Rereading my 1984 article “Misperception, Ambivalence, and Indecision in Soviet Policy-making,” for the first time in many years, most of the analysis strikes me as just as valid today as it was in 1984 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1903573.
There is, however, an important blind spot in the article. I did not fully appreciate the panic of hardliners among the leaders of the Soviet Bloc concerning the Prague Spring. It was clear that the Czechoslovak reform movement...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/germany-concerned-about-aggressive-nato-stance-on-ukraine-a-1022193.html#sp.goto.blogcomment=8148
The huge gaps between General Breedlove's allegations and the facts provided by the German intelligence service (Bundesnachrichtendienst), lead one to wonder why he continues to make such allegations. He is not stupid, and would not be acting without approval from his superiors, or at least being convinced that they would not contradict him.
Breedlove...
What makes the foolishness of US Russia policy so mind boggling is that there have been so many serious warnings. US policy took its Russophobic turn despite powerful warnings from many of our most respected experts. Said George Kennan, architect of the doctrine of containment of the Soviet Union, in a 1998 interview, "I think it is the beginning of a new cold war ... I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake....
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/d%C3%A9tente-plus-how-should-west-deal-russia
“Leslie Gelb speaks for much of the US foreign policy establishment, writes Walter Laquer, “when he says that ... ‘It is totally unrealistic . . . to think that the West can gain desired Russian restraint and cooperation without dealing with Moscow as a great power that possesses real and legitimate interests, especially in its border areas’.”
In contrast to Gelb, Cold Warrior...
Dear Amar,
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/...
Your article fleshes out several aspects of the Syria crisis of which I was not much aware. I'm tired of the simplistic one- and two-dimensional explanations that we get from our mass media. For example: The Russians don't want to lose their naval base in Tartus. They don't want to let their ally, Assad, fall. They don't want to lose income from weapons sales to Syria. They want to embarass the Americans, etc. Your...
