Senior lecturer in Defence Studies at King’s College London. My views are my own, but I might retweet folk with whom I don’t agree.
Joined April 2018
- Tweets34.5K
- Following898
- Followers1.5K
- Likes39.9K
andrew corbett retweeted
Unbelievable. From the NYT:
"The Trump administration is exploring a new concession to Russia: lifting sanctions on the country’s flagship government investment fund, long viewed by U.S. officials as one of the Kremlin’s most powerful tools of international influence."
Essentially, Trump is considering restoring the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), one of Putin's principal instruments for financing and expanding Kremlin influence abroad. In February 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department described RDIF as a slush fund for Putin and "emblematic of Russia's broader kleptocracy." Lifting sanctions would restore access to international capital and financial networks that were specifically restricted to curtail the Kremlin's activities including recruiting foreign agents.
And for what? Russia does not appear to be making any meaningful concessions, particularly in the tempo or intensity of its missile and drone attacks against Ukraine. Putin continues his war while Trump considers rewarding him with sanctions relief.
Trump cannot be allowed to move ahead with this. Why is Congress not stopping him? What was the actual point of passing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act if Trump can simply waive its principal provisions and continue dismantling the economic pressure on Moscow?
Another stunning report, from @antontroian, on another concession Trump wants to make toward Russia.
What we have zero news of is what Russia plans to concede in exchange for this—other than money for Trump family allies.
nytimes.com/2026/10/27/us/po…
andrew corbett retweeted
Zuckerberg already admitted it wrongly suspended the No Kings Instagram account during the peak of a massive voter-mobilization effort.
Now, seven days before the midterms, Zuckerberg has suspended the account Angie Nixon’s Senate campaign uses to organize Latino voters.
At what point do repeated “mistakes” that suppress organizing by Democrats become an election-integrity crisis?
andrew corbett retweeted
Meta had an internal PR plan to try and discredit Jon Haidt because he was a critic of social media.
Meta was going to recruit academics, like Andrew Gelman, to write take down pieces. They were trying to turn academics against one another through a "whisper strategy".
This is a very serious problem for open academic debate. If academics who share negative evidence about a platform are targeted by campaigns to smear our credibility, we are in deep, deep trouble.
This creates a very serious conflict of interest for anyone who is paid to do this.
law360.com/articles/2542517/…
andrew corbett retweeted
“Do you understand who you are dealing with? This is America. Back up.”
A United Nations meeting was dramatically suspended yesterday after US ambassador Mike Waltz and Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla both ignored the chair’s plea for order in the chamber.
The problem started when Waltz blamed Cubans for the shocking US embargoes and blockades that are causing huge suffering to the people of the island.
Cuban representatives, astonished at the way Waltz blamed the victims for the crisis, in their eyes, stood up and objected, citing Rule 71, which allows listeners to raise a point of order.
Ambassador Waltz responded that the Cubans didn’t like the substance of his speech, so were not raising a point of order.
But when complaints continued, this caused Ambassador Waltz to lose his temper and shout “Back up! Back away. Do you understand what you’re dealing with? This is America.”
.
INTERNATIONAL TERRITORY
The rest of the United Nations was outraged by this attitude, as the UN building is legally international territory.
When Waltz refused to stop his tirade, Khalilur Rahman, chair of the 81st session, ordered that the meeting be instantly suspended. Waltz ignored him.
The meeting was then resumed, but footage of the argument created a huge storm on social media.
Some people in the US defended Waltz’s narrative, blaming Cubans for the suffering caused by the US embargos.
But much of the commentary from the rest of the world said that the United Nations, for the safety of the delegates and the organization itself, should no longer be situated in New York.
When New York was originally chosen as the site, the US pledged not to politicize US visa access to meetings—but has regularly broken the pledge, such as refusing to allow visas for Palestinians.
.
.
andrew corbett retweeted
The Trump administration is exploring a new concession to Russia: lifting sanctions on the country’s flagship government investment fund, long viewed by U.S. officials as one of the Kremlin’s most powerful tools of international influence. - NYT
Concession after concession to Russia from the US, with zero concessions back from Russia. This isn't about ending the war at all, this is about corruption. Turns out "Russia, Russia, Russia" wasn't a hoax after all.
andrew corbett retweeted
Residents in Kherson took advantage of the ceasefire to return to their long-burnt apartments in most heavily bombed by Russia neighborhoods and retrieve what was left of their belongings.
Russia's "human safari" in the region is raging on for years. Just look at what they have done to this city!
andrew corbett retweeted
Oui. Même si l’expression était passée « dans le langage stratégique courant » au cours des années 1990, son retour aujourd’hui s’inscrit dans la continuité décrite ci-dessous. J’avais co-écrit un papier sur le sujet lorsque Moscou avait tenté une manœuvre avec la France à ce sujet: lemonde.fr/idees/article/201…
Samo sformułowanie „europejska architektura bezpieczeństwa” ma sowiecką/rosyjską prowincję. Termin wiąże się z sowieckim postulatem i rosyjskim marzeniem, aby Amerykanie wycofali swoich żołnierzy z Europy - do żargonu dyplomatycznego wprowadzał ten termin Molotow w 1954 roku, potem Gromyko w 1969, i to do tej tradycji nawiązuje Putin i jego ultimatum z 2021. Dlatego amerykańska dyplomacja - dla podkreślenia różnicy z sowieckim podejściem często używała pojęcia „bezpieczeństwo Europy” - bo to oznacza udział Amerykanów w jego zapewnieniu. To, źe Rosjanie do tematu wracają, należy wiązać z dążeniami administracji Trumpa, aby nakłonić Putina do powrotu do rozmów o zakończeniu wojny rosyjsko-ukraińskiej. WItkoff miał ostatnio zaproponować aby rozmowy dotyczyły nie tylko Ukrainy, ale właśnie całej europejskiej „architektury bezpieczeństwa” , czyli między innymi amerykańskich baz w Polsce i obecności amerykańskich żołnierzy w Europie.
andrew corbett retweeted
Barack Obama decided to hit Pete Hegseth with the elbow from the top rope. Absolutely brutal takedown.
andrew corbett retweeted
"Russia's systematic attacks on civilian energy infrastructure constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity."
And yet:
The russians are hell bent on doing this again. Actually, they've already started.
And @PeteHegseth is enabling it by not signing a fucking document.
The latest report of the UN Commission of Inquiry confirms what Ukrainians have experienced for years: Russia's systematic attacks on civilian energy infrastructure constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Having failed to achieve its aggressive aims on the battlefield, Russia has sought to break the will of the Ukrainian people by attacking civilian cities and critical infrastructure. It has deliberately deprived millions of people of electricity, heating and water, turning cold and darkness into instruments of war.
The Commission's findings go beyond Ukraine. By documenting Russia's deceptive recruitment of foreign nationals for military service and characterizing these practices as human trafficking, the report exposes the global dimension of Russia's unlawful conduct.
As winter approaches and these attacks continue, it is time for the international community to increase pressure on Moscow, strengthen support for Ukraine, and ensure accountability for all international crimes committed in the course of Russia's aggression.
There can be no just and lasting peace without justice.
andrew corbett retweeted
Imagine if you stood up at work and said “You know who has one hell of a beautiful ass? It’s Carol from accounting. Stand up Carol! Show them your ass!”
You’d be fired within the hour but the president gets a pass because everyone has accepted the fact that he’s a scumbag.
andrew corbett retweeted
I held a coordination call on the situation with weapons supplies from our partners and efforts to restore energy infrastructure following Russian strikes. Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi reported on the work underway in the regions. I thank every repair crew and all energy companies that are fully carrying out their assigned tasks. The work is continuing virtually nonstop, and we are using the equipment reserves we have built up. I expect the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Energy, and other agencies involved to communicate in a timely and sufficient manner the need to replenish these reserves.
The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs reported on the supply of air defense interceptors to Ukraine, first and foremost Patriot missiles. We are working on several tracks – with the United States, Europe, and other partners that have stocks of PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles. In particular, we have been waiting for nearly a month for Mr. Hegseth to sign off on missiles for Patriots and NASAMS. I instructed our team to raise this with the American side once again. Conversations with other countries are also ongoing.
We also discussed preparations for the November Ramstein meeting. It is important to speed up the implementation of decisions that have been on the table for some time. Every support package is an opportunity to protect people's lives. Thank you to everyone who is providing real support and, in particular, helping speed up these critically important deliveries.
andrew corbett retweeted
Why the hell would you want to bring back an inferior measuring system that hasn’t been taught in schools for over 50 years?
Reform are out-of-touch fuckwits.
lbc.co.uk/article/reform-imp…
andrew corbett retweeted
The ‘have three, only have one is available for ops’ is a well-known thing, which has been recklessly discounted by the British 'to do more with less' for many years. Originally 16 x Type 23s. Three sold to Chile 2005, left 13. Therefore four approx avail for global ops (though more could be deployed in time of crisis/war).
But in recent years there have only been eight anti-submarine specialist (ASW) Type 23s, as rest general-purpose vessels. And so, even then only three max T23s (at any one time) could actually fully handle the vitally important ASW roles (protecting the deterrent working in northern seas and monitoring Russian submarine routes more generally).
The UK also failed to replace 6 x Type 22 (Batch 2) ASW ships that were axed late 1990s/early 2000s, then binned 4 x T22 (Batch 3, ASW/general-purpose) without replacement in 2011.
The T23s were meant only to replace Leander Class and Type 21 frigates btw.
The abandonment of common sense 3:1 rule and so having a fleet with, say, 10 frigates available for global ops at any one time, coincided with the notorious 17-year 'frigate building holiday'. Fewer ships left in service were pushed harder and wore out even quicker.
We are now fast approaching a nadir in British naval history (esp with no SSNs on ops) - even a shocking a low in modern global naval history for a so-called leading maritime power. But it should surprise nobody, especially in government or the higher reaches of the military (recent past and present) .
And certainly not a surprise for readers of @WarshipsIFR magazine via our repeated warnings of where things were going, since the first edition in 1998, plus the numerous warnings of other naval specialists on here and elsewhere.
ALT Type 23 (Batch 3) frigate HMS Cumberland receiving a refit in the covered sheds at Devonport Dockyard, 2001. Photo: 2001.
andrew corbett retweeted
Did you know that the first women to land on the Normandy beachhead in June 1944 were nurses of Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service?
Their task was to establish a field hospital for 600 wounded soldiers.
They succeeded.
Please remember these heroines who saved lives:
andrew corbett retweeted
New post:
We have a fascinating and candid interview with Tony Radakin who was head of the armed forces 2021-2025.
Covers decisions on Ukraine, the lessons from the UK, the threat from Russia, defence spending and the disaster of military procurement.
samf.substack.com/p/when-rus…
andrew corbett retweeted
“The current reality could hardly be bleaker”
– the verdict of cross-party MPs
andrew corbett retweeted
All you American bishops now coming out individually to express your regret for that White House meeting. You did not “appear” partisan - you were partisan. You revealed yourself publicly precisely as you are in reality - fools, every one of you. Shame on you.
andrew corbett retweeted
💯. And if you’re American and believe he wouldn’t do this to you, imagine if he doesn’t like the policies of your next president … can you be sure he wouldn’t do it?
After Elon Musk posted on X saying he had throttled Ukraine’s use of Starlink after it was used for offensive attacks, House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) says the billionaire’s ability to wield that power is “beyond disturbing to me.”
“It cannot and should not be the case that a tech oligarch, a private citizen, who has that much control over our national security, who is unaccountable, who is unelected, with zero transparency, is making life and death decisions on the battlefield in systems that our service members and our partners and allies rely upon,” he adds.