On October 14, the White House dismissed a proposal by President Putin to send Prime Minister Medvedev to the United States to discuss military cooperation in Syria. White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the proposal a sign of "desperation." Said Earnest: "We're not interested in doing that, as long as Russia is not willing…

Political parties are alleged to provide their electorates with choice. Cynics might object that, while elections give an electorate the feeling that they have choice, this is only an illusion. Soviet propagandists used to like to point out that the choice is only between Rockefeller millionaires and Kennedy millionaires, that is, among factions of…

“Shields up – Red Alert,” was the going-into-battle command of the star ship’s Enterprise’s captains: made immortally famous by the likes of Captain James. T. Kirk, of the original Star Trek series, and Captain Jean Luke Pickard, of Star Trek, the Next Generation. Today, we are now witnessing a similar battle cry…

Jeb, Donald Trump is unfortunately, correct. Your brother did not "keep us safe." Like your friend and former Florida campaign treasurer, Felicano Foyo, we deeply admire you. We also admire your brother’s response to 9/11 and respect your loyalty to him. However, our first loyalty as Americans, is to our republic. You are killing your…

In the ten months since Dilma Rousseff was inaugurated for her second term as president Brazil has had three defense ministers.
 
Not what you would expect from the nation that U.S. president Barack Obama has annointed as a "major world power."
 
Budget cuts at key ministries mandated by Dilma's financial team have created…

Picture by Andrey Kortunov, Director General, Russian International Affairs Council.   Do airstrikes turn into the universal tool of peace building? Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria... to be continued?   Image credit: www.wallpapersdesign.net   Want to be published? Send your submissions to:…

Malala the viral iconI was one amongst those who were outraged by the shooting of Malala Yousofzai on Oct 9, 2012.  However, my opinions regarding her putative education jihad, her alleged single-handed campaigns against the Taliban, and even the alleged shooting incidence itself rapidly changed when the subsequent lionization process reeked of a…

 
 
A few days ago the Centre of Strategic and International Studies published a detailed analysis on the results of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia. Its author, Simon De Galbert, gave also some policy recommendations in case some future scenarios will materialize. Here I report the main points.
 
 
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The current situation in Ukraine is mostly considered as a simply conflict between pro-Russian insurgency and the Ukrainian government. But the truth has become far more complex and it is now a crucial security issue for EU and Russian governance.
 
The employment of paramilitary volunteer battalions by Poroshenko’s government to fight…

Below is a reading list I have devised for all our presidential candidates. Above all, they must obtain a  basic knowledge of foreign affairs and the policies of the two successful presidents who managed to develop limited partnership with Russia,  Richard Nixon until Watergate and Ronald Reagan. What were the basics of Nixon’s…

Putin is one of the favorite topics in the Western media. While in office, the Russian president has been put under the microscope from different angles. Many attempts at creating his psychological portrait and discovering his identity have been undertaken in order to understand what is to be expected from Putin’s Russia. The most popular and…

Just in time for recapping the polarized choices presented by President Obama and President Putin at The United Nations General Assembly. In Foreign Policy there is a struggle between two concepts which every nation must face. There is the idealist perspective which promotes what is right under societal values and norms (which differ per culture)…