Defeat, it is said, is a better teacher than success. The US Democratic Party has just suffered a shattering defeat, and desperately needs to learn from it. In the area of foreign policy, at least, this however appears unlikely — at least to judge by two interviews given by outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the New York Times and Financial Times.
Ben Smith: Trump relitigates Russia ‘collusion’: Can you sue a narrative?
Journalists who covered the story should acknowledge that this high-stakes line of reporting, with its breathless cable news and social media cheerleading, did not seriously bear out. The Mueller report concluded that investigators “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
Robert Skidelsky: Why Is the UK So Invested in the Russia–Ukraine War?
Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election of November 2024 has shredded the liberal script about the Ukraine war. That script was to offer unconditional moral and material support for a Ukrainian victory, defined minimally as recovery of the invaded territories of Crimea and Donbass. In Britain, it was considered almost treasonable to suggest otherwise.
Michael Poznansky and William C. Wohlforth: The Real Risks of Escalation in Ukraine
A growing chorus of critics argues that Ukraine’s current dire situation is partly the result of Biden’s timid approach to helping Kyiv defend itself against Russia’s invasion. Excessively worried about triggering World War III, the administration shied away from swift and major weapons transfers that might have altered the war’s course at key junctures.
Norman Solomon: Democrats have boxed themselves in as a war party
On Ukraine war policy, dissent has been rare from Democratic lawmakers. Two years ago, 30 progressive House Democrats sent a letter to Biden that suggested “a proactive diplomatic push” could be useful for achieving a ceasefire — but they quickly withdrew the letter after an angry backlash from hawkish leaders in their own party. (Republican lawmakers are split on Ukraine policy — many want the U.S. to recklessly confront China instead of Russia.)
Ed Lozansky: Anticipating January 20
When the world lives in anticipation of whether Trump’s second term brings promised peace and reduces the risk of nuclear WWIII, the war party is pushing its agenda. The magazine Foreign Affairs, the mouthpiece of the influential Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), warns about the heavy price of American retreat from the world stage and explains why Washington must reject isolationism and embrace primacy. In the article, signed by the outgoing Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell, there is plenty of criticism of his congressional opponents who insist that there be parity between increases in defense and those in nondefense discretionary spending.
Lyle Goldstein: Trump can leverage the Arctic to end Ukraine War
Since Donald Trump’s reelection, his campaign promise to quickly end the Russia-Ukraine War has seemed increasingly out of reach as the situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate.
VIDEO: Anatol Lieven: How to End the Ukraine War, the Nonzero Podcast
Andrew Day and Connor Echols cover the foreign policy news of the week. In this episode, Day and Echols also discuss how progressives should approach Trump’s foreign policy. Plus: Anatol Lieven joins to discuss Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
Melvin Goodman: The Death of Ambassador Raymond Garthoff and Disarmament
The mainstream media ignored the passing of a beloved former colleague of mine, Ambassador Raymond Garthoff, whose career spanned the most important years of arms control and disarmament between the United States and the Soviet Union. Over the years, the media have devoted much attention to the opponents of arms control such as George W. Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton, and Casper Weinberger, but have done little to explore the importance of its advocates and practitioners.
Christopher Mott: NATO, The Gargoyle of Globalism
As NATO’s mission devolved and lost its focus after the end of the Cold War, it has become increasingly apparent that the alliance has shed its defensive basis and been re-conceived as an organization whose primary directive is to expand America’s sphere of influence globally through the continuous encroachment on various regional powers’ more immediate spheres of interest. NATO’s rhetoric and actions — especially since its intervention in Yugoslavia in 1999 — signal an intentional strategic shift toward adopting a globalized agenda, thereby facilitating its transition to become the global military arm for the U.S.-led liberal international order. Ironically, this rather aggressive and maximalist reorientation also puts America’s core national interests at risk.
Ian Proud: Salome Zourabichvili is a threat to Georgian democracy
The biggest threat to democracy in Georgia is Zourabichvili herself.
William Astore: Daniel Ellsberg on Nuclear Weapons
Is the U.S. military becoming a paper tiger whose sole remaining power move is a mighty nuclear roar? It’s a disturbing thought, given the extent to which U.S. military power is overstretched, recruiting shortfalls, and the usual waste, fraud, and abuse at the Pentagon, exacerbated by imperial megalomania.
Reuters: Russia warns the United States against possible nuclear testing under Trump
Russia’s point man for arms control cautioned Donald Trump’s incoming administration on Friday against resuming nuclear testing, saying Moscow would keep its own options open amid what he said was Washington’s “extremely hostile” stance.
Flashback: 10 years ago Gorbachev warns of escalating conflict
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev warned of the consequences of an arms build-up in an exclusive interview with Swiss public television.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from ACURA!
We will return to our regular morning schedule December 30th. Thanks to all our readers, subscribers and supporters throughout this tumultuous time.
The Long Telegram of the 1990s: “Whose Russia Is It Anyway? Toward a Policy of Benign Respect”
Washington, D.C. – A now-legendary but long-secret 70-paragraph telegram written by the top political analyst at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in March 1994, E. Wayne Merry, criticizing the American policy focus on radical economic reform in Russia, was published in full today for the first time by the National Security Archive.
Merry could not get the critical message cleared for government-wide distribution at the time in 1994 because of Treasury objections (“It would give Larry Summers a heart attack”) and ultimately resorted to the Dissent Channel instead, according to Merry’s retrospective commentary, which was also published today by the Archive together with the actual “long telegram” and other declassified documents.
Reminiscent of George Kennan’s Long Telegram of 1946 in the depth and scope of its analysis of Russian realities and almost as prescient in its prophecies, the Merry cable only reached the public domain as the result of a National Security Archive lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The State Department denied a copy to Merry himself, claiming public release of dissent messages would provide the wrong incentive for future Foreign Service Officers.
Col. Douglas Macgregor and James W. Carden: Iran: America’s Next War Of Choice
One predictable consequence of an attack on Iran will be a solidifying of the Chinese-brokered Iran-Saudi rapprochement—and a hardening of the blocs in the Greater Middle East, which will see Iran, backed by Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, set against a temporary Israel-Turkish bloc backed by Washington and its European vassals.
Ian Proud: NATO countries spending 3%? That’s empire.
Even with defense spending at current levels, NATO is the biggest military empire the world has ever seen. According to the SIPRI database, NATO in 2023 accounted for 57% of global defense spending.
Anatol Lieven: European ‘peacekeepers’ in Ukraine? A horrible idea.
President-elect Trump is reportedly advancing the idea that a large and heavily armed peacekeeping force from Europe (but including NATO members) could be introduced into Ukraine as part of a peace settlement there. It is important that this very ill-thought-out idea be shot down before it does serious damage to the prospects for an early peace and causes Ukraine still further human, economic and territorial loss.
Gordon Hahn: The Second Great Ukrainian Ruin Revisited
There are four Western deceptions and lost opportunities for ending Ukraine‘s violence that have led Ukraine to slaughter. These are the four horsemen of the Ukrainian apocaplypse or its Second Great Ruin or Ruin 2.0.