U.S.-Russian relations are worse than at almost any point since the end of the Cold War, and debate over any policy related to Russia has become more toxic than it has been in decade.
Analysis
Daniel Larison: New START Has One Year Left
The administration’s feigned interest in a much more ambitious arms control treaty is a transparent attempt at distracting from their desire to let the last remaining major arms control agreement wither and die.
David C. Hendrickson: Robert Kagan: Machiavellian in Liberal Disguise
In 1946, when Winston Churchill warned of an Iron Curtain falling over the historic capitals of Central and Eastern Europe, the former Prime Minister also expressed “strong admiration and regard for the valiant Russian people.” How could he not? To them, in fact, is due the chief honor of defeating the beast.
Victor Gilinsky and Henry Sokolski: The Loophole in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
The State Department should use the upcoming conference as an opportunity to concentrate on its most immediate concern: closing the gap in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty system which makes possible the overly lax provision for a withdrawal and eliminating the uncertainties about the continuation of IAEA inspections.
Fred Weir: On Christopher Steele
A painful hobble down memory lane. [Read more…] about Fred Weir: On Christopher Steele
Lucy Komisar: Mikhail Khodorkovsky: the Man, the Myth, the Movie
Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky, MBK in his homeland, is the most famous Russian “oligarch,” the name given by their compatriots to a handful of men who, when communism fell, turned it into gangster capitalism.
Paul Robinson: The Myth of Central Control
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Russia can only scream in despair.
Gordon Hahn: Putin’s Perstroika?
Soft authoritarianism is likely to remain the best characterization of the system as long as Putin is the top player, unless he is pressed to democratize further from above and/or below.
Open Letter: It’s Time to Rethink Our Russia Policy
America’s current mix of sanctions and diplomacy isn’t working. An open letter on how to reconsider our approach to Putin – and whoever comes next.
Prof. Geoff Roberts: Poles Apart: Putin, Poland and the Nazi-Soviet Pact
As the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, two of that war’s main victims – Poland and Russia – are once again embroiled in a highly emotional dispute about its origins. At the heart of the matter is the perennial controversy about the Nazi-Soviet pact of 23 August 1939.
Nikolas K. Gvosdev: Russia and US National Interests: Maintaining a Balance of Power in Europe and Asia
U.S. national security continues to be guided by the premise that the United States cannot allow another state to become the preponderant power in either Europe or Asia, the two continents Russia famously spans.
Dimitri Alexander Simies: The Rift Between Turkey and America Has Paved the Way for Russia’s Rebound
Once bitter rivals, Russia and Turkey have seen their relationship rebound over the past few years.
FNC: Michael Flynn’s attorney: Sally Yates ‘has a lot of questions to answer’
Former National Security adviser Michael Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell tells FOX Business’ Elizabeth MacDonald that she has ‘a lot of questions for’ former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.
James Pinkerton: Ike’s Military-Industrial Complex, Six Decades Later
As Eisenhower predicted, there is no balance left, as U.S. policy is reduced to who we threaten, bomb, or occupy next.
LA Times Op-Ed: U.S. leaders knew we didn’t have to drop atomic bombs on Japan to win the war. We did it anyway
Before the bombings, Eisenhower had urged at Potsdam, “the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing.”
Erik Wemple: An inventory of media remarks on the Steele dossier
The Erik Wemple Blog at the Washington Post looks at a number of approving remarks about the Steele dossier by journalists and others. Wemple asked RussiaGate conspiracy theorists such as Natasha Bertrand and Phil Mudd whether they’d amend their positive assessments of the dossier. They (and many others) declined.
Branko Marcetic on Trump’s Dangerous Russia Hawkishness
Branko Marcetic discusses a recent move by the Trump administration that will grant unprecedented powers to the CIA to conduct cyber attacks against foreign countries.
Ed Lozansky: Can Russia be key in fighting climate change?
Who says there’s no bipartisan consensus in Washington? These days, anyone calling for the resumption of U.S.-Russian dialogue is suspected to be a Putin stooge, but for The New York Times, even the Russian culture is under great suspicion.
Gar Alperovitz: The War Was Won Before Hiroshima
Seventy years after the bombing, will Americans face the brutal truth?
Paul Robinson: Governing Russia
Putin has spoken. The Russian constitution needs some tweaking, he told legislators in his annual address to the Federal Assembly.