A blog about Russian politics by Atlantic Council Senior Fellow and UTA Adjunct Prof. Brian Whitmore. I block trolls & anybody else I find remotely annoying.
🔹 Lithuania is preparing evacuation routes, Germany is readying hospitals for potential armed conflict, and France is strengthening protection of critical infrastructure.
In the Shatterbelt Brief, Brian Whitmore (@PowerVertical) says the threat of Russian escalation in Europe is real — and Putin may see a window of opportunity to splinter NATO and the European Union.
🔗 Read the commentary
indavemedia.com/commentary-p…
Is Putin preparing to escalate — or is the Kremlin trying to scare the West into backing off its support for Ukraine?
Brian Whitmore (@PowerVertical ) examines Russia’s latest threats and what he calls Putin’s “escalation psyop.”
Read the full commentary on Independence Avenue Media.
indavemedia.com/cat/the-shat…
📅 SEPTEMBER 17 @ 10:00 am ET | How does Russia target its propaganda across the Global South?
@PowerVertical moderates a virtual panel launching our new #RussiaTomorrow report by @cjcmichel on Moscow's efforts to cultivate support abroad.
Register ⬇️
atlanticcouncil.org/event/re…
🎧 LISTEN | Why have Russians pulled billions out of banks this summer?
@PowerVertical speaks with @CraigKennedy77 about the state of the Russian economy as Ukraine intensifies its long-range strikes against Moscow's war machine.
More ⤵️
powervertical.org/2026/08/21…
In 1993, Russia's president sent tanks against his parliament. In 1994, Ukraine's president lost an election — and simply went home.
@PowerVertical on the 1990s choice that made two countries, and why Ukraine's democracy is what Moscow can't forgive.
indavemedia.com/commentary-t…
📺 WATCH | Will Russia risk another mobilization?
@PowerVertical tells @dwnews that the Kremlin may instead opt for a "stealth mobilization," relying on "intensive legal coercion."
"Russia's a dictatorship, but the Kremlin is very, very sensitive to the mood of the public."
Moscow's drone bases, sabotage networks and a possible test of NATO all run through one enabler, Brian Whitmore (@PowerVertical ) argues: a cornered dictator in Belarus who has traded his country's infrastructure for his own survival.
🔗 Read "Moscow’s Little Helper — Belarus’ Expanding Role in Russia’s War":
indavemedia.com/commentary-m…
🎧 LISTEN | Why have Russians pulled billions out of banks this summer?
@PowerVertical speaks with @CraigKennedy77 about the state of the Russian economy as Ukraine intensifies its long-range strikes against Moscow's war machine.
More ⤵️
powervertical.org/2026/08/21…
Moscow's drone bases, sabotage networks and a possible test of NATO all run through one enabler, Brian Whitmore (@PowerVertical ) argues: a cornered dictator in Belarus who has traded his country's infrastructure for his own survival.
indavemedia.com/commentary-m…
Moscow's drone bases, sabotage networks and a possible test of NATO all run through one enabler - a cornered dictator in Belarus who has traded his country's infrastructure for his own survival. My latest column for @indavemediaindavemedia.com/commentary-m…
First Russia occupied Ukrainian land. Now it is teaching children there that the land was always Russian.
@PowerVertical examines the Kremlin’s rewriting of history — and the Russo-centric narratives long sustained by Western academia.
indavemedia.com/commentary-r…
New Kremlin textbooks teach occupied Ukraine's children they were always Russian. In my latest column for @indavemedia, I argue that Western universities spent a century teaching a politer version of the same story. indavemedia.com/commentary-r…
Ukraine’s struggle is not confined to the battlefield.
@PowerVertical argues that Mykhailo Fedorov’s dismissal exposed a fight between reformers and a “shadow state” of entrenched interests that survived Andriy Yermak’s fall.
Read Brian Whitmore’s commentary:
indavemedia.com/commentary-t…
On The @PowerVertical Podcast this week I speak with the always insightful @KofmanMichael about the state of the battlefield in the wake of Ukraine’ shakeup of its military leadership (Link in comments)