As Ukraine reaches a breaking point, there’s a lot more to discuss about U.S. policy than a simple F-bomb.
Nuland: The Message Beneath the Vulgarity
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Vladimir Putin
Ukraine Still Can’t Escape Long Arm of Russia
Russia’s President Putin may have induced Ukraine’s President Yanukovych to crack down violently on protesters.
Putin’s Sochi Challenge
The Winter Olympics in Sochi have brought renewed scrutiny to vulnerabilities that could undermine Russia’s ongoing ambitions for international prestige.
The Color Wars
Clashes of colors — red shirts vs. yellow shirts in Thailand, a faded orange revolution in Ukraine — have many people reaching for the rainbow in response.
The Twilight of Leadership
We don’t have many Nelson Mandelas left, and we don’t really like the more pedestrian politicians that we’ve been saddled with.
An African-American Perspective on U.S. Exceptionalism*
Cross-posted from AjamuBaraka.com. In his recent op-ed in the New York Times, Vladimir Putin raised hackles among the talking-heads across the U.S. when he questioned the wisdom of President Obama’s evocation of the narcissistic idea of “American exceptionalism.”...
Putin Could Steal That Nobel From Kerry
On Sept. 8, Secretary of State John Kerry made the offhanded suggestion that if Syrian President Bashar al Assad were to "turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week," the United States would call off its plans to...
Russia Declares Open Season on Gays
With even Pope Francis wondering, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” it would appear that the world has reached a milestone in gay rights. However, a quick trip to Russia would quickly confirm that this progress is...
Why Did Russian Officials Withhold News of Flooding From Krymsk?
Will the Black Sea flooding be President Putin’s Katrina?
Preventing a Blowout in the Arctic
In September 2011, Vladimir Putin announced a program to begin offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling in the Russian Arctic. Putin is also interested in creating new sea terminals, which he said would rival the Suez and Panama Canals. In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered gas lay beneath the Arctic Seas. The United States, Canada, Norway, Greenland, and Russia, which make up the Arctic 5, are each interested in tapping these Arctic energy reserves.