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.”
Category: International
On Democracy and Despots: lessons from the Syrian crisis
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…
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Vote rigging in Estonia: Anti-Russian freedom fighter falls on her own sword
“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
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The Indefatigable Bill Browder: Selling the Magnitsky Act to Europe
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…
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America’s Neocon Mainstream
America’s conduct of foreign relations remains enthralled to Neocon ideology. Only when this false religion is dispatched can the U.S. begin to address lost opportunities with Russia…and with many other powers as well.
European Federalism: Right Cause, Wrong People!
The recent Spinelli Forum of 25 March in Brussels bore the catchy title “The European Federalism explained to children…and to the heads of State and Government.” After sitting in the auditorium for about 45 minutes even I began to get the idea…Read on
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A Russianist Who Cares: Thane Gustafson’s “Wheel of Fortune”
It is a rare day to find an American-authored work on modern Russian history which meets the simple criteria of deep knowledge of the chosen topic, the author’s readiness to call things as he sees them without sideways glance at the prevailing wisdom and a basic affinity for the people and culture. In his latest monograph, Thane Gustafson meets these desiderata with ease. Read on…
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Iraq in Retrospect: An Open Letter to Gideon Rose, Editor of ‘Foreign Affairs’ Magazine
The feature article in today’s edition of Foreign Affairs online marking the 10th anniversary of American intervention in Iraq represents full confirmation of the damning generalizations about the press and elite behavior set out in Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky’s classic work (1988) Manufacturing Consent. Read on….
The Carnegie Center Moscow: A Nest of Sedition
Judging by a recently published booklet by Lilia Shevtsova, one of the senior officers of the Carnegie Center Moscow, the Carnegie Organization is failing badly on two fundamental points of its mission statement: promotion of peaceful engagement and excellence of research. Indeed the Center has become a nest of sedition domestically in Russia and a promoter of misunderstanding in US-Russian relations. Read on…
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Mario Monti: the Mandarin on Tour
Mario Monti’s presentation of his new book at the Bozar auditorium ten days ago was regrettably short on substance, like the book itself. Monti traded political indiscretions for audience applause. With friends like this, the federalist cause of EU reform has little chance of gaining traction. Read on….
Gilbert Doctorow 