On September 16, President Petro Poroshenko issued a decree naming 388 foreign persons who are banned from travel to Ukraine. The published list of banned persons was compiled by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. They are deemed to be threats to the interests and national security of Ukraine.
The Trump-Putin Meeting: No More than Baby Steps (Nikolas Gvosdev)
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were scheduled to meet for only about thirty minutes, but they remained closeted together for over two hours today on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, the first face-to-face meeting of the two presidents,
Putin becomes a political punching bag in White House race
Every good story needs a villain and in Vladimir Putin, candidates in the 2016 White House race have found the perfect foil.
The Russian President — with his expansionist worldview, Cold War-style mindset, KGB roots, tough-guy stunts and implacable anti-Americanism — makes the quintessential campaign trail scoundrel.
A Fateful Encounter: On The Meeting Between Presidents Trump and Putin (James Carden)
The new Cold War is being played out on at least four fronts, each with the potential—the nuclear age being what it is—to turn catastrophic.
If Vladimir Putin had Done This, There’d Have Been More Fuss
The many gullible (or just crudely and ignorantly anti-Russia) journalists and politicians who sided with the Kiev putsch of February 2014 really ought to be more interested in the latest news from Ukraine.
The supposedly heroic new President of the supposedly free and uncorrupt and generally wonderful new Ukraine, the oligarch who doesn’t like being called an oligarch, Petro Poroshenko, has announced a ban on lots of journalists (and indeed other individuals).
Sunday Special: STEPHEN F. COHEN ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW WITH TUCKER CARLSON
Princeton and NYU Professor Emeritus Stephen F. Cohen talks to Tucker Carlson about Friday’s meeting between presidents Trump and Putin.
Pentagon Takes a Back Seat to State Department on Russia
This year, as Russian cargo planes began flying military gear into Syria, Defense Secretary Ash Carter was in St. Louis, touring a plant of defense-contracting giant Boeing Co.
The shift in styles means the Pentagon has taken a back seat to Secretary of State John Kerry in shaping relations with Russia—forgoing an important connection that in the past has been used to defuse tensions or express American discontent.
Debate: Is Putin a Threat to Democracy? (Jeffrey Taylor and Bill Curry)
Atlantic Magazine contributing editor Jeffrey Tayler and former White House Clinton counselor Bill Curry debate the proposition that demonizing Putin is justified…
EU splits in Russian media war New EU task force hobbled by low funding, lack of political support
Even as the EU mobilizes to fight Russian propaganda, European governments are fighting each other over the best way to go about it.
A new effort by Brussels to monitor and respond to the perceived bias of Kremlin-controlled media such as Russia 24 or Sputnik has exposed familiar fissures on the Continent.
Gorbachev urges Trump and Putin to ‘rebuild trust’
The last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, on Thursday urged Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to restore trust between the United States and Russia a day ahead of their first meeting in Hamburg.
Putin Tightens Reins on Ukraine Rebels, Putting Conflict on Ice
Ukrainian separatist leaders say their hopes of full integration with Russia or greater independence are fading as the Kremlin tightens the reins on their rebellion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appears unwilling to risk broadening his conflict with the U.S. and European Union over Ukraine, senior separatist officials said in interviews this month, meaning the rebel regions’ future is more likely to resemble Transnistria, the Russian-backed breakaway area of Moldova, whose fate is still unresolved more than two decades after fighting subsided.
The Trump-Putin Meeting and the Fate of the Earth (Normon Solomon)
This moment in human history is not about Trump. It’s not about Putin. It’s not about whether you despise either or neither or both. What’s at stake in the dynamics between them is life on this planet.
Bernard-Henri Levy: With Poroshenko — more than ever
We post the following not to help promote perhaps the Western world’s premier self-promoter, but, rather, in a spirit of concern for Ukrainian President Poroshenko who seems to now be in thrall to the preening French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who has been wrong about nearly every single foreign policy issue since the end of the Cold War. -Editor
A letter from Sam Nunn to Presidents Trump and Putin
With relations between Russia and the West deteriorating and becoming more dangerous every day, former Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia, former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, former British Defense Secretary Des Browne, and former German Ambassador to the U.S. Wolfgang Ischinger, have written a letter to Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin urging the two leaders to use the July 7-8 G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, to work together on areas of existential common interest.
Ukraine Lobbies Lawmakers as Debt Vote Said to Risk Failure
Ukraine’s government has stepped up last-minute lobbying because of growing concern that lawmakers won’t back an accord to restructure $18 billion of foreign debt.
Government officials have met with ruling and opposition parties before a vote Thursday that’s supposed to give final approval to the debt deal, according to Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. There are risks that the legislation will fail, according to a person familiar with the restructuring, who asked not to be named because the details are private. Another person familiar with the situation put the chances of approval at 50-50.
Cold War flashback: Media’s flawed coverage of the Trump-Russia story is not helping the left (Danielle Ryan)
CNN’s terrible week was just the latest example of sloppy, hysterical Russia coverage that only feeds Trump.
Russia is not the enemy
REAL ENEMIES ARE a threat to any country, but imagined enemies can be even more dangerous. They sap resources, provoke needless conflicts, and divert attention from true challenges. The United States has constructed such a fantasy by turning Russia into an enemy.
Our current campaign against Russia was set off by what some in Washington call its “aggression” against neighboring Ukraine. Russia’s decision to aid the Assad regime in Syria has also angered us. The true reasons for anti-Russia sentiment, though, lie deeper.
Worried About Those Global Cyber Attacks? They Were Started by Washington (William Greider)
The notorious US spy agencies invented this monster, first with the Stuxnet virus against Iran—but then they lost control over it.
BREAKING: U.S. to Begin Military Talks With Russia on Syria
An actually balanced piece of reporting from Michael R. Gordon notes that “though the administration has long said that President Bashar al-Assad must go for there to be a durable solution to the Syria crisis, Mr. Kerry seemed on Friday to allow for the possibility that Mr. Assad might remain in power in the short term. Mr. Assad has had Russia’s backing throughout the conflict.”
Power, Politics, and Putin Russia’s Role in Today’s World Order (AJC Panel, feat. Stephen F. Cohen, Andrew Weiss, Julia Ioffe)
To help us understand what Russia wants and what strategies it will employ to get it, during this AJC Global Forum 2017 session hear from three experts: Stephen Cohen, Professor Emeritus, NYU and Princeton; Julia Ioffe, Staff Writer, The Atlantic; and Andrew Weiss, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.