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.
Conspiracy Theorists Welcome in Corporate Media–if They Have the Right Targets (Adam Johnson)
With her rise to prominence as a commentator on the Trump/Russia story, and seemingly dozens of editors and producers giving her their tacit approval, one is compelled to ask: What exactly would Louise Mensch have to say to be discredited?
Russia warns of ‘new military confrontation’ in Europe
In Europe’s Other ‘Divorce,’ Ukraine Loses To Russia … Again (Forbes)
As the world focuses on the “divorce” between the U.K. and E.U., another divorce court hearing for two other former partners was handed down today in London. In Ukraine vs. Russia on Wednesday, a U.K. court said Kiev still owes the Russians a cool $3 billion.
Nato to ‘name and shame’ member countries over defence spending
Nato’s league table – likely to be published on the eve of the defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels on 24 and 25 June – will ensure that countries are being compared on a like for like basis when it comes to defence spending, according to British Government sources.
The UN’s Nuclear Weapon Talks May Be The Most Important Thing Nobody’s Paying Attention To (Huffington Post)
Over protests from the U.S. and other nuclear powers, more than 120 countries began work on a treaty at the United Nations this week with the aim of banishing nuclear weapons from the face and the oceans of the earth.
The blockade of separatist-held Donbas
The desire of many Ukrainian politicians to “seal off” rebel-held territories in the Donbas may be coming to pass. The head of Poroshenko’s bloc in parliament, Yury Lutsenko, has declared that the president desires to extend the present automotive blockade of the so-called Luhansk Peoples Republic to all separatist held territories. Passage into them will be possible only by foot or compact car.
PODCAST: The Sovietization of the American Political-Media Establishment? (Stephen F. Cohen)
Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments, now in their fourth year, are at TheNation.com.) Batchelor begins by recalling the early 1950s, when President Eisenhower finally ended Senator Joseph McCarthy’s hunt for Communists in the US government.
Push to arm Ukraine roars back in Senate
Senators are adopting a new tactic in their push for President Obama to arm Ukraine against Russian-backed separatists.
Lawmakers in both parties are supporting a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would give the Obama administration $300 million for Ukrainian security assistance. The provision specifies that half of the funding would be withheld until at least 20 percent of the money is spent on lethal aid.
The Surveillance State Behind Russia-gate (William Binney, Ray McGovern)
Amid the frenzy over the Trump team’s talks with Russians, are we missing a darker story, how the Deep State’s surveillance powers control the nation’s leaders, ask U.S. intelligence veterans Ray McGovern and Bill Binney.