When I learned that the eminent historian on East Central Europe, Yale professor Timothy Snyder, published a commentary article in The New York Review of Books five days ago entitled “A Way Out for Ukraine?” I lost no time bringing it up on the screen for a close read. Disappointment came quickly…Read on
Continue reading “Rebuttal to Timothy Snyder’s essay on Ukraine in the ‘New York Review of Books’”
Given the divisions in Ukrainian society over its history, its official languages, and its future civilizational orientation, the only way forward, the only win-win situation that can come out will be arrived at if all interested parties – EU, Russia and Ukraine – sit together at the table to define how Ukraine can move forward…Read on
Continue reading “Ukraine, between East and West: What Lessons can be Drawn?”
At a Brussels Press Club event on 12 November entitled “EU-Russia Relations before the Summit,” Hermitage Capital CEO Bill Browder treated a select audience of journalists and human rights activists to a variety show which included the launch of a book he has financed, Why Europe Needs a Magnitsky Law. The ultimate objective of his campaign, which now hits the road to the USA, is regime change in Russia. Read on…
Given the venomous treatment of Russia by the present-day professoriate in the United States, it may not be a bad thing if we lose a generation of Russianists and the field starts over from ashes like the phoenix. Read on…
The rot at the door of former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman is emblematic of the new Ugly Americans at the core of this US administration, starting with its boss, Barack Obama. Read on…
Continue reading “Former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman and the Snowden Factor”
The essential fact about Vladimir Putin is his remarkable ability to grow. The consummate statesman, respectful and yet firm with his opponents, who has dominated both the world stage and domestic politics these past three weeks is worlds apart from the hesitant and inexperienced newly minted President of Russia who famously responded to Larry King’s question about what happened to the submarine Kursk with the tight-lipped remark: “It sank.”
Barack Obama’s decision to put a resolution on military action to a vote in Congress before proceeding with his plans to attack Syria proves the timeless merit of Winston Churchill’s observation that “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”
Yesterday’s vote in Britain’s House of Commons was a rare case in the history of that august institution when the voice of the people prevailed on a critical issue of foreign policy. Sadly, there is unlikely to be a similar democratic exercise in the US, where foreign policy is on autopilot and the head of state is a marionette of the imperialist-minded Establishment…
Continue reading “On Democracy and Despots: lessons from the Syrian crisis”
“Our credibility to inspire change in Russia depends on our honesty.” Guy Verhofstadt, Keynote Speech at PARNAS conference “European Union and Russian Federation,” Moscow, 7 December 2012
Continue reading “Vote rigging in Estonia: Anti-Russian freedom fighter falls on her own sword”
Refusal to apply common sense to issues of current EU-Russian relations has so far blinded commentators to the peculiar behavior of the Magnitsky Act’s number one lobbyist before the European Union. In the following reportage on a seminar devoted to these matters sponsored by the ALDE bloc and held at the European Parliament building on Wednesday, I propose to break that taboo…
Continue reading “The Indefatigable Bill Browder: Selling the Magnitsky Act to Europe”
