Congratulations, Serbia – leader and model!
The EU begins to adopt Belgrade’s two stool approach to Russia’s war against Ukraine (sort of). By David B. Kanin European notables owe... Read More
War crimes trials: appropriate but problematic
The clamor for retributive justice makes outright military success over Russian forces even more essential. By David B. Kanin The documented atrocities being... Read More
Can the UN General Assembly act on Ukraine?
This food crisis suggests the need to establish secure transportation zones in Ukraine and the Black Sea to allow food to be gathered and transported.... Read More
Orban and Vucic … and Tito
Skillful security managers can stand astride two stools indefinitely, as long as one of them does not collapse. By David B. Kanin The... Read More
Ukraine – towards a peace agreement, part #1
This essay sets out a process by which to initiate an agreement to bring Ukraine to peace, including considerations about a new federal constitution and... Read More
Ukraine: an essay on the economics of the refugee crisis
The Russian attack on Odessa will inevitably follow the encirclement of Nikolaev, which can be expected in the next few days. This will create a... Read More
An essay on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Part #5: preventing another genocide
NATO now needs to use its collective strength to defend Europe once more and to prevent Ukraine from being reduced to another slaughterhouse. Russian ground... Read More
An Essay on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, part #4: understanding Russian intentions
The Russian opinion is that the current chaos in Ukraine is jeopardising Ukraine’s status as a buffer state between East and West so imperative to... Read More
Turkish-Russian shadows darken the sky over Libya
The creation of highly decentralized governmental structures in Libya will not be easy. Nevertheless, such decentralized administration is key to the future, and a challenge... Read More
Trump’s Dreadful Foreign Policy
Trump never understood the critically important bond between Europe and the US, treating them as business partners who must pay an equitable share on defense—failing... Read More
Progress toward Ukraine, Donbas, Russia conflict resolution – serious negotiations still needed
Today, there is a need for dialogue, trust-building, and reconciliation within the country. The same issues as to what “self rule” means in practice is... Read More
Spinning Russia in the Balkans
Bismarck had warned at the close of the Congress of Berlin in 1878 that the next war in Europe would probably result from “some damn... Read More
Afghanistan and Russia – still searching for appropriate structures of governance
The Association of World Citizens remains concerned with the efforts to find appropriate forms of governance in Afghanistan. We are still far from a condition... Read More
Keeping the peace in Europe – what hope the INF treaty?
The better solution to the problem of which INF Treaty withdrawal is a symptom is to reach a sustainable peace between Europe and Russia over... Read More
Trump’s New Year’s gift to Putin, Rouhani, and Erdogan
Trump’s haphazard and thoughtless decision to withdraw forces from Syria points only to his abdication of the US’ moral responsibility, not to speak of its... Read More
Arms race redux
The logic of the second arms race is that, drones aside, seldom will this equipment be used one against the other. Instead this equipment is designed,... Read More
How should a modern democracy select its judges?
The chaos and agonies of a partisan Justice Kavanaugh confirmation process may be outweighed by the benefits of political transparency that a public procedure adds... Read More
American energy policy in the Middle East
In the medium term, the United States must diversify its reliance upon international oil markets. Energy independence was never a credible policy, because energy prices... Read More
The end of Syria’s civil war and the beginning of the conflict over the spoils
Regardless of how the conflict over Idlib is settled, it would be a disastrous mistake if the US leaves Syria to the whims of Putin,... Read More
Is a Ukrainian peace agreement possible?
The trigger events for a peace agreement for Ukraine may look rather different from those conventionally found in the armoury of the peacekeeper. The main... Read More
Detente redux – the USA, Russia and China in the modern world
The rationale for détente with Russia and China, then as now, derives from a change in American foreign policy philosophy. The drive to pursue a... Read More
Serbia, Turkey, and Russia – alarm bells for Europe
The European Union should warn Serbia that it must weigh its options carefully and undertake the necessary socio-political and economic reforms if it wants to... Read More
No defence in Chechnya – Oyub Titiyev and the grim future of human rights in Russia’s North Caucasus
The prosecution of a Chechen human rights campaigner is a landmark step in the systematic elimination of civil society under Ramzan Kadyrov.
Georgia – the hard fate of the conflict zone bordering villages
Developments last fall created serious threats for the main sources of livelihood of Tsitelubani residents – livestock and agriculture. The Russian occupation line placed the... Read More
Georgia’s Russian cipher
What can the politics of ethnic Russians in Georgia tell us about the country’s attempt to build a truly civic national identity?
