For the Russian government to take timely measures in the ongoing crisis situation and prevent long term negative consequences for its economy, it would be better if the pain so many people are experiencing were given due coverage and explained.
2015 Schlangenbad Dialogue: the East-West Confrontation in Microcosm
After listening patiently to the inevitable snide remarks about Kremlin positions, I followed the American folk wisdom for getting the attention of a mule: you first whack him with a 2 by 4 beam. The beam at my disposal was the remark: “Gentlemen if we continue in this tone with the Russians, we will all be dead.”
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Moscow’s 70th Anniversary Victory Day Celebrations: as reported by a fly on the wall
The impact of the ‘regiment of immortals’ procession was such that even the normally dry-eyed UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon congratulated Vladimir Putin for earning the high regard of his people. No wonder the Obama administration took such pains to keep its allies from coming to the ceremony
A fresh look at Strobe Talbott’s The Russia Hand: A Memoir of Presidential Diplomacy
“I made the mistake of trying to insert my own view into Clinton’s stream of consciousness…The president gave me a look that combined amusement and impatience. I’d just reminded him, he said, of why I was a journalist and not a politician.” Read on…
Speech to the World Russia Forum
I rather doubt that an ideology has been developed in Germany to drive its actions in the East. But these actions incrementally have put it on a collision course with Russian geopolitical interests that rival NATO expansion as a causal factor in the Ukraine crisis.
“Crimea. A Way Home”: Important Public Diplomacy Messages from Russia on the Ukraine Crisis
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Now that UK and US trainers are being dispatched to Ukraine, now that joint military exercises with NATO are being prepared, there are in place all the preconditions for yet another ‘false flag’ provocation such as have marked turning points in the Russia-West relationship over the past year.Read on…
A Push-back to the CEPS Task Force Report on “More Union in European Defence”
Solutions to the perceived Russian threat to European security must not be left to military experts alone, as this report demonstrates. Europe must tap into the relevant multi-disciplinary expertise coming from area studies if it is to do better. Read on…
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A youtube.com documentary worth viewing: Round Table in Brussels 2 March 2015
On 2 March, a Round Table discussion of unusual importance dealing with European security and the ongoing confrontation with Russia over Ukraine was held in the Press Club Brussels Europe, where the proceedings were fully recorded.Read on…
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Boris Nemtsov, R.I.P., 27 February 2015
The slaying of Boris Nemtsov yesterday was a contract killing of great political moment carried out by professionals who had done their research of the location very thoroughly to ensure their own invisibility to surveillance cameras and a magnificent background of the Kremlin for suggestive journalism. And so the notion of a provocation remains uppermost. Read on…
Merkel, the Peacemaker
Merkel’s name is being publicly nominated for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for her role in the Minsk accords. Certainly her claims for such distinction are vastly greater than Barack Obama’s were in 2009 . Read on….
Gilbert Doctorow 