Section: The American Interest (USA)
The Myth of Russia’s Containment
“There can be no alliance between Russia and the West, either for the sake of interests or for the sake of principles. There is not a single interest, not a single trend in the West which does not conspire against Russia, especially her future, and does not try to harm her. Therefore Russia’s only natural policy towards the West must be to...
Ukraine in Dispute with the IMF
Ukraine’s lawmakers appeared poised to reject a long haggled-over tax overhaul plan today, after a compromise seemed within reach last week. Officials from the IMF warned that if Kyiv was unable to pass the measures, further disbursements from the Fund’s $17.5 billion bailout program could be endangered. The most recent $1.7 billion...
Former SecDef Blasts Foreign Policy Failures
President Obama’s former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has blasted the White House in a far-ranging interview with Foreign Policy. Hagel criticized both the substance and the process of the Administration’s foreign policy decisions in passages such as this one: While Hagel preferred smaller meetings and one-on-one phone calls, the...
Kasparov Checkmated
Winter is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must be Stopped.by Garry KasparovPublic Affairs, 2015, 291+xxviii pp., $26.99 Few are more qualified to testify to the sheer arbitrary power of Vladimir Putin’s political machine than Garry Kasparov. Long-time world chess champion, Kasparov was a huge celebrity in Russia...
Turkey and Russia: Enemies Again?
The downing of a Russian Su-24 fighter near the Syrian border by a Turkish F-16 last month has put a chill on Russian-Turkish relations, ending an era of good feelings and burgeoning travel, trade, and educational contacts. In the ensuing war of words, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of facilitating...
The Pipeline Dividing Europe
Though many expected the EU to renew sanctions against Russia for its incursions in Ukraine as a matter of course, Italy has delayed proceedings by asking for more discussion on the matter. Important to this discussion seems to be Berlin’s intention to move forward with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would increase...
Twilight of the Elites
Ever since the Russian seizure of Crimea and the gyrations that accompanied the narrowly averted Grexit, the European Union has been journeying along a reverse loop of history, punctuated by increasingly insular and disjointed national politics, and ever more resounding—if ever more futile—elite appeals to pan-European solidarity on economic and...
Deadlock
In the midst of an unraveling international order, the Russian system of personalized power, an obsolete construct that has lost the ability to modernize itself, somehow manages to fight on. In its struggle for survival it pursues a strategy of simultaneously being “with the West, inside the West, and against the West.” Having previously...
A Manufactured “Success” in Paris
Is that green smoke we see above Notre Dame? That can only mean one thing . . . we have a climate deal! Climate delegates in Paris approved an agreement this afternoon to much cheering, back-patting, and triumphant quote-giving. The New York Times reports: After a day of stops and starts, Mr. Fabius, the president of the climate conference,...
Putin’s Spell Over John Kerry
Ahead of Secretary of State John Kerry’s planned visit to Moscow next week to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine and Syria, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov poured cold water on hopes of finding common ground with the United States.“As long as Obama’s deputy Joe Biden goes around Europe recommending continued...
