A senior Republican lawmaker has some advice for President-elect Donald Trump on dealing with his Russian counterpart: “proceed with caution.”
Could Trump reform US foreign policy? (Stephen Kinzer)
DONALD TRUMP’S VICTORY in our presidential election set off many convulsions, but few were as shattering as the one that dynamited the Washington foreign policy elite…If he remains firm and pulls us out of the spiral of US-Russia confrontation, he will be stepping back from the conflict that has seemed more likely than any other to explode into nuclear war.
Corbyn backs reduction of Nato presence along Russia’s borders (The Guardian)
Labour leader criticises Putin but favours demilitarisation of European borders with Russia to prevent new cold war…
Invoking Trump, ex-Georgian leader launches new party in Ukraine (Reuters)
Citing past praise by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for his reforms, former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili launched a new political party in Ukraine on Friday to fight corruption, just days after resigning bitterly as a regional governor.
VIDEO: Prof. Stephen F. Cohen visits Travis Smiley on PBS
ACEWA Board Member and Russian studies Professor Stephen F. Cohen joined Travis Smiley in a conversation about the current state of the relationship between Russia and the U.S. particularly as it relates to the pending U.S. presidential election.
The number one reason to fix U.S.-Russia relations (Josh Cohen)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia was ready to fully restore relations with the United States following the election of Donald Trump. But even so, when Trump assumes power on Jan. 20, he will inherit a Russian-American relationship in deep crisis.
Who Was Stepan Bandera? (Daniel Lazare)
Lionized as a nationalist hero in Ukraine, Stepan Bandera was a Nazi sympathizer who left behind a horrific legacy.
Trump could bring Russia in from the cold (Mary Dejevsky)
Far from being a Putin stooge, Trump might be able to establish a better working relationship with Russia than Obama managed.
PODCAST: Prof. Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor In Conversation
Professor Stephen F. Cohen and renowned radio host John Batchelor talk about the new cold war on the eve of the US election.
Russia says relationship with US after presidential election will depend on whether Washington is ‘willing’ (The Independent)
Russia is watching the US election closely, the Kremlin has said, and any possible improvement in relations between the two countries will depend on Washington. Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Moscow was willing to work on the two nations’ deteriorating ties once the presidential vote was over, RIA Novosti reported.
Why is MI5 making such a fuss about Russia? (Mary Dejevsky)
If I had cornflakes for breakfast (which I don’t), I would have choked on them, reading Andrew Parker’s view of the threat posed by Russia, not just to the world at large – that is a commonplace of the “new cold war” discourse – but to the stability of the UK.
Ukraine parliament inaction puts $1.3 billion IMF loan at risk – central bank chief (Reuters)
Ukraine risks not receiving loans worth $1.3 billion that it is awaiting from the International Monetary Fund before the end of 2016, due to parliament’s reluctance to pass key reforms, the head of the central bank told Reuters on Tuesday.
Turkey’s Difficult Détente With Russia (Defense News)
Turkey’s always-complex zigzags between its Western allies and their respective strategic rivals are more than notorious. Russia is a case in point. A year ago Turkey and Russia were on the brink of war over Syria. Today they are in a courtship that may include critical defense and procurement cooperation.
Russia, NATO and the American Media: 3 examples of mainstream media reporting
The following items come courtesy of Newsweek, The Washington Post and US News and World Report. They have appeared within the last several days and are representative of the media coverage regarding NATO and Russia. The first, from Newsweek (link below), comes from the right-wing Heritage Foundation’s Nolan Peterson who, for his work covering the Ukrainian civil war, was given an award by the US Embassy in Kiev by Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt.
Russian warplanes keep buzzing the Baltics. Here’s how NATO scrambles (WaPo)
Just ahead of the U.S. presidential elections, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be pushing his conflict with the West to new heights…
Norway, Sweden and Finland are out in the cold against a rise in Moscow’s aggressive activity (US News/World Report)
Officials in Finland, Sweden and Norway are concerned about what have become almost routine acts of Russian aggression, how they can respond, and whether they could prevent an incident, or even an accident, from spiraling out of control. So now, quietly, they’re preparing for a confrontation.
What We Know About the Russia Hacks (WNYC’s On The Media)
Jeffrey Carr, a cybersecurity consultant and author of “Inside Cyber Warfare,” has been skeptical of the intelligence community’s assessment of the hacks–and the media’s coverage of this assessment–from the beginning. He talks to host Bob Garfield about his doubts, the risks of false attribution, and why we need a higher standard of evidence when making claims about cyber war.
Case Closed (Paul Robinson)
In November last year, Mikhail Lesin was found dead in a hotel in Washington, DC…Without directly accusing Putin of murder, various mainstream media outlets have implied it by including Lesin in lists of ‘opponents’ of the Russian ‘regime’ whom the Kremlin has allegedly ordered killed.
Americans dislike the Islamic State more than Putin or Assad. Here’s how this shapes policy preferences (WaPo)
Although the U.S. presidential election has hardly been about real policy issues, the conflict in Syria and the fight against the Islamic State have been among the hot policy issues frequently debated by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the past year. Though both have highlighted the threat of the Islamic State, they have differed on how to actually deal with it.
Taking a Page from Joe McCarthy (Robert Parry)
The whipping up of a New Cold War with Russia and the demonizing of Vladimir Putin extend beyond The Washington Post to virtually the entire U.S. political/media establishment which has plunged into this dangerous terrain without any more serious thought and analysis than preceded the Iraq invasion, except now the target for “regime change” is nuclear-armed Russia and this adventurism risks the extermination of life on the planet.