Chechnya: “We Will Make You Feel What We Feel”
5 April 2010 – published in Huffington Post on April 8, 2010. Chechen suicide bombers hit Moscow’s subway last week, killing 39 and injuring over 70. Chechen suicide bombers in Dagestan killed twelve,...
View ArticleA WELCOME PAUSE IN THE CRAZINESS OVER SYRIA
May 11, 2013 WASHINGTON DC – The vicious Syrian civil war has put the world’s two biggest nuclear powers on a collision course over a small Levantine nation of no strategic interest to Washington. This...
View ArticleTHOSE OLD COLONIAL LUSTS
June 1, 2013 That old colonial impulse keeps coming back. This past week, Britain and France pushed the rest of the European Union to lift the arms embargo in Syria – which in plain English means...
View ArticleARE WE BECOMING WHAT WE ONCE HATED?
August 3, 2013 In the late 1980’s, an old friend of mine based in Moscow was calling her husband in the USA late one night. She said it was a “typical dumb husband/wife call,” mostly about a broken...
View ArticleKICKING SAND IN RUSSIA’S FACE
August 10, 2013 The single most important national security imperative for the United States is to maintain correct relations with Russia. It’s not al-Qaida, NSA, China, North Korea, or any other...
View ArticleANOTHER JOLLY LITTLE WAR
August 31, 2013 Let’s face some hard facts about the vicious conflict in Syria. If the US directly attacks Syria, the real cause will not be the recent chemical attacks. What are 300 or so dead in a...
View ArticleSYRIA: MARCH TO DISASTER
September 7, 2013 Recalling the massacres and destruction during the 1820’s Greek war of independence from the Ottoman Empire, then Victor Hugo wrote, “the Turks have passed by here – All is in ruins...
View ArticleOBAMA: DON’T PLAY CHESS WITH KGB
September 15, 2013 President Barack Obama foolishly backed himself into a corner during the growing Syrian crisis by issuing fatwas about mythological red lines. When his bluff got called, the...
View ArticleTHE MURDER OF YASSER ARAFAT
November 9, 2013 London – In 2004, shortly after the mysterious death of PLO leader Yasser Arafat, I wrote a column stating my strong belief that he had been murdered by poison. I recalled Stalin’s...
View ArticleDON’T LET KIEV BECOME ANOTHER SARAJEVO
January 25, 2014 As violence and mayhem surge in Ukraine’s capitol, Kiev, fear is growing that Europe, the United States and Russia may be on a collision course. Ukraine’s latest crisis began last...
View ArticleSTALIN’S CRIMES HAUNT THE SOCHI GAMES
February 1, 2014 Sochi seems a strange place to hold the Olympic games. First, it’s almost subtropical. To find snow, one must travel up to the Caucasus mountains. The Black Sea resort is charming and...
View Article‘F….Europe’
February 10, 2014 “F….Europe!” Such were the words used in Kiev, Ukraine by Victoria Nuland, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe. Nuland was referring to the European Union’s reluctance to...
View ArticleBACK FROM THE BRINK IN UKRAINE
February 22, 2014 American diplomacy in the Ukraine crisis was summed up earlier this month by State Department senior official Victoria Neuland, a leading neocon: “F….k Europe.” On Friday, Europe...
View ArticleTHE ROAD TO WAR
Feb. 27, 2014 The surging crisis in Ukraine is a dramatic example of how wars begin. Take arrogance, toxic nationalism, tribalism, moral outrage and profound miscalculation, mix thoroughly, and, voilà...
View ArticleVLAD THE BAD STEALS A MARCH ON THE WEST
8 March 2014 Soviet leader Josef Stalin used to shrug off critics by his favorite Central Asian saying: “The dogs bark; the caravan moves on.” Russia’s hard-eyed president, Vladimir Putin, is following...
View ArticleANOTHER ANSCHLUSS IN CRIMEA
15 March 2014 Many Americans have trouble understanding modern Russia or leader Vladimir Putin. That’s in good part because they have little or no understanding of Russia’s history or geopolitics. “The...
View ArticleWAR FEVER IN THE AIR
March 29, 2014 War fever is in the air. Fifty thousand Russian troops and armor are massed on Ukraine’s eastern border. Europe and Washington worry that the reborn Red Army may sweep west across...
View ArticleAMATEUR HOUR IN UKRAINE
April 20, 2014 Marbella, Spain – Here in Spain’s sunny south, you wouldn’t know that a new world war over Eastern Europe threatens. In fact, rumor has it that none other than Vlad Putin is...
View ArticleRUNNING THE GLOBE IS TIRING
April 26, 2014 Small wonder President Barack Obama’s hair is rapidly greying. Most second term presidents age rapidly from the constant pressure, tension, and need to make tough, painful decisions....
View ArticleTHE GREAT WESTERN GAS FIASCO
May 24, 2014 GENEVA – Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin usually wears a perfect poker face. But last week in Shanghai, the icy-cold Russian president came awfully close to bursting into a big grin. And...
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