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Anatol Lieven: Freeze NATO expansion now or risk war (VIDEO)

Time is ticking: our expert hopes the push for military intervention is the fever dream of a few and that cooler heads will prevail.

Analysis | Europe

The Russians want NATO to close its doors to Ukraine and all further expansion into Eastern Europe — this is the red line Moscow as declared. Quincy Institute senior fellow Anatol Lieven talks here about why the U.S. and NATO must decide whether denying Russia is worth the bloody conflict that it might cause. He also talks about the imperative of revisiting the Minsk II agreement, resolving the Donbas dispute, and Ukraine neutrality as a longterm solution.

He also explains why he believes negotiations should take place between the U.S. and Russia only, how Europe is divided, and the consequences of U.S. military intervention (directly or indirectly) in anticipation of, or after a Russian invasion of Ukraine.


Analysis | Europe
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Top photo credit: Supporters attend a ceremony announcing the Reconstruction and Development Coalition election platform ahead of Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections in Karbala, Iraq, October 10, 2025. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

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Middle East

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Top image credit: Joey Sussman and Photo Agency via shutterstock.com

Trump-Xi reset could collapse under the weight of its ambition

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Military Industrial Complex

Defense officials consistently tout the Replicator initiative — an ambitious effort to “swarm” thousands of attritable, inexpensive drones at a break-neck pace to counter China — as a great success.

DoD Secretary Pete Hegseth testified in June that the initiative had “made enormous strides towards delivering and fielding multiple thousands of unmanned systems across multiple domains,” with “thousands more planned” through the FY 2026 defense budget. A defense official told DefenseScoop in late August the Pentagon was ensuring a “successful transition” or Replicator capabilities to end-state users. And last August, then Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who kicked off the initiative in 2023, boasted it was on track for its production goals.

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