Overall, Huntsman’s record suggests someone who is more of a political chameleon than a foreign-policy figure who is on Trump’s wavelength. Centrist? Realist? Neocon?
Analysis
Contacts with the Russian Embassy (Ambassador Jack Matlock)
Our press seems to be in a feeding frenzy regarding contacts that President Trump’s supporters had with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and with other Russian diplomats.
The Dirty Secret Behind The Jeff Sessions Mess (Vanity Fair)
With most Russia-related stories these days, especially ones in The New York Times and The Washington Post, the best initial reaction is heavy skepticism.
The Basic Formula For Every Shocking Russia/Trump Revelation (Michael Tracey)
Trump/Putin theories are increasingly the top concern that plugged-in “Resistance” types bring up at the highly-charged town hall meetings that have received so much attention of late.
Ukraine Will Blacklist Websites That ‘Undermine Ukrainian Sovereignty’ (Isaac Webb)
Ukraine’s Ministry of Information Policy is preparing a list of websites that “undermine Ukrainian sovereignty” as part of an effort to uphold the country’s new information security doctrine, signed on February 25 by President Petro Poroshenko.
Reawakening Old Feuds in the South Caucasus (Pietro Shakarian)
Pietro A. Shakarian, a PhD Candidate in Russian History at The Ohio State University, spoke to John Batchelor about the recent clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh. In their conversation, Shakarian and Batchelor discuss what lies behind the latest fighting in the region, Armenia’s relations with the EU and Russia, and much else besides. A must listen for anyone trying to understand the complex dynamics at play in the Caucasus.
What’s Behind the Putin Fantasies (Wall St. Journal)
Several Trump campaign advisers had business ties to Russia, so that must be nefarious, right? [Read more…] about What’s Behind the Putin Fantasies (Wall St. Journal)
Michael Tracey of the Young Turks Interviews Prof. Stephen F. Cohen
TYT Politics reporter Michael Tracey, interviews Nation contributing editor and professor emeritus of Russian studies at Princeton University and New York University Stephen F. Cohen. Michael and Dr. Cohen discuss Donald Trump and Russia among other things.
The New Yorker’s Big Cover Story Reveals Five Uncomfortable Truths About U.S. and Russia (Glenn Greenwald)
A large bulk of the article is devoted to what has now become standard – and very profitable – fare among East Coast news magazines: feeding Democrats the often-xenophobic, hysterical Russia-phobia for which they have a seemingly insatiable craving.
Is Russia an Enemy? (Patrick Buchanan)
Is Putin’s Russia an enemy, as McCain seems to believe?
Before we can answer that question, we need to know what the new world struggle is about, who the antagonists are, and what the threats are to us.
Flashback: May 2014 – Nationalism Is Exactly What Ukraine Needs (Anne Applebaum)
With a resurgence in ultra-nationalist violence in Kiev and a rise of anti-Semitism in Ukraine and the Balts, we revisit the below piece from The New Republic which lauded, “the tiny group of nationalists in Ukraine” who “represent the country’s only hope of escaping apathy, rapacious corruption, and, eventually, dismemberment.”
How ‘New Cold Warriors’ Cornered Trump (Gareth Porter)
The U.S. intelligence community’s extraordinary campaign of leaks claiming improper ties between President Trump’s team and Russia seeks to ensure a lucrative New Cold War by blocking detente, reports Gareth Porter.
Sleepwalking into a New Arms Race (Chuck Spinney and Pierre Sprey)
The West’s current hysteria about “Russian aggression” ignores the long history of real Western aggression against Russia, now underscored by plans to sharply increase spending on nuclear weapons, note Chuck Spinney and Pierre Sprey.
The Increasingly Unhinged Russia Rhetoric Comes From a Long-Standing U.S. Playbook (Glenn Greenwald)
FEW FOREIGN VILLAINS have been vested with omnipotence and ubiquity like Vladimir Putin has been — at least ever since Democrats discovered (what they mistakenly believed was) his political utility as a bogeyman.
Killer, kleptocrat, genius, spy: the many myths of Vladimir Putin (Keith Gessen)
Russia’s role in Trump’s election has led to a boom in Putinology. But do all these theories say more about us than Putin?
Why We Must Oppose the Kremlin-Baiting Against Trump (Stephen F. Cohen)
The bipartisan, nearly full-political-spectrum tsunami of factually unverified allegations that President Trump has been sedi- tiously “compromised” by the Kremlin, with scarcely any nonpartisan pushback from influential political or media sources, is deeply alarming.
Take It from a European: NATO Is Obsolete (TNI)
NATO’s post–Cold War track record is dismal, which is not surprising, given the nature of the beast…NATO should be transformed, or even be replaced by a new Eurasian-Atlantic collective security organization that includes Russia.
PODCAST: Is Détente Really Dead? (Stephen F. Cohen)
Washington and Moscow observers are saying American allegations that President Trump is a Kremlin puppet have killed the new Russia policy he promised.
Neo-McCarthyite furor around Russia is counterproductive (Katrina vanden Heuvel)
When Washington heads into one of these feeding frenzies, judgment is often the first casualty. It’s worth remembering what is at stake.
Challenging Sen. Klobuchar on Ukraine and Russia (Letter from constituent Mike Madden)
Dear Senator Klobuchar, I write with concern over statements you have made recently regarding Russia. These statements have been made both at home and abroad, and they involve two issues; the alleged Russian hack of the presidential election and Russia’s actions in the aftermath of the February 22, 2014 coup in Kiev.