US Foreign Policy

The Night Biden became President: Pledges Crippling Sanctions on Russia, bans Flights, for Ukraine Aggression

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Foreign policy abruptly hijacked President Biden’s State of the Union Address Tuesday night, making the occasion less partisan that it might otherwise have been. Pundits were always declaring that Donald Trump’s response to some crisis was “the day he became president.” They made themselves look a little silly, though, since […]

Joe Biden

Turkey will Block Certain Russian Warships from Bosphorus, but still Seeks Neutrality on Ukraine War

Global Voices

By Lamiya Adilgizi | – ( Globalvoices.org ) – Over the last week, nations and corporations all over the world have announced extensive economic and political sanctions against Russia, targeting the finance, energy, transport, technology, and visa sectors. A number of Russian banks have been removed from the SWIFT messaging system. Russia’s Central Bank assets […]

Germany

Could the G7 Wealthy Countries Really Boycott Russian Petroleum?

The Conversation

By Amy Myers Jaffe | – One option the U.S. and other nations have for ratcheting up pressure on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine is reducing their Russian energy purchases. U.K. Foreign Minister Liz Truss has proposed that the G7 nations – the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – […]

Joe Biden

What advice would JFK have for President Biden about Putin and Ukraine?

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Dear Mr. President: I send greetings from the other side — and no, I don’t mean the other side of the aisle. I refer to the place where old politicians go to make amends for their sins. Apart from our shared Catholicism and affinity for sunglasses, I suspect you and I […]

NATO

Ordinary Russians are already feeling the economic pain of sanctions over Ukraine invasion

The Conversation

By Peter Rutland | – The daily life of ordinary Russians – not just the country’s political elite or super rich oligarchs – is already being impacted by economic measures imposed by the international community in response to the invasion of Ukraine. As a scholar of Russia’s political economy, I was surprised by the speed […]

Featured

Americans Shocked to See Ukrainians treated Like Iraqis even though they are White (Not the Onion)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Some European and American commentators on Russia’s war against Ukraine have covered themselves in shame by implying that because Ukrainians are “European” or “civilized” it is harder to see them hit by artillery and made refugees than it had been with regard to Iraqis or Syrians. While in 2015 Syrians […]

Russia

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: A New Cold War?

The Conversation

By Jaro Bilocerkowycz | – In a very real sense, the Russian full-scale invasion places Ukraine at the center of a geopolitical struggle reminiscent of the Cold War days when Germany and its capital city Berlin were split in two by a wall dividing Western democracy and Russian communism. In fact, as Ukrainian scholar Yevhen […]

Antisemitism

Why Putin’s claim to rid Ukraine of Nazis is especially Absurd given its History

The Conversation

By Jeffrey Veidlinger | – Russian President Vladimir Putin justifies his war on Ukraine as a peacekeeping mission, a “denazification” of the country. In his address to the Russian people on Feb. 24, 2022, Putin said the purpose was to “protect people” who had been “subjected to bullying and genocide … for the last eight […]

Donald Trump

The Republican Party Persecuted US Leftists for tilting to Moscow but Makes Excuses for Putin-Loving Trump

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump’s fawning admiration of Vladimir Putin is well known, but it has often been brushed off as a quirk. We should have known how dangerous Putin was when he praised Trump as “impressive.” Trump is impressive the way spoiled butter left out too long is, rancid and foul-smelling. Now Trump […]