Whom Do We Trust?” was the theme of the conference in St. Petersburg organized by Track Two: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy and the Herzen State Pedagogical University, gathering experts and students from two countries.
Analysis
Roll Call: Rand Paul Pitches Easing Sanctions on Russian Lawmakers
Kentucky Republican crafts amendment to lift sanctions if Russia lifts sanctions on members of Congress
Zach Battat: Russia’s response and the diplomatic opportunity (re: Israel and Syria)
Zach Battat is a junior editor for Global Brief and a PhD candidate in Middle Eastern and African History at the Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies.
Katrina vanden Heuvel: Progressives must seize their momentum to articulate a saner foreign policy
Democrats in Congress have too often criticized President Trump from the right – for not being tough enough on Russia, for questioning the United States’ allies, for preemptive diplomacy with North Korea.
Intelligence Squared Debate: UNRESOLVED: U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY (feat. Stephen F. Cohen and John J. Mearsheimer)
For the United States, tensions are rising with both allies and adversaries. Rogue states are racing to master new technologies and create weapons of mass destruction. And faith in international institutions is seemingly deteriorating. What does this all mean for U.S. national security?
Stephen F. Cohen: Who Putin Is Not
Falsely demonizing Russia’s leader has made the new Cold War even more dangerous.
Paul Pillar: An Unending U.S. War in Syria?
Ignoring uncomfortable truths about the Syria conflict keeps getting in the way of sober policymaking. The regime, aided by its Russian and Iranian allies, already has recaptured most rebel-held territory.
Mary Dejevsky: Where is the West as Endgame Looms in Syria?
It is high time that the US, and especially the UK, accepted that their war in Syria has been lost – or at least that their original objective, the removal of Bashar al-Assad has not been achieved. Are they prepared to pursue the fight now at the expense of Idlib’s 3 million civilians?
Lyle Jeremy Rubin: The Forever War’s Cheerleaders
It is one thing to welcome investigations into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election, and to push for electoral and anti-corruption reforms that might help prevent such interference in the future. It is quite another to allow some of the world’s most fervent jingoists to assume the vanguard of the anti-Trump opposition…
Paul Robinson: Mutual Disbelief
Western commentary on Russia is often so far removed from reality as to appear deranged.
Mark Penn: Time for sunshine on Trump-Russia investigation
The investigation of the Trump campaign, his administration, family and associates has gone on for more than two years without any serious evidence supporting the Russia-Trump collusion theory.
Daniel Larison: Another Pointless Round of NATO Expansion Awaits
NATO expansion keeps stumbling ahead like the zombie policy that it is.
Graham Stack: Everything you know about Paul Manafort is wrong
It is a huge irony of U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into alleged collusion between U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s 2016 election campaign and the Kremlin, that the biggest fish caught to date is charged with the doing the opposite of colluding with Russia…
Al Jazeera English: Is the US hypocritical in attacking Russian election interference?
A quick explainer video…
Paul Robinson: Stubborn Resistance
The dogmatic pursuit of human rights may make people feel virtuous, but in the end morality has to rest on practical realities, and those dictate that the strategy of ‘stubborn resistance’ is deeply counterproductive.
VIDEO: Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Japanese leader Shinzo Abe a peace treaty without preconditions by the end of the year. Decades after the end of WWII, the two states have yet to sign an agreement.
Aaron Mate: The Mueller Investigation Is Sending People to Jail—but Not for Collusion
The Russiagate fixation has diverted attention from many of Trump’s damaging policies and turned vast segments of the public into spectators of an endless drama.
Patrick Lawrence: Why the U.S. Seeks to Hem in Russia, China and Iran
America’s three principal adversaries signify the shape of the world to come: a post-Western world of coexistence. But neolibera and neocon ideology is unable to to accept global pluralism and multipolarity, argues Patrick Lawrence.
Lawrence Wilkerson: Are Warnings About Chemical Warfare in Syria Another ‘Weapon of Mass Distraction’?
Col. Larry Wilkerson says that it was the plan of John Bolton and the neocons to take Iraq, then Syria, and then Iran. These false flag operations are all about maintaining the perpetual war in the region.
Ray McGovern: On the Brink with Russia in Syria Again, 5 Years Later
The New York Times, on September 11, 2013, accommodated Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s desire “to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders” about “recent events surrounding Syria.”