He has been given two weeks to leave the country

Whether it’s the financial crash, the climate emergency or the breakdown of the international order, historian Adam Tooze has become the go-to guide to the radical new world we’ve entered

In late January 2025, 10 days after Donald Trump was sworn in for a second time as president of the United States, an economic conference in Brussels brought together several officials from the recently deposed Biden administration for a discussion about the global economy. In Washington, Trump and his wrecking crew were already busy razing every last brick of Joe Biden’s legacy, but in Brussels, the Democratic exiles put on a brave face. They summoned the comforting ghosts of white papers past, intoning old spells like “worker-centered trade policy” and “middle-out bottom-up economics”. They touted their late-term achievements. They even quoted poetry: “We did not go gently into that good night,” Katherine Tai, who served as Biden’s US trade representative, said from the stage. Tai proudly told the audience that before leaving office she and her team had worked hard to complete “a set of supply-chain-resiliency papers, a set of model negotiating texts, and a shipbuilding investigation”.

It was not until 70 minutes into the conversation that a discordant note was sounded, when Adam Tooze joined the panel remotely. Born in London, raised in West Germany, and living now in New York, where he teaches at Columbia, Tooze was for many years a successful but largely unknown academic. A decade ago he was recognised, when he was recognised at all, as an economic historian of Europe. Since 2018, however, when he published Crashed, his “contemporary history” of the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, Tooze has become, in the words of Jonathan Derbyshire, his editor at the Financial Times, “a sort of platonic ideal of the universal intellectual”.

The US I grew up in was built on the rule of law. Now my Indian-born dad is scared ICE will take him from his American care home

As an American of mixed Danish and Indian heritage, who is also a citizen of France and, therefore, of the EU, Donald Trump’s contempt for the rule of law fills me with dread. “I don’t need international law,” he boasted on 7 January in an interview with the New York Times. For Louis XIV, it was “L’état, c’est moi”. For Trump, it’s the “Donroe doctrine”, or “the western hemisphere is mine for whatever profit I and my elite group of loyal courtiers can wring from it”.

At the same time, Trump’s honesty about his intention to use the astonishing military power he wields for unfettered plunder is at least refreshing. No more American pieties to democracy and human rights. The world hasn’t seen this kind of unabashed dedication to amassing wealth since the British East India Company. All hail the new king emperor! Or else.

Mira Kamdar is a Paris-based writer and author of India in the 21st Century. She writes Mixed Borders on Substack

Night-time temperatures dip close to -20C; minister outlines major problems with desertion and conscription evasion. What we know on day 1,422

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is to declare a state of emergency in Ukraine’s energy sector to tackle disrupted power supplies after heavy Russian attacks. Energy imports would also be increased, the Ukrainian president said. Emergency crews in Ukraine have proceeded with round-the-clock efforts to restore power and heating supplies at a time when night-time temperatures are dipping close to -20C (-4F). Zelenskyy said the state of emergency would allow authorities “more options and flexibility”. He called for the establishment of more centres where residents can stay warm and charge electronic devices, and said nightly curfews could be lifted in areas where the security situation permitted it.

The president said Kyiv – whose mayor he regularly clashes with – had done considerably less than other major centres, notably Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, to prepare for the hardships inflicted by the attacks. “Even in recent days, I do not see sufficient intensity,” he said. “This must be urgently corrected. Decisions must be made.” The Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, countered that heating had been restored to all but about 400 of 6,000 affected apartment buildings and support centres were operating 24 hours a day. “Such statements, first of all, undermine the dedicated work of thousands of people, professionals,” Klitschko wrote. “They may not have weapons in their hands, but through their tireless efforts they are also fighting for their country.” Zelenskyy said a permanent coordination headquarters would be set up in Kyiv with Denys Shmyhal, the newly appointed first deputy prime minister and energy minister, overseeing the work.

Donald Trump has again claimed Ukraine – not Russia – is holding up a potential peace deal, rhetoric that stands in marked contrast to that of European allies, who have consistently argued Moscow has little interest in ending its war in Ukraine. “I think he’s ready to make a deal,” Trump said of Vladimir Putin, in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday. “I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal.” Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory. There are few signs that Putin is prepared to soften his maximalist demands to end the full-scale invasion.

Zelenskyy urged the military to hold their positions along the 1,200km (775-mile) frontline and diplomats to keep working on securing peace. “From our side, maximum productivity is required,” he said. “We expect the same level of energetic work from the American side. I personally very much expect this.”

Ukraine will be able to buy military equipment from non-European suppliers when it is given access to a €90bn (£78bn) EU loan later this year under a proposal outlined by the EU executive, Jennifer Rankin writes from Brussels. “European preference first, but if not possible then purchase abroad,” said the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, who added that Europe should have a return in jobs and research benefits from the “billions and billions that are being invested”. Her proposal represents a softening of the approach pursued by France that favoured a more restrictive “buy European” clause. The commission said an alternative plan based on using Russia’s frozen assets remained on the table.

Desertion by 200,000 troops and another two million people evading conscription are among many challenges facing the military, Ukraine’s new defence minister said on Wednesday. Mykhailo Fedorov told parliament that other problems included excessive bureaucracy, a Soviet-style approach to management, and disruptions in the supply of equipment to troops. “We cannot fight a war with new technologies but an old organisational structure,” Fedorov said.

The defence ministry was facing a shortfall of 300bn hryvnia ($6.9bn) in funding, Fedorov said. On the upside he said some sectors had emerged from scratch, including private missile producers, which now number about 20, and more than 100 companies manufacturing ground-based robotic systems.

The US treasury department has extended until 28 February a licence for companies to talk with Russian energy company Lukoil about buying its foreign assets. The US imposed sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft, Russia’s two biggest energy companies, on 22 October as part of an effort to pressure Moscow over its war in Ukraine. Lukoil put its $22bn in global assets up for sale shortly after. It has been hard-hit by the US sanctions, with overseas operations disrupted from Iraq to Finland.