Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
Why Putin’s Policy in Syria Has Laid the Groundwork for a Political Settlement
MOSCOW — President Putin’s decision to start pulling Russian troops out of Syria made headlines around the world this week. But if one recalls official statements at the start of the operation and after it was in full force, the decision was to be expected. It was said from the very beginning that the operation would continue for only...
Why Putin Went Into Syria
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on March 14 that he would begin withdrawing his main forces from Syria. Russia appears to have deployed about 70 aircraft and more than 4,000 support personnel to protect and maintain the aircraft. It was not a major deployment, but it shifted the situation on the ground. Before the deployment there had...
Abuse of Prisoners of Conscience is Rampant in Former Soviet Union
Image: Prison. Stock Photo. Pixabay.com Kazakhstan’s prison authorities were itching to get their hands on human-rights lawyer Vadim Kuramshin, who had embarrassed them inside and outside the country by exposing abuse of inmates. When Kuramshin accused prosecutors in southern Kazakhstan’s Zhambyl Province of corruption, the prison...
Russia Isn’t Really Withdrawing From Syria
BEIRUT — Russian President Vladimir Putin caught nearly everyone by surprise with his Syria drawdown announcement. Little wonder: the Syria-led coalition forces had momentum behind them; they were on a roll, gaining ground sometimes even without a fight. Pat Lang, a former U.S. defense intelligence officer, noted that the so-called Islamic...
Let us not make Ukraine a forgotten crisis
Today I am visiting Ukraine for the third time since I started my mandate as European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management well over a year ago. My trip to eastern Ukraine comes at a time when the ongoing human suffering in the region is out of the spotlight of the international media. We cannot allow Ukraine to become a...
In Ukraine a War Rages on, and America Should Care
One March 13, Ukrainian military outposts were attacked 71 times by Russian backed militants in the fiercely contested Eastern region of Ukraine. While this battle between Russia and Ukraine rages on, the headlines have slowed to a trickle. With all the other major conflicts and crisis in the world, not to mention a heated political season here...
Will Russian Withdrawal Mean a Federal Syria or More War?
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s surprise announcement to withdraw most Russian war planes and personnel from Syria has left the public in the dark about his motives, raising troubling questions about whether the move will provide an opening for the U.S., Turkey and their Gulf allies to resume their drive towards regime change in...
Peering Into War’s Foggy Future
“I don’t try to predict the future of war.” Sir Lawrence Freedman, March 10, 2016 Anyone who attended New America and Arizona State University’s “Future of War” conference on March 10 and sought a clear vision of the future was in for disappointment. The picture that emerged from a fast-moving series of panels,...
This Is The Mistake That’s Costing Marco Rubio The Election
WASHINGTON — Marco Rubio staked his presidential campaign on a prediction: Global unrest, he told the Associated Press a year ago, would cause voters to place higher-than-usual weight on the foreign policy positions of presidential candidates. Rubio would run on foreign policy, and Republican primary voters would choose him as their...
This Is The Mistake That’s Costing Marco Rubio The Election
WASHINGTON — Marco Rubio staked his presidential campaign on a prediction: Global unrest, he told the Associated Press a year ago, would cause voters to place higher-than-usual weight on the foreign policy positions of presidential candidates. Rubio would run on foreign policy, and Republican primary voters would choose him as their...
