Lydia and the Vlads
An Estonian’s changing relationship with Russia.
Robin Ashenden
· 12 min read
Foreign Affairs
A collection of 205 posts
The Roads Not Taken
A new book by Orlando Figes explores the role of Russian history in the Ukranian war.
John Lloyd
· 10 min read
False Accusations and Ideological Bias
Amnesty International, Ukraine, and the Illusion of NGO Fact-Finding Expertise.
Gerald M. Steinberg
· 13 min read
Death From Above
Ayman al-Zawahiri’s reign of pious terror is now over.
Brian Stewart
· 6 min read
Reconsidering the City
If they are to survive and thrive, cities need to become more people-friendly.
Joel Kotkin
· 10 min read
Zelensky’s Terrible Dilemma—and Ours
Capitulation or Bloody Resistance?
John Lloyd
· 8 min read
The Road to Genocide
The Uyghurs have the potential to threaten China's national unity, which is the real reason we are seeing the largest incarceration of an ethnic or religious minority since the Holocaust.
Aaron Sarin
· 17 min read
Israel’s Perilous Moment, Then and Now
Herf tells the complicated and often surprising story of the internal political struggles in Western capitals, as well as in the halls of the United Nations, that erupted at the end of the Second World War.
Sol Stern
· 14 min read
Casualties of War
I have been a Russophile for as long as I can remember. Or, to put it more exactly, since I was eight years old, when I attended a school play performance of Gogol’s The Government Inspector. I loved Gogol’s sense of humour, the long names with their patronymics—
Robert Ginzburg
· 13 min read
Can the Revolution in German Foreign Policy Last?
During the fierce debate over the Iraq war, the German political scientist Karl Kaiser said, “Europeans have done something that no one has ever done before: create a zone of peace where war is ruled out, absolutely out.” And, he added, “Europeans are convinced that this model is valid for
Brian Stewart
· 6 min read
Deterrence After Ukraine—A Critical Analysis
On February 24th, Russia invaded Ukraine with the explicit goal of eliminating its existence as an independent country. Why was Russian President Vladimir Putin not deterred by the risk of a response from the West/NATO? This question requires a review of the fundamentals of conventional deterrence, neglected by the
Shmuel Bar
· 23 min read
A Failure of Deterrence
According to foreign policy “realists,” the tale we are being told about Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine is a fiction. Realists like to be known for their clear-eyed appreciation of the realities of global power, and in their telling, responsibility for the war does not lie chiefly with
Brian Stewart
· 6 min read
Privilege-Checking in a World on Fire
Privilege is a sham mark of opprobrium—those who decry the privilege of others tend to want more of it for themselves. The dissemblance is all the more distasteful given that the detractors of privilege typically possess, comparatively speaking, an abundance of it. One need not be conversant in history
David A. Eisenberg
· 5 min read
Ukraine: On the Fault Line Between East and West
Ukrainian nationalism and its clear expression as part of a larger European identity has burst into the open with the power of a hydrogen bomb.
Michael J. Totten
· 11 min read
Ukraine and the Pro-Putin Right
Reactions to Russia’s war in Ukraine have become a perfect demonstration of the “horseshoe theory,” according to which the extremes of Left and Right must converge. Amid overwhelming international condemnation of Russia and sympathy for the Ukrainians’ courageous resistance, Putin-friendly voices blaming the West, NATO, and particularly the United
Cathy Young
· 12 min read