Une présidence Le Pen et les trois sports nationaux de France
La sonnette d’alarme sonne en France et parmi ses alliés : Macron pourrait perdre face à Le Pen lors du prochain second tour de l’élection présidentielle. Beaucoup de ceux qui sont mécontents du résultat du premier tour pourraient s’abstenir. Zemmour (7% au premier tour) appelle ses électeurs à voter pour Le Pen. Même les électeurs […]
How Washington Green-Lighted Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
Why did the US reject military intervention in Ukraine when news broke in December that Russia had moved its army to the border with Ukraine? Why did it publicly say so? And why, six weeks into the carnage and taking technocratic fustiness to extremes, does Washington share intelligence but not “data that would enable ‘real-time […]
Pure Speculation on a “Strategic Mistake” by Putin
Russia’s assault on Ukraine has stimulated what can, for once, be called a “public conversation”. It’s in contrast to the usual unendurable hyenal screeching that comes with important public issues in Western democracies. Maybe it’s the nature of war which (too briefly) mutes the shrillness of the overabundance of quarter-wits. Erudite and knowledgeable people share […]
The Biggest Danger is Western “Recklessness”?
Hans Kundnani, director of the Europe program at Chatham House, a British think tank, warns us about going “too far” in our opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He says the West’s “earlier inaction has exacted a heavy price,” but sees its current reaction as “dangerous” “overcompensat[ion]”. He first aims to establish his bona fides […]
Is it Right to Encourage the Destruction of Ukraine?
The West has created a moral dilemma for itself. Its characteristic refusal to prevent (rather than belatedly react to) bad things, and its refusal to provide Ukraine what it needs most to fend off Russia, requires it to ask itself: is it defensible to encourage Ukrainians to continue to resist an onslaught, the outcome of […]
Two Bits of Goofy Thinking
As with other civilized versions of our species, am caught in the dilemma between attention and distraction. Helplessness in the face of barbarism is excruciating. We want to know what is happening, chiefly in hope that the right side—and there very much IS a right side—will prevail. But hope is a thin reed. The news, […]
Russia Can’t Lose
In the latest example of judging Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Liana Fix and Michael Kimmage tell us that “Putin has made a strategic blunder by invading Ukraine. He has misjudged the political tenor of the country, which was not waiting to be liberated by Russian soldiers. He has misjudged the United States, the European Union, […]
If I were Putin
Success. Am putting the world back in order. I have everyone’s attention. Yes, the West howls. It (yet again) threatens sanctions. But when it comes to the choice between money and principle, we in Moscow know that the commercial interests in the West make politicians there dance like puppets. The daily stream of finger-wagging pronouncements […]
The Fastest Knee-Buckle in the West
Only hours after Russia recognized the “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republic” — insurrectionist areas of Ukraine — and ordered Russian troops into it on a “peacekeeping” mission, Washington signaled its acquiescence to Moscow: Putin’s move “did not constitute a further invasion that would trigger a broader sanctions package”. Decency would have allowed for an interval […]
Ukraine: A Very Personal Decision
Russian claims about the national security threat posed by Ukraine and even NATO are absurd. Alas, the Western press looks to compete in the absurdity stakes through speculation over Putin’s intentions. When will Putin decide to invade Ukraine? Has he decided already? If he hasn’t, what can/should the West do to get him to decide […]
Ukraine: Thugs Don’t Forget
As officialdom in European capitals and Washington tries to discern Russian intentions on an invasion of Ukraine, speculation by observers in and out of government runs the gamut. What will Putin do? Why is he doing it? And why is he doing it now? Conventional wisdom—fed by relentless rhetoric out of Moscow—says Russia is fed […]
Trapped in the Past: #2
Which is worse: to be governed by a decent man who sees a country that no longer exists, or by a thug who sees it all to clearly and aims to extract from it every possible personal advantage? Cheery illusion-based optimism or clear-as-cut-glass reality? Stay with the former and the latter will prevail. On January […]
Trapped in the Past: #1
We’ve left port on our way through 2022. We sail into Year 3 of a global — and often lethal — pandemic, chiefly because a substantial and vocal minority interferes with sensible public health measures. We see the usual big-power wrangling over geopolitical influence, caused not in no small part by cults of personality. And […]
Generals and Parrots
Ukraine remains in the headlines. Russia has 100,000+ troops and materiel on the border. On cue, the curtain on the ballet goes up. Experts (self-professed and real) divine Putin’s intentions. The US does the two-step: concern that an invasion may come soon, and signals to Russia of “grave consequences” if it invades. And the press, […]
Ukraine, again … still
Give it credit for decades of consistency. The American foreign policy apparatus continues its streak of group-think and lack of imagination on geopolitical issues. Admittedly, such criticism reflects the casual observer’s (and taxpayer’s) assumption that, consistent with the rhetoric machined by government mouthpieces, the management of such issues to a useful, preferably non-lethal and stability-inducing […]