Before the FIFA World Cup was given “sports diplomacy” status by pundits, academics and some among its own leadership, the ice hockey rivalry between the Soviet Union, the United States and Canada that developed during the 1960 Winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley, California proved that competitive athletics could capture the hearts and…

 
The interplay between Ukraine and Russia when it comes to gas geopolitics goes far beyond economic negotiations and development. It lies at the heart of what has been fairly inaccurate or uninformed media reporting in the West. This aspect of the conflict has been so poorly documented in the West, while being exhaustively reported in Russia…

Author: András Radnóti, Independent researcher.Measuring Europe’s logical development path against the actualities  Throughout the decade following the fall of the Soviet Union, the eyes of the Trans-Atlantic community lit up with optimism looking at Russia. The end of the division of Europe seemed like the dawn of a new…

As in 1941 WE ARE AT WAR! While Obama still dithers, Baghdad´s fall is imminent. Like the Nazis, ISIS is massacring POWs. Next, it´s Christians & Jews & in M E, U.S. & Russia. Along with Senator John McCaine, we would like to see the whole NSC team fired and General Petraeus brought back to organize the defense of Baghdad. …

 
Not that anyone would notice, but there is a disturbing and quite frankly depressing reality taking place in eastern Ukraine. While it is true the conflict that rages has been largely downplayed now and shoved off the media spotlight in the West, whatever coverage does emerge tends to be giving a relative free pass to Ukrainian police forces…

While international media have reported on the surge of violence which, since last Wednesday at dawn, has plagued Samarra, an Iraqi city lying directly north of the capital, Baghdad, in what is known as the Sunni triangle, few have actually spoken of the true nature of the clashes.
 
Samarra which is a predominantly Sunni city, located in the…

By the end of 2013 the numerous miscalculations of the Yanukovych regime had deepened the systemic crisis in Ukraine, the crux of which was the tension between the people's hopes of independence and the inefficiency of the country's post-Soviet political and social system.  The 2013-2014 revolution in Kiev paved the way for systemic reforms, but…

The affair of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, released by Taliban captives in exchange for five Guantanamo  terrorists, must be viewed by the Kremlin as a Kafkaesque, political farce.   .  Meanwhile, unnoticed by the White House and Kremlin, the anti-Taliban, presidential candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, was almost assassinated by terrorists on…

 
 
 
Thirteen years after Sept. 11, 2001 the United States still rightly prioritizes the development of new cadres for the intelligence community. This emphasis is not just logical because of the continued threat of terrorism but also makes sense when considering demographics: the oncoming retirement of the baby boom generation…

Whenever I hear the first sounds of Beethoven´s 5th  -- the allied signal for the liberation of Europe -- I recall those who fought  and died in Normandy on D-Day.  But on this 70th anniversary of one of the greatest crusades for liberty and freedom,  I am also acutely aware that, without Operation Overlord, I would not be…

It was calm along the Esplanade on the afternoon of Friday, May 23rd. Most demonstrators who protest in front of the futuristic buildings along Brasilia’s divided highway of government were gone for the weekend.
 
After former president Jose Inacio Lula da Silva (known as “Lula”) made headlines by saying that anybody who uses…

Talent Equity Newsletter interview with RIAC Program Director Ivan Timofeev.   What is leadership? Leadership is a lifestyle. At least two things differentiate the leader from others. The first is a vision of the future and understanding of what he wants from the future. The second is the will to achieve that future. Everyone makes plans for the…