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.
U.S. airstrikes decline in Syria after Russia moves in
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.
The Mercury News: Gov. Brown headed to Russia for climate talks
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.
War and Peace — Revisited
Asia Times correspondent Pepe Escobar notes “Bashar al-Assad’s spectacular Moscow appearance – which enraged neocons/neoliberalcons to Kingdom Come – came complete with an ultra-high level dinner with Putin, Medvedev, Lavrov and Shoygu. It does not get more graphic than that; the order of priorities is to fight the “Caliphate” goons to death, and in parallel conduct a political process. Forget about regime change.”
Bloomberg View: Travel Barriers Are the Worst of the New Cold War
Why is the U.S. squandering its soft-power advantage on petty tit-for-tat?
Poland lurches to right with election of Law and Justice party
The Polish national elections which took place on October 25 are relevant to US-European-Russian relations because, with the ascent of the right-wing Law and Justice Party, the more moderate foreign policy espoused under Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz will likely be replaced by one which will likely take an ever hardliner line toward Russia than the policy pursued under the virulently Russo-phobic former foreign minister, the Civic Platform’s Radek Sikorski. For more, see The Guardian article below – Editor.
Asia Times: The US security establishment appears to be operating in score-settling mode
In case it has escaped your notice, the diplomatic tit-for-tat between Moscow and Washington has become deadly serious.
Ukrainians fear Russian bombs in Syria are bad news for them
The following may be of interest because it gives the view of the government in Kiev regarding recent events in Syria. Please keep in mind that when ACEWA posts an article under “News” or “Analysis” it is not necessarily endorsing its contents. In the following piece, reporter Matthew Schofield notes that, “In recent weeks, as Russian bombs and missiles have started landing in Homs, Hama and Aleppo in Syria, concern has grown among Ukrainians that one of the primary targets of the barrage actually is their country.”
From the Archives: Part II of Patrick Lawrence’s Interview with Stephen F. Cohen
In part two, Cohen completes his analysis of Vladimir Putin’s inheritance and explains how he came to focus his thinking on “lost alternatives”- outcomes that could have been but were not. Most surprising to me was the real but foregone prospect of reforming the Soviet system such that the suffering that ensued since its demise could have been averted.
The Russian military has been effective in Syria
Ever since the first indications that there were Russians encamped at the airfield in Latakia, theories have proliferated around Russia’s strategy in Syria, its intentions, and questions on how far they — and others — will go.
There are lots of things that these theories get wrong.
From the Archives: Patrick Lawrence In Conversation With Stephen F. Cohen (Salon)
There’s an alternative story of Russian relations we’re not hearing. Historian Stephen Cohen tells it here…
Exit polls in Ukraine local elections show east-west split
MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Four exit polls from Ukraine’s local elections released Monday indicated the governing coalition would retain its dominant position in the west and center of the country despite widespread disappointment with the government of President Petro Poroshenko.
The Central Election Committee said it had received data from only 30 percent of the vote by Monday morning, reflecting the challenge of calculating the results of elections for more than 10,700 local councils as well as mayors. More than 130 parties fielded candidates. Complete results were expected Nov. 4.
Who Won the Cold War? (Jordan Michael Smith)
The Cold War: A World History is told chronologically, but unlike most books on the subject, it begins with the right period.
BREAKING NEWS: Iraqi parliament approves Russian air strikes against ISIL
After weeks of political wrangling, the Iraqi parliament finally agreed to allow Russia to launch air strikes against the terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq, paving the way for the involvement of a powerful new combatant in an already complex battleground in a move that will likely incense the US.
The Real Danger of Sending U.S. Arms to Ukraine (Brian Milakovsky)
I know many proponents of sending arms to Ukraine sincerely believe it will check Russian aggression and save lives. If the sales go forward and it indeed helps reduce violence in the frontline zone, I will be delighted to have been wrong. But if this move instead triggers escalation and subjects Donbass civilians to a new round of death and misery, will proponents still be paying attention?
Katrina vanden Heuvel Asks the Next President: Would you take us to war with Russia?
Will the next president avert a new Cold War between the United States and Russia over Ukraine? Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor and publisher of The Nation, wants to know. Make the wrong move, she warns, and you risk a disaster for “women, children and other living beings.”
More Misleading Russia-gate Propaganda (Robert Parry)
The U.S. mainstream media is touting a big break in Russia-gate, emails showing an effort by Donald Trump’s associates to construct a building in Moscow. But the evidence actually undercuts the “scandal,” reports Robert Parry.
RUSSIA’S MISSING LIBERALS
Prof. Paul Robinson explores some reasons why liberal Russian political parties such as PARNAS remain unpopular at the polls. According to Robinson, while the oft-stated liberal complaint that “they suffer from a combination of state repression and constant propaganda from state-controlled media” may have some validity, Robinson speculates that, among other reasons, “it is possible that Russian liberalism is tainted because it has never been able to develop a healthy relationship with the state and with concepts of legality, constitutional process, and the like. This comes out in the obsession with street protest, the hopes for ‘regime change’, a ‘colour revolution’, and so on.”
Washington and Moscow Must Embrace Détente – Despite Trump (Katrina vanden Heuvel)
When Bill Clinton trampled upon repeated promises and began expanding NATO towards the Russian border, George F. Kennan, the architect of containment, warned of a “tragic mistake.” NATO expansion helped convince Russians that the West regards it as a permanent enemy. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency recently reported that the Kremlin apparently believes the United States seeks regime change in Russia.
Nuclear War, Nuclear Winter, and Human Extinction
Steven Starr, the director of the University of Missouri’s Clinical Laboratory Science Program, as well as a senior scientist at the Physicians for Social Responsibility, writes in a timely piece for the Federation of American Scientists that “While it is impossible to precisely predict all the human impacts that would result from a nuclear winter, it is relatively simple to predict those which would be most profound…
Following the detonation (in conflict) of US and/or Russian launch-ready strategic nuclear weapons, nuclear firestorms would burn simultaneously over a total land surface area of many thousands or tens of thousands of square miles.”