Libya’s ongoing destruction belongs to Hillary Clinton more than anyone else.
Paul Sperry: Meet the Steele Dossier’s ‘Primary Subsource’
The mysterious “Primary Subsource” that Christopher Steele has long hidden behind to defend his discredited Trump-Russia dossier is a former Brookings Institution analyst — Igor “Iggy” Danchenko, a Russian national whose past includes criminal convictions and other personal baggage ignored by the FBI in vetting him and the information he fed to Steele, according to congressional sources and records obtained by RealClearInvestigations.
Jessica Schulberg: War With Iran Nothing To Worry About, Say Men Who Launched Iraq War
In a sane and just society, the architects of the nearly 17-year-old war in Iraq – which is still ongoing and has left an estimated half-million people dead – would face war crimes charges and those who cheered them on would be thoroughly discredited.
Daniel L. Davis: The Risk of Too Many Freedom of Navigation Operations
Before a mistake or miscalculation results in an armed clash involving a U.S. naval vessel – which could draw the United States into a serious conflict – we need to examine the utility of aggressive FONOPs.
Paul Robinson: 20 Years of Anti-War Failures
Almost as great as our arrogance is our ignorance of the realities of the countries in which we become military involved. The arrogance and the ignorance are connected – it is the former which prevents us from realizing the prevalence of the latter.
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: The White House announces Ret. Col. Douglas Macgregor to be U.S. Ambassador to Germany
Macgregor is a rare but cherished breed of retired soldier in the Imperial City: he doesn’t truck with Washington gasbaggery, and is happy to call it out when he sees it.
Gordon Hahn: Russia, the Eurasian Triangle, and the Soleiman Assassination
The apparent overreaction by the U.S. to Iranian provocations represented by the assassination of Revolutionary Guards Corps Commander Qassem Soleiman is one of the stronger blows to hit one of the most important nails in the coffin of U.S.-Russian relations: the revival of Russian-Western geopolitical competition outside Russia’s immediate central Eurasian sphere of influence.
Vatican News: Pope Francis welcomes Ukraine ceasefire agreement
Pope Francis expresses satisfaction for a ceasefire signed this week that aims to pave the way to peace in eastern Ukraine and calls for an effective disarmament and mine clearance process.
Lawrence Wilkerson on Trump’s Iran aggression: same neocon lies, new target
As millions of Iranians mourn the US murder of Qassem Soleimani, ex-Bush administration official Col. Lawrence Wilkerson discuses the parallels between Bush’s war on Iraq and Trump’s campaign against Iran; the history of US shunning diplomacy with Tehran; and how an addiction to war drives US foreign policy.
DW: Ukraine: government and rebel forces begin ceasefire
A ceasefire backed by Putin and Zelenskiy has gone into effect in Ukraine. The reconciliation attempt marks the latest in a series of failed peace efforts between government forces and the pro-Russian rebels.
Barbara Slavin: Donald Trump: The New Anti-Shiite Tyrant
In the Middle East, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will be seen as more honest and useful brokers than the United States, having wisely not chosen sides between the Sunnis and Shias and even more wisely not sought to antagonize both.
Daniel Larison: The ‘Liberal Order’ That Never Was
There is a story that members of the foreign policy establishment tell us and themselves when they need to ward off criticisms of the current U.S. role in the world…
Geoff Manaugh: When Russia and America Cooperated to Avert a Y2K Apocalypse
Instead of being heralded as an example of how government agencies, working together both domestically and internationally, might solve a global problem, Y2K is generally perceived as an overreaction among officials who didn’t know very much about computers.
Branko Marcetic: The “Putin Puppet” Just Dramatically Escalated the Undeclared War Against Russia
The national security state has claimed a dangerous new victory: receiving authorization from Trump to conduct cyberattacks against enemies around the world with greater leeway – especially Russia. It’s the latest success for a years-long pressure campaign by the national security bureaucracy centered on Orwellian claims that Trump’s foreign policy is somehow pro-Russian.
The Independent: Russian president Vladimir Putin lands in Damascus on unannounced visit
The visit is Mr Putin’s second to Syria since his country’s military forces joined the civil war.
TJ Coles: UK-Russia Report: the Integrity Initiative Strikes Again!
Anything called “the Integrity Initiative” should immediately make readers cringe and prepare for the imminent deception.
Kelly Beaucar Vlahos: ‘Jesus, Do We Have To Explain Why We Do These Things?’
If anyone out there has any doubt of Washington’s arrogance – and the particular mendacity of the Trump administration in the wake of the drone attacks in Iraq that killed Iranian Quds force commander Qassem Soleimani – take a minute to read through Friday’s State Department briefing to reporters.
SKY News Australia Report Featuring Matt Taibbi and James Carden
Russia is once again being called out for undermining democracy and flouting international laws, according to Sky News host Brent O’Halloran.
Samuel Charap and Jeremy Shapiro: Why we must talk to Russia
The neoconservative Atlantic Council recently published an article by Anders Aslund critical of the October 2019 RAND report “A Consensus Proposal for a Revised Regional Order in Post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia”. This is a response from two of the report’s authors.
Nicolai N. Petro: A Response to Mark Galeotti
“Our beef is with Putin, his thugs, spies and oligarchs, not Russia – and we need to make sure that while we win today’s struggle, we don’t waste the chance for better relations with a post-Putin nation tomorrow.” This concluding remark by professor Mark Galeotti from his latest article in The Spectator is, I think, based on some questionable assumptions. [Read more…] about Nicolai N. Petro: A Response to Mark Galeotti