American Committee for US-Russia Accord

Professor Paul Robinson notes that while both sides of the Ukrainian civil war have stubbornly denied culpability for civilian casualties, “What is perhaps surprising is the willingness of outsiders to let people get away with it. Neither Russia nor the West have shown any notable inclination to force their proxies to be more honest. Rather they seem to encourage the tendency to claim that others are at fault. It seems that the desire to maintain an ally’s image outweighs the desire for the truth.”

Louise Mensch is experienced in three areas: Writing chick lit, marrying famous music managers, and quitting a political career. Notice that Russian politics is not one of these areas.

The U.S.-Russia relationship is starved for normalcy.

Princeton and NYU Professor Emeritus Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. Cohen emphasizes that while VE (Victory in Europe) Day – a major American holiday, on May 8, when he was growing up in Kentucky – is no longer observed, Victory Day, on May 9, remains the most sacred Russian holiday, a “holiday with tears.”

The nuclear agreement with Iran provides ample proof of Secretary of State John F. Kerry’s remarkable commitment and skill in waging diplomacy. In an era when the Pentagon dominates our foreign policy and military options are too often trotted out as first responses, he has resuscitated the United States’ power to lead, pressure and negotiate, a capacity too often denigrated as “soft power.”

No good deed goes unpunished.

As George F. Kennan once noted, the average citizen who reads the New York Times knows as much, or even more, than many government officials. Comey made claims on the order of stating that Russia is the “greatest threat” to the United States. It isn’t the job of the FBI director to indulge in geopolitical analysis. Anyway, how would he know?

Sally Yates didn’t reveal much that was new in her testimony to a Senate Judiciary subcommittee. But she has arguably invented an entirely new genre of political spectacle: the news remix. Taking elements already well known to the public, Yates added a personal touch of drama and defiance, and the result was a fresh spate of headlines.

Resurgent anti – Russia hysteria has broader, ominous implications for US foreign policy and the health of political discourse in the United States.

Will the success of US-Russian cooperation in reaching a major agreement on Iran’s nuclear program create a new opportunity — and new momentum — for a political solution to Syria’s seemingly unending civil war? Both Washington and Moscow appear to be leaving the door open. But walking through it will not be easy.

There is a foreign land so threatened by its neighbour that it requires Canadian troops to defend it, and so dangerous within its borders, so full of traps and snares, that it isn’t safe for those Canadian troops to leave their bases other than in large, organized groups. The country? Latvia.

The one-year anniversary of the tragic shooting down of Flight MH17 over Ukraine is an opportunity to take stock of the costs of Europe’s latest, biggest, and apparently most intractable security crisis.

The ongoing war in Eastern Ukraine casts a long shadow over areas of shared American and Russian interest, making the Obama administration’s 2009 “reset” in relations appear a distant memory. However perceptions have shifted in the intervening six years, common concerns still exist between Washington and Moscow; chief among them: terrorism.

Militarists in the White House, Congress, and the US media call for escalation against Assad and Vladimir Putin, but they might serve Syria’s beleaguered population better by seeking an accord with the Russians and Iranians. Until then, there will be more war crimes. And more war.