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Israel-linked assassinations: How much is the US really involved?
Less than a month ago, Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was murdered in a storm of bullets and explosions outside Tehran. Common speculation has Israel as the assassin. A senior Israeli...
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The dark side of Eisenhower's foreign policy
On January 17, 1961, at the end of his second term in office, President Dwight Eisenhower tried to pull back the reins on U.S. military intervention in other countries with his warning about the...
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Is the Russia-China strategic partnership turning into a military one?
In October, Russia and China conducted a week-long joint naval patrol — their first such exercise in the Western Pacific. Five Russian and five Chinese warships sailed through the international...
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Putin sets a new red line on NATO expansion
It is possible to actually measure Washington's dishonesty. How big is it? It’s about 600 miles. In 1990, according to declassified documents, Secretary of State James Baker assured Soviet leader...
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How deep are Russia's ties with China?
The strategic partnership between Russia and China has been growing stronger. Though both countries eschew alliances, Chinese President XI Jinping recently said that the "relationship even exceeds an...
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Breaking down that Putin-Xi joint statement on a 'new era'
On February 4, on the sideline of the Beijing Olympics, Vladimir Putin and Xi Xinping met and issued a joint statement on international relations entering a new era. Richard Sakwa, Professor of...
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On NATO membership and 'core principles,' the US treads on thin ice
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is illegal and needs to be condemned. But the United States should also be condemned for asking Ukraine to keep its aspiration to join NATO alive while at the same time...
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Is the US hindering much-needed diplomatic efforts?
Next to starting a war, the most reprehensible act would be keeping one going when more people will die with little hope the outcome will improve. Yet, there are several lines of evidence that suggest...
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Why Imran Khan’s coup theory is so popular in Pakistan
In June 2021, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister, promised Pakistan’s senate “that under Prime Minister Imran Khan, there will be no American base on Pakistani soil.” Such a promise was...
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Why any US push for regime change in Moscow is a bad idea
On March 26, President Joe Biden clearly called for regime change in Russia, saying that, “For God’s sake, this man [Putin] cannot remain in power.” While Biden’s staff tried to walk back his...
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When changing 'facts on the ground' could imperil Ukraine's bargaining position
The U.S. may be finding itself in a paradoxical position in which the increasingly advanced weapons it is sending Ukraine may be undercutting the goal of pursuing a diplomatic end to the war. At the...
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Why is Biden joining the warpath against Iran?
On March 24, President Biden drew a red line: if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine, it "would trigger a response" from NATO. Asked to elaborate on the nature of the response, Biden had no script...
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With SCO membership, is Iran coming out of deep freeze?
It is not yet known whether Iran and the United States will return to the JCPOA nuclear agreement. But, whether they do or not, it appears that Iran's international isolation is nearing an end. The...
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Zelensky's NATO bid falls flat
On September 30, in the tailwind of Russia’s announcement that Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia would be annexed by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a renewed plea for...
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When the US threatens to use nuclear weapons
At the recent UN General Assembly First Committee session on October 19, China’s ambassador for disarmament affairs, Li Song, declared that “China has solemnly committed to no first use of nuclear...
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Will a Russian Kherson exit create the right ‘facts on the ground’?
Will the Russian withdrawal from the key city of Kherson this week continue what appears to be momentum toward a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine? The signs may be pointing in that direction. In...
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Is Ukraine dropping talk of an accelerated NATO bid?
A possible diplomatic shift in the war in Ukraine may have gone largely unnoticed when Kiev appeared to signal that it might be willing to give up its aspiration to become a member of NATO. Or at...
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Putin and Zelensky finally agree. Here's why that’s a bad thing.
The animosity between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been bitter. Agreement on anything — which would be a starting point for talks — is elusive. For...
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Did Russia and China sign a secret defense pact?
At the end of November, reports that Russia and China had secretly signed a defense agreement started to appear. A November article on the website of Russia Matters of the Harvard Kennedy School’s...
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The soft chimes of a song Ukraine doesn't want to hear
Though not being spoken loudly nor amplified by the media, a quiet and tentative consensus may be emerging on some key issues regarding ending the war in Ukraine. On January 21, Chairman of the Joint...
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On Ukraine, is Biden signaling that 'as long as it takes' may have an end-date?
In his State of the Union Address on February 7, President Biden once again promised Ukraine that “America . . . will stand with you as long as it takes.” But, privately, one year into the war, the...
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What the AUKUS sub ruckus means for regional security
On September 15, 2021, the U.S. announced a commitment “to a shared ambition to support Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy." This week that commitment...
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For Russia-China, multipolarity is all about (usurping) the Benjamins
Beijing and Moscow have been very busy places lately. In the past few weeks, Putin and Xi have welcomed not just each other but representatives from France, Brazil, and more than 40 African countries....
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The Poland-Belarus border is becoming a tinderbox
Aside from the horrendous loss of life, limb and land, the greatest danger of the war in Ukraine has been the threat of nuclear weapons and the risk that NATO could get drawn into a third world war....
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Slovakia may join two other NATO countries at odds with Zelensky
Slovakia has been a solid supporter of its neighbor, Ukraine. It has supported Kyiv diplomatically in the UN, EU, and NATO. They were one of the first countries to provide military aid to...
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Is this the beginning of the end of the war in Ukraine?
“I don’t think that [the war] is a stalemate,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday.“They thought they would checkmate us, but,” he insisted, “this didn’t...
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