The Crocus City Hall attack will have profound geopolitical consequences and will impact the trajectory of the Ukraine war. The incident has rallied world sympathy massively for Russia. It is a huge challenge of statecraft now for Putin to act decisively, as the Russian public will expect, to completely uproot the dark forces entrenched next-door.
Branko Marcetic: Does Putin want to end the war? We should test him
Ukraine war maximalists are portraying diplomacy as futile, pointing to a cherry picked quote from a recent interview with the Russian president.
Balkan Insight: Romania To Host Largest NATO Military Base in Europe
The military base at Mihail Kogqlniceanu, Constanta, southeast Romania, on the Black Sea coast, will become the largest NATO military base in Europe and will surpass the US military base in Ramstein, Germany, in size.
The new base will give Romania an increased role in NATO’s security architecture and a position of greater strength in the Black Sea, which is militarily dominated by Russia. It will be able to host 10,000 soldiers and civilians by 2030.
William Astore: Pentagon Spending and National (In)Security
In an age when American presidents routinely boast of having the world’s finest military, where nearly trillion-dollar war budgets are now a new version of routine, let me bring up one vitally important but seldom mentioned fact: making major cuts to military spending would increase U.S. national security.
Jeffrey Sachs: The Urgency of Diplomacy
Katrina vanden Heuvel: The Moscow Terror Attack
For the first time, a few days before the attacks, Russian Press Secretary Peskov called the Ukraine war a war, citing the West’s involvement in the conflict—and jettisoning the official construct, “special military operation.”
Will Putin seize advantage of this latest attack to strengthen his grip on absolute power?
Anatol Lieven: Moscow attack proves Russia — and US — have lost sight of priorities
The Islamic State terrorist attack in Moscow is the starkest possible reminder that despite the war in Ukraine, Russia and the West also still have some of the same enemies.
Reuters: Gunmen kill more than 60 in concert attack near Moscow, Islamic State claims responsibility
Camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers near Moscow on Friday, killing at least 60 people and injuring 145 in an attack claimed by Islamic State militants.
Daniel Larison: Hawks pushing for ‘axis of evil’ reunion tour
The danger of basing U.S. foreign policy on imaginary things should be obvious. If U.S. policymakers believe that Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea form an axis when they don’t, that will distort U.S. policies toward all four states in destructive ways.
EL PAIS English: NATO personnel already in Ukraine for arms control, intelligence operations and military training
Emmanuel Macron broke the taboo in February. NATO already assists Ukraine in virtually every possible aspect, from supplying weaponry and intelligence on Russian targets and the positions of enemy bombers to training thousands of Ukrainian troops in Europe. But until the French president suggested it, no one had dared to raise the question of Atlantic Alliance soldiers going into action to stop the Kremlin’s invasion. Macron not only opened a debate; his words also served to confirm that there are already military personnel from NATO countries on Ukrainian soil, albeit without taking an active role in combat operations.
VIDEO: John Mearsheimer: Ukraine’s Dangerous Last Gasp
Judge Andrew Napolitano and Professor John Mearsheimer take stock of the current situation in Ukraine.
Andrew Cockburn: Our Real National Security Budget (With Winslow Wheeler)
The Biden Administration has just published its proposed budget, generating copious commentary, much of it displaying a commensurate degree of misunderstanding, especially regarding our gargantuan national security spending.
Report: US Think Tank Says Station Troops in Poland
The report’s authors also recommended that the Air Force station an additional F-16 squadron in Germany; increase anti-submarine warfare capability and air defense forces; bolster stockpiles of prepositioned equipment and ammunition; and continue modernization, cyber, space and security cooperation efforts.
VIDEO: Nicolai N. Petro: 4 Myths Preventing Peace in Ukraine (Neutrality Studies Podcast)
Nicolai Petro is a Professor of Political science at the University of Rhode Island and has published the wonderful work “The Tragedy of Ukraine: What Classical Greek Tragedy Can Teach Us About Conflict”. He recently published a short essay entitled “Four Myths That are Preventing Peace in Ukraine”. He and Pascal Lottaz speak about that and the changes in the military situation, which apparently is leading to a change in the western narrative about Russian capabilities.
James W. Carden: Where is Biden’s Devil’s Advocate?
The wisdom of LBJ’s resident contrarian George Ball is as relevant today as it was in the Vietnam era.
Doug Bandow: Does ‘Little Napoleon’ Macron Want to Lead Europe into War with Russia?
France wants to go to war with Russia, or so it seems.
Molly O’Neal: France and Germany on the rocks as Ukraine crisis deepens
The Franco-German “tandem,” which has underpinned European integration for decades, has been disturbed by obvious disagreements between French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Ed Lozansky: Macron Plans a Crusade
According to many French politicians, the French president could think of nothing crazier to divert attention away from farmers’ problems and increase his low 24% rating.
MK Bhadrakumar: France all dressed up and nowhere to go
Ever since its ignominious defeat in the Napoleonic wars, France is entrapped in the predicament of countries that get sandwiched between great powers.
SIPRI: European arms imports nearly double, US and French exports rise, and Russian exports fall sharply
Stockholm – States in Europe almost doubled their imports of major arms (+94 per cent) between 2014–18 and 2019–23. Far larger volumes of arms flowed to Asia and Oceania and the Middle East in 2019–23, where nine of the 10 largest arms importers are.
The United States increased its arms exports by 17 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while Russia’s arms exports halved. Russia was for the first time the third largest arms exporter, falling just behind France. The global volume of international arms transfers fell slightly by 3.3 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, according to new data on international arms transfers published today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), available at www.sipri.org.