Also, think about the Singapores of your world.
Where is trade flowing THROUGH, as these places tend to become both economically and culturally rich even if they don't make much themselves.
Generally, places that have a natural monopoly on something (like iron ore) will tend to be more complacent.
Whereas places that have a skills based advantage (like making guns) are more entrepeneural, but also potentially paranoid and active.
So, what you'd generally see is some separation of goods production that's geographically locked verses skills based, for example.
So a useful question to ask yourself is, "why don't the people who make iron ore, also make blades?"
Depends on what you're trying to do and how detailed you want to be!
The more expensive/difficult bulk transportation is in your game, the more likely it is that most regions grow/make locally what they need to day to day, and trade is about luxuries and unique inputs.
Do you think I don't know how tagging works?
Just dismantle all the WMDs and "AI weapons" in all of Europe and create a DMZ 600km wide, Ian.
How hard can it be?
Why do you hate peace?
I was speaking colloquially, yes.
That was my editor Martin at @canburypress.bsky.social doing god's work.
No one believes me but I swear I'm an easy going and friendly person in real life.
And here I am, reverting the submissive paradigm like a chump.
As always, fascism is not responsible for the things its actual leaders say whereas opponents of fascism have to justify the most extreme position anyone on social media with vaguely aligned vibes took.
Yeah, also no one is inviting them to snort cocaine off a $12,000 an hour sex worker on the dancefloor in Bucha while praising them for being the only rational, fair and unideologically motivated westerner who truly understands the deeply poetic Russian soul.
Last but not least, many of the Russian technocrats, students and journalists I met in Moscow last Saturday told me there was a reason they were more amenable to this particular proposal for a European peace and security agenda: it was put to them by someone whose stance on the Ukraine war four years ago (“Stand with Ukraine but not with Nato’s expansion”) was attacked with equal venom by the Russian government’s supporters and Nato stalwarts. This may help explain the impromptu party atmosphere, following the proposal’s presentation, to which I surrendered happily. Mending fences in the cause of peace takes a variety of small, human steps.
29/ Jesus christ.
THE COLLEGE STUDENTS YOU PARTY WITH DURING KREMLIN SANCTIONED GLORY TOURS TO MOSCOW AND ST. PETER ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF RUSSIAN POLICY ANY MORE THAN A UC BURKLEY'S LGBTQIA2S+ SOCIALIST COOP YOGA CIRCLE IS A PROXY FOR MAGA OR THE TRUMP WHITE HOUSE.
!@#!@%!@ $!@#!@%$ !@#%@!
28/ Also, can I just say how incredible it is to write like 10,000 words on the Russia/Ukraine war and never offer any kind of opinion on which of the contested territories each side gets to keep?
You know, the central point of contention in every negotiation?
How do you handwave that?!?
Many will ask: how would the Russian government, Vladimir Putin in particular, respond to such a proposal? While no one knows until it is on the table, my recent experience in Moscow tells me that Russian civil society is not only ready to welcome it enthusiastically but also to pressurise its government to take it seriously. Eager to reconnect with the West, but repulsed by the clear signs EU leaders want to see Russia torn apart by centrifugal forces, Russian public opinion is keen to enter into a fruitful dialogue on the basis of such a plan — including opponents as well as supporters of Putin’s government.
27/ Oh, well if Russian Civil Society is behind the plan then it definitely has legs.
Maybe we could get North Korean independent media behind it too, and really leave the Kremlin no option?
Though I mean, it gives Putin most of what he wants so..?
As wars and the fear of war expand their domain, an international push for peace is more pertinent than ever. An inability to imagine what a comprehensive European peace and security agenda would look like is perhaps the worst impediment to its emergence. The above six-point proposal is meant as an example of how to overcome this obstacle, outlining concrete steps Europe could take to break the deadlock and give itself a chance to become relevant again.
26/ How about a European Comprehensive Security Agenda whereby a criminal petro-state in the region can't threaten, subvert and invade neighbours with no consequences?
How about one where Europe's significant military budgets translate into effective deterrence?
No? Just appeasement? Ok. Cool.
Sixth, modelled on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established after the fall of apartheid to offer an opportunity to air grievances and to be heard by the opposite side, a similar council shall be convened by the UN, led by judges with experience in restorative justice from South Africa and other countries.
25/ Yeah dude, I'm sure Putin can't wait to frog march half his officer corps in front of a UN panel and have them be judged for Bucha and about 50,000 other atrocities.
Real insight into the deep Russian soul you gained grinding on 19 year olds at the club.
Fifth, the European Union unfreezes Russia’s assets and removes all sanctions. Meanwhile Russian energy begins to flow again to Europe, with a portion of all proceeds dedicated to a Ukraine reconstruction fund.
24/ Hahaha, yeah dude.
Get that bag!
Fourth, the Donbas and other disputed territories that come under Russian control shall be demilitarised and governed in the same manner as Northern Ireland under the Good Friday Agreement. Just as London retained sovereignty on paper but, in practice, shares it with Dublin, while the two communities share power equally on every governing body (from local government to Stormont), the idea here is that sovereignty of the areas that Russia is granted will remain formally within Russia, but free movement within and outside these regions will be guaranteed, and each municipality as well as every Oblast will be governed on the basis of equal representation of Russian- and Ukrainian-speakers. Anyone who says that this is impossible must be reminded that, not long ago, it seemed similarly impossible to envision Sinn Féin and Ulster Unionists power-sharing.
23/ This conflates a genuine secretarian conflict in Northern-Ireland with a Russian proxy force in Donbas led by literal FSB officers.
The problem isn't "can the people in Donbas get along" and never has been.
They were getting along fine until Igor Girkin came along.
Third, all war refugees will have the right to return to their pre-2014 homes, with all sides committing to aid their return in practice.
22/ I mean, sure, fine.
A lot of those homes are now ruins because Russian military doctrine is to absolutely flatten villages with waves of artillery and drone strikes and advance once all cover is atomized but, ok.
Also, presumably under Yanis-plan, a lot of those homes would be in Russia now?!
Second, the signatories of this Peace and Security Agenda shall agree on the gradual elimination across Europe of certain categories of weapons (including nuclear, chemical, and AI-powered drones). Within this context of deescalation, Russian and Ukrainian troops shall withdraw fully 300 kilometres on either side of the agreed border or line of control.
Map of Ukraine, with a line showing that Kyiv is 257km from the Russian border to the east.
21/ So, the UK and France have to give up their nuclear weapons... and I guess Russia does too?
Also, 300km?!? Kyiv is less than 300km even from the actual pre-2014 Russian border!
Where is Ukraine supposed to pull its troops back to Yanis, Dover?
Turning to the actual proposal for a comprehensive European peace and security agenda, which I went to Moscow to canvas for, it consists of six parts. First, Ukraine becomes in the 21st century what Austria used to be during the Cold War: a neutral but armed European country with its territorial integrity and political sovereignty jointly guaranteed by all European countries, plus Russia, under the auspices and in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
20/ Russia already once garaunteed the Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the Budapest Memorandum, so that's worthless.
A European security garauntee for Ukraine is called Ukraine joining NATO, the EU, or both.
Putin pretty vehemently opposes that.
I wonder why?
Screenshot of where I'm up to in the article with arrows showing that I'm only 50% of the way through and the word "HOW?" written in red. Send help.
19/ Jesus Christ how am I still barely half way through this?
What day is it? Where am I?
Send help.
My visit to Moscow did not come out of the blue. In April 2022, two months after the war’s commencement, the movement that I helped co-found, DiEM25 (the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025), canvassed a five-point solution which I subsequently campaigned for, leading to the Athens Declaration on behalf of the Progressive International which called for a solution to the Ukrainian tragedy within the broader framework of a new Non-Aligned Movement. That was the background to my recent Moscow visit. Naturally, a Moscow visit by a former finance minister who failed spectacularly to alter Europe’s course a decade ago is not any kind of breakthrough, at least not in itself. However, what it can do is to demonstrate how Europeans can begin to mend fences with Russian civil society.
18/ I suppose if we do want to rebuild a sense of connection with Russia then sending Yanis to show them we have elites just as stupid, vanal, and easily duped by Russian propoganda as they do is a good opening gambit.
Credit where credits due, more that unites than divides, etc.
Having stated the three prerequisites for a European pivot from forever war to offering Russia a peace and security pact, and before delving into what such a proposal might contain, the importance of rebuilding channels of communication with Russian society cannot be overestimated. The European Union’s policy of frowning upon, even sanctioning, anyone who dares maintain communication channels with Russian civil society is a form of self harm. This is why I accepted an invitation to address an investment conference in Moscow last week, one that involved no government representatives but did engage a large audience of financiers, technologists, students and journalists. If channels of communication are to be rebuilt, this is the type of audience that needs to get involved.
17/ Yeah dude, absolutely vital we rebuild ties with the mighty and highly influential people in Russia's civil society.
Real power centres, there.
God, just say you missed doing cocaine off expensive sex workers in Moscow nightclubs on the Kremlin's dime and save us this sanctimonious drivel.
Finally, the third prerequisite is a readiness to be creative with issues of sovereignty and governance over disputed territories with a view to preventing the type of airtight partition left behind by the British Empire in India, Palestine, Cyprus, and Ireland, guaranteeing permanent conflict. Speaking of Ireland, the Good Friday agreement, a worthy effort to part ways both with the logic of strict partition and Westphalian sovereignty, is a splendid example of how the Donbas and other contested areas can be governed after the cessation of hostilities as part of a comprehensive peace and security pact.
16/ "Creative with issues of sovereignty and governance" is the sort of sentence you only ever seen written about other people's countries.
Also, we tried that. It was Minsk I (Pt. 3) and Minsk II (Pt. 4).
Somehow, it didn't help. Funny that.
The second prerequisite for a genuine peace and security pact is the rejection of the notion that it will have to involve an Anglo-European “coalition of the willing”; that is an army of British, German, French soldiers facing off their Russian counterparts along whatever line of control is agreed to. To insist on such an army is to state that Europe is not even attempting a genuine détente, assuming it to be impossible. The United States did exactly that on the Korean peninsula, leaving behind an ironclad, nuclear armed, huge army to police an impenetrable line of control. Europe cannot and should not want to do likewise in Ukraine. The best Keir Starmer’s “coalition of the willing” can deliver is a sad outfit facing the fate of UN peacekeepers in South Lebanon. It takes no more than a few moments of clarity to recognise that a functional peace and security pact must involve full de-militarisation of the contested territory and its surrounding areas. In turn, this requires a spirit of détente based on the recognition that Europe must provide both sides, Ukraine and Russia, with security guarantees.
15/ I legitimately don't even know what he's on about here.
The reason anyone is talking about Franco-British-German troops as peacekeepers or deal garauntors is that no one else is eager or willing.
Because they don't trust Putin.
Perhaps Yanis should consider why, or just ask Prigozhin.
To envisage this second option, a European offer of a peace and security pact, there are three prerequisites. First, the abandonment of the delusion that the offered pact should contain nothing that Putin can present as a victory. All pacts, agreements, peace deals, etc., must offer each signatory things they can present as great gains to their own constituency. Is there something that Putin can present to the Russians as worthy of their sacrifices during this awful war which Europe, including Ukraine, can live with? I think so. How about that, in the same way the United States can say an emphatic “No!” to the right of Mexico to deploy Chinese weaponry in Tijuana, Russia also has the right to seek security by demanding, as it has done for three decades, that Nato stay out of Georgia and Ukraine? A provision in the proposed European Peace and Security Pact that recognises this Russian concern is not just a particularly small price to pay but also one that Europe should desire, in view of the dangerous tensions that a face-off between Russian and Nato troops within a postwar Ukraine, or indeed in Georgia, would generate.
14/ Fourthly, is the problem that NATO forces in Ukraine would be too strong for Russia to tolerate, or too weak and easily swept aside because it's all Starmer can muster?
The goal of a peacekeeping force would be as a tripwire, so an attack is unthinkable. Children get this.
To envisage this second option, a European offer of a peace and security pact, there are three prerequisites. First, the abandonment of the delusion that the offered pact should contain nothing that Putin can present as a victory. All pacts, agreements, peace deals, etc., must offer each signatory things they can present as great gains to their own constituency. Is there something that Putin can present to the Russians as worthy of their sacrifices during this awful war which Europe, including Ukraine, can live with? I think so. How about that, in the same way the United States can say an emphatic “No!” to the right of Mexico to deploy Chinese weaponry in Tijuana, Russia also has the right to seek security by demanding, as it has done for three decades, that Nato stay out of Georgia and Ukraine? A provision in the proposed European Peace and Security Pact that recognises this Russian concern is not just a particularly small price to pay but also one that Europe should desire, in view of the dangerous tensions that a face-off between Russian and Nato troops within a postwar Ukraine, or indeed in Georgia, would generate.
13/ Thirdly, this again simply ignores the literally hours of rambling speeches Putin has given about how Ukraine is a part of Russia, how it's not a real country, how it was stolen from Moscow etc.
It cherry picks one of the 7 justifications Putin has offered for war.
To envisage this second option, a European offer of a peace and security pact, there are three prerequisites. First, the abandonment of the delusion that the offered pact should contain nothing that Putin can present as a victory. All pacts, agreements, peace deals, etc., must offer each signatory things they can present as great gains to their own constituency. Is there something that Putin can present to the Russians as worthy of their sacrifices during this awful war which Europe, including Ukraine, can live with? I think so. How about that, in the same way the United States can say an emphatic “No!” to the right of Mexico to deploy Chinese weaponry in Tijuana, Russia also has the right to seek security by demanding, as it has done for three decades, that Nato stay out of Georgia and Ukraine? A provision in the proposed European Peace and Security Pact that recognises this Russian concern is not just a particularly small price to pay but also one that Europe should desire, in view of the dangerous tensions that a face-off between Russian and Nato troops within a postwar Ukraine, or indeed in Georgia, would generate.
12/ Second, and setting aside the idea that big countries should get to veto the foreign policy choices of their smaller neighbours because something something Mearsheimer Spheres of Influence Realism...
... there were no NATO troops in Ukraine and none likely!
Also, it's a DEFENSIVE alliance.