By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – CNN says White House officials were furious on Wednesday when the Russian press (the only journalists invited to the meeting of Trump with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak) abruptly released the pictures. Apparently White House staff thought there was […]
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Eastern Europe
Syria: Rebels denounce De-escalation Zones ok’d by Russia, Iran, Turkey
TeleSur | – – Signatories to the agreement say that there should be a cessation of hostilities in safe zones designated by the three powers by Friday. Russia, Turkey and Iran on Thursday signed a memorandum on creating safe zones in Syria, while a delegation of the armed Syrian opposition walked out and shouted angrily […]
Russia’s Neo-Feudal Capitalism
Anders Åslund. | (Project Syndicate) | – – WASHINGTON, DC – Vladimir Putin’s Russia is looking more and more like the sclerotic and stagnant Soviet Union of the Leonid Brezhnev era. But in one area, Putin’s regime remains an innovator: corruption. Indeed, in this, the 18th year of Putin’s rule, a new form of crony […]
Russia’s not Leaving: Syria is about old-Fashioned Sphere of Influence, not Oil
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russia is not going to yield its sphere of influence in Syria to Donald Trump or anyone else. Russia has all but won the Syrian War as we speak. There is no longer any feasible pathway for the rebels to take the capital of Damascus. The […]
Russia: US attack on our Sovereign ally Illegal
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday slammed the Trump administration for its strike on Syria, calling it “illegal” and based on faulty intelligence. The Russians reaffirmed that they will cease sharing their Syria flight information with the Americans. The information sharing had been done to avoid […]
Has Trump deferred to Russia in Syria?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Elizabeth Palmer reported from Ankara last Thursday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had difficult and inconclusive discussions with Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan concerning Syria. After the meeting he said publicly, that the “longer-term status of President (Bashar) Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.” […]
Was Michael Flynn Russia’s “primary channel of communication with the Trump team”?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Former National Security Adviser to president Trump, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Michael Flynn, has allegedly offered to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Russia’s role in the US election, on condition that he is granted immunity from prosecution. This development could be important, because Flynn was […]
Putin and the Ayatollahs: How Russia’s Alliance with Iran is reshaping the Middle East
By Clément Therme | (The Conversation) | – – Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, will meet for the eighth time in four years from March 27 to 29. According to the Tehran Times, both sides are “preparing more than ten documents for signing” on various economic and political issues. The […]
True, Trump hasn’t Criticized Putin for Navalny Arrest; but Navalny is more like Trump
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The meme du jour about the protests in Russia on Sunday is that Donald Trump did not criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for arresting the protesters, including their leader, Alexei Navalny. Apparently the pressure on the State Department from Russia hawks in Congress was so great […]