Profile avatar
christophersteele.bsky.social
Director Orbis Intelligence | Former British Crown Servant | Intelligence Professional | Russia Specialist |
16 posts 1,581 followers 58 following
Regular Contributor
Posts 16 Comments 1

Trump’s U-turn on the Ukraine war and his, frankly suspicious, aim of saving Putin from this self-inflicted quagmire, is splitting the populist Right in Europe. Johnson, Truss, Farage, Meloni Bardella et al are squirming like never before but will eventually have to choose. Trump or Ukraine. Simple.

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

President Zelenskyy has been one of the greatest leaders of our time, guiding Ukraine through the darkest period of its recent history, rising up to Russia’s unwarranted aggression, being an inspiration to the Ukrainian people and ensuring that Ukraine’s voice is heard on the world stage.

submitted 3 days ago • 2878 comments

So the gloves are off between Trump and Zelensky. At least Trump’s penchant for autocracy and values-free foreign policy are clear. I’m told some Western officials, in self-justificatory mode, are advising colleagues to judge Trump by what he ‘does’ rather than ‘says’.That shouldn’t take too long!

submitted 4 days ago • 4 comments

Zelensky is very brave to draw a line in the sand and call out Trump’s comments to the US press yesterday, which largely parroted Russian talking points and disinformation about the war, sprinkled with his usual BS hyperbole. History will judge Zelensky the hero of our times, and Trump the villain.

submitted 4 days ago • 6 comments

What’s unfolding in Riyadh between the USG and Russia is heartbreaking for Ukraine and those who have supported Kyiv since 2022. It’s a text book example of how not to handle Putin, or any autocrat. Give them respectability and weakly cede key points from the outset. It will come back to haunt us.

submitted 5 days ago • 5 comments

Team Trump’s incompetent performance and stance on Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference aren’t surprising but must be a huge wake-up call to European leaders who’ve been in denial about them. Sadly a big schism with the US is now likely but it’s unclear if we have the leadership to manage it.

submitted 8 days ago • 4 comments

So, pace my book,Trump intends to let Putin off the hook and sell out our ally, Ukraine, like he did the Afghans with his ‘peace deal’ there. Putin’s actually weak, and his economy and position vulnerable, so what’s Trump’s real motivation here? Simply ego or do the Russians have leverage over him?

submitted 10 days ago • 13 comments

In my 2024 book ‘Unredacted’ I describe a re-elected Trump (and his supine Republican Party) creating ‘strategic chaos’ and posing a greater threat to Western democracy than Putin or Xi Jingping.With what has transpired in the US since 20 January, sadly who can now seriously doubt these judgements.

submitted 12 days ago • 5 comments

Donald Trump has just lost to Orbis again in the English High Court. Having been in breach of a costs order against him in our favour since Feb 24, and despite claiming ‘sovereign immunity’ in UK, the judge ordered him to pay £290k within 28 days or be excluded from all future hearings in the case.

submitted 25 days ago • 8 comments

Trump’s ignorance of history/ foreign affairs and Russia-Ukraine in particular is scary. Contrary to his statement today, the USSR (not Russia) lost circa 25 (not 60) million people in WW2 and current Ukraine war casualties are likely less than half what Trump claims. Who, on earth, is briefing him?

submitted 32 days ago • 15 comments

Today, I consciously chose not to buy my usual FT newspaper and have avoided watching the TV coverage of Trump’s sickening inauguration. We are entering a very dark period, where Nazi salutes and brazen political lies are normalised. It’s going to be hard to keep our moral compass, but we must do.

submitted 33 days ago • 4 comments

X’s transformation into a platform for disinformation, Russian or other,and Hard Right propaganda is almost complete. Normalising the abnormal and hostile foreign political interference. We face an era when truth-speaking and seeking will become a minority sport. Orwell must be turning in his grave.

submitted 35 days ago • 4 comments

As the Trump/Musk oligarchy beckons, we’ve already entered the realms of Alice In Wonderland. Musk’s father is claiming Tommy Robinson will soon be our PM. Doubtless music to Putin’s ears but it’s hard to believe our security and economic wellbeing will soon depend on such people. And frankly scary.

submitted 47 days ago • 1 comment

It’s instructive to note the congruence of political attacks on moderate,European centrist political leaders by Musk and Russian ultra-nationalist propagandist Dugin. This feels like a co-ordinated, hard Right campaign to undermine Western democracy and if so, must be exposed and rigorously opposed.

submitted 48 days ago • 1 comment

Elon Musk’s growing hostile political interference in Europe must be firmly countered by the UK, German and other governments being targeted by him. Musk’s interventions are ill-informed, inflammatory and divisive. He caved under determined Brazilian regulatory pressure before and will do so again.

submitted 51 days ago • 1 comment

I’m pleased to be joining Bluesky and will aim to increase my following here on a less hostile and bot-poisoned platform than X. I’ll continue to speak out against the ills of our age- including autocracy, oligarchy, disinformation and lawfare, both here and on the ‘other platform’. Welcome aboard.

submitted 61 days ago • 10 comments