Section: The American Interest (USA)
A Last Effort at Sustaining Sanctions?
Earlier this week, the European Council agreed to keep sanctions on Russia for another six months. In the run-up to the vote, there was talk of trying to extend the sanctions by a full year, but that was quickly shot down by the usual suspects. RFE/RL: “We had a discussion that luckily ended without considering the option—which would have been...
Ukraine Power Grid Goes Black After Cyber Attack
Kiev’s power grid was hit by a major cyber attack over the weekend, in what experts say fits into a pattern of recent Russian cyber aggression against Ukraine. Reuters: Ukraine is investigating a suspected cyber attack on Kiev’s power grid at the weekend, the latest in a series of strikes on its energy and financial infrastructure,...
“Looking to the Future When Dealing with Putin Only Leads to Self-Deception”
Karina Orlova: Vladimir Putin often accuses the United States of trying to dominate the world—expanding its influence, and constantly pressing others. I’m paraphrasing an article authored by the Russian President, recently published in the Italian newspaper La Stampa. At a conference in Helsinki last week, you were elected to lead the newly...
The Curious World of Donald Trump’s Private Russian Connections
Throughout Donald Trump’s presidential campaign he expressed glowing admiration for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Many of Trump’s adoring comments were utterly gratuitous. After his Electoral College victory, Trump continued praising the former head of the KGB while dismissing the findings of all 17 American national security...
Dutch Hollow Out Ukraine-EU Deal
As European leaders seek to appease the Dutch about the controversial association agreement with Ukraine, Kyiv is re-learning a familiar lesson: the EU is just not that into Ukraine. Reuters: European Union leaders, anxious to preserve a landmark cooperation agreement with Ukraine, will address Dutch concerns on Thursday by saying the deal does...
The Art of the Global Deal
Whether one likes it or not, Donald Trump is now President-elect Trump. Nothing said or thought during the seemingly interminable campaign, whether about Trump or the record of the Obama Administration, matters as much as the future: What to do next.The global situation has deteriorated markedly during the past three years. This is now a time to...
What Does Russia Really Want?
The New York Times and the Washington Post ran back-to-back stories over the weekend reporting on closed-door briefings that the CIA had given members of Congress on Russia’s interference in the recent U.S. elections. The stories revealed no real new information on the hacks themselves—the consensus among the Intelligence Community that...
The Temptation of a “Grand Bargain”
Great-power rivalries are recurrent in history, and once in place, they endure until one side gives up the fight (e.g., the Soviet Union) or is defeated in a war (e.g., Kaiser’s Germany). The risks associated with such competitions often lead to an understandable temptation: Why remain locked in a struggle when perhaps a grand bargain may...
Getting Beyond the Blame Game
Donald Trump’s surprise win last month, following a narrow pro-Brexit vote in the UK earlier this year, has sent pundits and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic scrambling to explain just what has gone wrong. The current consensus: some admixture of “fake news” and Russian “influence” is to blame for these setbacks. For an example of...
German Investors Return To Russia
Reports of Russian isolation have been greatly exaggerated. The Wall Street Journal reports that German companies are leading a quiet resurgence of foreign investment into Russia: In the past two years, plunging oil prices and U.S. and European Union sanctions on Russia for its intervention in Ukraine sent foreign investors fleeing. Now, Western...
