Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
Why Putin Needs to Read ‘War and Peace’
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a secret fascination with Leo Tolstoy. As a young KGB agent, he purportedly made a pilgrimage to the Leo Tolstoy Museum and Estate at Yasnaya Polyana. In 2012, he named the writer’s great great grandson Vladimir Tolstoy his cultural advisor. He made War and Peace a prominent set piece in the opening...
Ukraine: The World’s Second-Highest Inflation
Venezuela has the dubious honor of registering the world’s highest inflation rate. According to my estimate, the annual implied inflation rate in Venezuela is 252%. The only other country in which this rate is in triple digits is Ukraine, where the inflation rate is 111%. The only encouraging thing to say about Ukraine’s shocking...
Nonviolent Movements Are Best Chance for Democracy. And They Must Be Helped.
As the bombing campaign of Houthi positions in Yemen continued and Saudi Arabia and Egypt threatened ground invasion, the men and women of Taizz, Yemen’s third largest city, came out in thousands last week to protest the Houthi’s take over of their city. The Taizz residents used the most effective weapon they had, but which the...
Pope Francis’ “Urbi et Orbi” Easter 2015 Message (Full Text)
Pope Francis used his Easter Sunday message to call for an end to violence and oppression everywhere. The traditional Urbi et Orbi (to the city and to the world) blessing, delivered at the end of Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, is often seen as a “papal commentary on the state of world affairs.” Francis asked the world...
Iran Nuclear Deal Pits U.S. Congress Versus U.S. Allies?
The debate over the wisdom of the Iran Nuclear Deal has most frequently been projected as a divide between the Obama Administration and the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress (including many Democrats) who instead urge a policy of continued sanctions, pressure or even military action as urged by Israeli PM Netanyahu. However, the real leverage in...
Redefining the Political Dynamic of the Middle East
Announcement of Interim Agreement Over Iranian Nuclear Program On April 2, in Lausanne Switzerland, the foreign affairs ministers of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Iran, as well as the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, along with Russian, and Chinese diplomats, announced they had reached agreement on a framework...
The State of Romanian Extremism
Romania Mare (Greater Romania) was founded in 1990 first as a magazine and then as a political party by two former court poets of the Ceausescu era: Corneliu Vadim Tudor and Eugen Barbu. As its name suggests, the ultra-nationalist party has been dedicated to expanding the borders of Romania to encompass Moldova and parts of Ukraine. It has also...
Iranian Negotiations – Common Sense Perspective from the American Heartland
With the announcement of the framework for a nuclear deal with Iran the debate here in the United States on the advantages and disadvantages of a deal can begin in earnest. Posturing politicians at both ends of the political spectrum, seeking advantage in the 2016 election season, will pander to partisan constituencies and deep-pocket donors. But...
Moscow Condemns ‘Anti-Russian Campaign’ In U.S.
MOSCOW, April 3 (Reuters) – Russia expressed outrage on Friday over a “frenzied anti-Russian campaign” by U.S. media and political analysts, stepping up a war of words that has intensified during the Ukraine crisis. Ties between Moscow and Washington have sunk to their lowest level since the Cold War over the crisis in Ukraine,...
Russian Trawler Sinks In Pacific Leaving Dozens Dead: Report
(Adds nationalities of those on the ship, details, paragraphs 1-5) April 2 (Reuters) – At least 43 people have died and 26 are missing after a Russian trawler sank late on Wednesday in the Western Pacific Ocean near the Kamchatka Peninsula, the TASS news agency reported, citing an officer at a maritime rescue coordination center in the...
