It’s not all about Russia…
The U.S.-Russia “phony war”: How Washington could bring us from stalemate to catastrophe
The Ukraine crisis and the attendant confrontation with Russia assume a “phony war” feel these days. As in the perversely calm months between the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the Blitzkrieg into the Low Countries the following spring, nothing much seems to be happening.
The Unpredictable Triangle: U.S.-China-Russia Relations in the Trump Era (Elizabeth Wishnick)
The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States at first seemed likely to rearrange the U.S.-Russia-China strategic triangle.
Russia and Nato war games increase risk of real clash, report says
Russia and Nato have been conducting increasingly large-scale military exercises to prepare for a possible conflict with each other, but the war games themselves are making a clash more likely, a new report warns.
The report by the European Leadership Network (ELN) thinktank calls on both sides to communicate more and to improve the transparency of their military activities
Comprehending Today’s Russia (Rick Sterling)
The U.S. government and mainstream media present Russia as a dangerous aggressor that must be resisted and punished, but American citizens who toured Russia in May found a very different reality, reports Rick Sterling.
Top Army leader: Russia is “most dangerous” threat facing U.S.
In what is coming to look like an almost weekly occurrence, yet another top US military official has declared Russia to be a top threat to the US in spite of (or perhaps because of) the successful conclusion to the P5 + 1 talks in Vienna and recent reports of US-Russian diplomacy regarding Syria.
PODCAST: Terrorism and the Perils of ‘Russiagate’ (Stephen F. Cohen)
As Trump and Putin strive for an essential US-Russia alliance against international terrorism, American media frenzy, fueled by anonymous leaks, continues to thwart it.
Beware Ukraine’s Rising Right Sector
Since the Maidan Revolution, Right Sector has maintained only marginal public support. Currently, the party holds just one seat in the parliament of 422. Recently, however, as the group has become more outspoken against the current Petro Poroshenko administration, its numbers have risen.
Ukraine’s Government Is Failing to Unite Ukrainians (Nicolai Petro, Josh Cohen)
The current course of denigrating those deemed insufficiently Ukrainian will only lead to a fracturing of the country.
Why are US Officials Blasting Russia After the Iran Deal?
Nation contributing editor and ACEWA Founding Board Member Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussion of the renewed US-Russian Cold War.
This week, the subjects include, among other things, why, after President Obama praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for his role in the agreement with Iran, is his administration escalating its rhetorical and military offensive against Russia?
Security Breach (Michael J. Glennon)
A de facto directorate of several hundred managers sitting atop dozens of military, diplomatic, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies, from the Department of Homeland Security to the National Reconnaissance Office, has come to dominate national security policy, displacing the authority not only of Congress but of the courts and the presidency as well.
BREAKING: New Diplomacy Seen on U.S.-Russian Efforts to End Syrian Civil War
With President Bashar al-Assad of Syria facing battlefield setbacks, diplomats from Russia, the United States and several Middle Eastern powers are engaged in a burst of diplomatic activity, trying to head off a deeper collapse of the country that could further strengthen the militant group Islamic State.
Retired US Diplomat E. Wayne Merry Talks to Tucker Carlson (Fox News)
Merry warns that Russians are referring to the political climate in the US as “schizophrenic.” Carlson observes that what Jared Kushner is accused of doing, in attempting to set up a ‘back-channel’ with the Russians, is perfectly legal, while Merry notes that every new US administration contacts foreign governments before taking office.
2015 UNHCR regional operations profile – Europe
The latest report from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees notes that “Large-scale displacements in Ukraine have called for urgent responses to growing humanitarian needs. As of mid-September, the number of IDPs in Ukraine stood at over 275,000. External displacement is also on the rise.”
Jared Kushner was right to seek private channels with Russia (Mary Dejevsky)
Trump critics are treating the latest revelation as further evidence of Russian collusion, but given the constant stream of leaks coming from the intelligence agencies, it may have been the best option to improve relations with the Kremlin.
Ukraine blacklists Russian artists for rebel support
Ukraine has named 14 Russian singers and actors, including French-born Gerard Depardieu, whose work will be banned from TV, radio and cinemas.
Ukraine said they were a “threat to national security” for supporting Russia’s annexation of Crimea and pro-Russian separatists in the east.
The Trump-Russia Story Starts Making Sense (Holman W Jenkins)
The Kremlin seems to have bet big on the willingness of U.S. intelligence agencies to leak.
Canadian journalist writes from Ukraine praising extreme-right paramilitaries
One of Canada’s well known journalists was in Ukraine last month on reporting duty. Readers of mainstream media in Canada will be surprised to read Diane Francis’ observations of her visit. She has penned several articles in the World Post praising the extreme-right and neo-Nazi paramilitary forces that are allied with the Ukrainian government in waging civil war in the east of the country.
The Russian economy on the eve of the Macron-Putin summit (Jacques Sapir)
The stakes are high for both men, even if they are not at the same level for both. It is fitting at this point to examine the present situation of Russia and of the Russian economy. Russia is emerging from the 2015-2016 recession. Yet, the circumstances of this emergence remain blurry.
US adds remote Russian gas field to sanctions list
The US government has expanded its punitive sanctions against Russia by forbidding the export of American wares or technology to an offshore oil and gas field in eastern Siberia controlled by Gazprom.