President Biden is aiming for “stability and predictability” in relations with Russia. Are those workable goals and what will it take from both sides to achieve that? Ambassador Alexander Vershbow and ACURA’s Katrina vanden Heuvel have a lively yet civilized discussion on the topic.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Panel Discussion: Climate Crisis, The Arctic: Challenges and Opportunities for US-Russian Cooperation
Please join us for a panel discussion on Climate Crisis, The Arctic and Challenges and Opportunities for US-Russia Cooperation via Zoom this Wednesday, Oct. 27 at Noon (EST) featuring ACURA’s Katrina vanden Heuvel, Anatol Lieven (author of Climate Change and the Nation State), Cynthia Lazaroff, and special guests Pavel Devyatkin, Researcher at The Arctic Institute and Ekaterina Uryupova, Visiting Fellow at The Arctic Institute.
Register HERE
Cheryl Rofer: ‘Havana Syndrome’ Why Claims Are Scientifically Implausible
Aside from the reported syndromes, there’s no evidence that a microwave weapon exists—and all the available science suggests that any such weapon would be wildly impractical. It’s possible that the symptoms of all the sufferers of Havana syndrome share a single, as yet unknown, cause; it’s also possible that multiple real health problems have been amalgamated into a single syndrome.
Artin DerSimonian: Ice breaking? Russia waives ban on Victoria Nuland
The continued use of Manichean language regarding ‘Democracies’ vs. ‘Autocracies’ are not at all helpful in rebalancing US-Russia relations. However, President Biden’s statements on seeking a ‘predictable’ and ‘stable’ relationship with Russia suggest a moderate, yet indicative, assessment by the White House of the dangerously frayed relations that exist between Washington and Moscow.
FAS: Biden Administration Restores US Nuclear Weapons Transparency
In early October, the Biden administration declassified the number of nuclear weapons the United States possesses. The act reverses the secrecy of the Trump administration, which denied release of the number for three years, and restores the nuclear transparency of the Obama administration.
Patrick Cockburn: The West Wants to Engage Russia and China on the Climate Crisis While Also Demonising Them – It Won’t Work
As Britain prepares to host the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow next month, it is pursuing two contradictory policies that undermine its chances of success.
MK Bhadrakumar: Russia draws a red line for US in Central Asia
Moscow has categorically stated that it will not accept a US military presence in the Central Asian region. This reiteration has come at the level of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who told TASS that Afghanistan had been discussed at a meeting with Victoria Nuland, the visiting US Undersecretary of State, in Moscow on Tuesday.
Robert Wright: Toward a unified theory of Blob-dom
“The Blob” isn’t a coherent concept, according to some blobsters. Well they would say that, wouldn’t they?
ACURA ViewPoint: Krishen Mehta: Thoughts from a WWII Memorial in Saratov, Russia.
Late last week I paid a very moving visit to a memorial in Saratov, Russia in honor of Russia’s sacrifices in WWII. I paid my respects at the eternal flame honoring the sacrifices made by the soldiers who fought Russia’s battles from 1941 to 1945, and saw an evocative sculpture depicting the fallen soldiers as cranes going up in the sky.
Event Announcement: ACURA’s Katrina vanden Heuvel and Amb. Alexander Vershbow: US-Russia and the Biden Administration
President Biden, the 4th U.S. President to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin, is aiming for “stability and predictability” in relations with Russia. Are those workable goals and what will it take from both sides to achieve that? What does the narrative about Russia in the United States get right and what does it miss? Join us Thursday, October 21, 2021, at 12:00 PM-1:00 PM ET for a conversion with Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council, and former Deputy Secretary of NATO from 2012-2016; and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher of The Nation and co-author of Voices of Glasnost: Interviews with Gorbachev’s Reformers.
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/7316341380412/WN_LzkapMt2TO-GdTo5Ns4Dyw