Section: The American Interest (USA)
Forget Russia in Syria
“In the history of warfare I do not recollect a more fortunate retreat”, one of George Washington’s closest aides once said. The reference was to events in the late summer of 1776, when the Continental Army was being routed by the British in New York. General Washington was spent. He had exhausted himself riding up and down the lines at...
Putin Smiles as Crisis Takes Moldova
Moldova, Ukraine’s western neighbor, is in an economic and political crisis, Reuters reports: Former Moldovan prime minister Vlad Filat was detained in parliament on Thursday over the theft of $1 billion from the banking system, a crime that has led thousands to camp out in the capital in protest.Television footage showed Filat being...
The End of an Epoch
Shock and confusion have been the leitmotif of Western responses to Vladimir Putin’s military moves in Syria. This certainly isn’t the first time the West has been flummoxed. Western political thought on Russia over the past two decades presents a cavalcade of failures of analysis and prediction. The most pathetic was the failure to...
Saudis Fighting Russia for Europe’s Oil Market
Saudi Arabia is becoming a nightmare for Russia. First, the Saudis elected to abdicate their role as global oil swing producers, choosing not to cut production (and convincing the rest of OPEC to follow their lead) in the face of plunging crude prices. That decision consigned oil producers around the world to a period of prolonged bargain...
Russia’s Military Prowess Surprises Western Analysts
Russian air and missile strikes in Syria over the past two weeks have surprised military analysts, who did not appreciate Russia’s sophisticated capabilities, according to the New York Times: Taken together, the operations reflect what officials and analysts described as a little-noticed — and still incomplete — modernization that has been...
Inadvisable—Even by His Own Advisors?
President Obama responds with contempt to advice from outside experts, Eliot Cohen wrote in his column on Tuesday, an unattractive and self-sabotaging habit. The same day, Politico came out with an exposé confirming the President’s unwillingness to listen on the issue of Syria—not only to outsiders, but also to those within his...
The Danger of Not Competing
When two great powers jostle, their allies watch. Not out of enjoyment for the spectacle but out of selfish interest, they monitor the development of that rivalry to decide how to align themselves. Alliances often change following the outcome, real or perceived, of a great power skirmish because small states are averse to seeking protection from...
Has the White House Given Up on Confronting Russia?
On Friday, the Obama Administration officially announced the end of its spectacularly unsuccessful $500 million plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels, The New York Times reports: After struggling for years to identify groups in Syria that it can confidently support, the Obama administration on Friday abandoned its effort to build a rebel...
What Does Putin Want in Syria?
Once again, the West has been caught flat-footed by an aggressive Russian move. According to U.S. and European preconceptions about what constitutes Russia’s interests, Russia’s direct military intervention in Syria makes no sense. U.S. President Obama last Friday warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of blundering into a quagmire....
“Witnesses of Higher Oil Prices”
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin drew the world’s attention with his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York. To most Russia-watchers, the speech was a continuation of his confrontational performance in 2007, when he lobbed a litany of accusation and grievances at the United States and its NATO allies at the Munich Security...
