The Kremlin said on Monday it was worried that proposed new U.S. sanctions against Moscow could hurt major investment projects with European partners, but said it was premature to say if and how it would retaliate.
Ukraine Is Being Told to Live With Putin
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has long had trouble understanding that the Western support of his government is conditional. Now the leaders of France and Germany have told him that in no uncertain terms: The ceasefire agreement for eastern Ukraine has just been recast to put the onus on Poroshenko, rather than on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
You gotta send those weapons somewhere….(Paul Robinson)
It was that less than a week after the US said it would no longer supply arms to the Syrians that the new US ‘special representative for Ukraine’, Kurt Volker, said that the American government was reviewing whether to send weapons to Ukraine. American foreign policy thinking is clearly in a state of confusion.
Which side are we really on in this war of the awful against the evil?
The White House and Downing Street both seethe with genuine outrage about Russia’s bombing raids on Syria.
Yet the people Vladimir Putin bombed have views and aims that would get them rounded up as dangerous Islamist extremists if they turned up in Manchester. So why do British politicians call them ‘moderates’ when Russia bombs them?
New US Russia sanctions bill risks EU anger (DW)
The US Senate has passed a bill to slap new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea. In addition to straining ties between the US and Russia, it could also raise tensions with the EU.
Ukraine local polls postponed to ensure ‘undisputed’ vote
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany agreed Friday to delay contentious local elections in Ukraine to ensure that they meet international standards, despite fighting having all but stopped in the country’s separatist east.
Peace appears closer than ever in the 17-month conflict, which has plunged relations between Moscow and the West to post-Cold War lows, with the latest ceasefire called last month having largely been observed by both pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces.
Is Ukraine failing to stem the crimes of anti-Semitism? Lev Golinkin Talks To WABC’s John Batchelor
Author of the award-winning memoir “A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Bottles of Vodka” Lev Golinkin discusses the troubling anti-semitism in post-maidan Ukraine.
Ukraine crisis: ‘Weapons pullout begins’
Ukraine’s government forces and pro-Russian rebels say they have begun withdrawing weapons from the line of contact in the east of the country.
Ukrainian officials said inventory work began on Saturday morning with the actual pullback to start in the afternoon
Congress Unites on Russia Sanctions, But at What Cost? (The Real News)
As the House overwhelmingly backs new sanctions on the Kremlin, Russian lawmakers vow a “painful” response and the European Commission mulls retaliation of its own…Aaron Mate speaks to human rights and labor lawyer Dan Kovalik.
New survey of Ukrainians shows high support for end to civil war, low support for political leaders in Kyiv
Seventy eight per cent of respondents want Kyiv to negotiate an end to its civil war in the east of the country. Only 12 per cent want a continuation of war.
Survey published by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, October 5, 2015. Original press release and survey results published here in Ukrainian. The following is a slightly-edited Google translation.
To Punish Putin, Economic Sanctions Are Unlikely to Do the Trick (NY Times)
Even the ostensible “successes” of sanctions should be scrutinized with some skepticism.
The US and Russia Are Fighting a Cold War on Two Fronts
The United States and Russia are today engaged in a proxy war on two fronts: Ukraine and Syria. On October 1, Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen appeared on The Thom Hartman Program to discuss the obstacles preventing a potential coalition between the US and Russia to fight ISIS.
Russia sanctions fuel new Cold War (USA Today, Norman Solomon)
Whatever you think of Vladimir Putin – or Donald Trump, for that matter – they are the presidents of the world’s nuclear superpowers. Piling sanctions on Russia means escalating tensions. And that’s extremely dangerous.
U.S. Kurdish allies welcome Russian airstrikes in Syria
“We will fight alongside whoever fights Daesh,” Salih Muslim, co-president of the Democratic Union Party, the Kurdish political party whose militia, the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, have closely coordinated its operations with the United States, told the online magazine Al Monitor in an interview. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL.
Russia Is Not Happy with Trump’s ‘Reset’ (Dimitri Alexander Simes)
Moscow was cautiously optimistic about the new administration’s policy towards Russia. It may soon become more confrontational.
European Leaders Take Up Ukraine Issues as Russia Hits Syria
PARIS — The fragile cease-fire in Ukraine brought the leaders of Russia, Germany, Ukraine and France together in Paris on Friday for a summit meeting meant to strengthen it, in a meeting that was overshadowed by events in the Middle East.
INTERCEPTED PODCAST: Glenn Greenwald, Tucker Carlson, Masha Gessen Discuss the New Cold War
WITH ALL THE constant hype about Russia, you’d think we were living in a new Cold War. This week on Intercepted: we take a deep dive into the origins and evolution of the Trump-Russia story. Fox News’s Tucker Carlson and Glenn find something they can actually agree on (the Democratic establishment’s Russia hysteria)…
Assad gives backing to Russian airstrikes on Syrian militant groups
Russian airstrikes on territories controlled by rebels fighting against the Syrian government have been given the public backing of the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad.
Assad said in an interview broadcast on Iranian television that the attacks must succeed or the whole region could be destroyed. He said the Russian campaign has the potential to do so because it is backed by Iran and has international support, if not from western countries.
Was Trump Wrong to End the CIA’s Train-and-Equip Program in Syria? (James Carden)
It seems many commentators and lawmakers have begun to judge policy on the following basis: If Russia is against it, the United States should be for it, and vice versa. Yet this is an unsound basis on which to criticize the administration; and it is potentially quite dangerous.
Syria crisis: Let’s welcome Russia’s entry into this war
Russia’s military intervention in Syria, although further internationalising the conflict, does however present opportunities, as well as complications. There are no simple solutions to this terrible war which has destroyed Syria. Out of a population of 22 million, four million Syrians are refugees abroad and seven million have been displaced inside the country.