Section: US & Canada
How the West Misjudged Russia, Part 2: The Pragmatists
Editor’s Note: How do Russia and the West see one another? What are the experts’ views on the confrontation between Russia and the West? How do the pundits explain the Russo-Ukrainian war and Russia’s Syrian gambit? What are the roots of the mythology about Russia in the West, and why has the West failed to predict and...
Ukraine toughens position in negotiations to end conflict
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Ukraine is hardening its position in negotiations to end the conflict in the country’s east, saying it must regain control of its entire border with Russia before elections can be held in the regions controlled by Russia-backed rebels. The agreement worked out last year by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and...
Beijing could turn the South China Sea into a ‘Chinese lake’ by 2030
REUTERSBy 2030, China will be such an unquestioned superpower that the South China Sea will be nothing more than a “Chinese lake,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies writes in a new report. China’s dominance in the region is due to Beijing’s projected continual development of aircraft carrier groups and the...
Ukraine toughens position in negotiations to end conflict
[…] after a meeting Wednesday with the so-called Contact Group trying to implement the pact, Ukraine’s representative — former president Leonid Kuchma — said elections were impossible without border control, his spokeswoman Darka Olifer said in a statement on Facebook. …read more Source: San Francisco...
Ukraine toughens position in negotiations to end conflict
Ukraine is hardening its position in negotiations to end the conflict in the country’s east, saying it must regain control of its entire border with Russia before elections can be held in the regions controlled by Russia-backed rebels. …read more Source: FOX...
Gazprom’s Spinning Wheels
Russia’s state-owned natural gas company Gazprom has seen its market value drop by nearly 90 percent over the past six years, and it has itself to blame. As the FT reports, Gazprom’s decision (twice) to turn off gas to Ukraine in recent winters has pushed Europe into seeking ways to blunt Putin’s energy weapon: The cut-offs...
Ukraine Toughens Position in Negotiations to End Conflict
Ukraine hardens its position in negotiations to end the conflict in the country’s east, saying it must regain control of its entire border with Russia before elections can be held in the regions controlled by Russia-backed rebels …read more Source: ABC...
Latvia marks 25th anniversary of resistance to Soviet rule
Hundreds of people gathered in Riga’s old town, where white-striped burgundy Latvian flags flapped from buildings and on rooftops of the freezing capital. In 1991, more than 15,000 people across the country participated in erecting barricades, including former policeman Renars Zalais, who was wounded in an attack by elite Soviet commandos...
UN Foresees Slight Improvement in Global Growth
The United Nations foresees a slight improvement in world economic growth over the next two years, following last year’s less than stellar performance. According to the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2016 report — jointly published by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development and the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe — the...
The Kremlin’s Western Lawyers
In Syria, as in Ukraine and Georgia before, Russia is using warfare to achieve its goals, operating through brute force and fear. In the West, it uses lawfare, exploiting the rule of law to launch politically motivated cases that are factually or legally meritless in order to terrorize individuals in the Kremlin’s sights.Over the past 16...
