Section: The American Interest (USA)
Bipolarity Is Back
We are 30 years out since the end of the Cold War, almost 20 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States, 12 years since the Russian invasion of Georgia, and six years since Russia’s seizure of Crimea. During this time period, we have seen significant changes in the overall power distribution in Europe, Eurasia, the...
Russia’s Australian Well-Wishers
What, one wonders, goes through the head of a Russian diplomat assigned an ambassadorial posting to Australia, the country the Russians inexplicably call the “green continent”? He would know that it’s not a sought-after position: Canberra registers only faintly on the radar screen of Russia’s priorities. He would recall immediately...
A Root Cause of Illiberalism?
The Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for DemocracyIvan Krastev & Stephen HolmesPegasus Books, 2020, 256 pp., $26.95 In the sweep of American history, Donald Trump appears to be an anomaly, a freak of political nature, who ascended to the American presidency in a perfect storm of contingent events: a splintered Republican...
Another Missed American Opportunity to Support Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky scored an important political win last Sunday by securing the release of 76 Ukrainians who were taken hostage by Russian and Russian-supported forces. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to have been in Kyiv tomorrow, and could have praised Zelensky’s efforts, while offering unambiguous U.S....
Why Putin’s Threat to Belarus Can’t Be Ignored
In Europe this month, all eyes were trained on the NATO heads of state gathering in London, followed by the Paris meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelenskyy and the dramatic election in Britain. These major events, however, largely overshadowed another consequential meeting—one held on December 7...
Merkel in the Middle
On more than one occasion in recent years, a German politician has indicated that Germany must find its way between the United States, China, and Russia, suggesting a kind of soft equivalence between the three. But developing policies that reflect that position is going to be increasingly difficult to do.The U.S. Congress, for instance, has just...
The Dead End of the Normandy Format
On December 9, Ukraine’s new President Volodomyr Zelensky met face to face in Paris with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He retained his dignity and ceded nothing—quite an accomplishment, given the pressures and competing interests bearing down on him and his hapless and struggling nation. After long meetings, the perpetrator and the...
Taking the Fight to the Kleptocrats
To say that Western democracies have been put on the defensive in the past decade is an understatement. To future historians, it may seem shocking to what extent the terms of political debates in the world’s wealthiest, most powerful countries are being dictated by their much weaker adversaries. The Russia- and Iran-led war in Syria...
Russia’s Fictional Narratives: A Double-Edged Sword
Fiona Hill’s warning to Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee not to repeat the “fictional narrative” that Ukraine interfered with the American election in 2016 calls for some historical perspective. Senator Angus King, independent of Maine and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, offered a bit of it recently when he...
Announcing the Zero Corruption Conference
The American Interest is pleased to announce its co-sponsorship of the Zero Corruption Conference: an international forum linking corruption and money laundering with global security, environmental, energy, and public health issues.Organized by the Anticorruption Action Centre in Ukraine, the conference will take place from April 25-27, 2020, in...
