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Our failure to support Ukraine will be a forever stain. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/w...
nytimes.com
Russia Is Planning Its Most Powerful Blow Yet to Try to Freeze Ukraine
Ukraine showed European partners what it said were intercepted Russian plans to cut off major cities from power, heat and water this winter.
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John Sipher @johnsipher.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
“Moscow needs an enemy, a grievance, and a story of national greatness strong enough to justify its right to pillage Tatarstan’s oil, Yamalo-Nenets’s gas, and Yakutia’s diamonds.” chakhoyan.substack.com/p/the-folly-...
chakhoyan.substack.com
What are russians killing and dying for in Ukraine?
moscow is losing hundreds of thousands of men for slivers of Ukrainian land. Territory alone cannot explain what the marauding army of russian war criminals is killing and dying for.
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Shannon Monaghan @shannonmonaghan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
“This war is not about conquering territories. It’s about destroying a nation,” said Małgorzata Ławrowska-von Thadden, the founder of OBMIN [...] “Without a culture, you can’t have a nation.” www.cfr.org/articles/cul...
cfr.org
Culture Under Fire: Ukraine’s Fight Against Russia’s Campaign of Erasure | Council on Foreign Relations
Russia’s attacks on cultural heritage in occupied Ukraine are neither accidental nor merely symbolic, experts say. They are an attempt to rewrite history, erase Ukraine’s identity, and make annexation...
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Shannon Monaghan @shannonmonaghan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Great thread and post from @frhoffmann.bsky.social on the nuts and bolts of fielding a deep-strike capability
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Timothy Garton Ash @fromtga.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
We are heading for a world of disorder and wars… in case you missed it, read my cheerful interview with Der Spiegel - also about how best to combat populism… timothygartonash.substack.com/p/history-ge...
timothygartonash.substack.com
History, Germany, populism and global polycrisis
My wide-ranging interview with Der Spiegel
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Sarah Kirchberger @sarahkirchberger.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The crux of our problem seems to be that there's a segment of East German society with ties to the old elites (SED, Stasi, etc.) that saw German unification as a hostile takeover by the "class enemy" & that subsequently lost their preeminent status not only within East Germany, but the Eastern Bloc.
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Headline writers saying Putin "warned the West against escalation" should stop helping the russian dictator manipulate the narrative. He started the war. If he attacks more European countries, he'll be escalating. The West hasn't matched his escalation, let alone ever escalated.
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Keir Giles @keirgiles.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Kieron Monks from The i Paper wrote on Kaliningrad as Russia's vulnerable and exposed weak spot. Sky's "The Wargame" simulated airstrikes there in response to a Russian attack on the UK. Now Russia's embassy in London has reached for the N-word again in response. kyivindependent.com/russia-issue...
kyivindependent.com
Russia issues new nuclear threat over Kaliningrad as tensions with NATO rise
The Russian Embassy in Ireland cited what it called "information" that NATO is preparing an air and naval blockade of Kaliningrad Oblast.
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Anders Puck Nielsen @anderspucknielsen.dk · 30/09/2026
I'm skeptical that more stupid warriors is the best way forward for armed forces.
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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 29/09/2026
I don’t claim to understand the financial market but reading about a loss-making company that warns its product might wipe out humanity does not motivate me to buy their shares.
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Keir Giles @keirgiles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Lessons observed" from behind the scenes at Sky's "The Wargame" series playing out Russian coercion of the UK. Formerly defence-sceptical politicians learned a lot: now the rest of them need to get the message. www.ft.com/content/65da...
ft.com
A TV series shows Britain is woefully unprepared for war
Sky’s ‘The Wargame’ may be fiction but the defence vulnerabilities it reveals are very real
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Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
To those keeping tabs on when the GIUK gap is mentioned: it’s mentioned here.
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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 27/09/2026
Lest we forget about you, North Korea. www.wsj.com/world/north-...
wsj.com
North Korea Is Testing Swarm Attacks Mixing Drones and Missiles
Kim Jong Un’s regime is incorporating tactics which are proving successful against Western air defenses in Europe and the Middle East.
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This a great explainer. I’ll add this: 1) many don’t realize that the reforms were necessary; they were formulated to deal w a real problem; they didn’t break anything that worked; the command economy was inherently flawed and falling apart. I’ll also add that…
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Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is a poor take that suggests Owen Jones doesn't know much about Russia in the 1990s, including Russia-US or wider Russia-West relations in the 1990s. By giving only one part of the story, he is repeating the Russian political elite's self-serving line that it was all the West's fault. Long 🧵
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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"I’m a mom - an anti-drone radar. Life doesn't stop. But how can I let my child go out alone?" a Ukrainian mom says as she escorts her son to his training session during a Russian drone attack on Kyiv. 📹: misslena_90 / Instagram
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Sven-Erik Volberg @volberg.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Russia says the quiet part out loud at the UN-- they reject a ceasefire because they don't want Ukraine to rearm. Why? Clearly, because they don't want Ukraine to defend itself from their aggression. Their goal remains Ukrainian capitulation. Never forget that…
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Alina Pereverzieva 🇺🇦 @perevaa.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
⚠️ Russia is developing a plan to launch Gerbera drones at Spain, France or Italy from merchant ships in the Mediterranean, El Mundo reports. The drones could be hidden in shipping containers and launched near Europe’s coast. Moscow wants “its own Spiderweb.”
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Keir Giles @keirgiles.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Attack drones launched from vessels of Russia's shadow fleet at targets in Western Europe, you say? One reason that scenario didn't make it into the plot of Sky's "The Wargame", broadcasting this week, is because the team playing Russia already had too many options. inews.co.uk/news/world/w...
Screenshot describing Wargame discussions of shadow fleet attack drones.
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Ian Bond @cerianbond.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
If Putin accepts, every European leader (at least) should boycott the event. The G20 no longer serves the useful purpose it had during the global financial crisis, when it was founded, so nothing that matters will be lost by not being there.
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Sven-Erik Volberg @volberg.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Commander of the British military in Estonia. Listen to him, not to know-alls, scaremongers, doomsayers, clickbaiters and other noisemakers.
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