In the wake of the Nunes memo’s release, there’s still much we don’t know about how federal officials went about getting approval for placing a U.S. citizen—and a presidential campaign—under surveillance, including what evidence was marshaled for that purpose.
Ukraine: growing despair among over three million civilians in conflict zone (UN report)
Despite a decrease in the number of civilian casualties in the east of Ukraine over the past few months, a new United Nations report shows that the conflict is severely impacting on the daily life of civilians, with a growing sense of despair and isolation affecting those living in the conflict zone, especially in the areas controlled by the armed groups.
Gordon Hahn: Political Science and Political Polarization through the Prism of the Ukrainian Crisis
Political analysis is becoming dangerously politicized, one-sided and biased.
Dutch to hold stormy referendum on EU-Ukraine deal (BBC)
The Netherlands will hold a controversial referendum next month on the EU’s new partnership with Ukraine. The Dutch parliament has already backed the EU association agreement with Ukraine, a landmark integration pact that removes trade barriers.
Mary Dejevsky: What Lies Behind the UK’s Warnings About Russia?
If you had spent the past few weeks in the United Kingdom as a visitor from outer space, you could have been forgiven for thinking that Russian barbarians were at the gates.
DEBUNKING MYTHS (Paul Robinson)
In my final post of 2015, I said that I would try to focus more on good analysis of things Russian and less on bad. So here are links to three recent articles which go some way towards debunking some common myths about Russia, writes Paul Robinson.
Stephen F. Cohen: Trump claims memo vindicates him in Russia probe
From ABC radio, Australia: The Democrats say the release of the memo takes the cover-up of the campaign to a new and unacceptable low but Russia expert Stephen Cohen has hit back, accusing the Democrats of fanning baseless accusations of treason against the President.
PODCAST: Was Putin’s Syria Withdrawal Really a ‘Surprise’? (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) Cohen offers two explanations for why purported US. experts have been repeatedly surprised by what Putin does and does not do.
First, they do not read or listen to Putin. In this case, when Putin began the air campaign in Syria in the fall of 2015, he said it had two purposes—to bolster the crumbling Syrian army so it could fight terrorist groups on the ground and prevent the Islamic State from taking Damascus; and thereby to bring about peace negotiations among anti-terrorist forces—which he hoped to achieve in a few months. In short, mission, in Putin’s words, “generally accomplished,” though you would not know it from American media reports. Second, US policymakers and pundits seem to believe their own anti-Putin propaganda, which has so demonized him they cannot imagine he seeks anything other than military conquest and empire building, or concede any legitimate Russian national security interests in Syria.
Also as a result, they do not understand what Putin hopes to achieve: a de-militarization of the new Cold War. In particular, if the end of Russia’s Syria bombing campaign abets peace negotiations under way in Geneva, the diplomatic process could spread to Ukraine, another militarized conflict between Washington and Moscow, and in particular to the Minsk agreements, which the US–backed Kiev government has refused to implement.
Cohen points out that Putin’s decision to withdraw militarily from Syria, even though only partially, exposes him to political risks at home, where he is considerably less than an absolute dictator. Hardliners in the Russian political-security establishment—de facto allies of Washington’s war party—are already asking why he stalled the achieved Russian-Syrian military advantage instead of taking Aleppo, pressing on toward the Syrian–Turkish border, and inflicting more damage on ISIS? Why Putin would again seek compromise with the Obama Administration, which has repeatedly “betrayed” him, most recently in Libya and in Ukraine? And why, if Washington perceives the Syrian withdrawal as “weakness” on Putin’s part, it will not escalate its “aggression” in Ukraine? All this comes as Russia’s economic hardships have enabled his political opponents at home, the Communist Party in particular, to mount a new challenge to his leadership.
But, Cohen adds, the gravest threat to Putin’s clear preference for diplomacy over war may be less his domestic critics than the Obama administration, which seems not to have decided which it prefers.
Walker Bragman: How Western Journalists Helped Create a Monster in Russia
Jingoism is nothing new for American media, especially these days when the topic of conversation is Russia. Journalists have notoriously short memories and tend to echo the prevailing wisdom of the political intelligentsia. However, as we edge closer to a new Cold (or hot) War, it’s important to note how we got here given how much responsibility western media bears for Putin’s rise.
Syria conflict: West should have listened to Russia, says UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi (The Independent)
The bloody Syrian conflict could have been resolved four years ago had Western powers listened to Russia, former Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said.
Daniel Larison: Revisiting the Elder Bush’s Kiev Speech
The elder Bush’s handling of the collapse of communism in Europe and the dissolution of the USSR was by far his greatest foreign policy success, so it is bizarre that he is still criticized almost thirty years later for a speech he gave in Kiev that epitomized the sober, responsible approach that worked so well.
Russia has evidence Turkish troops in Syria, Lavrov says (Reuters)
Russia has evidence that Turkish troops are on Syrian territory, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview broadcast on Sunday, accusing Turkey of a “creeping expansion” on its border with Syria.
Mark Perry: Trump’s Nuke Plan Raising Alarms Among Military Brass
They say strategy led by DoD policy wonks could lead to dangerous nuclear escalation.
Syria Hawks Were Completely Wrong About the ‘Red Line’ and Ukraine (Daniel Larison)
It was always extremely convenient that our own hawks “knew” that Moscow viewed both the Syria and Ukraine crises as proof of Obama’s fecklessness and lack of “resolve,” but the reality is that the hawks were just very confused or were making this up when they claimed this, writes Daniel Larison.
Katrina vanden Heuvel: Trump Escalates the Possibility of Nuclear War
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! speaks with Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, America’s oldest weekly magazine.
Russia Under Putin: How to Work With Him (Jack Matlock)
Former US Ambassador to the USSR and ACEWA Founding Board Member, Jack Matlock, gave an address at the Union League Club of Chicago in February titled, Russia Under Putin: How to Work With Him.
Patrick Lawrence: Robert Parry believed in the possibilities of our craft
A legendary reporter who broke the Iran-contra story, Bob Parry left the mainstream media and blazed his own path.
Ukraine PM challenges president to ‘back me or sack me (FT)
Ukraine’s prime minister Arseny Yatseniuk has challenged president Petro Poroshenko to “back me or sack me”, saying decisive action is the only way out of the country’s month-long political crisis that risks triggering early elections and derailing pro-western reforms.
Stephen F. Cohen: Russiagate is Dangerous, Will Washington Get the Memo?
The partisan fight over Rep. Devin Nunes’ memo is consuming Washington and even leading prominent liberals to question if Nunes is a Russian agent. Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus at New York University and Princeton University, says Russiagate has now become “much more than McCarthyism.”
Russia’s Oil Dilemma, Explained (Bloomberg)
While the world focuses on Russia’s oil-freeze talks with OPEC, there are discussions behind closed doors in the Kremlin that will have a much more significant impact on the nation’s energy industry.