The Center for the National Interest brought former CIA officials together to examine the state of American analysis of Russia.
Analysis
Stephen F. Cohen: Intel ‘Informants’ and ‘Suspicious Contacts’ Echo Dark Pasts
McCarthyism and firsthand recollections of Soviet surveillance practices.
Nicolai Petro: Are We Reading Russia Right?
Despite the passage of time, Cold War patterns of thinking about Russia show no sign of weakening in America. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, we need to look at Russian society in a fundamentally different light. We must learn to appreciate it as a democracy that shares key similarities, as well as differences, with the West.
NATO Reaffirms A Russia Narrative Of Its Own Devising (Robert Parry)
The Warsaw communiqué – signed by leaders including President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron – ignores the reality of what happened in Ukraine in late 2013 and early 2014 and thus generates an inside-out narrative, writes Robert Parry.
Paul Grenier: Why Political Philosophy?
The Simone Weil Center for Political Philosophy asks: What is international order, what kind of thing is it? Can we understand what international political order is without raising the question about what politics itself is, what it’s for? [Read more…] about Paul Grenier: Why Political Philosophy?
Book Review: War With Russia (Paul Robinson)
As NATO wraps up its summit meeting in Warsaw, it will no doubt be patting itself on the back for displaying ‘unity’ and ‘resolve’ in the face of ‘Russian aggression’…If we are to believe NATO’s former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Sir Richard Shirreff, such displays of strength are exactly what are needed …That is the message of a novel he has just published, entitled 2017. War with Russia. An Urgent Warning from Senior Military Command.
Conrad Black: The Collapse of the Collusion Narrative
It…seems to be clear that James Comey, and former National Intelligence and Central Intelligence directors James Clapper and John Brennan, were involved in improper leaks of confidential information and in coordinating their activities to mislead the president-elect
Lev Golinkin: Unchecked anti-Semitism in Ukraine & What is to be done?
Noted author and journalist Lev Golinkin (“A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka”) talks with WABC radio’s John Batchelor about the disturbing uptick in anti-Semitism in Ukraine these past months.
‘Aggression’ May Be Threatening Europe—But NATO Is Looking for It in the Wrong Place (The Nation)
NATO’s troop build-up is based upon the faulty, though widely believed, premise that Russia’s assistance to the rebel forces in the breakaway republics of Luhansk and Donetsk is a prelude to even grander designs by the Kremlin.
Gordon Hahn: Russia, America, and the Biases Within Us
In a recent New York Times article Keith Gessen attempts to explain the long deterioration in post-Cold War US-Russian relations.
John Mueller: The Price for Peace in Syria Is Cooperation with Assad
For those whose chief concern is the welfare of the Syrian people, the conclusion, however painful, should be obvious. The United States and other intervening states should work primarily to bring the suffering to a substantial close, and this likely means cutting off support to most rebel combatants in Syria and working with—perhaps even directly supporting—Assad and his foreign allies
Leonid Bershidsky: Trump Forbids Russian Pipeline. Europe Pushes Back
Nord Stream 2, the planned Russian natural gas pipeline to Germany across the floor of the Baltic Sea, is the latest front in the growing conflict between Europe and the U.S.
Russian Federation: A Situation Report (Patrick Armstrong)
Patrick Armstrong rounds up the latest developments and notes, among many other things, that as regards to sanctions: French report puts loss of business at $US60 billion, 77% borne by EU. Figures a year old; more by now. Just extended. Non completion with Minsk II one of the reasons; here is the text: find the word “Russia” in it. But they’ve been good for Russia and bad for the EU.
Daniel Lazare: Making Excuses for Russiagate
As months turn into nearly two years and no solid evidence emerges to nail Russia for nabbing Election 2016, some big Russia-gate cheerleaders are starting to cover their tracks, as Daniel Lazare explains
Mary Dejevsky: UK as Spearhead for Anti-Russian Alliance
Every now and again you hear a snatch of a radio bulletin or glimpse a newspaper headline and wonder where on earth it might have come from – so disconnected does it seem from everything else that is going on. This was my response to a recent front-page in the British Guardian newspaper that said: “Revealed: UK push to strengthen anti-Russia alliance”.
Warsaw: NATO’s Theater of the Absurd (Harvey M. Sapolsky, Elizabeth S. Barnes)
…Montenegro has joined NATO as its twenty-ninth member. Under Article 5 of the NATO Treaty the United States pledges to defend Montenegro, and Montenegro has our back as well, writes MIT Professor Emeritus Harvey Sapolsky and Elizabeth Barnes.
Andrei Kortunov: A Letter to John: Where Are U.S.-Russia Relations Headed?
A Letter to John: Where Are U.S.-Russia Relations Headed?
In the decades I spent working with the United States, I acquired quite a large circle of contacts in Washington. Collectively, they represent the so-called American establishment. Today, I’d like to address these Washingtonians as one individual, whom I’ll name John for the sake of simplicity. [Read more…] about Andrei Kortunov: A Letter to John: Where Are U.S.-Russia Relations Headed?
Gladden Pappin: Baudrillard’s Revenge
Liberation from Soviet rule would not bring about the end of history in the sense of the completion of Western achievement. Instead it would accelerate the erasure of opposition to the financialized and increasingly surreal economy of the Western world.
Excluding Russia from the Council of Europe would be a big mistake (German MP)
An escalation of the conflict between NATO/the EU and Russia and the East-West divide of Europe is not in the interests of the people of Europe. The Council of Europe can play a key role by supporting documentation and dialogue in a way that goes beyond intergovernmental relations and brings together parliamentary and civil society actors.
PODCAST: Stephen F. Cohen on Here And There with Dave Marash
Donald Trump keeps saying he wants to be Vladimir Putin’s friend, but Trump’s renunciation of the nuclear arms agreement with Iran won’t help the relationship, and neither will Israeli attacks on Iranian forces fighting on Russia’s side in Syria. Scholar-analyst Stephen F. Cohen of NYU and Princeton and The Nation on why the US and Russia aren’t getting along. Cohen says one reason is the US News Media and its addiction to stories that put Putin in a bad light.