Russian intelligence has thwarted a double suicide bomb plot in Moscow directed by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), the country’s main spy agency said on Monday.
German Media Cries “Don’t Forget Abkhazia!”
Abkhazia is seen as a “de facto independent” quasi-state on the Black Sea, a puffer between Russia and Georgia. But what does that mean exactly? A journey into a region in the shadows of the new East-West conflict.
The Costs of Ignoring Russia (Dimitri K Simes)
Current mutual hostility threatens an explosive confrontation. [Note: this article is part of a symposium on U.S.-Russia relations included in the September-October 2017 issue of the National Interest]
Yes, Putin Does Have a Strategy in Syria
It appears that a significant portion of the Washington policy community is dismissing Russia’s Vladimir Putin either as merely a tactician, rather than a strategist, or as President Obama would have it, a fool who has injected his forces into a quagmire. Neither assertion reflects the reality that is Russia’s position in the Middle East today.
US must realize Russia will not soon, if ever, become a liberal democracy. (Thomas Graham)
The introduction of new sanctions by the United States on Russia has sent relations between the two countries to lows not seen since the end of the Cold War.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: ACEWA Event in Washington, DC on Nov 4
The Crisis in US-Russia Relations, from Ukraine to Syria:
Is Congress Overlooking its Causes and Potential Solutions?
Hosted by Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Dean of the House of Representatives
Wednesday, November 4, 2015, 2pm
Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2237
Free & Open to the Public
The Ukrainian crises 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 (www.eastwestaccord.com) a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose purpose is to promote public discussion and debate about the state of U.S. and Russian relations.
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
Don’t Expect Anti-Russian Ardor from Germany (Leonid Bershidsky)
Germans are looking for a rapprochement with Russia. One popular politician wants to ensure they get it.
Why a new Cold War can be avoided
All is not well in U.S.-Russia relations. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and aggression in eastern Ukraine—and its new airstrikes in Syria—have brought the two to lows not seen since the Cold War. Presidents Obama and Putin sniping at each other from the rostrum of the U.N. General Assembly only accentuated that divide.
But does this incipient enmity mean that a new Cold War is inevitable?
Trump Isn’t a Threat to Our Democracy. Hysteria Is. (NY Times Op-Ed)
Even if it were true that President Vladimir Putin of Russia is attempting an illiberal putsch, he is still far from achieving this goal. Paranoia alone explains why fear that the republic is in imminent danger has been the dominant response.
Putin might be right on Syria: The actual strategy behind his Middle East push — and why the New York Times keeps obscuring it
One sentence in a news report the other day on Russia’s assertive new campaign to subdue Islamic extremists in Syria simply will not leave my mind. It was written by Michael Gordon, the State Department correspondent at the government-supervised New York Times. American officials, Gordon reported, are “confident” that Moscow will fail as it tries to return some semblance of order to what is now the world’s most tragic nation. This failure would be a good thing, we are to understand.
Russia’s Communists Pursue a Red Revival (Stratfor)
Though it lacks opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s appeal with young voters, the Party will continue to position itself as an alternative for youths who want change, but not necessarily the reforms that Navalny champions.
DID KYIV SILENCE UKRAINE’S BIGGEST OPPOSITION NEWSPAPER? PART 2
In our last post we described how its critical, conservative view of the Euromaidan revolution, the new government’s reaction to the so-called Russian Spring and the conduct of the Donbas War earned it the Ukrainian newspaper Vesti the deep distrust of the authorities and the moniker “Mouthpiece of the Kremlin” among many Ukrainians. Here we will describe how the paper came under pressure from both the government and “activists” (re: radicals) over the past year and a half.
According to former editor-in-chief Igor Guzhva, in April 2014 the holding was approached by figures within the new government who proposed that Vesti hand over part of its shares, free of charge, as means to avoid conflict. This was refused, and in May began a series of investigations, searches and official denunciations of Vesti by high ranking officials.
Why Some U.S. Ex-Spies Don’t Buy the Russia Story (Bloomberg View)
Evidence that undermines the “election hack” narrative should get more attention.
Russia: At the Crossroads Again? An Address to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Though given in November 2014, the University of California’s Provost Emeritus and Professor of Political Science George W. Breslauer’s speech to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences remains very relevant today. Dr. Breslauer noted that while he has “never been a part of the chorus that is quick to blame the United States when something goes wrong internationally…in the case of Russia, I think we brought the current problems upon ourselves.” The video link to his speech is at the link below, and Dr. Breslauer’s written remarks can be found here: https://www.amacad.org/content/publications/pubContent.aspx?d=21687
The Post-Cold-War Consensus Collapses (Andrew Bacevich)
“Without the Cold War, what’s the point of being an American?” As the long twilight struggle was finally winding down, Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, novelist John Updike’s late-twentieth-century Everyman, pondered that question. In short order, Rabbit got his answer.
DID KYIV SILENCE UKRAINE’S BIGGEST OPPOSITION NEWSPAPER? PART 1
The specter of a crackdown on free speech in Ukraine was raised this spring by the murder of opposition journalist and intellectual Oles Buzina and the arrest of Ukrainian journalist Ruslan Kotsaba, who was charged with undermining the draft. Yet a showdown between the government, radical activists and Vesti, the country’s largest opposition paper, has largely slipped by unnoticed by western commentators.
It came to a head in July of this year with the resignation of its editor-in-chief Igor Guzhva, who was likely forced out by the paper’s owner, former Yanukovich ally and oligarch-on-the-lam Aleksandr Klimenko. Strict oversight was imposed on the paper, politically sensitive material withdrawn and a focus on “affirmative topics” announced.
Signing a new Russia sanctions bill shouldn’t stop Trump trying to get closer to Putin (Reuters Commentary)
The U.S.-Russian relationship is in a downward spiral.
A Way Forward for Obama and Putin in Syria
Eugene Rumer, a Senior Associate and Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, writes “The P5+1—the U.S., Russia, France, Great Britain, China, all U.N. Security Council permanent members joined by Germany—is a unique forum where the key parties can come together to seek a way to solve the Syrian crisis. In addition to the major powers, the P5+1 format has the advantage of being able to engage Iran, a critical actor in Syria without whom no solution can be found.”
PODCAST: Unverified ‘Russiagate’ Allegations, Promoted by an Irresponsible Congress and Media, Have Become a Grave Threat to American National Security (Stephen F. Cohen)
Pointless and recklessly irresponsible new sanctions recently adopted almost unanimously by Congress against Russia are, as Professor Stephen F. Cohen has long argued, evidence that the new Cold War is more dangerous than was its 40-year predecessor.
Turkey takes Russia and US to task over their backing of Kurds in Syria
Turkey has summoned separately the American and Russian ambassadors in Ankara to complain about their countries acting in support of the military forces of the Syrian Kurds who are fighting Isis.