Picture by Andrey Kortunov, Director General, Russian International Affairs Council.   Has milk been already spilled? Is the Ukrainian default really unavoidable now?   Image credit: keptelenseg.hu   Want to be published? Send your submissions to: stuff@russiancouncil.ru

It’s no secret that the Ukrainian crisis has got out of hand. However besides the fact that it has led to thousands of civilian deaths, the Ukrainian crisis has made the contradictions in the foreign policy of Russia and the West so evident that people have compared it to the Cold War. With both sides playing the blame game, it’s obvious…

The emergence of Asian regional free trade agreement negotiations such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) of 12 Pacific Rim countries, APEC’s Free Trade Agreement of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), and ASEAN’s Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has prompted the question of whether regional trade agreements (RTAs) are…

Picture by Andrey Kortunov, Director General, Russian International Affairs Council.   Keeping an eye on Iran: is it the way to resolve Middle East problems?   Image credit: www.buscarfondos.com   Want to be published? Send your submissions to: stuff@russiancouncil.ru

Having reset relations with Washington and wooed business and high tech leaders in New York and Silicon Valley president Dilma Rousseff of Brazil flew home to a 9 percent approval rating and opponents demanding her impeachment.
 
Obama offers praise but no new money
President Obama anointing Brazil as a “major world power,” high…

“Is it the 4th?”  Said founding father Thomas Jefferson on the day he died in 1826.  Donald, I am sure you agree that if he were alive today he would be very concerned that our republic, on this sacred day, is once again approaching the fundamental, multi-dimensional crisis, amidst unprecedented world disorder as she did on July…

Picture by Andrey Kortunov, Director General, Russian International Affairs Council.   Thirst: our common future   Image credit: nationalgeographic.com   Want to be published? Send your submissions to: stuff@russiancouncil.ru

In the early 2000s, advancements in Russia-China energy collaboration were slow. Russia sought to maintain its standing as a dominant energy provider in European markets, while China searched for greater energy security among its energy suppliers. China consistently showed an interest in a cross-border oil pipeline to its refineries from Russia, but…

It was 1962 and the world had been dragged to the verge of disaster, where it remained, precariously-balanced, for thirteen – seemingly never-ending – days. Fast forwarding to half a century later, it is 2015 and it is impossible not to notice how the hard-learned lesson of the Cuban Missile Crisis appears to have been forgotten. Although…

Moscow has been moving closer to Beijing in the last couple of years and making a concerted effort to “pivot to Asia” in light of Russia’s deteriorating relations with the West. While other powers in the Asia-Pacific region such as U.S. and Japan have had a strategic interest in cross-strait relations (i.e. relations between China…

June 26 was a day of profound significance and not just because of the landmark, U.S. Supreme Court  decision legalizing gay marriage, or the president’s eulogy for black worshippers massacred by a white racist in a South Carolina church.  Unlike in Great Britain, tri-continental attacks by Islamic fascists on this day have neither…

via Leksika



Reinforcing Economic Ties
After last weekend’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), economic activity by Western companies in Russia appears to have been reinforced. Among the attendees of the event, major European and American companies’ strong presence provides insight into the divergence of political…