Tim, I know you're safe in Toronto now, but please keep fighting for what's right. Trump is a monster, a dictator, a child molester and lots of other bad things, and now he's saying that Democratic politicians should be executed. We need you to speak out strongly, and often.
Actually, Porter, he is travelling in the U.S., as he does often.
Through his books, his videos, interviews, and conference appearances he is among our best for, as you say, speaking out strongly.
That being said, let's add something to your list of observations on the rapist, monster, child molester, long-time pal to child traffickers, convicted criminal Donald. For Timothy Snyder's most vital concerns, we can add how Donald has always been friend only to fellow criminals and dictators such as Putin (& many remorselessly evil more).
This vulgar savage, Donald, doesn't care about anyone's democracy -- and will be happy to pay off Putin with conquest he'd be more free to make in other parts of central Europe, and then western Europe, too.
I say pay off, as we all know Jeffrey Epstein went visiting him in the Kremlin, almost certainly bringing most salacious bits from his files on that mobster from Queens.
I think I've followed Dr. Snyder for years, since before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I think he's absolutely brilliant and is, of course, one of the leading historians of Eastern Europe and the Steppe nations. Did you see the videos of his series of Yale lectures on Ukraine?
Timothy Snyder Delivers 2025 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Lecture
(with transcript)
The American Academy of Political & Social Science
2025 Moynihan Prize recipient Professor Timothy Snyder of the University of Toronto delivered his lecture, "Ukrainian Humanity: Rethinking How World History is Told" on October 30th, 2025 in at Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy in Washington, D.C.
Her Excellency Ambassador Olga Stefanishyna delivered welcoming remarks, Professor Angela Stent of Georgetown introduced Tim, and Alexa Chopivsky of the Women's Foreign Policy Forum interviewed Tim after his address.
This is Tim Snyder. It's November 21st, 2025, and I felt the need to say a few words about this Russian settlement for Ukraine, which is being promoted now by the White House. There are at least five fundamental things that are wrong with this idea as it is now framed.
The first is that it makes nuclear war a lot more likely. If you force Ukraine to accept terms which amount to defeat in capitulation, the rest of the world draws a conclusion. And that conclusion is you have to build nuclear weapons to hold off a Russian
invasion or a Chinese invasion or an invasion of somebody who has nuclear weapons. Forcing Ukraine to capitulate means nuclear proliferation. Nuclear proliferation means an increased risk of nuclear war around the world. You're not creating peace if you bring about a nuclear third world war. Second point, international order.
The fundament of our international order is that there are states, the states have borders, those borders can't be violated by invasion. Now, this happens from time to time, but it's exceptional. What would be even more exceptional is to endorse it by rewarding Russia for invading Ukraine. If you do that, as the present settlement envisions,
then you're creating a world in which invasions and wars become normal. Third point, regional peace. If Russia is rewarded for invading Ukraine, and if the terms of the settlement in Ukraine leave Russia stronger, then Russia will have been encouraged in every possible way, legal, moral, psychological, and economic, to continue fighting wars in Europe. Fourth, future reconstruction.
Peace doesn't mean just the momentary absence of hostilities. I don't doubt for a minute that Russia would accept a ceasefire for a few minutes, days, maybe even weeks in exchange for the idea that Ukraine will capitulate. But in order to have peace, you have to have a Ukraine that can defend itself, that can belong to international institutions,
that is sovereign. and also in order to have peace you have to have a ukraine that can rebuild itself there is no provision whatsoever for this in this settlement you have to have a ukraine that can join the european union that can attract foreign investment and
which is the target of perfectly reasonable and indeed profitable plans from the west and from other allies and democracy to help it rebuild final point number five and maybe the most fundamental is process Everything we know about history teaches us that you can't get to a durable peace settlement without involving the people who are concerned.
The Ukrainians are the most important people concerned. They have not been consulted in this settlement. It is a Russian-led settlement translated into English by Americans. There are good reasons why this can't work. If you leave important people out, then you don't understand the issues. If you leave important people out, you don't have all the necessary information.
And also, if you leave important people out, you may create conditions where they have no choice but to fight anyway, and then you haven't solved the problem. The next most important people are the allies. If Ukraine is to be defended and reconstructed, rebuilt, such that there is peace,
then Ukraine's other allies have to be brought into the story, and they have not been. So I hope that was a quick summary. Nuclear war, international order, regional peace, future reconstruction, meaning peace, and the process. These are reasons why this Russian settlement promoted now by Americans can't work.
I've developed these ideas further in various pieces on my substack. Thanks for paying attention. Thanks for being with me.
Subjugation was obviously the point. Since Trump has come back to this solution many times, I think this has ALWAYS and will ALWAYS be what he wants and his apparent backing of Ukraine was just because of public reaction.
There is a theory that Trump wants spheres of influence - Russia in Europe and Western Asia, the US in the western hemisphere, and China in Eastern Asia. This is getting to look more and more plausible.
yes trump is flailing but he was doing the same thing, telling ukraine they have no cards, from the very start. and in helsinki years ago he said he trrusts putin above american intelligence. he was on putin's side forever
witkoff and trump together had verylucrative dealings with the russians for many years. i think he is just working on a good deal here. if ethics do not count and they don't he is being very smart, many millions in it for him and trump
Exxon wants to drill in Western Siberia. That's why former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson was Trump's first secretary of state, a guy who received the Order of Friendship from Putin. And it's also one of the reasons why Trump always caves to Putin.
Otherwise, it's all Russian talking points. The Russians have put this plan on the table before and now it's back again. They are demanding that Ukraine accept the annexation of oblasts that they haven't secured.
Trump has indicated that he's not going attend the G20 summit in South Africa because of his stupid belief that the government there is committing genocide against white farmers (whites comprise 7% of the population and own 72% of the land). They should ban the US altogether from the G7 and G20 and then he can hang with his buddy Putin instead.
Thank you, Tim. You have succinctly and clearly laid out the essential flaws in this supposed peace settlement. This is not a negotiation; this is not a fair and equitable peace! This "agreement" calls for the capitulation by Ukraine! This should be unacceptable. This is a settlement proposed by Russia without Ukraine's participation. A *real* president would reject it out of hand. The fact that the US has not rejected it tells you all you need to know about our president.
I’m so enraged that Americans raised an incompetent conman to the White House to destroy everything for everybody but for a handful of psycho billionaires and Putin. I’ve changed my charitable contributions 100% away from the USA towards Ukraine and certain other nationals who have been recently betrayed by this White House.
Put simply, it's a requirement that Ukraine should surrender to Russia in return for nothing so that Putin can claim an outright victory. The toll on the Russians has been severe. Nearly 800,000 soldiers have been killed or wounded. They've had to launch massive and deeply unpopular conscription drives.
If Trump had the guts to impose severe secondary sanctions on countries buying oil and gas from Russia (the Senate had a bill ready to go) it would be the coup d'etat for Russian hopes of a victory. Instead, he surrendering to Putin.
Who knows. The rumours swirling around Trump's connections to Russia have been there since he first campaigned for the presidency. He defends Putin again and again and it's not just about his penchant for strongmen leaders.
Here are four elements of the longer list of what Putin has on Trump: The details the “DeutscheBank” affair; the details (of course) of Russian interference in the 2016 election (from the U.S. side, see the Mueller Report); Putin’s interpreter’s notes from the famous “2018 Helsinki meeting” (Trump had his interpreter’s notes destroyed); and Roger Stone and the “DNC tapes,” supplied to him by Julian Assange (who got them from where?), which Stone then conveniently “dropped” a couple of hours after the “Access Hollywood” tape was released.
Let's recognize that this is purely a Putin play. Witkoff is not merely the messenger, but so much more. He has been more than the messenger since Trump took office and appointed the Witkoff family to attend to Trump's financial interests. Here is Google AI's assessment - "Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer and U.S. special envoy, is a co-founder of the cryptocurrency firm World Liberty Financial (WLF), a venture launched with the family of President Donald Trump in 2024. His involvement has drawn significant scrutiny and calls for investigation from Democratic senators, who allege potential conflicts of interest due to his simultaneous government role and ongoing financial ties to the company, particularly in relation to deals involving the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). " World Liberty Financial is a natural conduit for money laundering and will be readily available to Russian illicit financial interests. It is difficult to imagine that Witkoff would be an impartial delegate to negotiating the end of the war which was started by Putin.
Cheeto Is Losing The Polls…The Point Of 30% No Return
The most recent Marquestte poll shows Cheeto approach to inflation is at 28% On managing the economy and tariffs he lands at 36% and 37% respectively
This 28% number is a major tell from the electorate Pollsters claim that when a leader loses support below 30% it becomes a point of nonrecovery That is to say when less than 30% opines that the leader is performing poorly all support for the leadership is lost and that opinion cannot be reversed When a leader's approval rating or public trust falls below 30% in polls, it indicates a significant crisis of confidence among the public
This may be very well be the reason is Cheeto is so angry He sees that the false reality he is trying to spin to the American electorate is not believable and that the lies are not working as they once had Nobody believes that inflation is coming down(purchasing power of the dollar is currently 6 pennies), concentration camps are good, that disappearing people off the streets and disrupting communities is great policy, that taxing struggling American companies and consumers is good for the country, and that it’s morally right to protect pedophiles
So why should Cheeto be angry? He is the Herber Hoover of the 21st century but worse He has created this mess, owns it, and it will never recover for this evil, corrupt, depraved, arrogant, deranged transactional sick sick mind
Tim, I know you're safe in Toronto now, but please keep fighting for what's right. Trump is a monster, a dictator, a child molester and lots of other bad things, and now he's saying that Democratic politicians should be executed. We need you to speak out strongly, and often.
Actually, Porter, he is travelling in the U.S., as he does often.
Through his books, his videos, interviews, and conference appearances he is among our best for, as you say, speaking out strongly.
That being said, let's add something to your list of observations on the rapist, monster, child molester, long-time pal to child traffickers, convicted criminal Donald. For Timothy Snyder's most vital concerns, we can add how Donald has always been friend only to fellow criminals and dictators such as Putin (& many remorselessly evil more).
This vulgar savage, Donald, doesn't care about anyone's democracy -- and will be happy to pay off Putin with conquest he'd be more free to make in other parts of central Europe, and then western Europe, too.
I say pay off, as we all know Jeffrey Epstein went visiting him in the Kremlin, almost certainly bringing most salacious bits from his files on that mobster from Queens.
What about the kidnapped Russian children being fostered by Russia?
So many evils Putin and his fellow oligarchs have committed, Victoria.
Porter, where have been all these years when Tim was the first persistent voice of truth? He's also an international scholar. His range is the world.
I think I've followed Dr. Snyder for years, since before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I think he's absolutely brilliant and is, of course, one of the leading historians of Eastern Europe and the Steppe nations. Did you see the videos of his series of Yale lectures on Ukraine?
Yes, it was great. If you haven't seen this one, you'll like it. History so important. https://youtu.be/bWuR9hTQfx4?si=5-q3u2kNnRZJhLk4
Timothy Snyder Delivers 2025 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Lecture
(with transcript)
The American Academy of Political & Social Science
2025 Moynihan Prize recipient Professor Timothy Snyder of the University of Toronto delivered his lecture, "Ukrainian Humanity: Rethinking How World History is Told" on October 30th, 2025 in at Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy in Washington, D.C.
Her Excellency Ambassador Olga Stefanishyna delivered welcoming remarks, Professor Angela Stent of Georgetown introduced Tim, and Alexa Chopivsky of the Women's Foreign Policy Forum interviewed Tim after his address.
Transcript here.
This is Tim Snyder. It's November 21st, 2025, and I felt the need to say a few words about this Russian settlement for Ukraine, which is being promoted now by the White House. There are at least five fundamental things that are wrong with this idea as it is now framed.
The first is that it makes nuclear war a lot more likely. If you force Ukraine to accept terms which amount to defeat in capitulation, the rest of the world draws a conclusion. And that conclusion is you have to build nuclear weapons to hold off a Russian
invasion or a Chinese invasion or an invasion of somebody who has nuclear weapons. Forcing Ukraine to capitulate means nuclear proliferation. Nuclear proliferation means an increased risk of nuclear war around the world. You're not creating peace if you bring about a nuclear third world war. Second point, international order.
The fundament of our international order is that there are states, the states have borders, those borders can't be violated by invasion. Now, this happens from time to time, but it's exceptional. What would be even more exceptional is to endorse it by rewarding Russia for invading Ukraine. If you do that, as the present settlement envisions,
then you're creating a world in which invasions and wars become normal. Third point, regional peace. If Russia is rewarded for invading Ukraine, and if the terms of the settlement in Ukraine leave Russia stronger, then Russia will have been encouraged in every possible way, legal, moral, psychological, and economic, to continue fighting wars in Europe. Fourth, future reconstruction.
Peace doesn't mean just the momentary absence of hostilities. I don't doubt for a minute that Russia would accept a ceasefire for a few minutes, days, maybe even weeks in exchange for the idea that Ukraine will capitulate. But in order to have peace, you have to have a Ukraine that can defend itself, that can belong to international institutions,
that is sovereign. and also in order to have peace you have to have a ukraine that can rebuild itself there is no provision whatsoever for this in this settlement you have to have a ukraine that can join the european union that can attract foreign investment and
which is the target of perfectly reasonable and indeed profitable plans from the west and from other allies and democracy to help it rebuild final point number five and maybe the most fundamental is process Everything we know about history teaches us that you can't get to a durable peace settlement without involving the people who are concerned.
The Ukrainians are the most important people concerned. They have not been consulted in this settlement. It is a Russian-led settlement translated into English by Americans. There are good reasons why this can't work. If you leave important people out, then you don't understand the issues. If you leave important people out, you don't have all the necessary information.
And also, if you leave important people out, you may create conditions where they have no choice but to fight anyway, and then you haven't solved the problem. The next most important people are the allies. If Ukraine is to be defended and reconstructed, rebuilt, such that there is peace,
then Ukraine's other allies have to be brought into the story, and they have not been. So I hope that was a quick summary. Nuclear war, international order, regional peace, future reconstruction, meaning peace, and the process. These are reasons why this Russian settlement promoted now by Americans can't work.
I've developed these ideas further in various pieces on my substack. Thanks for paying attention. Thanks for being with me.
Thank you Karen💔
Thank you!
Subjugation was obviously the point. Since Trump has come back to this solution many times, I think this has ALWAYS and will ALWAYS be what he wants and his apparent backing of Ukraine was just because of public reaction.
There is a theory that Trump wants spheres of influence - Russia in Europe and Western Asia, the US in the western hemisphere, and China in Eastern Asia. This is getting to look more and more plausible.
Sounds like the breakdown of the world in Orwell's "1984"
Putin is evil. Trump is profoundly stupid.
again, trump no doubtt isn't verry bright but he is totally unethical. and he is getting a good business deal
If it is it is abuse of power, impeachable. Treasonous.
or i guess not with this senate or house
🤞perhaps soon.
not with this court, this DOJ
Trump is flailing. This is a diversion. Putin obviously has his number. This is incredible, to sell Ukraine down the river because Trump is flailing.
yes trump is flailing but he was doing the same thing, telling ukraine they have no cards, from the very start. and in helsinki years ago he said he trrusts putin above american intelligence. he was on putin's side forever
Hopefully Ukraine will say "Nope" swiftly so we can stay focused on release of the Epstein material.
Witkoff is beyond stupid IMHO. He meets 1-on-1 with Putin and uses no American interpreter. Putin will win.
witkoff and trump together had verylucrative dealings with the russians for many years. i think he is just working on a good deal here. if ethics do not count and they don't he is being very smart, many millions in it for him and trump
Exxon wants to drill in Western Siberia. That's why former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson was Trump's first secretary of state, a guy who received the Order of Friendship from Putin. And it's also one of the reasons why Trump always caves to Putin.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exxon-holds-secret-talks-russias-123805565.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALZ6rdImA38QLdjRkNBgz0nP4QfNmMUcz-Nl272LI6g3gZVA1DXRuifLRj8IbSAS_QF5ak7o7haTSvOTD7EuiMec7JG0n3m_ICZPxMKTZiSCSwBZ4H3SvEkRiJxtU9laGXPO4cobvlCRRxvcp0gsUyjPm1HLx0Rd6Udz3x9v8nYN
He even takes his wife to these meetings. The only 'concession' he has ever extracted from Putin and Lavrov is a stupid painting of Trump.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/22/style/russian-artist-trump-portrait-putin-intl
Otherwise, it's all Russian talking points. The Russians have put this plan on the table before and now it's back again. They are demanding that Ukraine accept the annexation of oblasts that they haven't secured.
Trump has indicated that he's not going attend the G20 summit in South Africa because of his stupid belief that the government there is committing genocide against white farmers (whites comprise 7% of the population and own 72% of the land). They should ban the US altogether from the G7 and G20 and then he can hang with his buddy Putin instead.
Thank you, Tim. You have succinctly and clearly laid out the essential flaws in this supposed peace settlement. This is not a negotiation; this is not a fair and equitable peace! This "agreement" calls for the capitulation by Ukraine! This should be unacceptable. This is a settlement proposed by Russia without Ukraine's participation. A *real* president would reject it out of hand. The fact that the US has not rejected it tells you all you need to know about our president.
I’m so enraged that Americans raised an incompetent conman to the White House to destroy everything for everybody but for a handful of psycho billionaires and Putin. I’ve changed my charitable contributions 100% away from the USA towards Ukraine and certain other nationals who have been recently betrayed by this White House.
But is it actually a plan or just a PR stunt by Russia in which they repeat their three-year-old maximalist demands?
Put simply, it's a requirement that Ukraine should surrender to Russia in return for nothing so that Putin can claim an outright victory. The toll on the Russians has been severe. Nearly 800,000 soldiers have been killed or wounded. They've had to launch massive and deeply unpopular conscription drives.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/27/we-want-to-run-russian-men-fleeing-conscription
They've had to call on mercenaries from North Korea and Africa.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-soldiers-africa-fighting-russia-b2860879.html
They've had to recruit even more reservists to protect crtitical infrastructure that is being attacked by the Ukrainians.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/11/10/russian-regions-launch-drive-to-recruit-reservists-for-critical-infrastructure-defense-a91087
If Trump had the guts to impose severe secondary sanctions on countries buying oil and gas from Russia (the Senate had a bill ready to go) it would be the coup d'etat for Russian hopes of a victory. Instead, he surrendering to Putin.
why do you think trump doesn't have these guts?
Who knows. The rumours swirling around Trump's connections to Russia have been there since he first campaigned for the presidency. He defends Putin again and again and it's not just about his penchant for strongmen leaders.
it is confusing bec his love for putin (fascism) is genuine. on the other hand it seems like it must be based on some fear of putin
There's never been any hard evidence apart from the Steele dossier.
and the steele dossier has been rejected i think? i mean found invalid?
Here are four elements of the longer list of what Putin has on Trump: The details the “DeutscheBank” affair; the details (of course) of Russian interference in the 2016 election (from the U.S. side, see the Mueller Report); Putin’s interpreter’s notes from the famous “2018 Helsinki meeting” (Trump had his interpreter’s notes destroyed); and Roger Stone and the “DNC tapes,” supplied to him by Julian Assange (who got them from where?), which Stone then conveniently “dropped” a couple of hours after the “Access Hollywood” tape was released.
Of course it's a mess. Everything Trump touches turns to sit.
Dr Snyder, Thank you so much for this information, horrifying as it is.💔🇺🇸
Let's recognize that this is purely a Putin play. Witkoff is not merely the messenger, but so much more. He has been more than the messenger since Trump took office and appointed the Witkoff family to attend to Trump's financial interests. Here is Google AI's assessment - "Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer and U.S. special envoy, is a co-founder of the cryptocurrency firm World Liberty Financial (WLF), a venture launched with the family of President Donald Trump in 2024. His involvement has drawn significant scrutiny and calls for investigation from Democratic senators, who allege potential conflicts of interest due to his simultaneous government role and ongoing financial ties to the company, particularly in relation to deals involving the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). " World Liberty Financial is a natural conduit for money laundering and will be readily available to Russian illicit financial interests. It is difficult to imagine that Witkoff would be an impartial delegate to negotiating the end of the war which was started by Putin.
Cheeto Is Losing The Polls…The Point Of 30% No Return
The most recent Marquestte poll shows Cheeto approach to inflation is at 28% On managing the economy and tariffs he lands at 36% and 37% respectively
This 28% number is a major tell from the electorate Pollsters claim that when a leader loses support below 30% it becomes a point of nonrecovery That is to say when less than 30% opines that the leader is performing poorly all support for the leadership is lost and that opinion cannot be reversed When a leader's approval rating or public trust falls below 30% in polls, it indicates a significant crisis of confidence among the public
This may be very well be the reason is Cheeto is so angry He sees that the false reality he is trying to spin to the American electorate is not believable and that the lies are not working as they once had Nobody believes that inflation is coming down(purchasing power of the dollar is currently 6 pennies), concentration camps are good, that disappearing people off the streets and disrupting communities is great policy, that taxing struggling American companies and consumers is good for the country, and that it’s morally right to protect pedophiles
So why should Cheeto be angry? He is the Herber Hoover of the 21st century but worse He has created this mess, owns it, and it will never recover for this evil, corrupt, depraved, arrogant, deranged transactional sick sick mind
We have to get the insanely demented and highly compromised piggy out of the Whitehouse by any means.