One need not be a Putin apologist to note that the United States was itself engaged in a program of instigation, one that ultimately induced a hostile—but arguably defensive—Russian response.
Analysis
Paul Saunders: Can Efforts to Protect American Democracy End up Threatening It?
The investigations may actually help Russian president Vladimir Putin to expand his influence and reach, even as they deny the United States the ability to pursue vital national security interests.
Lev Golinkin: The reality of neo-Nazis in Ukraine is far from Kremlin propaganda
Some Western observers claim that there are no neo-Nazi elements in Ukraine, chalking the assertion up to propaganda from Moscow. Unfortunately, they are sadly mistaken.
The IMF Changes its Rules to Isolate China and Russia (Michael Hudson)
A nightmare scenario of U.S. geopolitical strategists is coming true: foreign independence from U.S.-centered financial and diplomatic control. China and Russia are investing in neighboring economies on terms that cement Eurasian integration on the basis of financing in their own currencies and favoring their own exports. They also have created the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an alternative military alliance to NATO. And the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) threatens to replace the IMF and World Bank tandem in which the United States holds unique veto power.
[Read more…] about The IMF Changes its Rules to Isolate China and Russia (Michael Hudson)
The Real News: Congress’s ‘Show Trial’ of Big Tech over Russia
Twitter, Facebook, and Google were brought before Congress last week over claims about Russian use of their platforms to influence the 2016 election. We speak to Yasha Levine, author of the forthcoming “Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet.”
Paul Robinson: Counter-Revolution
The revolutionaries like to imagine that all they have to do is topple the old order and all will be well. They will establish themselves firmly in authority. They don’t imagine that a significant portion of the population might object to their unconstitutional seizure of power and take up arms against them, and that the revolution, however well-intentioned it may be, will have terrible results. We can see this in Ukraine.
Joshua Yaffa: Putin’s Russia Wrestles with the Meaning of Trotsky and Revolution
Perhaps the best description of Trotsky—his intensity, acumen, and self-awareness of his historical import—comes from Edmund Wilson, who, in “To the Finland Station,” his 1940 book on the intellectual path of Marxism, calls Trotsky the “aristocrat of revolution.”
Stephen F Cohen: The Unheralded Putin – Russia’s Official Anti-Stalinist No. 1
A memorial monument to Stalin’s millions of victims—the subject of intense political struggle for more than 50 years—was commemorated in Moscow by Vladimir Putin, whose support at last made it a reality.
Kerry’s Mission to Moscow (Stephen Cohen speaks to John Batchelor)
ACEWA Founding Board Member and Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly
discussions of the new US-Russian cold war. American Secretary of State Kerry’s meeting with Russian President Putin, on December 15, frames the discussion.Nikolas Gvosdev: Wanted: A U.S.-Russia Relationship That Isn’t Dysfunctional
The principal agenda item during the Putin-Trump summit is going to be the situation around North Korea—with Trump asking for additional Russian help in containing the crisis.
Ukraine’s Politics Descend Into Slapstick (Leonid Bershidsky)
Less than a week after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden asked Ukraine’s political leaders to play nice, the quiet war between the teams of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and President Petro Poroshenko has turned publicly and comically violent.
Andrew Cockburn: Vladimir Putin: Computer Genius?
…the Democratic establishment professes to believe that where Mook failed, Putin succeeded. If this were so, then Putin should set up shop as a campaign consultant in this country in time for the next election.
TNI: Trump, Eisenhower and Russia: A Chance for Peace
It’s time for a reassessment of U.S.-Russia relations that starts the process of moving from confrontation to cooperation.
Leonid Bershidsky: U.S. intelligence estimates were wrong: Russian trolls and their Kremlin masters weren’t partisan
The problem with the American policy (and polity) goes even deeper than that: The U.S. is a bitterly divided country, and it wasn’t Russian propagandists who created these divisions, though they were happy to read about them in the U.S. media and use them in their efforts.
Kremlin Caricature: Washington’s Distorted View of Russia and Putin (Paul Starobin)
No candidate from either party is bringing forth bold, fresh ideas for putting U.S.-Russian relations on a new footing—and that goes for President Obama, too. How about a bilateral summit between the leaders to see whether, as the Kremlin has hinted, it is ready to move beyond the Assad regime in Syria? Or directly involving Russia in a discussion at the United Nations Security Council to arrive at a plan of action against ISIS in the wake of the Paris attacks?
Robert Parry: Learning to Love McCarthyism
There seems to be little or no concern that the Establishment is using Russia-gate as a smokescreen for clamping down on independent media sites on the Internet.
‘THE ALTERNATIVE REALITY OF PROPAGANDA’ (Paul Robinson)
One of the advantages of working at a university is having access to a large number of academic journals. In this post, therefore, I will take the opportunity to highlight a couple of recent articles from these.
Masha Gessen: Russian Interference in the 2016 Election: A Cacophony, Not a Conspiracy
The picture of Papadopoulos which has emerged over the last few days – including from the indictment against him – is of a young man (he is only 30) who was seriously out of his depth…None of his activities – which centred on his attempts to set up a meeting before the election between Putin and Trump – however fantastic they might have been, were however in the least unlawful or can be said to have done any harm.
Daniel McCarthy: Trump, Papadopoulous and the Russia Connection
Everything we know so far suggests not a passionate love affair between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin but a series of awkward first dates between amateurs whose espionage credentials would make Boris and Natasha look like James Jesus Angleton.
The new nuclear arms race (Katrina vanden Heuvel)
The increased tension between the U.S. and Russia will have dire global consequences even if neither side launches a weapon. Defeating the Islamic State is likely impossible without Russia as part of a broad coalition. Not only does Russia bring advanced military capabilities and general resources to the fight, it also brings intelligence, diplomatic and political ties in the Middle East that the United States simply does not have.