American Committee for US-Russia Accord

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) — The Russian province of Dagestan, a flashpoint for Islamic violence in the North Caucasus, is feeding hundreds of fighters to the Islamic State in Syria – and now some are coming back home with experience gained from the battlefield.

On Oct. 22, Consortiumnews Editor Robert Parry received the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence from Harvard’s Nieman Foundation. Stone was an iconoclastic journalist who published I.F. Stone’s Weekly during the McCarthy era and the Vietnam War, setting a standard for independence that Parry has tried to follow. His remarks are linked here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared Sunday a day of mourning while the authorities have set up an emergency center at the Saint Petersburg airport, where friends and relatives gathered, awaiting news of the victims.

America and Russia agreed to work towards a “nationwide ceasefire” between Syria’s regime and opposition groups on Friday when every foreign power with any involvement in the civil war met for the first time.

Vladimir Putin answered Russian journalists’ questions following his visit to China to take part in the BRICS Summit. [Read more…] about Vladimir Putin’s news conference following BRICS Summit (Johnson’s Russia List)

Congress backs administration drive to send taxpayer money to fund the new Ukrainian oligarchy. According to a report in The Hill: “Two bipartisan senators are backing the administration’s decision to move forward with a third $1 billion in loan guarantees to the Ukrainian government.  Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said that he was “pleased” with the administration’s decision, suggesting it could help bolster the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship.”

President Vladimir Putin says Russia will ask the U.N. Security Council to send peacekeepers to patrol the front line in eastern Ukraine.

The Crisis in US-Russia Relations, from Ukraine to Syria:

Is Congress Overlooking its Causes and Potential Solutions?

               

Hosted by Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Rep. Ted Yoho, Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Steve Cohen, Rep. Jim Himes, Rep. Rick Nolan, Rep. Alan Grayson, Rep. Peter Welch, and Rep. Barbara Lee

 

Wednesday, November 4, 2015, 2pm

Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2237

Free & Open to the Public | Light Refreshments will be served

 RSVP on Eventbrite

Expert Panelists

·        Jack F. Matlock, Jr., Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987-1991 under President Ronald Reagan and President Bush

·        John Pepper, former Chairman and CEO of The Procter & Gamble Company, and former Chairman of Disney and of the Yale Corporation;

·        Ellen Mickiewicz, Professor Emeritus of Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University; and

·         Stephen F. Cohen, Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies, History, and Politics at New York University and Princeton University

The Ukrainian crisis represents a low in U.S.-Russian relations not seen since the fall of the Soviet Union—and the recent Russian intervention in the Syrian Civil War is only making things worse. American and Russian jets flying bombing missions in close proximity to one another raises the possibility of a military accident between two nuclear-armed powers.  As the New York Times warns, the complicated and shifting landscape of alliances leaves us “edging closer to an all-out proxy war between the United States and Russia.”

The majority of Americans never lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 or the darkest decades of the Cold War—they have led lives without the looming specter of nuclear war.  But the areas of conflict between our nations are growing—the conflict in Ukraine, the expansion of NATO, Russia’s involvement in Syria, and other lesser issues are driving a new wedge between the U.S. and Russia.

While most would agree that conflict between the United States and Russia benefits no one, the likelihood of such conflict, as well as the serious consequences it could bring, is not being adequately discussed on Capitol Hill.  In the interest of fostering more robust debate on U.S.-Russia relations, Rep. Conyers will convene an informal hearing featuring four eminent American experts on the subject.  All four are members of the Board of the recently re-founded American Committee for East-West Accord (https://usrussiaaccord.com) a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose purpose is to promote public discussion and debate about the state of U.S. and Russian relations.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the U.S. decision to seize three Russian diplomatic facilities as a “blatantly hostile act”, urging Washington to immediately reverse the call or “bear the total blame” for worsening diplomatic ties.

The frequency of U.S. airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria has slowed significantly since the Russians began military operations in the region in early September, Defense Department data shows.

U.S. strikes averaged about seven per day in August, a pace similar to the entire first year of the air campaign in Syria that began last year, DoD data show.

California’s governor is traveling to Russia next week to discuss collaborating with Pacific nations on climate change at an economic forum hosted by the Russian government.