Far from it. But the diplomacy of peace is in need of emergency resuscitation As a junior delegate to the Stockholm Conference on Confidence- and Security-building Measures and Disarmament in Europe in 1984-85, I had adopted the prevailing view that, with nuclear weapons in play, war in Europe was outmoded. That Stockholm dialogue was a…
Despite its recent minor successes in eastern Ukraine, the war is not going Russia’s way With the Russia-Ukraine War about to enter its second year and President Vladimir Putin increasingly frustrated at the demonstrable ineptitude of his army, navy and air force, the world community, whose members appear to be in denial about the risks…
But at least in the short term, Moscow may be able to ride off the challenge The U.S.-led western sanctions on Russian energy exports are now in force and beginning to have an impact. There are now tentative signs that the US$60 per barrel cap on crude exports from Russia is leading major oil tanker…
Russia following Iran’s playbook on how to skirt sanctions Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, the United States, and the 27-nation European Union finally, but hesitantly, agreed last Friday to cap the price of Russian crude oil imports by other nations at US$60 per barrel. The EU embargo on importing Russian seaborne crude is in effect from…
And how to make it more resistant to drones and missile strikes As an academic who teaches risk management to an international student audience, I sometimes reflect on whether what I teach is relevant to solving real-world problems such as nuclear proliferation, terrorism, global warming, pandemic risk and regional conflict. Regarding the latter problem, specifically…
History is replete with false flag operations The 2022 Russia-Ukraine war is being waged on the battlefield and in cyberspace. In the propaganda war, false flags abound. The term false flag describes either: An act of self-harm undertaken to cast an enemy in a bad light and garner sympathy and material support from allies, or…
Rodric Braithwaite’s book, Russia Myths and Realities, a perfect segue into Putin's brain Prior to the February invasion of Ukraine, my knowledge of Russian history pretty much started with the early 19th century. Everything before that was vague and fragmentary, enlivened only by titillating tales of Catherine the Great’s purported sexual appetite. But there’s much…
But our leaders are failing us, and they are putting all of our lives at risk
We are potentially living in the most dangerous time in history since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The world owes a great deal to American President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev who were able to back away from global nuclear destruction during that crisis through skillful negotiation. Reflecting on the event…
The Russian President likely anticipated his blitz would undermine Ukrainian morale. It didn't
In May 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin drove a truck across the Kerch Strait Bridge, the Russian Federation’s new link with Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. On Oct. 8, 2022, an improvised explosive device, possibly hidden inside a truck, was detonated on the bridge, bringing down a roadway and damaging a freight train.…
The West won’t dig itself out of the crisis unless it decisively responds to Putin’s strategic aim
The cost of living crisis is being misrepresented and mishandled by the political class. Misrepresented because only occasionally do politicians link the crisis to the Russia-Ukraine War and Putin’s use of hybrid warfare to destabilize the West; mishandled because, fundamentally, the solution lies not in economic measures but in ensuring first that Russia is defeated…