If you want to bring peace to Ukraine, you need to develop a proper understanding of how the war in Donbass began and of the exact dynamics between the various players, including the government in Kiev, the Russian Federation, and the rebel movement.
Analysis
Jon Letman: As US Modernizes Its Nuclear Arsenal, Costs and Risks Soar
Trump’s $2 trillion makeover for the U.S.’s nuclear arsenal is certain to trigger a deadly new arms race.
Byron York: Democrats think they’ve got a slam dunk obstruction case against Trump. They don’t.
Today, House Democrats will have a chance to breathe life into the Mueller report.
Andrew McCarthy: Mueller’s testimony will not give Democrats what they crave. Can they handle it?
Prepare to be disappointed.
That should be Democrats’ mindset heading into Robert Mueller’s appearance this week before two House committees. The greater the anticipation of the testimony, the more the letdown is apt to be.
Offshore Alert Conference: Bill Browder: Fact vs. Fiction
London-based financier Bill Browder has been the driving force behind new laws in the USA and other countries that are aimed at Russians and others who are involved in corrupt activity. Critics of Browder, however, have accused him of being a fantasist.
Scott Horton Show: Lyle J. Goldstein on the Consequences of War with Russia
Scott interviews Lyle J. Goldstein about what the “Russiagate” narrative means for America’s relationship with Russia.
Moscow Times: Russia, Ukraine Agree ‘Comprehensive’ Cease-Fire in Donbass
Russia, Ukraine and Europe’s top security body have announced an “indefinite” ceasefire in eastern Ukraine that analysts hail as a substantial step toward ending the five-year conflict.
PODCAST: “Hope And History: A Memoir Of Tumultuous Times” By William J. Vanden Heuvel
US Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel presents his most important public speeches and writings, compiled and presented over eight decades of adventure and public service, woven together with anecdotes of his colorful life as a second-generation American, a soldier, a lawyer, a political activist, and a diplomat.
Stephen F. Cohen: Who’s Afraid of William Barr?
Liberals and other Democrats seem to want to cover up the CIA’s role in Russiagate.
Daniel Larison: Feigning Interest in Arms Control to Kill New START
See if you can spot the flaw in the Trump administration’s new arms control initiative…
Paul Robinson: Fact Checking
… it turns out that they fought not ‘for the separatists’ but ‘against the separatists’. That’s quite a difference.
Boston Review: Eliminating the Danger
What can we do to prevent a nuclear catastrophe?
Eric Felten: The Labyrinthine Ways and Wages of Stefan Halper
Stefan Halper, the shadowy Cambridge academic who may have helped the FBI spy on the Trump campaign, was paid more than $1 million by a U.S. agency for research papers of dubious value, according to a new government report.
Al Jazeera: Erdogan says Turkey aims to produce S-400s jointly with Russia
President says S-400s will be ready in April 2020, making Turkey the first NATO nation with Russian missile system.
Paul Robinson: On the ‘Ilyin = fascist, ergo Putin = fascist, ergo Russia = fascist’ thesis…
Yale University professor Timothy Snyder has been making mild waves again this week with an interview in which he pontificated about linguistic policy in Ukraine.
Joshua Cho: ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ Aren’t Starting an Arms Race—Washington Is
Following the usual alarmist formula used to sell military upgrades to the public, the Times then made the predictable pivot to uncritically transmitting false claims about the need to “act quickly” lest the US “fall behind” the Russian and Chinese menaces.
Nicolai N. Petro: Will Nationalism Poison Ukraine’s New President?
Volodymr Zelensky’s election win was a result of Ukraine’s pent-up demand for normalcy with Russia. But now it looks like Ukraine’s new president is succumbing to nationalist pressure.
Poll: Arms Sales Make the U.S. Less Secure
The survey found that a large majority of Americans (70%) believes that arms sales to other governments makes the U.S. less safe…
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Pentagon report: Russian leaders believe they are already at war with the United States—in the gray zone
A group of governmental, military, and outside experts published a white paper urging the US government to jump fully into the so-called gray zone—the conceptual space in which countries take action that lies somewhere on the continuum between warfare and peaceable relations.
Lyle Goldstein: Europe Is Stuck between the United States and Russia
Is America using the Nord Stream-2 Gas Pipeline as a target for its hostility toward Russia?