Luke Johnson
ljohnson.bsky.social
Luke Johnson
@ljohnson.bsky.social
570 followers 330 following 680 posts
Journalist in Berlin Lukegjohnson.com Publicsphere.news
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
It's possible that Trump may have been trolled into making a huge change in policy by a nothingburger by Putin, if so, that's dangerous. publicsphere.news/p/trump-goes...
Trump Goes Nuclear
Was he trolled by Putin into announcing a major change in U.S. policy?
publicsphere.news
Reposted by Luke Johnson
Extraordinary reporting from Emily Baumgaertner Nunn on the malignant criminal network that turns girls in foster care into prostitutes on L.A.'s Figueroa Street -- and why the police can't stop it. Everyone should read this.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/m...
Can Anyone Rescue the Trafficked Girls of L.A.’s Figueroa Street?
www.nytimes.com
Pretty bleak start to the week with SNAP and other nutrition programs running out at the end of the week and more workers not getting paychecks. Other countries would find this barbaric. www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
I don't quite agree with this framing: a lot depends on if the Trump sanctions are enforced AND the decision on the frozen assets was punted until December. But there's a great desire in European capitals to be seen as in lockstep with the US www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/w...
Ukraine’s ‘Coalition of the Willing’ Has the Wind at Its Back
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Luke Johnson
Putin bombed a kindergarten full of children today. Fortunately, none of the 48 children inside were killed, injured, or harmed.
Footage shows Russia’s deliberate strikes on a kindergarten in Kharkiv. At the time of the attack by three Shahed drones, 48 children were sheltering inside.
I was in Chernihiv last year, and I was very impressed by the people I met. This seems like white noise at this point, but it's against international law to target civilian infrastructure www.bbc.com/news/article...
Ukraine: Chernihiv in total blackout after 'massive' Russian assault
Across the wider region, four people are reported to have been killed and 10 others injured.
www.bbc.com
Reposted by Luke Johnson
Seems like the Kremlin already got what it wanted with Trump taking Tomahawk missiles off the table after his call with Putin. Why bother with a roundabout flight to the one EU country that will have you when it's mission accomplished? www.bbc.com/news/article...
Plans for Trump-Putin meeting shelved days after Budapest talks proposed
A White House official said there were "no plans" for the two presidents to meet in the "immediate future".
www.bbc.com
this dynamic was always less true than many in the West thought and now has been scrambled: some Russian-speaking people from the East have moved to Lviv bc it's safer, and there have always been people in Eastern Ukraine who speak Ukrainian primarily.
The West has been asleep at the switch on China's rare earth chokehold for over a decade, about how long it takes to develop a supply. And after blowing up trade rules itself, the Trump Admin is now demanding they be followed. davekeating.substack.com/p/the-g7-has... via @davekeating.substack.com
The G7 has lost the credibility to criticise China
Trump has bullied the G7 into demonstrating it is nothing more than America and its vassals. Now he wants sympathy for Chinese bullying on rare earths.
davekeating.substack.com
Reposted by Luke Johnson
Shoutout to whoever was like the news sucks, let’s spice it up by doing a jewel heist at the Louvre
Even in these deals, if they're finalized, the U.S. isn't funding them: the Trump Administration has zeroed out aid packages to Kyiv.
⚡️Ukraine preparing long-term contract for 25 Patriot systems after meetings in US, Zelensky says.

According to Zelensky, the proposed contract for 25 Patriot systems would be carried out over several years, "with different quantities each year."
Ukraine preparing long-term contract for 25 Patriot systems after meetings in US, Zelensky says
Ukraine is looking to acquire 25 more Patriot air defense systems in a long-term arrangement with the United States, President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists in Kyiv on Oct. 20. First delivered ...
kyivindependent.com
According to the FT, Trump threw a tantrum during his meeting with Zelenskyy Friday www.ft.com/content/7960...
“The Trump-versus-Biden situation shows how little Ukraine is dependent on what the U.S. thinks,” he said. “We do need support, but nobody’s playing the cards given by America.” He added: “Nobody gives a flying fuck about JD Vance’s opinion.” newrepublic.com/article/2018...
The Ukrainian Anarchist Pacifist Poet Whom Putin Drove to Take Up Arms
Artem Chapeye once spent his time translating Gandhi and Chomsky and getting published in The New Yorker. Then, in 2022, he joined the army.
newrepublic.com
he shared this on social media a few months back substackcdn.com/image/fetch/...