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.
Jessica Matthews: The New Nuclear Threat
Seventy-five years ago, at 8:16 on the clear morning of August 6, the world changed forever.
Jim Webb: President Trump’s Decision to Kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani
Jim Webb, a Democrat from Virginia who served in the U.S. Senate from 2007 to 2013 and was secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan asks: When did it become acceptable to kill a top leader of a country we aren’t even at war with?
BOAS: What Europeans believe about Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and why it matters
Did the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki shorten the war, and were they necessary to force the Japanese surrender? Many people believe the answer to both questions is yes: In dropping the Bomb, America chose the lesser of two evils.
Politico: Russian government resigns after Putin proposes constitutional shake-up
President seeks changes that could affect the balance of power in the country.
Bonnie Kristian: Trump’s reasoning is bad, but withdrawing troops from Germany is a good idea
The Pentagon’s announcement that around 12,000 U.S. troops will leave Germany, reducing the American force presence there by a third and continuing decades of similar reductions, was widely met with derision in Washington from policymakers on both sides of the aisle.
Bill Rivers: Abuses in domestic surveillance of the Trump campaign echo Red Scare
A court has ordered the FBI to explain how it will correct its behavior going forward, exactly a century after it should have learned its lesson.
Vox: “The end of arms control as we know it”
The last agreement limiting America’s and Russia’s nuclear arsenals is months away from expiring.
Justin Garrison: Reagan’s vision of U.S. foreign policy
Despite his seeing serious disagreements with other nations, he sometimes stressed that a successful U.S. policy would need to include restraint, flexibility, realism, and openness to dialogue, especially with the Soviet Union. Comments like these suggested that he viewed politics and foreign policy as the art of the possible, not as an attempt to realize some great ideal.