US joins Russia and Ukraine in first trilateral talks of the war & Trump under fire for claiming NATO allies ‘avoided’ Afghanistan frontline

Day 1,429.


Today, as President Trump prompts further outrage with his claim
NATO troops “avoided the frontline” in Afghanistan, we consider
whether President Zelensky was right to call out Europe in his
speech at Davos ahead of the first trilateral talks of the war.
Then we ponder whether the Greenland saga can be put to bed, or
if it’s truly indicative of a historic shift, before returning to
the topic of resilience with the second half of our interview
with former British army officer Ash Alexander-Cooper.


Contributors


Francis Dearnley (Executive Editor for Audio). @FrancisDearnley
on X.


Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence).
@DomNicholls on X.


With thanks to Ash Alexander-Cooper OBE (former British army
officer and author). @ashalexcooper on X.


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Each week, Dom Nicholls and Francis Dearnley answer your
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CONTENT REFERENCED:


Zelensky attacks ‘weak and indecisive’ European leaders (The
Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/22/zelensky-attack-weak-indecisive-european-leaders/ 


Britain helps seize Russian oil tanker in Mediterranean (The
Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/22/britain-helps-seize-russian-oil-tanker-mediterranean/ 


This was the moment EU leaders agreed Europe must go it alone
(POLITICO):


https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-leaders-agree-independent-europe-summit-emmanuel-macron-friedrich-merz/ 


Exclusive: Trump's new Board of Peace could tackle Russia-Ukraine
war, source says (Kyiv Independent):


https://kyivindependent.com/trump-launches-his-board-of-peace-ahead-of-meeting-with-zelensky 


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