Section: Foreign Policy (USA)
State Dept. Says ‘Land Grab’ in Debaltseve Must Be Accounted For
A top U.S. diplomat accused pro-Russian rebels of committing a “land grab” in eastern Ukraine and vowed to impose additional sanctions against Moscow if violations of last week’s ceasefire agreement continue. The remarks from Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken follow the rebel capture of the strategic town of Debaltseve last week after...
State Dept. Says ‘Land Grab’ in Debalsteve Must Be Accounted For
A top U.S. diplomat accused pro-Russian rebels of committing a “land grab” in eastern Ukraine and vowed to impose additional sanctions against Moscow if violations of last week’s ceasefire agreement continue. The remarks from Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken follow the rebel capture of the strategic town of Debaltseve last week after...
Stop Drinking the Weak Sauce
For 25 years now, a weak-state fixation has transfixed U.S. foreign policy. It all started with the humanitarian interventions of the 1990s, which advanced the idea that American power in a post-Cold War world could and should bring justice, peace, and prosperity to places like Somalia, Bosnia, Haiti, and Kosovo. Freed from the security...
Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, Feb. 23, 2015
To keep up with Democracy Lab in real time, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Linda Kinstler reports from Kharkiv on the rising wave of terrorist attacks in Ukraine’s second-largest city. (The latest deadly blast struck the city just this weekend. The photo above shows Kharkiv residents carrying portraits of local citizens killed in...
FP’s Situation Report: Carter makes a splash abroad; Turkey pushes into Syria; Violence continues in Ukraine; and much more from around the world.
By David Francis with Sabine Muscat Carter makes a splash on his first overseas trip as Defense secretary. It didn’t take long for new defense chief Ashton Carter to shake things up. During an unannounced trip to Afghanistan, Carter said the United States and the government in Kabul were closing in on an agreement to keep American troops on...
A Ukrainian City Holds Its Breath
KHARKIV, Ukraine — This past Monday, around forty protesters bearing Communist flags gathered in the graying, barren central square of Ukraine’s second-largest city. They said they were there to commemorate the anniversary of the Red Army’s first liberation of Kharkiv in 1943. (The current administration in Kiev doesn’t...
FP’s Situation Report: Centcom outlines plans to retake Mosul; Ukraine calls Russia’s bluff on peacekeepers; Russia slams Obama’s terror summit; and much more from around the world.
By David Francis with Sabine Muscat U.S. Central Command develops plans to retake Mosul. In a highly unusual briefing to reporters about future battle plans, a Pentagon official said U.S. forces will train five Iraqi brigades to launch a spring offensive to recapture the city lost to the Islamic State last year. Planners have yet to decide if...
Russian Envoy Says Obama’s Extremism Summit a “Mess”
Despite bitter differences over the fate of Syria and Ukraine, the United States and Russia still agree on one thing: The need to confront violent Islamic extremists from North Africa to the Middle East. But forging a coordinated strategy for combating the scourge has been complicated by the deteriorating state of relations between the Cold War...
Ukraine Calls Russia’s Bluff: If You Want Peace, Authorize Peacekeepers
The uncertain prospect of sending U.N. peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine gives Russia a chance to prove just how committed it is to upholding the crumbling ceasefire, Kiev’s ambassador to the U.S. said Thursday. It’s also an opportunity for Ukraine to try to put Moscow on the spot at the U.N. Security Council — especially if other...
The United States Isn’t Immune to Grexit Fallout
Greece’s anti-austerity Syriza party and European leaders are scrambling to find a deal that would allow Athens to pays its bills; if they don’t, Greece could run out of money in the coming months and get kicked out of the euro zone. And that wouldn’t be good for Europe or the United States. The United States has very little...
