Historians will one day look back at the past week as a decisive tipping point which headed Belgium into split-up. Read on…

Continue reading “Belgium at the Tipping Point” →

In this essay I try to come to grips with the leading publication of the American foreign policy establishment, paying homage to its strengths while highlighting its weaknesses and asking what can be done to use its franchise more beneficially under new management. Read on…

 

Continue reading “Foreign Affairs magazine: the Ancien Régime” →

Is there a hidden agenda of some Greater Flanders patriots within the local administration of France’s Département du Nord? Or are the local officials and citizenry simply blind to what is going on in neighboring Belgium? Read on….

Continue reading “Playing with Matches: the Musée de Flandre, Cassel, France” →

Bearing a name which could easily be confused by unsuspecting readers with the world-renowned Council on Foreign Relations based in New York and Washington, the ECFR has been issuing some attention grabbing studies on foreign policy challenges facing the Old Continent. In this essay we examine one of its latest opuses…

Continue reading “The European Council on Foreign Relations: a Think Tank Like No Other” →

 

In the midst of the brouhaha over the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, which provided a platform for Russian push-back over America’s democracy agenda, and following closely upon the release of U.S. diplomatic cables revealing NATO’s recent approval of an operational plan to repel a Russian invasion of the Baltics, which contradicts the official identification of Russia as a friendly power posing no threat to the Alliance, Vladimir Putin has chosen to drop the mask and call openly for Russian accession to NATO. Read on….

 

 

Continue reading “More on Russia in NATO: Mr Putin Tips His Hand?” →

 

In her programmatic statement of July 2009 about the future conduct of U.S. foreign policy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained why the Obama administration favored transparent, public diplomacy. In the person of Julian Assange and Wikileaks, civil society has taken her at her word and bitten back. Read on…

Continue reading “More Wikileaks: Public versus secret diplomacy in the 21st century” →

 

The Russians in power and out acknowledge their many problems and will solve them at their own pace and with their own resources. For an argument against outside meddling, read what follows…

Continue reading “To Meddle or Not to Meddle: Boris Nemtsov’s Visit to the U.S. Poses Questions over America’s Commitment to Re-set” →

Should WikiLeaks founder Assange be nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize? The essay below opens the debate. Read on

Continue reading “A Nomination for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize: WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange” →

The remarks of Merkel, Sarkozy and Medvedev and their body language at the October 19th closing ceremony of the first trilateral summit in five years give us an unequivocal indication of their mutual relations. Kremlinologists can surely find here the answer to their number one question: will Dmitry Medvedev continue in office after 2012.

 

Continue reading “Medvedev at Deauville: An Eyewitness Account” →

In his latest book drawing upon his experiences as key adviser to President Ronald Reagan on U.S. policy to the USSR then as ambassador to Moscow in the period of Perestroika, 1987-1991, Jack Matlock nurtures the false hope that educating the public about the real reasons of the collapse of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the USSR itself will help bring American foreign policy back to pragmatism and moderation.

 

Continue reading “Jack F. Matlock, Jr. Superpower Illusions. An expanded analysis” →