The multipolar era, while perhaps not quite here, is busy being born, but American policymakers have been slow to realize it.
Paul Robinson: Three Conversations (a review of 3 new books on Russia)
Three brief studies of Russia have recently come my way, so I thought it would be useful to do a comparison – three conversations about Russia, as it were.
Defense One: Pentagon Downplays National Security Concerns From Trump’s Diagnosis
Alarmist and inaccurate reports that the United States had launched nuclear command-and-control planes in connection with Trump’s Thursday diagnosis quickly proliferated on Twitter, while on cable networks and news sites, national security analysts said the diagnosis put the United States into “uncharted territory” and “deep into the danger zone.”
Arms Control Association: U.S., Russia Hit Impasse on New START
As the clock winds down on the last remaining U.S.-Russian arms control treaty, the United States and Russia remain locked in a stalemate with numerous obstacles blocking the path to prolonging the agreement.
Sergei Markedonov: Nagorno-Karabakh: A Flare-Up, or All-Out War?
The most likely scenario amid renewed clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a battle for small and not particularly important pockets of land, allowing for the symbolic declaration of a victory. But raising the bar in a conflict makes it very difficult to stop as planned.
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: Debate ‘train wreck’ shows US in no position to lecture the world
It was called ‘“the worst debate in American history” by more than one pundit and cable news anchor.
Joe Cirincione: The national security implications of the White House coronavirus outbreak
The COVID-19 outbreak in the White House, most importantly the infection of the president of the United States, has profound national security implications.
Sam Heller: What are America’s Sanction on Syria Good For?
Washington’s sanctions illustrate much of what is wrong with interventionist U.S. foreign policy generally.
Lev Golinkin: Stephen F. Cohen Kept the Faith
The DC apparatchiks couldn’t discredit Steve’s credentials or track record – he’d predicted events in Ukraine and elsewhere years before they occurred. They couldn’t intimidate him – he’d faced far worse threats, like the KGB. Instead, they set out to turn him into an America-hating, Putin-loving pariah.
Nadezhda Azhgikhina: Without Stephen Cohen, it is impossible to imagine perestroika Moscow.
Cohen’s significance in historical scholarship is not solely about his important contribution to the Western academic community through his biography of Bukharin… Just as important was his study of the nature of Stalinist and post-Stalinist repression, bringing the true faces and voices of Gulag prisoners to the world, as well as the faces of the Soviet dissidents with whom he lived side by side for many months throughout his long professional life.
Tucker Carlson pays tribute to Russia scholar Stephen F. Cohen
The Nation contributing editor and frequent ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ guest died on Sept. 18 at age 81.
Lyle Jeremy Rubin: The Man Who Knew Too Much
Ever since the Soviets acquired the bomb in 1949, game theorists on each end of the Cold War divide, along with eventual bomb-wielding newcomers in the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea, have been preparing for one another’s mutual destruction.
Paul Robinson: Morality and Politics
Every now and then during my wanderings through the world of Russian political philosophy, I come across something which I want to share. So it was yesterday when I read a piece entitled ‘Morality and Politics’ written in 1891 by the Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov.
Quincy Institute: 10 foreign policy questions that should be asked at the presidential debate (but probably won’t)
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos would ask: While many among the establishment would like to continue on this status quo path – focused on Russia as an enemy and a geopolitical threat – others are pressing for a change, acknowledging that diplomacy, not military or economic warfare, is the path forward in a multipolar world. Where do each of you stand on the matter?
Reuters: Turkey deploying Syrian fighters to help ally Azerbaijan, two fighters say
The clashes over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh are the heaviest since 2016, with reports of dozens of deaths and hundreds wounded.
Aaron Mate: Nuclear extortion: Trump admin stalls US-Russia treaty talks, threatening new arms race
The Trump administration is running out the clock on talks with Russia over renewing New START, the last treaty limiting the nuclear weapons arsenals of both countries. Russia has proposed an unconditional extension, but the US has stalled the talks and demanded new conditions – even issuing an ultimatum that the “price of admission” will go up after the November U.S. election.
WSJ: Russia Proposes Non-Interference Pact, as Vote-Meddling Accusations Mount
Putin wants to ‘reboot’ relations, especially on tech and communications, even as U.S. officials say Moscow is trying to sway the presidential election.
Alexandra Bell: What the presidential candidates should be asked about arms control and nonproliferation
Whether President Trump or one of his challengers is sworn in as president on January 20, 2021, he or she will have the complete and unchecked authority to order the use of the approximately 4,000 nuclear weapons in the active US stockpile.
Matt Purple: Hawkish Republicans Set To Bury Trump’s Afghan Ambassador Nominee
The Senate is about to wade neck-deep into a confirmation battle over a Supreme Court nominee. But even as their calendar jams up, they shouldn’t forget another important executive appointment: Will Ruger, nominated by Donald Trump to be the new ambassador to Afghanistan. Ruger is a board member and longtime friend of The American Conservative. A Naval Reserve officer, a realist on foreign policy, a foe of idiotic wars, his elevation was viewed as a statement that the president is committed to bringing the troops home from Afghanistan.
Four Elegies
Time has taken a tragic toll. Sherle Schwenninger died in the middle of last week. As we were reeling from that loss, Stephen F. Cohen left us on Friday. The attached are recollections of the two great American originals by their friends Peter Kaufman, Marshall Auerback, James Carden and Patrick Lawrence.