Category Archives: Uncategorized

US/NATO Talks with Russia, Episode 2 Begins

January 31, 2022 On January 26, the US and NATO delivered their written responses to Russia’s security demands in Eurasia. A day later, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the media that the responses offer grounds for serious talks only on … Continue reading

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Intermission in Russia-US Talks

January 22, 2022 I had concluded an earlier post on the Ukraine crisis with the following: “In Russia, President Putin is at the helm, steering a steady course.  “In the West, the picture is more complicated. What is clear is … Continue reading

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Russia-US/NATO Talks, Episode 1

January 17, 2022 In mid-December 2021, Russia handed the West two draft documents, “Agreement on Measures to Ensure the Security of the Russian Federation and Member States of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization”[i] and “Treaty Between the United States of … Continue reading

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Russia-West Negotiations Start

January 10, 2022 With the New Year and Christmas celebrations behind, the world is back to the realities of the day. And the new year’s first surprise was the turmoil in Kazakhstan. In their phone call of December 30, Presidents … Continue reading

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Russia Proposes a New Security Architecture in Europe and Beyond

January 3, 2022 The year 2021 is now behind us. Nonetheless, its final act will dominate the international stage in the months to come.

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The Year 2021 in Retrospect

December 22, 2021 The top foreign and security policy item of 2021 was the strategic competition between major powers. Its subtitles were “China’s ascendancy”, “Russia’s resurgence” the “waning of American power”. The rise of authoritarianism, democracy’s decline, the failure of … Continue reading

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The Standoff at the Russia-Ukraine Border

December 13, 2021 On December 7, 2021, Presidents Biden and Putin had a two-hour video conference. According to the White House readout of the meeting, “President Biden focused on what he described as “threatening” movements of Russian troops near the … Continue reading

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Turkey’s Middle East Policy Coming Full Circle

December 6, 2021 The so-called “Friends of Syria Group”, now history, held its first meeting in Tunis on February 24, 2012.  On April 1, 2012, it met for the second time in Istanbul. Later that month in 2012, Turkey’s Foreign … Continue reading

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Migration Tragedies to Continue

November 29, 2021 Last week, twenty-seven migrants lost their lives trying to cross from France to Britain in an inflatable boat. Coming soon after the standoff at the Belarus-Poland border, the tragedy briefly caught the world’s attention. Britain and France … Continue reading

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Spy Games Between Israel and Turkey

November  22, 2021 In late October Turkish news outlets reported that fifteen individuals suspected of spying for Israel were arrested as part of a security operation. Reportedly, the suspects were spying on senior Hamas officials based in Turkey who were … Continue reading

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