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The State of Russia Analysis in the US (Part II, Aslund)
Anders Aslund of the Atlantic Council took to the pages of Newsweek to ask the question ‘Could Putin Be Ousted in a Kremlin Coup?’ According to Aslund, the Russian President does not have control over the Security Council “which could oust Putin himself for his adventurous policies. This instability in the Kremlin is likely to impact its Ukraine policy, but at this point it could go either way.”
Ted Galen Carpenter: Rediscovering the Art of Diplomacy With Vladimir Putin
Trump has the opportunity for his greatest foreign policy accomplishment yet.
The Olympics – A Spirit Diluted (David Speedie)
ACEWA Board Member David Speedie writes that “if medals were offered in jingoism” the US would “sweep the boards…I think especially of the swimmer, Lilly King, whose over-the-top finger wagging was described by one courageously honest commentator, Bomani Jones of ESPN, as ‘just a little self-aggrandizing.'”
Gordon Hahn: Trump-Putin Summit
The Trump-Putin summit was successfully delayed by the liberal/neocon, Washington/NATO deep state network.
Trump, Manafort and Ukraine (Paul Robinson)
The division of pre-Maidan Ukrainian politics into pro-Western and pro-Russian camps is overly simplistic. The competing political groups in the country represented different oligarchic and other interests, whose primary concern was promoting those interests, not pursuing alliances with this or that foreign power. As a Russian official once put it to me, ‘Yanukovich isn’t pro-Russian, he’s pro-Yanukovich’.
Max Blumenthal: Think tank hosts Ukrainian neo-Nazi as violence rages against minorities there
At a packed meeting in the Senate, Blumenthal asked organizers whether it was appropriate for Congress and the American Foreign Policy Council to be coddling the founder of two neo-Nazi parties. The response his questions elicited ranged from bizarre to deeply troubling. AFPC president Herman Pirchner, Jr. called it a “non-issue.”
Russia says close to joint military action with U.S. in Aleppo: agencies (Reuters)
Russia and the United States are close to starting joint military action against militants in Syria’s Aleppo, Russian news agencies on Monday cited Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying. Fighting for control of Aleppo has intensified in recent weeks and there have been some gains for rebel groups battling Syrian government forces.
Ronald Katz: Why Congress Should Not Honor One of the Most Notorious Doping Cheats of All Time
Congress should look beyond the flawed New York Times coverage of alleged state-sponsored Russian Olympic doping, which relied on a discredited informant and then largely ignored a respectable court.
Germany, Russia call for calm amid growing Crimea tensions with Ukraine (DW)
The top diplomats of Germany and Russia have discussed the conflict in eastern Ukraine in light of rising tensions over Crimea. Both called for restraint amid fears that the region could be further destabilized.
George O’Neill: For Peace With Putin, End America’s Pointless Wars
Ignore the establishment: Trump has a huge opportunity at his upcoming summit.
Obama’s Nuclear Test Moratorium Is Common Sense (Daryl Kimball)
Twenty years ago, the United States took a leading role in negotiations to ban the practice of conducting nuclear-weapon test explosions, which enables states to prove new and more deadly nuclear-warhead designs. The result was the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which was opened for signature on September 24, 1996.
Geoffrey Roberts: From Cold War to Hot Peace review: Obama and Putin behind the scenes
McFaul believes in the power of individuals to shape events. His book is an account of choices made and opportunities missed. While he heaps most of the blame on to Putin, he doesn’t exempt himself or his own side from criticism.
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine
The Mission continued to monitor the situation at three crossing points at the administrative boundary line between the mainland and Crimea. The SMM faced four freedom of movement restrictions, three of them in areas controlled by the Government.
Simon Jenkins: If the novichok was planted by Russia, where’s the evidence?
No one has a clue about the Wiltshire poisonings – though the most obvious motive is someone out to embarrass Vladimir Putin.
State Approves First NATO Joint Weapons Sale (Aaron Mehta)
The State Department has approved the sale of a large tranche of precision-guided munitions for its NATO partners, the first such sale through a new process where NATO acts as the lead buyer for various militaries.
Haaretz: Rights Groups Demand Israel Stop Arming neo-Nazis in Ukraine
Human rights activists petition the court to cease Israeli arms exports to Ukraine since some of these weapons reach neo-Nazi elements in Ukraine’s security forces.
The Time Is Ripe for Détente, 2.0 (Jeffrey Tayler)
Yet the very questions Trump has raised about relations between Washington and Moscow-whether a de facto new Cold War is inevitable, and whether there’s any way out of this potentially catastrophic standoff-are worth asking.
Fred Weir: Upcoming Trump-Putin summit gives Russians hope for US thaw
Despite its early hopes, the Kremlin has found the Trump presidency to be soberingly antagonistic. So the fact that Russians are upbeat about the Helsinki summit suggests a real opportunity for diplomacy.
Russia says Lavrov, Steinmeier to meet on Ukraine, Syria (Reuters)
The Russian and German foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will meet on Monday to discuss the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.