The Chinese-Russian bilateral relationship is better than at many points in the past, but it remains superficial.
Analysis
The Hill: How Obama engaged Ukraine to give Russia collusion a boost
The Ukrainian embassy in Washington on Thursday confirmed the Obama administration requested the meetings in January 2016, but embassy representatives attended only some of the sessions.
Kenneth Rapoza: No, Ukraine’s New President Zelenksiy Is Not Putin’s Puppet
Contrary to the opinion of one or two loud-mouthed Russian conspiracy theorists — the kind that sees FSB spooks and lackeys hiding in closets and in newsrooms throughout the Western world — newly elected Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is not a tool of the Kremlin.
Paul Pillar: The Mueller Report Exposes U.S. Election Weaknesses
It behooves the United States to spend more effort and attention on repairing democracy in the homeland than it has done in recent years—and more than any effort to impose democracy in someone else’s country.
Matt Taibbi: The Press Will Learn Nothing From the Russiagate Fiasco
You know what was fake news? Most of the Russiagate story. There was no Trump-Russia conspiracy, that thing we just spent three years chasing. The Mueller Report is crystal clear on this.
Paul Robinson: Corrupting Democracy
…the idea that we have some type of pristine process which is pure and ‘democratic’ until defiled by ‘foreign meddling’ is rather naïve. That doesn’t mean, of course, that we shouldn’t be doing all we can to make matters better, or that we shouldn’t be wary of things which might make them worse.
Nicolai N. Petro: Petro Poroshenko’s Nationalism Cost Him the Presidency
This is one of the lessons that Western policymakers can learn from Poroshenko’s crushing defeat.
Thomas Meany: The Canonization of Richard Holbrooke
Whether Russia and the rise of China signaled the return of nineteenth-century power relations was likewise not a going concern with Holbrooke, who was far too fixated on news cycles to keep his mind concentrated on what the world rapidly converting to capitalism would mean for American power.
Lyle Goldstein: How Russia Can Help Break the Deadlock with North Korea
A Putin-Kim summit will mainly be another photo-op for the North Korean leader. But Moscow has more cards to play in Pyongyang than is commonly realized.
AP: North Korea’s Kim on way to Russia to meet Putin on Thursday
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a much-anticipated summit Thursday, the Kremlin said, ending weeks of speculation about the meeting’s timing and venue.
U.S. Hoped Putin Would be a ‘Sober Yeltsin’ – Part 3 of Stephen F. Cohen’s Interview on The Real News Network
After the fall of the Soviet Union, a dysfunctional and pro-American Russian President Yeltsin presided over the chaos of the 1990’s; when Putin came to power, the West was very disappointed at the independent and nationalist character of the Putin led state and the demonization began.
Ivan Katchanovski: The Buried Maidan Massacre and Its Misrepresentation by the West
The new Ukrainian government is faced with reopening an inquiry into evidence of an organized mass killing in Kiev that Poroshenko stonewalled. Ivan Katchanovski investigates.
Leonid Bershidsky: How Zelenskiy Beat Ukraine’s Establishment.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy won by promising always to ask the people first.
Nikolas K. Gvosdev: Can Zelensky Make Ukraine Great Again?
Volodomyr Zelensky fits squarely in the mold of anti-establishment populist candidates who have been winning elections all throughout Europe…
Peter van Buren: Mueller Time is Finally Over
Despite some muddled dissent, the special counsel said clearly that Trump never committed a chargeable crime.
Glenn Greenwald: Robert Mueller Did Not Merely Reject the Trump-Russia Conspiracy Theories. He Obliterated Them.
Several of the media’s most breathless and hyped “bombshells” were dismissed completely by Mueller.
Stephen F. Cohen: Is Trump for Detente or Militarism?
Trump’s stated aim is to reduce tensions with Russia, but is it motivated by peaceful objectives or is it preparations for aggression towards Iran and China – Stephen Cohen joins host Paul Jay for a spirited discussion on Reality Asserts Itself
International Crisis Group: A Shadow over Ukraine’s Presidential Election
Proponents of Ukraine’s integration with the West tend to downplay the significance of far right groups. But their underwhelming electoral performance obfuscates the major role the various groups and their viewpoints play in public life.
Lev Golinkin On Today’s Presidential Election in Ukraine
Thus far, Western media have focused on the “Isn’t this quirky?” aspect of an untested comedian about to become the leader of Ukraine. But there’s nothing quirky about it.
Is Russian ‘Meddling’ an Attack on America? – Interview with Stephen Cohen
“The claim that Russia attacked America during the 2016 presidential election is both exceedingly dangerous and a complete falsehood,” says Stephen Cohen on Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay