Ryan Evans
Founder, War on the Rocks (warontherocks.com) and Bedrock Knowledge (thebedrock.co). Opinions are my own. I'm not a journalist so please don't mistake me for one.
- Let's say hypothetically I'm going to be in Tallinn soon. Who should I invite onto the show? @warontherocks.bsky.social
- I discussed the planned transformation of the Army with the Secretary of the Army and Chief of Staff of the Army in the latest episode of @warontherocks.bsky.social warontherocks.com/2025/05/the-...
- I was joined by @massdara.bsky.social @michaelkofman.bsky.social to unpack how the Trump administration’s ambitious peace efforts have collided with reality warontherocks.com/2025/05/will...
- I was honored to have Gen (ret) David Berger, fmr Commandant of the Marine Corps on the @warontherocks.bsky.social pod. We talked about leadership during turbulence and Force Design warontherocks.com/2025/05/gen-...
- Hegseth has directed a sweeping transformation of the U.S. Army. Many details are in this memo that the department released this morning media.defense.gov/2025/May/01/...
- Congrats anti-vaxxers
- ICYMI: My discussion with the Swedish Chief of Defense warontherocks.com/2025/04/the-...
- It was terrific having Gen. Michael Claesson, Swedish Chief of Defense, on the show @warontherocks.bsky.social Thank you to our friends at the Swedish embassy for putting this together warontherocks.com/2025/04/the-...
- "Almost immediately after those controls were implemented, Nvidia began designing chips that would come as close as possible to U.S. limits while still being legal to sell in China." www.usnews.com/news/top-new...
- I never met Gen. Jacoby but it was still a gut punch when I heard he passed away recently. He wrote one of the best articles we ever published, which we were honored to republish at Ryan Shaw's request today. warontherocks.com/2025/04/i-lo...
- ::whispers:: it's actually pretty much the same with war powers, we just pretend that it's not
- The United States has a trade surplus with Australia of about $20B. Australia is funding US submarine industrial base to the tune of billions, is a ally against China, & is a significant purchaser of US military equipment. Yet Australia will still, apparently, be hit with steel and aluminum tariffs.
- Latest episode of the pod. Going to be hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube after the Oval Office meeting with Zelensky warontherocks.com/2025/03/can-...
- [Not loaded yet]
- Your ability to read his mind is the same as mine. I do think it's a positive signal
- I'm going to turn off replies to this one because too many of you will go mental but I applaud Prime Minister Tusk of Poland for his brave statement today on expanding the size of Poland's army and on nuclear weapons
- [Not loaded yet]
- I don't know what you want me to say. I'm not here to defend the president's foreign policy.
- [Not loaded yet]
- Hopefully like they should arm themselves like many Americans have been imploring them to do for ages
- Although...
- [Not loaded yet]
- Thank you
- As you all might imagine I have a lot to say about where US-Ukrainian relations have gone since the Oval Office meeting. Appreciate all the questions here, on X, and offline. I'll give my take on the podcast we are recording tomorrow
- All of these countries fought with us and lost people in Afghanistan UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Australia, Spain, Georgia, Romania, Netherlands, Turkey, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Norway, Estonia, Hungary, Sweden 1/2
- Latvia, Slovakia, Finland, Jordan, Portugal, South Korea (sent troops, the deaths were civilian hostages), Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Montenegro.
- Ukraine also sent troops. I don't believe they lost any people but they were there and did their part. And they didn't have to
- I don't know if there was a way to secure *reliable* support, but I do know that there was a constructive path forward and what Zelensky has done makes it far less likely that support will be forthcoming. I say this with sadness and as someone who wants Ukraine to win
- [Not loaded yet]
- All the evidence available supports my perspective. If you want you can listen to the next episode of the podcast. Up to you
- I started reading Vasily Grossman's 'Life and Fate' today. Enormously powerful
- Trump on Truth Social Translation: If Zelensky comes back and kisses the ring, the deal is still on the table and it builds up to something perhaps more meaningful
- I know the narrative of this-was-an-ambush has already solidified on this app, but I'm not seeing evidence of that in the reporting coming out so far.
- This Guardian article offers a detailed breakdown of what the White House expected vs what Zelensky sought www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
- [Not loaded yet]
- There is always another provocation. It would be wise for Ze to look past them for the deal on the table. But I'll be discussing the context of this in a lot more detail on an episode of the War on the Rocks podcast dropping on Wed or Thurs. Perhaps then you'll better understand my view.
- [Not loaded yet]
- Thanks for the engagement Dennis. I'll go into a lot more detail on next week's episode on Ukraine. Should come out Tues or Wed
- Me on the pod the day before the Zelensky meeting. European leaders are making the right noises now but will they aggressively plus up defense budgets?
- This Guardian article offers a detailed breakdown of what the White House expected vs what Zelensky sought www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
- Good thread. Thanks Jon
- [Not loaded yet]
- Ball is in Europe's court. We will see what they do, beyond making statements and having meetings
- Thank you Judah. I appreciate it.
- When you are in a position of extreme need, as Ukraine is, sometimes diplomacy is about swallowing your pride. I understand emotions are high (as the hordes of people on this app who suggested yesterday that I kill myself yesterday attest): I say this not to defend but to explain
- "Trump’s special envoy to the Ukraine War urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign the now-deferred mineral rights deal with Washington during the envoy’s visit to Kyiv last week, but Zelensky’s chief of staff insisted on the Friday Oval Office signing" nypost.com/2025/02/28/u...
- Everything Vance says is kind of awkward. Have you watched the entire video?
- They asked Ze to sign in Kyiv. He insisted on coming to Washington for a meeting with Trump
- [Not loaded yet]
- Ok but that isn't what happened.
- [Not loaded yet]
- If Europe spends, builds capacity, then spends that on UA maybe it will be a good outcome. Nothing I've seen so far from Europe leads me to believe that will happen. But, there was a constructive path forward and Ze didn't blow it up out of good strategy. He lost his temper.
- [Not loaded yet]
- Thanks for making public what you've been telling people privately all these years. Anyway here's my view: bsky.app/profile/ryan...
- I don't think it was a trap or a setup but even if it was, all Ze had to say in response to Vance was “JD is my friend. All friends have disagreements and we discuss ours candidly, but privately. What’s important now is to express the gratitude of Ukraine for US aid and Trump’s commitment to peace”
- This administration is definitely not following the policy approach I would choose as I think anyone who has listened to my podcast should understand, but....
- [Not loaded yet]
- Thank you Craig
- I've repeatedly voiced support for continued military aid to Ukraine and even expanded authorities. I criticized the Biden admin for withholding cluster munitions, criticized the Republicans for holding up the security package last year, etc. Putin is a war criminal. Zelensky screwed today up.
- [Not loaded yet]
- What a lovely thing to say. Thank you
- [Not loaded yet]
- [Not loaded yet]
- Thanks. It's our job to feature analysis and commentary on strategy, defense, and foreign affairs no matter who is in power. This was mine. Fine to disagree. I think Zelensky played this poorly. And I also don't agree with the Trump administration's approach
- [Not loaded yet]
- Yes or no?
- [Not loaded yet]
- Thanks Tom. I don't support the Trump administration's approach to Ukraine. But would you have advised the president of Ukraine in the position that he is currently in and that his country is currently in to behave in this way today in front of the cameras?
