Phillips’s Newsletter: The Europe Dispatch by Minna Alander

On "Peace Plans" and Military (Im)Mobility in Europe

Minna Ålander — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 12:04:46 GMT

Hello Everyone,

There’s a lot of fuss again about a secret US-Russian peace plan for Ukraine. I have lost count but I think this is the fourth serving of the same nothingburger. Just like in February/ March, May, and August, it is not up to Trump and Putin to decide this – even if they really would like to. Unless Trump and his team significantly learned…

Fictional Intelligence: Imagining the Future of (Nuclear) War

Minna Ålander — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 08:45:57 GMT

Hello Everyone,

It’s been a while since the last Europe Dispatch due to the annual classic – a completely impossible amount of deadlines for longer pieces of writing (combined with the conference season) that I have once again agreed to submit in October and November. I’m currently about half way through, phew. I’ve enjoyed the writing though, which is a…

To See the World For the Wars

Minna Ålander — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 05:14:49 GMT

Hello Everyone,

Europe’s biggest problem at the moment is that it lacks the bandwidth to look beyond the most urgent crises and see the big picture of a world order that is changing to Europe’s disadvantage. The perceived lack of bandwidth is self-inflicted, as Europe as a whole would have the resources to think more strategically – but it would require …

Easier Said Than Done: Hybrid Deterrence By Punishment

Minna Ålander — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:34:44 GMT

Hello Everyone,

Last week I wrote about the resilience dilemma: that a high level of resilience paradoxically creates a permissive environment for Russia’s hybrid attacks as they so far haven’t managed to cause severe disruptions in the targeted countries, which in turn further increases the threshold for stronger responses. It is also clear that deterre…

The Resilience Dilemma

Minna Ålander — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 10:55:57 GMT

Hello Everyone,

This week I am feeling quite tired and uninspired, so just some short musings on the latest hybrid warfare incidents and the difficulty of deterring them. Imagine what a nice life we all could have had if Russia had just become a normal country after the Cold War and decided to be a constructive member of the European community. Alas.

Your…

To Shoot or Not To Shoot Down Russian Jets

Minna Ålander — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 09:10:41 GMT

Hello Everyone,

Since the latest Russian long-lingering airspace violation above Estonia a couple days ago, the European debates have been plagued by the flawed comparison with the 2015 incident when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet that violated its air space. I have quite a lot of probably unpopular opinions on this topic, which really needs a mo…

The Layer-Cake Model: European Minilateralisms

Minna Ålander — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 14:45:08 GMT

Hello Everyone,

It was suggested some months ago that it would be interesting to learn more about the different minilateral defence cooperation formats below the NATO level in Europe, such as the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force. The context of last week’s drone attack on Poland is a good occasion to review what the European defence architecture currentl…

War Is In the Eye Of the Beholder

Minna Ålander — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 10:19:55 GMT

Hello Everyone,

While Russia escalates drone attacks into NATO territory, the US sits on its hands. Luckily, European NATO members handled the latest incursions just like the forward deployed forces are meant to. I hope that next time, we shoot every drone down and not just those that pose an “immediate threat”, without pausing to wonder whether they str…

Schrödinger’s GPS Jamming and Not So Hybrid Warfare

Minna Ålander — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 09:28:04 GMT

Hi Everyone,

My contribution comes a little later this week, but I hope that the short article, in my own Substack called Northern Flank Notes, that I wrote about Finnish-Swedish sports rivalry trivia you didn’t know you needed in your life compensated for the wait.

Last week saw a new escalation level in Russian attacks against not only Ukraine but Europ…

Canada’s Charm Offensive in Europe

Minna Ålander — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 09:56:27 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I should specify that there are parts of Canada that might rather stick with the North American continental shelf and even become the 51^st state of the US, such as Alberta. But the rest seems pretty determined to take offence at the suggestion.

It’s great to see Canada making an effort to move closer to European partners. For all intents and …

War In Our Time

Minna Ålander — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 07:46:48 GMT

Hello Everyone,

This week I wrote some more personal musings about how it feels to be a European millennial. We had a good run for a while: overcoming the Cold War division of Europe, the EU’s big bang enlargement, the early 2000’s tech boom (it was particularly good for us Finns, with Nokia), and an overall sense that things were continuously getting be…

A TRIPP to the South Caucasus

Minna Ålander — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 16:26:11 GMT

Hi Everyone,

Trump is currently working hard for the Nobel Peace Prize he is so dead set on getting: not only did he meet Putin this Friday in Alaska, but he also hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the White House last Friday (8 August). Why he has taken such a liking to Fridays remains a mystery.

Oh and he is so desperate for the Nobel Prize…

Pessimism As a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Minna Ålander — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 08:31:04 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I have some exciting personal news this week: I have just started as the defence editor at the European Correspondent and kicked off the defence desk today with a story taking stock of where Europe st…

Optics vs Reality

Minna Ålander — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 09:43:02 GMT

Note: Phil and Minna will do their next Substack Live tomorrow (Friday 1 August) at 2pm UK time, (3pm CET and 9am US East Coast Time). We will be covering US-European relations in some detail, taking questions an…

The Long Process of European Unity

Minna Ålander — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 07:09:51 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I gave an interview to the New York Times recently that would have been unremarkable otherwise, had they not so carefully omitted mentioning Poland – which I did talk about quite a bit. The article wa…

Small State Power: Be Like Denmark

Minna Ålander — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:44:15 GMT

If you want to cure your depression, there is one simple but effective method: start reading Danish news. For starters, just scrolling the news section of the Danish MoD will deliver a jaw-dropping list of announ…

Buying Time: Europe’s Trump Dilemma

Minna Ålander — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 08:29:33 GMT

Hello Everyone,

The latest halt in US military aid to Ukraine comes at the most cynical possible time, when Russia has intensified its air campaigns against Ukraine. Putin has made a habit of hitting Ukraine parti…

NATO’s New Defence Spending Pledge Is a Distraction

Minna Ålander — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 09:24:47 GMT

Hello Everyone,

I am old enough to remember the good old times when we were focused on the news that really matter after NATO summits, instead of defence spending pledges based on an arbitrary number an erratic US President devises. Supporting Ukraine and who is doing what used to be such a topic. Or that the new NATO Forward Land Force contingent in Fin…

Fighting For Your Country

Minna Ålander — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 06:12:12 GMT

Hi Everyone,

So the US did end up bombing Iran, but that was whole 3 days ago, so barely news anymore, right? In any case, I wrote on what I promised last week: willingness to defend. It is an important issue especially with regard to the conscription question. Germany is now apparently seriously considering the reactivation of the male conscription syst…

The Conscription Comeback and the Social Contract

Minna Ålander — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 10:42:53 GMT

Hello Everyone,

The question of (re)introducing conscription is currently a hot topic in Europe. While I come from a country with an unbroken tradition of obligatory military service for male citizens (voluntary for women), I tend to be rather sceptical about the idea that conscription would solve the problem of growing European troop numbers. In some ca…