Eliot Cohen’s radical failings extend beyond the Iraq War to much of his intellectual record as a military historian and analyst in recent years. They are not open to serious question, since they are amply documented in his own published writings and recorded interviews.
Samuel Moyn: Robert Kagan and Interventionism’s Big Reboot
As Kagan has long understood, liberals and neoconservatives in the last half-century have tended to agree on foreign policy more than their intermittent bickering implied. It now looks as if the Iraq imbroglio drove them apart only briefly. Both are now getting back to the militarization of the globe under U.S. auspices that their representatives have defended, petty squabbling aside. If there was a chance to put either or both in their place in our time, it was missed.
Ed Lozansky: In Search of Western Values
In connection with the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion in Iraq, those responsible for this tragedy and many other American wars keep repeating that it was done to promote freedom, democracy, and other values of the Western civilization.
Scientific American: We Must Prevent a New Nuclear Arms Race
Smart U.S. leadership and international pressure on Russia can prevent an unconstrained global nuclear arms race.
George Beebe: The Ukraine conflict and America’s national interests
To some degree, this is the result of the lack of agreement about a new European security architecture to replace the bipolar architecture that existed during the Cold War…
The Hill: Here’s every weapon US has supplied to Ukraine with $13 billion
The Biden administration has committed nearly $13 billion worth of military assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded six months ago.
Sam Husseini: State Dept. Denies Latest Allegations that US Government Blew up Nord Stream
Veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh charges the US military was behind the explosion. Ned Price dismisses claims despite US government statements.
Renate Bridenthal: The Arctic Is the Next Frontier in the New Cold War
Geoffrey Roberts: Whose ‘Stalingrad’ will Bakhmut be?
Neither the Soviets nor the Germans intended to wage such an epic battle of attrition during WWII, but they were willing to. Sound familiar?
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: Mainer going viral for passionate speech against Ukraine resolution
A Maine state senator’s statehouse remarks on Friday about the Ukraine war have made a big noise outside the Pine Tree State, particularly on Twitter. Eric Brakey, a self-described libertarian Republican, took advantage of a vote on a joint resolution, “Expressing Support for the People of Ukraine on the One-Year Anniversary of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” to criticize the current Biden policy in Washington as eschewing diplomacy to prolong the war, which he said is ultimately the worst thing to happen for the people of Ukraine, and the world.
VIDEO: The ZeroHour with RJ Eskow: ACURA’s James Carden on Strategic Empathy
James W. Carden speaks with progressive media figure RJ Eskow on the current state of the war and how strategic empathy might point a way towards peace.
George D. O’Neill, Jr.: Death of a Myth
A century later, we are sleepwalking into World War III. Americans should ignore the state-sponsored propaganda (eerily similar to that which led up to WWI), wake up, look at what their leaders have wrought, and do all they can to end support for this cruel war before we face a Great War–like conflagration or worse.
Alwyn Turner: On the Legacy of Kosovo
The Ukraine War is seen in the moral terms advocated by Tony Blair. Emotion is the order of the day, realpolitik is out of favour, and the political and media consensus is that this is again a fight between good and evil. The danger is of over-simplification. It is not hard to identify an evil, but good is a much less clearcut phenomenon. “War is an imperfect instrument for righting humanitarian distress,” conceded Blair. More than that, it brings unintended consequences, which can amount to evils.
Room for Debate? Navalny and the Oscars
This weekend’s Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles will undoubtedly be occasion for discussion on the merits of the Bellingcat co-produced documentary ‘Navalny.’ Today we feature two reviews, one glowing from the New York Times, one not-so-much, courtesy of award-winning investigative journalist Lucy Komisar.-Ed.
Lucy Komisar: Documentary nominated for March 12th Oscar is disinformation
“Navalny” is a slick production full of easily-documented fabrications, disinformation, with lots of clever visuals to distract and manipulate viewers. It is about Russian political activist Alexei Navalny, who according to the respected Levada Institute has shown 2% support in Russia. But he and the film have a great deal of backing in Washington and London.
NY Times: ‘Navalny’ Review: Speaking Truth to Power in a Corrupt System
The movie is, as Navalny ordered, a thriller, culminating with a suspenseful recap of Navalny’s post-recovery return to Russia in January 2021, when his plane was diverted from the airport where his supporters had gathered.
ACURA’s Nicolai N. Petro: Russia, Ukraine, and Lasting Peace in Europe
The official Ukrainian narrative about the war goes more or less like this: In an effort to end Ukraine’s existence as a state, Russia launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine. Testing the waters, before that, Russia annexed Crimea and invaded Eastern Ukraine. Thus, the sole reason for today’s conflict is Moscow’s military intervention, which is part of a larger effort by Russian President Vladimir Putin to reconstitute the USSR.
ACURA’s Anatol Lieven: A looming crisis in Moldova’s breakaway state
The next conflict in the former Soviet Union may be brewing in Transdniestria, the unrecognized breakaway region of Moldova.
The White House: Notice on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Ukraine
Little noted in the American press, on March 1 the Biden White House announced it would extend by one year the Obama-era E.O. 13660 which sought to “deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States constituted by the actions and policies of persons that undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine.”-Ed.
VIDEO: The Promise & Peril of Germany’s Post-Ukraine Foreign Policy Shift: A Qi Panel Discussion
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought about a radical change in Germany’s foreign and security policy. And last week the Quincy Institute convened a highly distinguished panel spanning the fields of diplomacy, politics, and the expert community. The discussion featured Rüdiger Lüdeking, former German diplomat; Sevim Dagdelen, Deputy Leader of the German Left Party; and Rachel Rizzo, non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center. Anatol Lieven, Eurasia Director at the Quincy Institute, moderated.