ACEWA Board Member David Speedie attended a three-day Conference on International Security in Moscow and reports that “a global array of speakers articulated a corresponding range of country/area-specific concerns, much of which was familiar but nevertheless important to hear.” More than 600 official delegates from 83 countries attended – yet representatives from the U.S. and U.K. were notably absent.
Analysis
Lev Golinkin: When we can’t agree to fight against neo-Nazis, we’ve reached a new low
Have we reached a juncture at which a lawmaker must defend himself for removing weapons of war from white supremacists? Has dialogue in America degraded to the point where Russia can be used to attack people for fighting anti-Semitism?
The Danger of Demonization (Robert Parry)
As the West is sucked deeper into the Syrian conflict and starts a new Cold War with Russia, the mainstream news media has collapsed as a vehicle for reliable information, creating a danger for the world, writes Robert Parry.
Amb. Tony Kevin: Diplomatic Fallout from the Skripal Affair, an Australian Diplomat’s View
The Skripal Affair is by no means over, but after the reciprocal diplomatic expulsions now nearing completion, it is timely to attempt a state of play wrap from an independent Australian perspective. [Read more…] about Amb. Tony Kevin: Diplomatic Fallout from the Skripal Affair, an Australian Diplomat’s View
Putin Is Being Pushed to Abandon His Conciliatory Approach to the West and Prepare for War (HuffPost)
Something significant happened in the last few days of April, but it seems the only person who noticed was Stephen Cohen, a professor emeritus of Russian studies at New York University and Princeton University.
Stephen F. Cohen: Russophobia in the New Cold War
Several factors make this US-Russian Cold War more dangerous than its predecessor – is “Russo-madness” one of them?
James Carden: Democrats Enlist to Serve, Protect, and Defend the Discredited Foreign-Policy Consensus
There are other voices from which Democratic foreign-policy intellectuals and practitioners ought to draw inspiration in the age of endless war, aside from those liberal hawk/interventionists who are partially responsible for it.
PODCAST: Slouching Toward War With Russia (Stephen F Cohen)
Nation Contributing Editor and ACEWA Board Member Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new American-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments are at TheNation.com.) This week’s discussion focuses on the growing US-led NATO military buildup—on land, sea, and in the skies—directly on or very near Russia’s borders: in the three Baltic states, Poland, Romania, and in other East European countries.
Escalations in a New Cold War (Jonathan Marshall)
The Obama administration poked Russia in the eye again by activating a missile defense site in Romania while building up NATO forces on Russia’s borders, acts that could escalate toward nuclear war, notes Jonathan Marshall.
Kanwal Sibal: Russia-Baiting and the International Fallout of the Murky Skripal Poisoning Case
Whatever the truth behind the Skripal affair, Russia-baiting has become a prime feature of US and European foreign policy for various reasons, writes Kanwal Sibal, a former foreign secretary of India.
The U.S. Is ‘Missing’ Millions in Ukraine (Derek Monroe)
Increasingly, the cookies distributed by the Deputy Secretary of State Nuland at the EuroMaidan are the most expensive pastries ever sold: they are paid for both in U.S. Treasury (five billion and counting) and at least 10,000 lives.
Marie Antoinette would be proud. The revolution which ultimately cost her head is back, and inflicted on ordinary people.
Ray McGovern: U.S. Establishment: Nixing Arms Control
Trump’s new National Security Adviser John Bolton has been instrumental in launching wars and scrapping arms control treaties – just the man for the job as the U.S. embarks on a new arms race with Russia, Ray McGovern sardonically observes.
Is this About Helping the Tatars – or Just Another Pretext for Attacking Russia? (Peter Hitchens)
Are those who chose to make the Tatars This Week’s Good Cause concerned about opposing injustice in general, or actually concerned about attacking Russia in particular?
Pepe Escobar: Will the Putin-Xi era supersede the Western liberal (dis)order?
Perhaps a Confucian path would be the right direction toward Eurasian integration
Lyle Goldstein: Is Russia’s Planned ‘Combat Icebreaker’ a Serious Threat?
Russia has set up a new Arctic command, along with a several new bases in the far north, over the last several years. Yet for all the talk of “Russia’s Arctic militarization,” it is not often mentioned that all these new bases have been set up well within Russia’s own territory.
Will NATO’s missile shield spur a new Cold War? (Al Jazeera)
It was meant to act as a deterrent but instead, a new NATO missile defence shield is stirring up tensions that have not been seen since the end of the Cold War.
VIDEO: Prof. Richard Sakwa: US and Russia: New Age of Nuclear Instability (Part 1/2)
Russia has the power to destroy the U.S. several times over, and unprecedented bipartisan hawkishness in Washington is driving the world to a precipice by blocking diplomatic talks, demonizing Putin, and delegitimizing the system in Russia says Prof. Richard Sakwa
VIDEO: Prof. Richard Sakwa: US and Russia: New Age of Nuclear Instability (Part 2/2)
With the New START treaty set to end in 2021 and no substantive nuclear arms talks underway, the United States and Russia have entered “a phase of enormous danger,” says author and scholar Richard Sakwa
NATO vs. Putin sabre-rattling raises Cold War concerns (CBC)
An already tense security situation in eastern Europe is about to become even more strained…Poland will look like a war zone June 7-17 as 31,000 ground troops and sailors from 24 NATO and partner countries stage enormous land, sea and air exercises to block a hypothetical Russian incursion from the east.
National Interest Panel: Stumbling into a War with Russia
A panel of experts discussed U.S.-Russian relations today at the Center for the National Interest.