Michael Tracey tackles a central claim in Josh Marshall’s widely-circulated blog post, detailing Trump’s alleged ties to nefarious Russians.
Jeff Groom: 40 Years Ago Today: When Solzhenitsyn Schooled Harvard
The famed, exiled author of the “Gulag Archipelago” took the West to task for, of all things, too much liberty.
U.S. Destroyer, Amphib to Black Sea for Sea Breeze Exercise (USNI News)
A U.S. guided missile destroyer and an amphibious warship are set to operate in the Black Sea as part of the Sea Breeze 2016 exercise hosted by Ukraine and the U.S., the Navy announced on Friday. The Arleigh Burke destroyer USS Ross will join 2,500 personnel from 13 countries for the exercises that include, “maritime interdiction operations as a primary means to enhance maritime security. Other warfare areas to be tested include air defense, anti-submarine warfare, damage control, search and rescue, and other tactical maneuvers,” according to the Navy.
Daniel L Davis: Trump Shouldn’t Accept Georgia into NATO
It should be a concern to every American that foreign-policy leaders openly advocate extending NATO membership to volatile nations on Russia’s border.
Reuters: Anonymous US Officials Continue to Undermine Kerry Diplomatic Efforts
This report from Reuters features a number of US officials speaking ‘on background’ in order to undermine Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to come up with an agreement with Russia with regards to Syria. This, along with the leaked State Department “dissent” cable, shows how deeply embedded the opposition to any rapprochement with Russia is within the ranks of the Obama administration. – Editor
Thomas Burr: Ambassador Huntsman may face the biggest test since the Cold War
At a tense time for U.S.-Russian ties — arguably the most turbulent since the Cold War — Huntsman, the top U.S. envoy to Russia, faces a challenge to improve relations, especially since he has fewer diplomats and support staff.
We Must Learn To Ask Forgiveness (Paul Robinson)
On Thursday, Nadia Savchenko shocked many by suggesting that Ukrainians needed to ask forgiveness from the people of Donbass…I very much doubt that anyone in power in Ukraine will act upon Savchenko’s words. But the fact that somebody is saying them is most welcome.
Fred Weir: Russia woos a Europe feuding with US over tariffs, Iran
he United States is making life hard for Europe, both directly through new tariffs and indirectly by withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. And that is giving Russia an opening to reset its relationship with its neighbors.
Anti-Trump Hysteria on NATO (Paul Saunders)
Donald Trump’s formal nomination as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate appears to have induced mass hysteria among neoconservative Republicans and their liberal-interventionist allies in the Democratic Party.
Amb. Tony Brenton: Russia And The West: On The Brink
Sanctions have so far had absolutely no effect on Russian policy with regard to either Ukraine or Syria (or indeed anything else).
Ukraine’s Security Services and Rebels Are Said to Be Equals in Torture (NY Times)
A report by two leading human rights groups released on Thursday accuses Ukraine’s Western-backed security services of practicing abuse and torture in a manner similar to that of the rebel groups they are fighting.
Stephen F. Cohen: The Necessity of a Trump-Putin Summit
Ten ways the new US-Russian Cold War is increasingly becoming more dangerous than the one we survived.
Ukrainian Holocaust Perpetrators Are Being Honored in Place of Their Victims (The Tablet)
75 years after a little-known massacre, another memorial in Eastern Europe is erected to obfuscate the history of World War II in Ukraine, writes UCLA’s Jared McBride.
Lyle J. Goldstein: Don’t Be Fooled—Ukraine Is Not a Frozen Conflict
There are signs of escalation in the simmering conflict.
IMF May Not Approve Ukraine’s Tranche in July, Minister Says (Bloomberg)
The International Monetary Fund may delay a board decision on Ukraine’s next aid tranche, previously expected in July, and consider disbursement next month, according to Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk, as several laws still need to be approved by parliament.
Seva Gunitsky and Andrei P. Tsygankov: The Wilsonian Bias in the Study of Russian Foreign Policy
The scholars examine some problematic narratives in the American international relations scholarship on Russia, focusing on some implicit assumptions about the drivers of Russian foreign policy.
Another confusing and misleading human rights report by United Nations observers in Ukraine (Roger Annis)
Five days ago, the United Nations Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released another in a long line of reports purporting to provide an overview of the human rights situation in Ukraine. This latest report is titled “Accountability for killings in Ukraine from January 2014 to May 2016”.
Gordon Hahn: PUTIN 5.0: Tea Leaves
Perhaps now, with the fourth presidential term for Vladimir Putin having begun, we can put aside all the empty talk of ‘imminent coups’, color revolutions, ‘fatal illnesses,’ and perhaps the American rusological community that foisted them upon our post-fact world and get down to some realistic forecasting…
PODCAST: The Friends and Foes of Détente With Russia (Stephen F. Cohen)
Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments are at TheNation.com). In recent weeks, Cohen reported a behind the scenes diplomacy on behalf of full US-Russian military cooperation against the Islamic State in Syria. With Secretary of State Kerry’s visit to Moscow last week, the proposal became public.
Andrew C. McCarthy: The Papadopoulos Case Needs a Closer Look
Congress should be taking a very hard look at the prosecution of George Papadopoulos.