Filip Kovacevic, an Adjunct Professor at University of San Francisco, writes, that “pro-NATO discourse” has presented “NATO membership as the ultimate proof of Montenegro’s political and economic ‘development’ and ‘maturity’.”
Harsh Realities in Ukraine
Four months after the Minsk II accords, the Ukraine crisis continues to simmer, with occasional violent eruptions. The ceasefire in Donbass has not prevented some 1,000 people from losing their lives since February, adding to the previous fatality count of more than 5,000. Some of the heavy weapons that both sides should have pulled back from the line of contact are still positioned close to that line, and are active.
Diplomatic Give-and-Take Is Not a Sign of Weakness (The American Conservative)
The idea that Vladimir Putin is going to be cowed into submission by shows of U.S. military strength or abandon defending what he believes are Russian security interests is naïve.
NATO Ambivalence and Stashing Weapons in Eastern Europe
The U.S. Department of Defense reportedly has plans to place tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and other heavy weapons in the Baltic countries and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. It is easy to see what this is about. It is an attempt to send a signal—a warning, of sorts—to Russia amid the continued tensions that events in Ukraine have heightened.
Dictator vs. democrat? Not quite: Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is no progressive hero (Salon)
Alexey Navalny has become a media hero for protesting Putin’s corruption. But his own politics are downright Trumpy.
New NATO force trains in Poland to assure eastern flank
Thousands of NATO troops are on the move this month in Poland and the Baltic states, practicing sea landings, air lifts and assaults. The massive maneuvers on NATO’s eastern flank that began in early June include the first-ever training by the new, rapid reaction “spearhead” force, and are NATO’s biggest defense boost since the Cold War.
Trump’s Budget (Like His Temperament) Is Exacerbating the Danger of Nuclear War (The Nation)
Some experts have also pointed out that the fraught state of relations between the US and Russia only adds to the risk of a nuclear conflagration—accidental or otherwise.
BREAKING: Putin Addresses Plenary session of the 19th St Petersburg International Economic Forum
Addressing the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on Friday June 19, the Russian President addressed the country’s economic prospects in face of the ongoing sanctions, saying “What I want to note, however, is that by the end of last year, as you know very well, people were predicting that we were in for a very deep crisis. This has not happened. We have stabilised the situation, absorbed the negative short-term fluctuations, and are now making our way forward confidently through this difficult patch.”
Remembering Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko (The Progressive)
The Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko died on April 1 at the age of 84. In April 1987, exactly 30 years ago, The Progressive published this interview with Yevtushenko by Katrina vanden Huevel (at the time assistant editor, and now editor and publisher of The Nation).
Putin: Russia ‘will continue to co-operate with West’
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is open to continuing economic co-operation with the West, despite sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis. Speaking at an economic forum in St Petersburg, he said Russia’s economy had adapted to the sanctions.
Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Poet Who Stirred a Generation of Soviets, Dies at 83 (New York Times)
Yevgeny Yevtushenko, an internationally acclaimed poet with the charisma of an actor and the instincts of a politician whose defiant verse inspired a generation of young Russians in their fight against Stalinism during the Cold War, died on Saturday in Tulsa, Okla., where he had been teaching for many years. He was 83.
Stephen Cohen: The US and NATO Are Escalating Their Assault on John Kerry’s Diplomacy at Sochi
ACEWA Founding Board Member Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussion of the broadening US-Russian cold war and confrontation over Ukraine. The main focus is on escalating challenges to the agreement reached by Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Sochi in May to implement the Minsk plan for ending the Ukrainian civil war through negotiations.
Were the hackers who broke into the DNC’s email really Russian? (Miami Herald)
Among private-sector computer security companies, not everybody thinks the case is proven.
U.S., EU ready tough Russia sanctions, in case they’re needed
Determined to prevent another Moscow-led rebel advance, the United States and European governments have prepared a new round of penalties targeting Russia’s energy and financial sectors as part of a sanctions-in-waiting strategy that officials hope will help the West respond immediately if insurgents push deeper into Ukraine.
Top Ten Origins: The Best Moments in U.S.-Russian Relations (Pietro Shakarian)
Have the U.S. and Russia always been “enemies” as American political and media elites contend? History tells us otherwise.
Amb. Jack Matlock on The Ukrainian Crisis: Reflections on Power in Today’s World
On June 11, Ambassador Jack Matlock delivered the 2015 Fulbright Lecture at the University of Edinburgh. In it the Ambassador and ACEWA Founding Board Member observes that the Cold War ended by negotiation, not by the victory of one side. Nevertheless, the unfounded triumphalism by the “West,” and the exaggerated Russian reaction to it has produced a new, cold-war-type confrontation over the governance and orientation of Ukraine.
VIDEO: Stephen F. Cohen Talks To Tucker Carlson About The Senate’s Hearings On Russian Interference (FOX News)
Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies at Princeton and NYU, Stephen F. Cohen, talks to Tucker Carlson about the largely evidence free allegations made by witnesses who appeared before the Senate Permanent Select Intelligence Committee on Thursday, March 30.
SecAF James: Russia Is ‘Biggest Threat’; F-22s May Come Soon
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James came out swinging…forcefully telling reporters that she was here and traveling throughout Europe tp deliver a message of reassurance in the face of a “resurgent Russia.”
“I would say, the biggest threat on my mind [is] the activities of Russia,” she said when asked by a reporter what is the biggest threat America faces. “That’s a big part of why I am here in Europe to hold these discussions.”
Sergey Lavrov: An Interview With The National Interest Magazine
Paul Saunders, associate publisher of the National Interest, interviewed Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday, March 24, 2017, in Moscow. Their wide-ranging and blunt conversation, which lasted over an hour, covered topics from Ukraine and Syria to the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the future of U.S.-Russia cooperation
American Hawks Should Stop Flattering Themselves: They’re Not Playing A Great Game With Putin
Days before his death on February 8, 1725, Tsar Peter the Great gave his last will and testament. He exhorted his successors to fulfill Russia’s destiny and conquer the world. The keys to this great endeavor were Constantinople and India, the former for its symbolism and the latter for its wealth.
Neither the actual records nor documentation of Peter’s instructions have ever been found. It is likely that he never issued those deathbed commands. Yet, the legend has endured.