Ted Snider

Like the war that necessitated it, Russia’s decision not to renew the UN-Turkish brokered grain deal is bad for the world but not entirely unprovoked. The deal allowed Ukraine safe passage for its grain laden ships through the mined and blockaded Black Sea ports so it could export its grain to the world. On July … Continue reading “Russia Decides Not To Renew Grain Deal: Some Context”

In a rare public display of division and lost tempers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Western partners exchanged expressions of frustration with each other at the recent NATO summit in Vilnius Lithuania. The exchange exposed more than their frustration. It exposed raw questions about the origins and endings of the war in Ukraine. Zelensky … Continue reading “If You Don’t Want To be Treated Like Amazon, Don’t Promise To Be Like Amazon”

On July 11 and 12, NATO leaders met in Vilnius Lithuania for the annual NATO summit. The important summit brought into focus the many contradictions and conundrums in the difficult NATO-Ukraine knot. The Membership Action Plan In the weeks leading up to the summit, President Joe Biden was asked if the U.S. would “make it … Continue reading “Tightening the Ukraine-NATO Knot”

At the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, eventual membership in NATO was promised to Ukraine and Georgia with the statement that “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agree today that these countries will become members of NATO.” Russian President Vladimir Putin “flew into a rage,” and, according to … Continue reading “Was ‘No NATO Expansion East’ More Than a Promise?”

It’s time. If the goal is for Ukraine to emerge from this horrible situation in as strong a position as possible, then the time has come to stop the war and negotiate a settlement. The Biden administration has long insisted that the goal is to put Ukraine in the best position “on the battlefield [to] … Continue reading “What a Negotiated Settlement to the Ukraine War Could Look Like”

Individually, each step is a small step barely picked up by the news. But in recent weeks, the world has been vibrating with multipolarity. Iran is a regional power that pursues a foreign policy that defies US hegemony and refuses to get in line with the unipolar world. Punishing that defiance is key to the … Continue reading “As America’s Influence Wanes, China’s Grows”

Following the attempted coup in Russia carried out by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner group, US President Joe Biden "made clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it. This was part of a struggle within the Russian system.” It is not quite so clear that Russian officials believe … Continue reading “Is the US Taking Advantage of the Prigozhin Coup?”

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader the Wagner group, has ended his siege of the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and turned around his march on Moscow. It is not clear what happened nor what was staged and what was real. Each expert and commentator offers a different expert commentary. To the West, the event was an attempted … Continue reading “Prigozhin’s Rebellion: What Just Happened in Russia?”

On June 8, The Wall Street Journal broke the spectacular story that China had "reached a secret agreement" with Cuba to build a new spy base on Cuba, just a hundred miles from Florida. The timing of the story was right. The story, it turns out, was not. The timing was suspiciously perfect. It broke … Continue reading “China Caught Spying on the US – Again”

On June 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with war correspondents and military bloggers for a question and answer session at the Kremlin. One war correspondent asked Putin "a question about the notorious red lines." Addressing Putin, he said, "Clearly . . . we are at war not just with the Kiev regime, but with the so-called collective … Continue reading “Is Putin Bluffing on Redlines? Ask Putin.”