Update (2/24/22, 1:30pm EST): Recent events suggest that Putin’s response was not calibrated to avoid a larger action in Ukraine. It is an unfortunate choice. Wherever responsibility lies for the events that have led to this crisis, war is always the wrong answer. It...
What Blinken Told the QUAD
On February 11, the QUAD held a foreign ministers meeting in Australia. They issued a joint statement, but it is hard to analyze what it said because it said nothing. However, in answers to reporters in press conferences held both before and after the meeting, they...
Whose Side Is India On?
Nobody talks about India. India is the second largest country by population in the world, and yet hardly anything is written about it in Western discussions of foreign policy and international relations. In the emerging new cold war, what side is India on? Surely, for...
Pivoting to the East in Middle East
Recent moves by Middle Eastern countries to explore hedging their relationship with the US by balancing them with relations with China and Russia in the emerging New Cold War have been increasingly lighting up America’s radar. In August, 2020, CIA director Bill Burns...
The US Response to Russia: Cuban Missile Crisis and Historical Parallels
In December, Russia sent the US a proposal on mutual security guarantees and a request for immediate negotiations. A set of unique factors, including the leverage of troops on the Ukrainian border and China’s very public support of Russia, led to the...
American Hypocrisy: Backing Neo-Nazis in Ukraine
Here are seven examples of hypocrisy and irony regarding the crisis in Ukraine that you are not likely to read in the main stream media. 1. Is There a Risk of Invasion or Isn’t There? The US and its allies seem to be furious with Ukraine because we insist on...
Too Late To Triangulate: The New Shape of the World
Trust is key to a relationship. At the end of the Cold War, Russia sincerely wanted to join the West. But that relationship has broken, and Russia has moved on to a new partner. A little discussed reason for that disappointment is the complete loss of trust Russia had...
What’s Actually Happening in Ukraine?
Western media and Western governments are all telling us one thing. But, suddenly, the actual players are all telling us another. Is it possible that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed an opportune situation too far and is now afraid of what he has...
What Brought Biden to the Table?
No one knows whether the recent talks between the US and Russia will produce results. But they happened. And they have led to the promise of further talks. What, after a quarter century of Russian cries, brought Biden to the table? The US long ago left its place at...
Joe Biden: Strike Three!
When Joe Biden came to office a year ago, there were a number of easy foreign policy victories he could have quickly claimed. He claimed none of them. Cuba In Cuba, all Biden had to do was keep his promise. While campaigning to be president, Biden said that...