Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
Merkel Is Best To Solve The Crisis With Putin, Says Former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt
Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden, is one of Europe’s leading statesmen. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Berggruen Institute’s Council on the Future of Europe. He spoke with The European on Friday about the Ukraine crisis.The European: Mr. Bildt, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is...
The Kids Are Alright!
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.” — Khalil Gibran Gibran has always been one of my go-to guides in life. Born in Lebanon and heavily influenced by Islam (he was raised as a Christian) he has given me gentle reminders on a wide range of topics over the...
Ukraine Fights Where It Should Not; With Armed Means Neither Effective Nor Strategic
The theater of struggle for Ukraine is in fact not the Donbas region where an intensive armed campaign is currently taking place. There are three battlefields – neither of them eastern Ukraine – on which a long-term outcome of this conflict will eventually be decided. The ultimate victory for Ukraine is centered around the unity of...
Ukraine Needs Political Solution, but Can Diplomacy Succeed Without Weapons?
Ukraine has had several cycles on the diplomatic merry-go-round, but the only result is more weapons in the hands of the so-described pro-Russia rebels. There is another round of diplomacy planned this week, an initiative by the German Chancellor Merkel and French President Hollande. However, the early indication is that Russia’s strongman...
Demands To Censor Twitter Soar
If loose lips sink ships, what can tweets do? Enough to worry governments, apparently. Governments around the world made 796 demands to take down content on Twitter in the last six months of 2014, up 84 percent from the first half of the year, the social network said on Monday in its latest transparency report. Governments have also ramped up...
Does Putin Want War or Negotiations?
Confusion, confusion, confusion! This is how Russian President Vladimir Putin, increasingly isolated from Western conversations, keeps the world on its toes. Because only he has any answers. The conflict in eastern Ukraine is ever more fierce. Russian-supported rebels in the occupied cities of Donetsk and Luhansk now use sophisticated weapons to...
Far From Waning, America Has Become a True World Empire
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — What is the nature of the modern world order? Answers to this question are incalculably many. However, the one provided by Salvatore Babones, a native New Yorker and currently a professor at the University of Sydney, has recently struck me as probably the most compelling. Challenging the conventional wisdom, Babones...
America Needs a More Focused and Restrained National Security Strategy
As the American cable news entertainment channels focus on the artificial “American Sniper” controversy, the Obama administration’s issuance of its second and final national security strategy (the last one was done in 2010) was buried deep in the back pages of the newspapers. Unfortunately, most Americans don’t choose to...
EU Puts Off Fresh Russia Sanctions Awaiting Minsk Talks
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union decided Monday to hold off temporarily on slapping sanctions on more Russians and Ukrainian separatists and await the outcome of possible peace talks later this week. With the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine due to hold negotiations in Minsk, Belarus, on Wednesday, the EU has held off placing...
Obama’s Ukraine Policy At Crossroads As Fighting Rages On
By Warren Strobel, Matt Spetalnick and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON/MUNICH, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Russian-backed rebels’ violent offensive in eastern Ukraine leaves President Barack Obama with perplexing and urgent choices, but aides say he will exercise his typical caution in deciding his next move. Should Obama provide lethal weaponry to...
