Russia

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last week, I asked, “Will Trump’s Maximum Pressure on UNSC against Lifting Iran Arms Embargo Backfire Big Time?” As Iran’s IRNA news service reports today, the answer was a resounding “Yes!” On Friday, the United Nations Security Council took up a resolution presented by US ambassador to the UN, Kelly […]

Donald Trump

The World War in Libya: Russo-Turkish, Turko-Egyptian Conflicts Recall Multi-Polar 19th Century

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Libya has become a multipolar battleground unusual in the era since 1946. The UN-recognized General National Assembly (GNA) government in Tripoli is ranged against the forces of Benghazi-based Gen. Khalifa Haftar. Haftar is supported by the Russian Federation, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and diplomatically, France. The GNA is supported […]

Donald Trump

A Russia-China-Iran ‘Axis of the Sanctioned?’ Will Russia risk defying Trump to sell arms to Iran?

Nikola Mikovic

Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) – Russia risks facing severe US sanctions if it starts selling weapons to Iran after October 18, which is when the United Nations arms embargo on the Islamic Republic expires. Although the UN Security Council will likely decline to extend the bar on such sales, since Russia and China are […]

Afghanistan

Was there Really a Russian Bounty on US Troops in Afghanistan? A Story with Holes

Reese Erlich

(48Hills.org ) – On June 26, in a major front page story, The New York Times wrote that Russia paid a bounty to the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan last year. The story quickly unraveled. While the military is investigating the allegations, Mark Miley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says there’s […]

Afghanistan

Trump Likely did Throw US Troops in Afghanistan under the Bus, but Why would the Russians have Targeted Them?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Charlie Savage; Eric Schmitt and Michael Schwirtz at the New York Times broke the blockbuster story on Friday that GRU 29155, a violent unit of Russian military intelligence accused of poisoning a double agent in Britain in 2018, had offered militants and criminals a bounty if they killed coalition forces […]

China

The Final Defeat of the John Bolton Hawks? How Russia and China could humiliate Trump on Eve of Election by Lifting Iran Arms Embargo

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump is about to go up against China and Russia at the United Nations Security Council over the looming end to the UNSC arms embargo on Iran, and is facing a humiliating defeat that will further harm the US standing in global affairs. The 2015 Joint Plan for Collective Action […]

Donald Trump

Will Trump Follow through? US Congress’ ‘Caesar Act’ Sanctions Russian, Syrian, Iranian Officials over Torture, War Crimes

Lauren Lewis

( Middle East Monitor) – On this day, 17 June 2020, America’s Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act of 2019 (also known as the Caesar Act) takes effect. The act, which was passed by the US Senate in December 2019, requires the US President to impose sanctions on members and allies of the Syrian regime, including […]

Constitution

Could America’s Covid and Race Crises Weaken the Union the way Chernobyl Broke up the USSR?

Matthew Lenoe

Rochester, NY (Special to Informed Comment) – An unforeseen health disaster with rapidly propagating domestic and international consequences strikes a superpower already wallowing in heavy seas. Overwhelmed by the surge, the ship of state floods, and begins to break up. The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl in April 1986, and the subsequent disintegration of the USSR […]

Libya

Libya: Is the Russia-Turkey Conflict Heightening over Oil-Rich Sirte?

Nikola Mikovic

Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) – The Libya’s civil war intensifies as Russia and Turkey are expected to negotiate the fate of strategically important coastal city of Sirte. The control of the oil rich province, as well as Jufra airbase, seems to be a top priority for both, Moscow and Ankara. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip […]