For years, Russia has been helping Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad cling to a diminishing power structure in a shrinking territorial base without trying to impose an overall strategy.
Now, however, there are signs that Russia isn’t content to just support Assad. It wants to control Syria.
The Putin treatment is reserved for countries in Russia’s “near neighborhood” that try to break out of Moscow’s orbit and deprive it of strategic assets held for decades. Continue reading
The Obama administration’s decision to side with Iran was a slap in the face and existential threat to both Israel and Saudi Arabia. This is why Israel has been told to prepare for Armageddon and must forget reliance upon its traditional allies. Its enemies bent on its destruction have been emboldened and allowed free rein.
Obama believes that the agreement with Iran is a unique opportunity to limit the escalation of war in the Middle East.In reality, having created a “New Middle East”, where Iranian ayatollahs play the role of the hegemon and covert ally of America, he not only threw dynamite into an already raging fire, but provoked a chain reaction of uncontrollable explosions thousands of kilometers far from the region. Continue reading
Even though two of the most bloodiest wars in modern history resulted from pacts between Europe and Russia, the Europeans have always accepted that risk and usually chose Russia as a partner over the United States. This needs to be remembered when considering what direction Europe is going today. History does in fact repeat itself.
Recent events, such as the overthrow of the government in Ukraine, the secession of Crimea and its decision to join the Russian Federation, the subsequent military campaign against civilians in Eastern Ukraine, western sanctions against Russia, and, most recently, the attack on the ruble, have caused a certain phase transition to occur within Russian society, which, I believe, is very poorly, if at all, understood in the west. This lack of understanding puts Europe at a significant disadvantage in being able to negotiate an end to this crisis.
Whereas prior to these events the Russians were rather content to consider themselves “just another European country,” they have now remembered that they are a distinct civilization, with different civilizational roots (Byzantium rather than Rome)—one that has been subject to concerted western efforts to destroy it once or twice a century, be it by Sweden, Poland, France, Germany, or some combination of the above. This has conditioned the Russian character in a specific set of ways which, if not adequately understood, is likely to lead to disaster for Europe and the world. Continue reading
Global Geopolitics 