Vladimir Putin's invasion and bombing of Ukraine deserve the condemnation of all decent people. Regardless of what has been going on over there, Putin did not have to do it. He had a moral obligation to deal with the issues properly. His actions cannot be excused.
Foreign Policy
Russia, China, Iran, and the U.S.
At this tense moment it is important to realize that the hardliners on both sides of any geopolitical rivalry are de facto allies. They need each other in their struggles against their domestic pro-diplomacy, antiwar opposition. So when the hardliners ascend on one...
Putin’s Donbas Move Threatens U.S. Global Dominance
Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to recognize two break-off republics in eastern Ukraine as independent states, stoking cries of horror and condemnation from the Western keepers of the ‘rules-based international order.’ The Russian legislature passed a bill...
Sanctions Don’t Hurt Only Russia
The escalation of tension in Ukraine has reminded us of something many investors seemed to have forgotten: geopolitical risk. Sanctions and the inevitable drop in trade have proven to generate a significant negative impact on the different economies involved. We know...
Is NATO the Old Man of Europe?
While geopolitical commentators are fixated on Russia’s border with Ukraine, a more interesting development is slowly boiling underneath the surface of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict that could potentially reorder international relations—namely, the death of the North...
Dave Smith Fractures the Mainstream Narrative on Yemen
Next month, the war in Yemen will turn seven. At a minimum, the war has killed 400,000 people. For several years, many notable aid groups have considered Yemen to be the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Over half the population relies on food and medical aid—now...
The Case Against ‘Uyghur Genocide’
In Xinjiang, the People's Republic of China (PRC) is conducting perhaps the most intensive program of social engineering in recent history. It is probably trampling on the human rights of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities, systemically and by design and randomly...
Where We See Costs, the War Party Sees Profit
In perhaps the most predictable column of the year, the Wall Street Journal this week featured a column by Walter Russell Mead declaring it's "Time to Increase Defense Spending." Using the Beijing Olympics and the potential Ukraine War to push for funneling ever more...
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