... 79). The Crimean secession and rejoining with Russia, in turn, seems to have heightened NATO’s ambitions of expanding its membership to the borders of Russia. In its April 2018 Bucharest Declaration, members concurred that the alliance “welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership ... [and] these countries will become members of NATO.” [
28
]
On war in Syria, regime change in Libya, and Kosovo’s independence
Cohen writes that a U.S.-Russia détente also died in Syria, where the two largely failed to cooperate to defeat Islamist extremist forces. And while some American politicians (such as Hillary Clinton) were promoting a logical “no fly zone” in Syria, Cohen thinks such a plan,...
... order was complete. The takeover of Crimea and support for separatism in Donbass did not presage a policy of reconquering Eastern Europe, as many in the West feared, but it clearly set Ukraine and other former Soviet republics off limits to any future NATO enlargement. The security buffer was back. If the use of force in Ukraine, from the Kremlin’s standpoint, was essentially defensive, Russia’s intervention in Syria in 2015 was a risky gambit to decide geopolitical outcomes in the Middle East — a famously treacherous area for outsiders vacated by the Soviet Union at the time of the Persian Gulf war of 1991. Since then, the results of the military operation ...
... inconsistent in its policies towards North Korea, the Middle East (predominantly Syria, Turkey and Iran), China, Venezuela, and Ukraine. And this inconsistency doesn’t seem to be a part of a grand strategy defined within the laws of “realpolitik”, ... ... anymore.
Amongst those who longer rely on the West, and particularly the United States, is undoubtedly Turkey, still a member of NATO. The country disrespected international norms and laws and
initiated
active hostilities on the northern border of Syria. Turkey’s explicit violations were not shackled completely, but with the latest
engagement
of U.S. and Russia, they were temporarily stopped from escalating. Back in the day, Turkey would never act against American interests in the ...
A series of Russian civil-military concepts can create great benefits for Europe,... ... countries, former members of the Soviet Union, became members of NATO, an alliance directed against Russia. And contrary to their ... ... participation of Danes, Poles, and Germans is welcome, but not required.
Ukraine
Minsk agreements are fine, but one of the reasons they ... ... secondary and solvable, issues, once the above hard-points are solved.
Syria
Andrey Kortunov:
Russia: the Power Broker in the Middle ...
... settlement can be reached?
Southern Caucasus
A Roadmap for U.S.-Russia Relations. Executive Summary of the CSIS and RIAC Report
Can Turkey now help mediate between the U.S., Europeans and Russia over the disputes in the Caucasus and Black Sea, as well as in Syria? How should the U.S., EU and Russia respond to Ankara’s new turn toward authoritarianism?
What if NATO also dropped efforts to draw Georgia, in addition to Ukraine, into NATO membership? Could the 2008 Turkish proposal for a “Caucasian Stability and Cooperation Platform” be revived for the Caucasus and the entire Black Sea region — if the questions of the Russian annexation of Crimea and issues surrounding ...
The story of how Russia won the (First) Russo-American Cyberwar because American ... ... then-ongoing diplomatic efforts to win cooperation with the Russians on Syria, as all recent diplomatic talks with them on Syria had been ... ... impunity, threatening whole parts of Aleppo with mass slaughter); Ukraine also saw Russian escalation.
Kerry’s talks failed ... ... an intensely close decision; Russia has also been active in non-NATO Sweden this year, particularly when it was voting on closer ...
New threads in the Team Trump/Team Putin tangled web show Manafort and Page linked to each other as part of a Russian plot to control Ukraine and also show a mutual Russian mafia godfather linking them with each other and Trump, providing even deeper and more fertile ground on which to question Trump’s pro-Russia, Pro-Putin positions and their origins. Author's note: this ...
... held against the background of both Ankara and Moscow having turbulent relations with Brussels and Washington. The Kremlin’s foreign policy goes against Western interests in Ukraine and the Black Sea. The result is ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine and economic sanctions against Russia. Turkey, on the other hand, is close to being isolated from international affairs. Turkey has historically been NATO’s ally. Still, Washington is supporting the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria, which is considered in Ankara as a branch of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), which regularly organizes terrorist attacks in Turkey. The coup attempt, which put Turkey’s relations with its Western partners into further trouble, made ...
... Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort, his campaign in general, Putin, Russia, and WikiLeaks in light of the DNC and Clinton-aimed related ... ... 15th with bombshell information on Manafort's dealings in Ukraine and also updated August 8th to note Green Party presidential ... ... global standing and its position with its allies, most notably NATO allies—is also very much a possibility; so is some sort ... ... presidency. Notably:
Trump wants the U.S. to defer to Russia in Syria and let it “fight ISIS” there, and agreed with ...
... Facebook, and Twitter (you can follow me there at @bfry1981)
One of the sad things about looking at current commentary about Russia, America, and the state of their relationship is the lack of measured and reasoned commentary. Make no mistake, though, the problems between Russia and America are serious and affect a whole host of major issues around the world from wars in Syria and Ukraine to global energy distribution, access, and prices, to space exploration and militarization, just to name a few.
Perhaps ...
