Section: The American Interest (USA)
Alone in the World
Harvard art historian Jennifer L. Roberts gives her students what looks like, at first glance, an excruciating, perhaps even cruel assignment. She has her students sit with a single painting, sans gadgets and gabbing, for three full hours. Why this? Says Roberts: It is commonly assumed that vision is immediate. It seems direct, uncomplicated, and...
EU Appears Set to Extend Russia Sanctions
EU officials have confirmed that Russia sanctions will be extended for another six months. Handelsblatt: E.U. countries from eastern Europe, traditionally critical of Russia, wanted to extend the sanctions by a full year while southern European countries argued for an extension of just three or four months. Six months was the compromise, sources...
Revolutions Without Benefits
On Sunday, November 15, officials at polling stations yawned while waiting for people to cast ballots for the mayor of Kyiv. The turnout in the latest local elections across the country marked a record low, indicating a widespread disappointment in politicians and politics in Ukraine. (Vitaly Klitschko, the incumbent mayor, won, with a plurality...
An Unnecessary Crisis
Turkey’s NATO allies have by and large stood by Ankara in the wake of Turkey’s downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber this past Tuesday. As President Obama has argued, every country has the right to defend itself. The Turks and the Russians have been on opposing sides of the Syrian civil war, with Moscow intervening to bolster the fragile...
The End of the Fifth Republic?
The strategy of terrorism, as has often (but not often enough) been remarked, it to trick stronger powers into doing counterproductive things. The terrorist attacks of November 13 in Paris, coming on the heels of the Charlie Hebdo attack in January, has awakened a more authoritarian France. I say “awakened” and not “created” because that...
John Kerry Goes to His Happy Place
In the wake of the Paris attacks and the Turkish downing of a Russian bomber, John Kerry is going to the Middle East. . .to talk to the Israelis and Arabs about restarting the peace process. Aaron David Miller writes in the Wall Street Journal: Having spent most of my professional life chasing after and believing in Arab-Israeli...
NATO Must Have Turkey’s Back
The rapid deterioration of global order took an ugly turn this morning and we all moved a little closer to the abyss: Two Turkish F-16s have shot down what appears to be a Russian Su-24 bomber near the Syrian border. Two Russian pilots parachuted out of the plane as it went down in flames. One pilot was captured by Turkmen fighters in Latakia...
Crimea Declares a State of Emergency
Crimea declared a state of emergency after pylons carrying electricity into the peninsula were blown up over the weekend. The Wall Street Journal reports: Russia’s Energy Ministry said almost two million people had been left without power. The local energy ministry said that between 20% and 30% of the peninsula was supplied with...
Ten Things That Won’t Be on the Agenda in Tehran
Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Tehran today for a one-day gathering of gas-exporting nations, where he was set to meet with both Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani. Plans for Syria and the future of Bashar al-Assad are likely atop the agenda, but the larger backdrop for the trip will be...
Is Putin Going Soft on Ukraine?
At the G20 summit today, Vladimir Putin appeared to make a big concession to Ukraine by announcing that Russia would be willing to restructure Kyiv’s upcoming $3 billion debt repayment on a bond coming due December 20. Putin offered to free Ukraine from all payments this year, and instead have them pay $1 billion in 2016, 2017, and 2018...
