Tag: Russia

What Kind of a Threat Is Russia?

by Oregon PeaceWorks • October 19, 2021 • 0 Comments

JAMES W. CARDEN – In his latest book, The Stupidity of War: American Foreign Policy and the Case for Complacency, American political scientist John Mueller demonstrates that since the end of World War II, American policymakers have developed a kind of addiction to threat inflation by “routinely elevating the problematic to the dire… focused on problems, or monsters, that essentially didn’t exist.” And with regard to the American foreign policy establishment’s current twin obsessions, Russia and China, Mueller, ever the iconoclast, counsels complacency.

Climate-Change Transition in the Age of the Billionaire

by Oregon PeaceWorks • October 11, 2021 • 0 Comments

JOHN FEFFER – Despite the enormous economic and political gaps that separate people around the world, we have to somehow join hands across vast differences to leapfrog over the fossil-fuel economy. United we transform or united we fall.

Why America Goes to War

by Oregon PeaceWorks • September 24, 2021 • 0 Comments

ANDREW COCKBURN – Sometimes the naked pursuit of self-interest is unabashed, and certain policies or war is pursued, but even when the real object of the exercise is camouflaged as “foreign policy” or “strategy,” no observer should ever lose sight of the most important question: Cui bono? Who benefits?

A ‘Strategic Apocalypse’ in Afghanistan: A Seismic Shift, Years in the Making

by Oregon PeaceWorks • August 31, 2021 • 0 Comments

ALISTAIR CROOKE – A huge geo-political event has just occurred in Afghanistan: The implosion of a key western strategy for managing what Mackinder, in the 19th century, called the Asian heartland. That it was accomplished, without fighting, and in few days, is almost unprecedented. As a consequence, among other “seismic shifts,” China is more determined to shape the region than many analysts realize.

A Progressive Agenda for Biden’s Foreign Policy

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 31, 2021 • 0 Comments

MEL GURTOV – The predominant direction of a progressive US president should be toward “Making America Safe for the World.” That means focusing on domestic problems rather than on foreign policy crusading, relying on diplomacy before making threats and imposing sanctions, redefining the national interest with an eye toward real friends and urgent issues, and finding common ground with adversaries, starting with China, while remaining faithful to our ideals.

Putin Announces Updated Russian Nuclear Strategy Policy; Emphasizes Defense

by Oregon PeaceWorks • June 16, 2020 • 0 Comments

By Vladimir Kozin On 2 June 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Decree No. 355 on the Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Area of Nuclear Deterrence. The adopted document, which has the status of a…

Big 5 Leaders’ Meeting Proposed by Putin Can Be Helpful amid Changing Int’l Situation

by Oregon PeaceWorks • February 21, 2020 • 0 Comments

MOHAMMED ALI – A meeting of the leaders of Russia, China, the United States, France and the United Kingdom, the permanent members of the UN Security Council, which was proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, can be helpful and even necessary in light of the changing international situation.

Conventional Wisdom about Ukraine is Deeply Flawed, Steeped in Illusions

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 29, 2019 • 0 Comments

GEORGE BEEBE – As our debacles in Vietnam and Iraq demonstrate, expert consensus is not always a recipe for success. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that American policy toward Ukraine has also been steeped in illusions.

Climb Down From the Summit of Hostile Propaganda

by Oregon PeaceWorks • July 20, 2018 • 0 Comments

By Norman Solomon Throughout the day before the summit in Helsinki, the lead story on the New York Times home page stayed the same: “Just by Meeting With Trump, Putin Comes Out Ahead.” The Sunday headline was in harmony with the tone of U.S.…

Intelligence Professionals: Trump Should Rethink Syria Escalation

by Oregon PeaceWorks • April 15, 2017 • 0 Comments

VETERAN INTELLIGENCE PROFESSIONALS FOR SANITY – More than two dozen ex-U.S. intelligence officials urge President Trump to rethink his claims blaming the Syrian government for the chemical deaths in Idlib and to pull back from his dangerous escalation of tensions with Russia.

Moral Obscenities in Syria: Who Benefits?

by Oregon PeaceWorks • August 31, 2013 • 0 Comments

PHYLLIS BENNIS and DAVID WILDMAN – The threat of a reckless, dangerous, and illegal US or US-led assault on Syria is looking closer than ever. . . . The US government has been divided over the Syria crisis since it began. . . . But the situation is changing rapidly, and the Obama administration appears to be moving closer to direct military intervention. That would make the dire situation in Syria inestimably worse.

Obama Touts Transparency but Negotiates Secret Trade Deal

by Oregon PeaceWorks • September 27, 2012 • 0 Comments

LORI WALLACH – On Sept. 6, as President Barack Obama promised jobs and transparency in his Democratic National Convention acceptance speech, his top trade officials were cloistered in conditions of extreme secrecy at the Lansdowne resort in Leesburg, Va., negotiating a massive “trade” agreement that will promote more U.S. job offshoring and ban Buy American procurement preferences.

Thanks to North Dakota, U.S. Waste of Natural Gas Grows Rapidly

by Oregon PeaceWorks • August 14, 2012 • 1 Comment

MARK CLAYTON – The United States is posting rapid growth in the waste of natural gas in new oil fields where the fuel is either burned or vented into the atmosphere. Experts say the process damages the environment and fails to maximize the return to investors.

Durban Deal Will Not Avert Catastrophic Climate Change, Say Scientists

by Oregon PeaceWorks • December 19, 2011 • 1 Comment

FIONA HARVEY – Scientists and environmental groups warned that urgent action was still needed to rescue the world from climate change, despite the deal sealed on Sunday morning in Durban after two weeks of talks. Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth, said: “This empty shell of a plan leaves the planet hurtling towards catastrophic climate change.

After New START: Where Does Nuclear Disarmament Go From Here?

by Oregon PeaceWorks • January 11, 2011 • 6 Comments

LAWRENCE WITTNER – With U.S. Senate ratification of the New START treaty on December 22, supporters of nuclear disarmament won an important victory. Signed by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last April, the treaty commits the two nations to cut the number of their deployed strategic (i.e. long-range) nuclear warheads to 1,550 each — a reduction of 30 percent in the number of these weapons of mass destruction. By providing for both a cutback in nuclear weapons and an elaborate inspection system to enforce it, New START is the most important nuclear disarmament treaty for a generation.