Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
Natalia Galibarenko on Ukraine’s Politics and Foreign Policy, Interview with Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Kingdom
Natalia Galibarenko is a Ukrainian diplomat and the current Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom. Before becoming ambassador to Britain, she was the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ukraine (2014-2015), who participated in numerous bilateral/multilateral negotiations with the EU, OSCE and Council of Europe, amongst other...
Taking War Seriously: a Russia-NATO Showdown Is No Longer Just Fiction
NATO’s former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, General Sir Richard Shirreff’s new book, “2017: War With Russia,” is a work of fiction. But its subject — a clash between NATO and Russia as early as next year — is not completely fanciful. When Russia attacked Ukraine in 2014, it also attacked the Helsinki-based...
The Best (and Worst) Laid Plans
The United States has been pursuing an audacious project to fashion a global system according to its specifications and under its tutelage since the Cold War’s end. For a quarter of a century, the paramount goal of all its foreign relations has been the fostering of a system whose architectural design features the following: a neo-liberal...
Poorer Countries Admire Leaders’ Strength, Wealthier Countries Admire Their Ideals
By Paul A. Friesen A recent report by WIN/Gallup International gathered survey research from 65 countries around the world, asking respondents to choose whether they have a favorable or unfavorable view of leaders from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Together, these ten...
Insight Into the Former Soviet Union’s Fake Degrees
Image: Bribetaking. Stock Illustration. Pixabay.com There are lots of ways to get a university degree in the former Soviet Union without working for it. One is to cheat your way through the degree. Another is to bribe your way through — pay off professors, deans and even university presidents. Still another is to buy a degree from a company...
South America’s Leftist Implosion: Let The Debate Begin
From Venezuela to Brazil to Argentina, the political left is crumbling, raising real questions about the durability of South America’s so-called “Pink Tide.” In Caracas, the future of Chávez protégé Nicolás Maduro remains unclear amidst plunging world oil prices, rampant inflation, power shortages and scarcity of basic goods....
Putin Says Romania, Poland May Now Be In Russia’s Crosshairs
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned Romania and Poland they could find themselves in the sights of Russian rockets because they are hosting elements of a U.S. missile shield that Moscow considers a threat to its security.Putin issued his starkest warning yet over the missile shield, saying that Moscow had stated repeatedly that it...
Russia’s Putin Pardons Ukrainian Pilot, Hands Her Over To Kiev
Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko arrived home in Kiev on Wednesday after nearly two years in a Russian jail, part of a prisoner swap in which two Russians held in Ukraine were returned to Moscow.Handing over Savchenko, whose release had been demanded by Western governments and who has become a national hero in Ukraine, is likely to ease...
Europe in Flux: an Unusual Journey
I have just returned to Helsinki, my current home base, from a ten-day trip with the somewhat unusual itinerary of Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Austria. The four small countries vary widely in virtually every way — from their topographies to their histories — but they share one characteristic of contemporary...
Ukraine’s Bright and Gutsy Reformers Say Public Wants Immediate Reform
“A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. . . . We must have patience till luck turns,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1798. Jefferson wrote this observation to a friend thirteen years after the...
