Coll & Entous, NY'er
A trove of unreleased documents reveals a dispiriting record of misjudgment, hubris, and delusion that led to the fall of the Western-backed government.
FPRI
As Russia competes with China and the U.S. in Eurasia and elsewhere on the world stage, how is Vladimir Putin hoping to regain Russia's sphere of influence? In this episode of the Global Demons Podcast, Robert D. Kaplan will be joined by FPRI Eurasia Program Director Chris Miller to discuss Russia's actions in Ukraine, its hope of returning to great power status, and Russia's future after Putin.
Sam Buchan, RealClearWorld
In the face of Russian aggression, the U.S. Congress continues to pursue sanctions against Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden and Germany's new Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, feign strength to salvage what remains of their foreign policies. In doing so, Biden asks us to believe he will work with allies to act if Russia invades Ukraine, but a leaked classified document exposes Germany's floundering...
Markus Feldenkirchen et al, Der Spiegel
Not all that long ago, it looked like Germany's Social Democrats had reached the end of the line. Now, Olaf Scholz is in the Chancellery. It is perhaps the most unlikely political success story in Germany's postwar history.
Yusuke Watanabe, National Interest
As China and Russia loom large over Myanmar's fate, Japan's continued engagement with the Tatmadaw would be a much-needed democratic counterweight restraining the global ascendancy of authoritarianism affecting the future of the Indo-Pacific.
Julia Horowitz, CNN
London (CNN Business)The economic recovery from the coronavirus has always been uneven, with different parts of the world bouncing back at different speeds.
Robert Zaretsky, Foreign Policy
When at least 27 migrants, mostly Kurds, drowned last month, it was the culmination of a century-long Anglo-French tragedy.
A. Cordesman, CSIS
President Putin's motives in deploying the equivalent of an invasion force on the border of the Ukraine may be limited to an effort to stop the expansion of NATO and U.S. military aid to the Ukraine. They also, however, may have a much broader set of long-term strategic goals.
Evan Ellis, GA
The United States no longer has the luxury to scold its partners in the region. Washington has never faced a hemisphere so politically disposed to resist U.S. pressure, or so fully enabled by an adversary's money to do so.
James Holmes, 1945
The debate whether Washington should preserve its policy of "strategic ambiguity" toward Taiwan or shift to "strategic clarity" lurched onward this week when Ely Ratner, the Pentagon assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, went before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. Ratner called for bolstering Taiwan's defenses,
Peter Dickinson, Atlantic Council
This is no accident. On the contrary, deception has played a central role in Putin's war against Ukraine from the very beginning. Ever since the onset of hostilities in February 2014, Moscow has been careful to mask its aggression by using a hybrid mix of deniable forces including conventional troops without insignia, mercenaries, and local collaborators, while at the same time portraying the ensuing carnage as an exclusively internal Ukrainian affair.
Peter Conradi, Times of London
A fighting force of almost a million regular soldiers and reservists is on alert because of the constant threat of a Putin-ordered invasion.
Natia Seskuria, Foreign Policy
Putin hasn't set his sights on just Ukraine. Further destabilization of Georgia is next on his agenda.
Andrew North, Newlines
Government workers are unpaid and the future of girls' education is uncertain, but life goes on in the Afghan city of Herat.
Andrew Michta, 1945
Putin's Hybrid War along NATO's Eastern Flank: In an April 2014 interview with Russian media at a time when the war in Eastern Ukraine was gathering speed, Vladimir Putin introduced a concept that effectively transformed that crisis into a classic case of irredentism threatening the stability of Europe as a whole. In doing so he set the framework for the coming years of strategic competition between Russia and the United States and its NATO allies. Speaking on Russian... Читать дальше...
Richard Haass & David Sacks, FA
Over the past year, the questions of whether China will forcibly move against Taiwan and how best to deter Chinese aggression have moved to the center of debates about U.S. foreign policy. This is due to a combination of factors. Officials and analysts in Washington increasingly recognize that China now has the capability to fight a war with the United States over Taiwan—a notion that once seemed far-fetched. There is also a growing sense among American observers that Chinese President Xi Jinping... Читать дальше...
Tom McTague, The Atlantic
Two years after his historic general-election win, the most radical British prime minister since Margaret Thatcher is scandal-plagued, unpopular, and adrift.
