Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
Putin Retaliates Against Sanctions
LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning or limiting imports of agricultural products from countries which have imposed sanctions on Russia, the Kremlin’s press service said on Wednesday. Putin ordered his government to come up with a list of goods to be banned for imports into Russia...
New Level of Sanctions, or From Russia With Love
These days, authorities in Russia are seriously considering the prospect of imposing an airspace ban against all European airlines that fly above the country, using Trans Siberian air route. On Tuesday, Vedomosti Daily reported Russia was considering limiting, or even completely blocking European flights to Asia that cross Siberia, in response to...
NATO Isn’t Ready to Take on Russia, But the Problem Is Political, Not Military
On July 31, while it remained unclear exactly how directly involved in the Ukrainian crisis Russia is, the British media ominously reported that NATO had been deemed unready to fight a war with Russia.The story comes from the Commons Defence Select Committee, in a report Towards the next Defense and Security Review: Part Two – NATO, an...
Ebola Isn’t the Only Illness Out There Killing Our World
The United Nations and especially its western members are patients in serious need of medical attention. Onset of symptoms has not been sudden. This is no acute illness. Instead, it is a chronic malaise characterized by an imperceptibly slow but steady degeneration of neuropathy leading to sensory deprivation, organ failure, and risk of death. In...
What Actually Constitutes A War Crime?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the militant group Hamas this month of committing a “double war crime” for targeting Israeli civilians with rockets and using the Gaza Strip’s residents as “human shields.” Palestinian officials, meanwhile, argued that Israel should be charged with war crimes for the...
All About Trade: First U.S. Cabinet-Level Visit to India’s Modi Government
Secretary of State John Kerry has his hands more than full in dealing with multiple crises in Ukraine and Gaza at this time. But he and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker traveled to India last week ostensibly for the fifth edition of the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue. Not much has changed in the strategic positions of both countries since the...
Israel and Russia: Rogue States in Public Opinion?
Two recent blog posts by Aaron Blake on the Washington Post website (July 22, “What Russia and Israel Have in Common” and July 29, “Young Americans Take a Dim View of Israel’s Actions”) should give pause to any assumption in Israel that the American public — and American media — will support whatever the...
More Than 300 Ukrainian Troops Cross Into Russia, Confusion Reigns
By Natalia Zinets and Richard Balmforth KIEV, Aug 4 (Reuters) – Ukraine said on Monday it was in talks with Moscow over the return of 311 Ukrainian soldiers and border guards who had been forced by fighting with separatists to cross into Russia, but Russian border authorities said the troops were seeking asylum. Both sides seemed set to use...
Imagining World War III — In 2034
VLADIVOSTOCK — If the next world war is to happen, it will most likely be in Asia and feature a clash between the incumbent hegemon, the United States, and the principal challenger, China. The good news is China does not want war now and in the foreseeable future, primarily because Beijing knows too well that the odds are not on its side....
Obama Hosts Africa Summit With An Eye On Legacy
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Barack Obama immerses himself in talks on Africa’s regional security, democracy building and business investment this week, the world’s attention — and much of his own — will be on an extraordinary array of urgent overseas crises. Obama is gathering nearly 50 African heads of state in...