How the US Congress Should Respond to What Zelensky Asks For
All eyes are on Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zalensky as he is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress Wednesday via video link at the U.S. Capitol. Among the requests, Zelensky is expected...
View ArticleUkraine Has Won the War--Now Is the Time for Diplomacy
Ukraine has won the war. This may seem a strange thing to say as Russian shells and missiles continue to rain down and Russian forces edge slowly forward on the ground, but a little thought should...
View ArticleThere's a Better Way to Serve Ukrainians Than Military Escalation
What can and should the United States do to protect civilian populations in foreign states from war and violence? The American people have faced this question many times in recent decades, including...
View ArticlePotential US Proxy War in Ukraine Could Be Disastrous
To judge by its latest statements, the Biden administration is increasingly committed to using the conflict in Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Russia, with its goal of weakening or even the...
View ArticlePutin's Attack on Ukraine Is Hideous and Criminal--But That Doesn't Make Him...
A number of things about Putin's invasion of Ukraine are not in doubt: that it was a deeply criminal act; that it has been accompanied by great brutality on the ground; that it was based on extremely...
View ArticleThe Dangerous American Game of Helping Kill Russian Generals
A New York Times report that the United States has been providing real time intelligence to the Ukrainian army with the specific purpose of killing Russian generals brings America a long step closer...
View ArticleThe Downside Risks of Sweden and Finland Joining NATO
There is a sad and rather pathetic irony about the expected application of Finland and Sweden to join NATO. Throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union was a military superpower, it occupied most of...
View ArticleJust How Much Bigger Is the US-NATO Military Force Than Russia's?
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the atrocities that have accompanied it, have naturally caused deep anxiety throughout Europe. NATO's new Strategic Concept for the next decade calls Russia "the...
View ArticleWhat's the Hope for Peace in Ukraine 6 Months After Russian Invasion?
Six months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the war has apparently settled into a stalemate. The front line has hardly moved in two months. The real threat to American and Western interests if the war in...
View ArticlePutin Escalation Makes Diplomacy Measures More Urgent
Recent Ukrainian victories made the Russian government's declaration of partial mobilization a military necessity from Russia's point of view. Without this, Russia could not sustain the war in the...
View ArticleDangerous Annexation in Ukraine Makes US-Russian Diplomacy Even More Vital
The Russian government's move today to annex the territories it has occupied in Ukraine is absolutely illegal, as well as a very serious escalation of the conflict. The local "referendums" in support...
View ArticleThe Blob's Dangerous Talk of War World III in Ukraine
Susan Glasser of the New Yorker, and Fiona Hill, late of President Trump's National Security Council, believe that "we're already fighting the Third World War with Russia," though we don't know it...
View ArticleThree Possibilities for the War in Ukraine in 2023
In the end, as in any war, the most important factor in the future course of the Ukraine conflict will be what happens on the battlefield. There are essentially three possibilities, though each of...
View ArticleAfter the Tanks and Then Warplanes, What's Next in Ukraine?
Immediately after the United States and Germany announced that they are sending main battle tanks to Ukraine — immediately, without any pretense of a decent interval — the Ukrainian government, backed...
View ArticleRaids in Belgorod by Alleged Russian Paramilitary Units Should Be a Wakeup...
The raid by alleged Russian opposition paramilitaries from Ukraine into the Russian province of Belgorod should be an alarm call for the Biden administration concerning the difficulty of controlling...
View ArticleIs It Possible Putin Emerges Even Stronger After Aborted Wagner Revolt?
President Putin has emerged strengthened from whatever it was exactly that may or may not have happened in Russia this weekend; strengthened, that is, compared to his situation of ten days ago – which...
View ArticleWhy the NATO Summit in Vilnius Matters
On the eve of the NATO summit in Vilnius, the strong indication was that the U.S., German, and French governments would lead NATO in continuing a somewhat intensified version of existing policy...
View ArticleUS Experience in Afghanistan Offers Lessons for Ukraine, if Leaders Will Heed...
On the second anniversary of the final debacle of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, we should consider the lessons of that disaster for U.S. strategy elsewhere.While the case of Afghanistan itself is...
View ArticleThe US Has Only Been 'Indispensible' in Creating Instability
In his recent address concerning the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and U.S. involvement in both, President Biden quoted the famous line by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, that America is “the...
View ArticleThe World Needs US Diplomacy, Not US Primacy
The catastrophe in Israel and Gaza demonstrates yet again the truth of a remark by British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan when asked about the greatest challenge for a statesman: “Events, dear boy,...
View ArticleJoe Biden Is Right—Ukraine Has Already Won Against Russia
In his press conference with President Zelensky on Tuesday evening, President Biden made one statement that was both entirely true, and is the potential basis for a new U.S. approach to the conflict...
View ArticleFinland vs. Stalin and a Possible Endgame for Ukraine
As public support for Ukraine has waned over time, and Washington’s policy elites are shifting their focus more toward the conflict in Gaza, an endgame for Ukraine is desperately needed. U.S. and...
View ArticleFiring of Top General Speaks to Desperation Within Ukraine's Ranks
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s dismissal of the Ukrainian army chief, General Valery Zaluzhny, is a colossal political gamble for Zelensky and seems to indicate an increasing mood of desperation in...
View ArticleAbsurd Russian and Ukrainian Demands Can Still Be a Starting Point for Peace
The international community has before it two official proposals—Ukrainian and Russian—for a peace settlement to end the war in Ukraine. Both as they stand, and in present circumstances, are absurd....
View ArticleWhere Is the Biden Plan to End the War in Ukraine?
Almost 100 days have now passed since the Congress passed $61 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, a measure that included a condition that required the Biden Administration to present to the...
View ArticleWhen Oh When—and How—Will the War in Ukraine End?
Some Western supporters of Ukraine have been presenting the Ukrainian incursion into the Russian province of Kursk as a great victory that will significantly change the course and outcome of the war....
View ArticleFrom Ukraine to Gaza, the Recklessness of Biden Cannot Be Ignored
President Joe Biden has called America “the world power,” and has referred to his “leadership in the world.” If Biden does indeed see himself as a, or the, world leader, then he has been disappointing...
View ArticleWhy Europe Is Unlikely to Replace Trump’s US as Ukraine’s Chief Backer
Two main lessons are to be drawn from the fall of Michel Barnier’s government in France. The first is that talk of Europe massively rearming itself and substituting for the U.S. as the chief backer of...
View ArticleRussia's Loss in Syria Is Not Necessarily a Win for the US
The fall of the Baath state in Syria is a serious defeat for Russia (and a disaster for Iran). It would however be a grave mistake to assume that this by necessity makes it a success for the United...
View ArticleIf We Want Peace in Ukraine: What Now?
Full details are yet to emerge of the “peace plan” that the UK, EU and Ukrainian leaders worked out in London on Sunday, and are to present to the Trump administration. But from what they have said so...
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