The representatives of the two EU member states present at this anti-western gathering in Beijing should really be sanctioned. You can’t have it both ways - either you’re defending Western civilisation or you can hang out with China, Russia, and North Korea.

It was great to hold a talk yesterday for students from the Georgian American University about EU politics and foreign policy. Fascinating questions about the impact of the new US administration on the EU, and what cuts to USAID, NED, and RFE/RL mean for neighbourhood policy. 🇬🇪

As always - the countries closest to Russia are the canary in the coal mine for security.

If they feel the need to use land mines for their security then we should take note:

Lithuania, Poland, Latvia and Estonia have announced their withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines.

I struggle to see how anyone can defend this. RFE/RL was key to ending the Cold War - and today continues to be a beacon of hope for those in authoritarian regimes. The creation of ‘Настоящее Время’ in 2017 in particular marked a shift in ending Kremlin monopoly on RU media.

Today marks 75 years of Chinese occupation of East Turkistan. In the last few years, millions of Uyghurs have been interred by the Chinese Communist Party in concentration camps:

Nothing quite as disappointing as receiving the Economist Christmas issue and finding they still haven’t brought back the Christmas quiz.

This evenings view of Central London coming into Heathrow:

I suppose he has to collect his end of year bonus in person:

For more than thirty years now it has been the ambition of the Georgian people to rejoin the West and be a part of the Euro-Atlantic space. The pro-Russian Georgian Dream government is denying the people a chance to fulfil that aim.