Section: The American Interest (USA)
Moscow’s Arctic Projects Left Out in the Cold
Russia has big plans for Siberia. There, the Bazhenov shale formation is estimated to contain more than a trillion barrels of oil and nearly two quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas. But sanctions put in place in the aftermath of Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, along with plummeting oil prices that have forced oil companies to cut capital...
Russia’s Love Affair with Germany
Do you think Russians have only America on their minds? True, the U.S. is an ideal enemy for fanning the flames of collective hate and an ideal competitor for geopolitical games. But all the alleged grievances aside, has the U.S. ever played a significant role in Russia’s past or present? Not really—but another state has. Germany, of...
Ukraine Gets Its Debt Deal
The rumors yesterday were true: Ukraine has signed a deal with its creditors that includes a 20 percent haircut on the face value of a debt that totaled almost $18 billion. In addition, the deal will extend the maturity of the debt by four years, with interest rates set at 7.75 percent. The deal was signed after weeks of tense negotiations...
Rumor: Ukraine Debt Deal To Be Signed Tomorrow?
The rumor mill is churning away as the September deadline approaches for Kiev to cough up the dough for a massive sovereign debt repayment to a team of international creditors led by Franklin Templeton. The latest news, Bloomberg reports, has Ukrainian bond valuations soaring on the rumor that a deal to restructure the debt under terms reasonably...
Why Not Polyamory?
The Spectator, a British weekly which claims uninterrupted publication since 1828, covers cultural and political topics with a moderately conservative bias. (It also cultivates excellent writing, sometimes spiced with the distinctive nastiness that is the product of higher education in Britain.) In its issue of August 8, 2015, The Speccie, as its...
Is Turkey Going Nuclear?
The recently concluded P5+1 negotiations with Iran about the status of its nuclear program have raised concerns that rival regional powers may choose to pursue an independent nuclear weapons capability. Neighboring Turkey is often listed as a potential proliferator, owing to its historic concerns about Iranian empowerment, and its on-going proxy...
Poll: Ukrainian Support for Independence Higher Than Ever
A poll by a Kiev-based firm found that pro-independence sentiment is even more prevalent after Ukraine’s nasty past year than before it, when the Maidan movement turned from protest to ouster and a new Ukraine began its struggle to be born. In fact, it’s the highest in 15 years. Radio Free Liberty/Radio Europe reports: Andriy...
Carbon Offsets May Have Dramatically Increased Emissions
That’s the finding of a new report from the Stockholm Environment Institute, which investigated carbon credits used to offset greenhouse gas emissions under a UN scheme. As one of the co-authors of the report put it, issuing these credits “was like printing money.” The BBC reports: As a result of political horse trading at UN negotiations...
NATO’s Line in the Ukrainian Sand
NATO made an official statement warning Russia against pressing further into Ukrainian territory when the alliance’s 28 members met to discuss the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine, which has seen a sharp uptick in violence in the past month. Shelling around Mariupol, a key port city on the Sea of Azov that analysts say would be Russia’s...
Minsk II On The Brink?
Though the intensity of the fighting appeared to ease up earlier today, tensions remain high in eastern Ukraine, where the fragile Minsk II ceasefire seems on the verge of irreparably breaking down. Over the weekend, separatists in control of Horlivka (just outside of Donetsk) charged government forces with shelling the town center with heavy...
