The full extent of US co-operation with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in assisting the rebel opposition in Syria has yet to come to light. The Obama administration has never publicly admitted to its role in creating what the CIA calls a ‘rat line’, a back channel highway into Syria.
Root of tattered US-Russia ties dates back decades
The fundamental hopes and fears lurk in the collective minds of the Russian and American nations despite the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly a quarter-century ago. That puts their world views at odds, with the crisis over Ukraine the latest and biggest confrontation.
That dismal relationship more often than not can be linked to the eastward expansion of the NATO alliance and Moscow’s refusal to believe America’s promises that it does not threaten Russia.
Flashback: May 2013: UN Sources Say Syrian Rebels Used Sarin Gas (The Atlantic)
A member of the United Nations commission of inquiry announced on a Swiss-Italian television show that they believe the Syrian rebels have used chemical weapons on Assad’s troops.
One Day in the Life of ‘Ukrainian Democracy’
Samantha Power’s delusions notwithstanding, due to the inordinate presence of non-democratic elements and outside the Maidan government, ‘Ukrainian democracy’ remains a distant dream. We learned from the shortcomings of early ‘transitology’ in the 1990s that free and fair elections do not a democracy make.
Russia Seeks Meeting With U.S., UN on Syria Next Week in Geneva (Bloomberg)
Russia plans to hold talks with the U.S. and the United Nations next week in Geneva aimed at breathing new life into the Syrian peace process, state media reported, in what would mark the first such contacts since the new administration of Donald Trump took office.
U.S.-Russia Relations: Critical and Unstable
In October 2014, the Council posted an article titled “Needs Work: A Troubled U.S.-Russia Relationship,” in which we noted somberly that “if there is one point of agreement between pundits in Moscow and Washington these days, it is that U.S.-Russia relations are at a post-Cold War nadir.”
Eight months on, what was a troubled relationship is now on life support, and the deterioration has taken place in the most existentially perilous area of arms control, specifically nuclear weapons.
The Paradox of Power and Fear (Paul Robinson)
Paradoxically the stronger one is, the more afraid one is too. The dominant baboon believes that his position rests upon his prestige and his credibility…He cannot rest. He must always be afraid. And so he inevitably exaggerates the threats around him. The United States, and its NATO allies, may be compared with Morris’s dominant baboons. Their very dominance makes them paranoid. This is why Saideman and co. are so scared.
No need for this cold war
Jean-Pierre Chevènement, who served as France’s defence minister (1988-91) and interior minister (1997-2000) writes in Le Monde that the current crisis could have been averted “if the EU had, in launching its Eastern Partnership in 2009, framed the negotiation of the association agreement with Ukraine compatibly with the objective of the 2003 strategic EU-Russia partnership: creating ‘a single economic space from Lisbon to Vladivostok.'”
Let Uncle Sam Do It (Doug Bandow)
Such is the basic message of Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former NATO secretary general from Denmark, in a thin volume called The Will to Lead. Written before the November presidential election, it is filled with “I was there” anecdotes and platitudes advanced as arguments. Like politicians everywhere, the former Danish prime minister wants to spend other people’s lives and money—in particular the lives and money of Americans.
New Pentagon Strategy Eyes Russia, Long Fights Against Jihadis
A new national military strategy released Wednesday by Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, takes more notice of aggressive states like Russia and China and warns that the U.S. military’s technological edge is eroding in an emerging era of major power competition. It’s a sharp departure from the last policy document published in 2011, when Moscow merited barely a mention…
Rachel Maddow Is Lost in Her Cold War Conspiracies (Eion Higgins)
On MSNBC’s Sirius XM promos, Rachel Maddow tells the listener that the network—and by extension, herself as well—presents the news without “fear or favor.” But a review of the month of March by Paste suggests that fear sells.
Panel Discussion on Ukrainian Crisis: assessing the causes and solutions
The Westminster Russia Forum held a debate in London recently on the Ukraine Crisis which featured a balanced panel to discuss the origins and the course of the conflict to date as well as the steps needed to bring peace and stability. It featured Peter Hitchens of the Mail on Sunday; Economist writer Edward Lucas; Professor Richard Sakwa of the University of Kent and author of the new book ‘Frontline Ukraine’; and Orysia Lutsevych of the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House.
VIDEO: Stephen Cohen: This is Most Dangerous Moment in U.S.-Russian Relations Since Cuban Missile Crisis
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has wrapped up a visit to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The meetings come at a time of increased tension between Washington and Moscow. Democracy Now speaks to Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University.
Despite Ukraine crisis, Russian-US cooperation alive and well at Iran nuclear talks
Russia-U.S. relations are at a post-Cold War low just about everywhere, except at the Iran nuclear talks.
Despite a chill over the Ukraine crisis that has spread to almost every element of their relationship, Moscow and Washington continue to find common cause on one of the most pressing issues on the global agenda — a deal to prevent Iran from being able to make nuclear weapons.
VIDEO: Former UK Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford Discusses the Latest Charges Against Syria (BBC)
Former British Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford believes that the chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun may not have been committed by the Assad regime.
Russia halts gas supplies to Ukraine after talks breakdown
Russian gas firm Gazprom has confirmed it has halted gas supplies to Ukraine after a breakdown on pricing talks.
It comes a day after Ukraine’s state energy firm Naftogaz announced it was suspending gas purchases from Russia. That announcement came after EU-brokered talks aimed at keeping supplies running for three to six months broke down without agreement.
PODCAST: ‘Words Are Also Deeds’: Unverified Stories and the Growing Risk of War With Russia (Stephen F. Cohen)
Princeton and NYU Professor Emeritus Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. Cohen argues that the American political-media establishment has embraced two fraught narratives for which there is still no public evidence, only “intel” allegations.
Five things you need to know about the crisis in Ukraine
“We can make a difference … but we do need to get the funds,” said UN Resident Coordinator Neal Walker on Friday at a New York Headquarters Briefing on the Humanitarian Situation in the country, co-chaired by Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations.
An American Dream Fulfilled (Sarah Lindemann-Komarova)
While the United States government was secretly preparing to bomb Syria, I was in my Siberian university classroom.
Ukraine’s Unseen Crisis: Mass Civilian Displacement
1,325,200: the number of internally displaced people in Ukraine.
This is not a story about numbers, though, or even conflict. It’s a story about people. And about people who need your help.”We’re not doing enough. This has been viewed primarily as a political conflict in the news,” says Erik Heinonen, CRS Ukraine program manager.