The Independent’s Robert Fisk notes that the “rubbish has reached its crescendo in the on-again off-again saga of the Syrian “moderates”. These men were originally military defectors to the FSA, which America and European countries regarded as a possible pro-Western force to be used against the Syrian government army. But the FSA fell to pieces, corrupted, and the “moderates” defected all over again, this time to the Islamist Nusrah Front or to Isis, selling their American-supplied weapons to the highest bidder…”
Analysis
Sanctions as Feckless Disapproval (Paul Pillar)
… the bill is consistent with, and puts in stark relief, a larger problem of Congress habitually using economic sanctions against foreign states as an expression of disapproval that is poorly designed to achieve any U.S. foreign policy objectives.
‘The Washington Post’ Finally Finds a War It Won’t Cheer
We are informed via the Washington Post that “continued airstrikes Friday suggested that Russia’s main priority remains the anti-Assad rebellion in northern and western Syria, which poses a greater threat to the regime’s control over Damascus, the capital, than the forces of the Islamic State, concentrated in the far north and east of the country.”
This is a rather masterful insinuation of Russian malfeasance where none exists.
Unveiling the Reagan-Gorbachev Statue in Moscow (Robert Zapesochny)
“Dialogue based on mutual respect” could improve U.S.-Russia relations
Western spin machines functioning at full capacity on Syria
Well the ‘US good, Russia bad’ propaganda drive has reached full-blown hysteria mode this week. My sincerest compliments to the usual suspects, you are absolutely playing a blinder.
I’m especially impressed by how quickly you all became such staunch humanitarians and tallied up the civilian casualties from the handful of Russian strikes mere moments after the bombs were dropped. That’s dedication.
Russians See Sanctions Regime as a Blessing in Disguise (The Real News, feat. Richard Sakwa)
German exports to Russia have increased by twenty percent despite the existing sanctions against Russia, says University of Kent professor Richard Sakwa.
Winter Is Coming. And So Is Ukraine’s Far Right.
There’s a reason most revolutions in Eastern Europe begin in the winter, from Russia in 1905 to Ukraine’s Maidan in 2013. Once the cold settles in, a government’s empty promises are laid bare. Over the next several days, forecasters are predicting, the temperature in Ukraine will plunge to freezing. When President Petro Poroshenko looks at the thermometer, he should be worried.
We Need to Stop Using Russia as a Political Football (Vadim Nikitin)
From Nixon to Trump, there have always been long-term risks in exploiting foreign policy for domestic political gain.
Pentagon Plan to Arm Ukraine Means Escalation with Russia (The Real News, feat. Nicolai Petro)
As U.S. and Russian relations hit a new low, the Pentagon and State Department have drafted a plan to arm Ukraine’s fight against Russian-backed rebels, a move that would escalate the country’s three-year war.
Putin’s plan for Syria: Only Russia has a clear goal—we should join it or stay out
According Rachel Polonsky, a Fellow of Murray Edwards College at the University of Cambridge and author of Molotov’s Magic Lantern: A Journey in Russian History: “If we cannot support Russia in its mission now, or even define our own, we should stand aside. No good has come from our policy of regime change. The UK government’s position on Syria is neither logical nor honest
One thing that both IS and Russia understand is that control of territory is everything. Palmyra is territory, and territory has meaning, which it takes knowledge-—of geography, history, languages, religions, cultures and the nature of one’s enemies—to understand. John McCain calls Russia a “gas station masquerading as a country.” He should read War and Peace.”
A Blacklisted Film and the New Cold War (Robert Parry)
As Congress still swoons over the anti-Kremlin Magnitsky narrative, Western political and media leaders refuse to let their people view a documentary that debunks the fable, reports Robert Parry.
Prof. Stephen F. Cohen Talks With John Batchelor
Earlier in the week ACEWA Board Member Dr. Stephen F. Cohen continued his weekly conversation with radio host John Batchelor. The conversation helped to shed much need light on recent developments in the Donbas, and the discussants delved into the wide ranging implications of Russia’s recent intervention into the Syrian civil war.
The Russia Mess Sucks in Democrats, Too (John Batchelor)
Two modest Russiagate puzzles that do not fit easily into any case for or against President Trump, took new turns in recent days…
Sending ‘Defensive’ Arms to Ukraine Would Be Deadly (Leonid Bershidsky)
Both Russian and U.S. generals have an interest in testing their newer weapons against each other.
Russia Signals Tough Pragmatism toward the United States (George Beebe)
Beyond foreshadowing what they might do in response to U.S. retaliation, the Russians are also signaling the depth of their resolve to oppose U.S. actions that they believe threaten Russian security.
How Russia outplayed America in the Middle East’s great game
The cliché of the Russian chessmaster strategist might be a cliché for a reason. The regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin might have feet of clay, but the man is smart.
By going all-in on the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the war in Syria, he has put Russia at the center of the great game in the Middle East.
Washington’s Addictive Foreign-Policy Drug (Ted Galen Carpenter)
…sanctions will only inflame Moscow and intensify an already worrisome new cold war.
Lawmakers Need a Russia Sanctions Strategy with an Exit Plan (Nikolas Gvosdev)
History shows that the lack of flexibility or graduation mechanisms in congressional sanctions can create unnecessary complications for the United States.
Ukraine Is Being Told to Live With Putin
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has long had trouble understanding that the Western support of his government is conditional. Now the leaders of France and Germany have told him that in no uncertain terms: The ceasefire agreement for eastern Ukraine has just been recast to put the onus on Poroshenko, rather than on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
You gotta send those weapons somewhere….(Paul Robinson)
It was that less than a week after the US said it would no longer supply arms to the Syrians that the new US ‘special representative for Ukraine’, Kurt Volker, said that the American government was reviewing whether to send weapons to Ukraine. American foreign policy thinking is clearly in a state of confusion.