Section: Salon (USA)
The one way Oliver Stone actually beat the strongman in “The Putin Interviews”
Oliver Stone and Vladimir Putin in “The Putin Interviews” (Credit: Courtesy Of Showtime/Komandir) Watching Oliver Stone’s “The Putin Interviews” — currently available on Showtime — called to mind a pivotal scene from another recent film that had major geopolitical consequences: the 2014 Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy “The...
What if several of the world’s biggest food crops failed at the same time?
(Credit: Getty/JamesBrey) Less than one-quarter of Earth’s total cropland produces nearly three-quarters of the staple crops that feed the world’s population – especially corn, wheat and rice, the most important cereal crops. These areas are our planet’s major breadbaskets. Historically, when a crop failed in one of these...
Come together, right now: “Orphan Black” sets the stage for its final season
Tatiana Maslany as Cosima in Orphan Black (Credit: BBC America) BBC America’s “Orphan Black” has tangled into such complexity that it may be impossible to understand what’s going on as it heads into its fifth and final season. This is true even if you’ve kept up with the story. Granted, the plot of “Orphan Black” is not snarled...
Democrats have a bright future — but only if they can fight on multiple fronts and avoid distraction
Kamala Harris; Adam Schiff (Credit: AP/Damian Dovarganes/Alex Brandon) If there’s one thing Democrats need to learn to do right now, it’s multitask. In effect, to claw its way back to power, the opposition party must walk and chew gum at the same time. President Donald Trump and the Republican leadership have offered Democrats such a...
Robert Reich: The art of the Trump-Putin deal
(Credit: AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool) This post originally appeared on Robert Reich’s blog. Say you’re Vladimir Putin, and you did a deal with Trump last year. I’m not suggesting there was any such deal, mind you. But if you are Putin and you did do a deal, what did Trump agree to do? 1. Repudiate NATO. NATO is the biggest...
After Trump’s exit from Paris Accord, just sanction the bastards!
(Credit: Tatiana Grozetskaya via Shutterstock) The reality of Trump exiting “his” United States from the Paris Accord has sunk in. The key question: What’s the rest of the world to do about it? Unfair United States The answer: Trade sanctions, of course. President Trump was very explicit about the main — and, in fact, only — reason for...
Wouldn’t it be nice? How the Russia investigation intersects with real-world U.S. foreign policy goals
Donald Trump; Vladimir Putin (Credit: AP/Alexander Zemlianichenko/Evan Vucci) As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump asked a good question: “Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got along with Russia?” Few Russia watchers — indeed few Americans — would disagree. The debate is over how. Would easing economic sanctions on Russia promote...
While you were working, the Trump-Russia situation got a bit worse
(Credit: AP/Getty/Salon) A number of recent developments have made the Russia scandal even more of a headache for President Donald Trump and his administration. The investigation expands to Michael Flynn Special counsel Robert Mueller is going to probe former national security adviser Michael Flynn in his ongoing investigation into alleged ties...
A Timeline: Russia and President Trump
Donald Trump meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak at the White House in Washington, May 10, 2017. (Credit: AP/Russian Foreign Ministry) 1979: Roger Stone is introduced to Donald Trump by notorious attorney Roy Cohn. [Added March 27, 2017] 1980: Roger Stone founds a lobbying practice...
Does Vladimir Putin really own Donald Trump? It’s more likely than you think
(Credit: Reuters/Maxim Shipenkov/Christopher Aluka Berry/Photo montage by Salon) Imagine the moment when Vladimir Putin first learned that his Russian hackers had struck gold by obtaining the emails of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Shots of vodka all around, singing, dancing and hurling empty glasses...
