Introduction Russia has sent troops into Ukraine and attacked Ukrainian military forces. In a one hour address, President Putin said the goal was the "de-Nazification" of Ukraine. It is now clear the Russian statements and proposed peace treaty in December...
WWII Redux: The Endpoint of US Policy, from Ukraine to Taiwan
"This is not going to be a war of Ukraine and Russia. This is going to be a European war, a full-fledged war." So spoke Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky just days after berating the US for beating the drums of war. It is not hard to imagine how...
Biden’s Historic Blunder and Putin’s Loss of Patience
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...
George Kennan Warned NATO Expansion Would Lead to This
We are now deep into the weeds with respect to Ukraine. So deep, in fact, that the underlying architecture of the situation doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in the hot place of getting even a fleeting mention in the 24/7 war news cycle. So let’s call...
Iraq Daily Roundup: Seven Killed
Bob Dylan and the Ukraine Crisis
Fifty-nine years ago, Bob Dylan recorded "With God on Our Side." You probably haven’t heard it on the radio for a very long time, if ever, but right now you could listen to it as his most evergreen of topical songs: I've learned to hate the Russians All...
Beware the Sanctions Trap Over Russia
The Russian government’s recognition of the independence of the two separatist republics in eastern Ukraine and the decision to send its forces openly into those territories have prompted demands for the US and its allies to impose the harshest sanctions on Russia...
Washington Should Threaten War Only if it Is Willing To Go to War: And Ukraine Does Not Justify War
Even before Moscow’s recognition of the separatist Ukrainian "republics" and introduction of "peacekeeping" troops, President Joe Biden’s strongest critics were members of Washington’s omnipresent War Party. Its members were horrified when he ended...
Is DoJ’s ‘China Initiative’ Going Away? Don’t Bet on It
February 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of then-President Richard Nixon's historic trip to the People's Republic of China (PRC), the initial step on the path to the normalization of relations between the two countries after decades of animosity, and even military...
What Accounts for Putin’s Assertiveness on Ukraine?
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s well choreographed decision yesterday to recognize the independence of the pro-Russian Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk points to two key realities: (1) Putin despairs of persuading U.S. allies, Germany and France, to press...


