The Russia watchWill NATO survive?; Putin: counterpart or handler?; Twitter suspends 70 million accounts, and more
• Ahead of NATO summit, allies wonder: Will NATO survive Trump?
• As Trump plans Putin meeting, Europeans fear further meddling by Moscow
• Will Trump be meeting with his counterpart — or his handler?
• Can NATO use truth against Russian lies?
• This is how Russia could test NATO, warns former U.S. Army Europe commander
• The murder of a British civilian: The need for action against Russia’s use of chemical agents
• A checklist of Kremlin narratives in mainstream Western media
• Twitter has suspended 70 million suspicious accounts since they revealed to Congress that Russia used fake profiles to interfere with the presidential election
• Twitter’s fake account purge can help turn the tide against influence campaigns
• Fake news in Eastern Europe: 4 narratives undermining trust in the EU
Ahead of NATO summit, allies wonder: Will NATO survive Trump? (Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post)
The author, Brussels bureau chief for the newspaper, reports that “NATO leaders … [are] worried about … a full crackup of the alliance … NATO diplomats are making dark jokes about whether Trump and Putin could unveil a globe-shifting alliance of the sort that helped lead to World War I. Others are considering the legal architecture for a NATO in which the United States is no longer the preeminent player. … Leaders and diplomats worry that Trump could … halt U.S. participation in military exercises in eastern Europe to avoid ‘provoking’ Russia … a move that could poke holes in the U.S. security umbrella that reaches up to Russia’s border. Their nightmare is that Trump could … recogniz[e] Russia’s annexation of Crimea, emboldening nations around the world to redraw borders by force. … U.S. diplomats … say they have received no instructions that would depart from decades of U.S. foreign policy. … But Trump himself appears to want to take a different direction. At last month’s G-7 summit, he suggested that the 2014 annexation was legitimate because most residents of the Crimean Peninsula were Russian-speaking. … [European policymakers] fear that he [Trump] could be reelected, giving him enough time to make many of his policy shifts permanent.”
As Trump plans Putin meeting, Europeans fear further meddling by Moscow (Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times)
The day the White House announced plans for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump publicly doubted whether Moscow had interfered with the campaign that landed him in the White House.
Will Trump be meeting with his counterpart — or his handler? (Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine)
A plausible theory of mind-boggling collusion.
Can NATO use truth against Russian lies? (Christian Science Monitor)
The alliance’s coming summit can be used to support nations in Europe that are learning how to counter Kremlin disinformation with ‘critical thinking’ among their citizens.
This is how Russia could test NATO, warns former U.S. Army Europe commander (Patrick Tucker, Defense One)
Ben Hodges co-authors a new report that explores how Russia might engineer a military crisis on the Poland-Lithuania border.