For Michael Levenson's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
While Ukraine’s accession into the bloc could take a decade or more, the decision sends a powerful message of solidarity to Kyiv and a rebuke to President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
In a speech at an economic forum, the Russian leader called the U.S. a fading power and said sanctions on Moscow, not the Ukraine war, are hurting Western economies.
Russia's brutal invasion has ripped apart predictions, reawakened old alliances, tested others and spread death and destruction across Ukraine.
Though battered, depleted and repulsed from their initial drive to capture the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Russian troops have used their superior artillery power to make new gains.
A new report by legal scholars and human rights experts said mass killings and deliberate attacks on shelters by Russian forces had established a "genocidal pattern” against Ukrainians.
The economic toll on Russia, although difficult to quantify, has spread widely, from its largest companies to its small shops and workers.
Despite flawed planning, poor intelligence, barbarity and wanton destruction, Putin's forces have made significant gains on the ground.
Germany's announcement that it would send heavy weapons to Ukraine was one of among many signals that pointed to a further escalation in the war and a disappointment for diplomacy.
Ending a diplomatic trip with a speech in Warsaw, Biden described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the "test of all time” in the struggle between democracy and autocracy.
