Russia Archives - Page 43 of 93 - Foreign Policy In Focus

Nigeria with Nukes

by John Feffer | Jan 3, 2012

John F. Kennedy essentially bought his way into politics. His father, the wealthy Joseph Kennedy, picked out a nice congressional seat in Massachusetts and basically paid the occupant of the position to step down and run instead for the Boston mayoralty. JFK’s father then tried to pay off the Democratic frontrunner to drop out of the race, and when that didn’t work, persuaded William Randolph Hearst not to run any of the candidate’s ads or pictures in Hearst-owned newspapers. Joe Kennedy even paid a janitor named Joseph Russo to run in the race in order to dilute support for another leading candidate named Joseph Russo. Recognizing the importance of PR, the Kennedy family contributed $600,000 – an enormous sum in 1946 – for a children’s hospital in the district where JFK was running for office.

START Stopper

by Russ Wellen | Dec 28, 2011

Standing the New START treaty on its head.

Russians United against United Russia

by Dimitar Indzhov | Dec 23, 2011

In the past two weeks a number of different rallies took place in Russia. The most memorable of these, on December 10, was the biggest protest in Russia since the fall of communism. People in cities all around Russia went onto the streets. In Moscow, estimates of the number of protestors ranged from 25,000 to 100,000. Although organized by a range of groups and political parties with few common goals, the protests are united around one issue: the alleged vote rigging by the United Russia party.

The Real Nuclear Threat From Iran May Not Be Nuclear Weapons

by Russ Wellen | Oct 12, 2011

Unsafe construction practices may have been used to build Iran’s first nuclear energy facility, Bushehr.

Review: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives

by Rehanna Jones-Boutaleb | Sep 16, 2011

Why did the Soviet Union come to an end? Was the Soviet system reformable? Were there historical alternatives to Stalinism? These are the questions that Stephen F. Cohen raises in Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War. In a series of seven essays, Cohen challenges conventional assumptions on the course of Soviet and post-Soviet history, examining the fates and lost opportunities of Stalin’s preeminent opponents.

U.S. and Russia: Where’s the Reset?

by Rehanna Jones-Boutaleb | Aug 15, 2011

When President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, U.S.-Russian relations were strained and delicate. Arms control agreements had all but disintegrated and acrimonious conflict had largely displaced cooperation. Indeed several observers, including Mikhail Gorbachev, even went so far as to proclaim the emergence of a new Cold War.

Since When Haven’t the Democrats Been a War Party?

by Russ Wellen | Jun 21, 2011

Accusations of soft on defense to the contrary, Democratic leadership has seldom met a war it didn’t like.

Review: The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy

by V. Noah Gimbel | Apr 11, 2011

Canadian sociologist Metta Spencer’s career in Soviet-Western peace activism takes book form in her account of decades of democratic struggle in Russia, The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy. Drawing on a broad spectrum of activist and reformist perspectives from both sides of the Iron Curtain, Spencer dispels three false beliefs in her colorful, informative account of how the Cold War really ended.

Other Obstacles to Disarmament Exist Besides States Holding on to Nukes

by Russ Wellen | Apr 10, 2011

There are other obstacles to nuclear disarmament than how anal states are about the number of nuclear weapons they have.