As a Scotsman researching the contemporary attempts to develop the Russian Far East, it can often feel like a distant endeavour when reading and writing about events from my office far away in Glasgow. With that in mind I recently spent a few weeks visiting four cities in the region to bring my local knowledge back up to speed and get a real look at…

While President Obama is engaged in Carter-esque, zig-zagging over military action against ISIS the Islamic, fascist organization with global ambitions, we are now also facing the other source of threat to world peace.  With Kiev winning over the separatists in the Eastern Ukraine, Putin has decided to ramp up its slow motion intervention on the…

Let us consider Central Asia. There are currently three primary concerns in the region as of 2014: drug trafficking, Islamist terrorism, and poverty. The three problems are, of course, inextricable -- the first funds the second, and the third inspires the former two. The prominence of these factors fluctuates on a state by state basis, generally due…

Is Media A Lapdog, Watchdog, Running Dog Or Simply Wagging Its Tail In A Society?By Firoz Abdul HamidConsultant Advisor, LKY of Public Policy, Singapore  Year 2007. The corridors were long and by my standards silent except when a door opened. Each department separated by strong wooden doors. The walks across and below THE building (Prime…

Amid endless talks about the ramifications of sanctions imposed against Russia, Western commentators and policy pundits are missing a critical point. Economic coercion imposed against Moscow, their argument runs, will enfeeble the Russian government and force it to yield to Western demands. Part of the logic is that Russia's extractive economy is…

In light of the Ukrainian crisis, Sweden has started to consider providing a financial assistance package to Ukraine. While such a decision does not seem out of character for the beneficent country who has taken in almost 20 percent of the European Union’s asylum seekers last year[1], there may be other factors that have led Sweden towards this…

Less than two weeks ago President Obama, sitting for an interview with The Economist magazine, basically went ‘old school’ on President Putin, dismissing his Presidency, his country, and the future of both. While his words were certainly blatant and blunt, what might be even more revealing is the subtle subtext hidden inside his cavalier…

 
Reprinted from The National Interest, 8/22/2014
For many, the collapse of Russo-U.S. relations over Moscow’s (bloodless) invasion of Crimea and proxy war in eastern Ukraine points to the beginnings of a new Cold War. However, Russia has not irrevocably transformed itself from limited partner into implacable foe. Washington and Moscow…

For almost a hundred years the United States has been the primary instigator of international drug prohibition. Recent developments, however, have been challenging the Washington’s ability to maintain this position. Relaxation of cannabis law in Washington and Colorado, as well as passive affirmation from the Obama administration, have reduced…

Latent tensions have loomed before civil strife actually irrupted in Ukraine amid deep-rooted political uncertainties. That claims upon the Crimean peninsula would be eventually raised by Putin’s Russia, concentrating troops at the borders and effecting what appeared to be a military invasion, followed by a political validation (i.e. the…

Although some pundits believe that no nation should consider joining NATO in light of Ukraine’s situation[1], the crisis nevertheless has fundamentally changed NATO’s relationship with Sweden. This change for Sweden comes due to a combination of already present concerns such as defense capabilities and reliability of alliances that have…

To be sure, the current conflict between the US and Russia over Ukraine is a mismatch, given the disparity in power between the two sides. Russia is not, and cannot even pretend to be, a contender for world domination. Unlike the Soviet Union, it is not driven by some universal ideology, does not lead a bloc of states ruled by the same ideology…