The Big Picture Archives - Page 13 of 34

October 26, 2015

Putin’s Crimean gamble: Russia, Ukraine, and the new Cold War

Since the time of Catherine the Great, Crimea has been a global tinderbox. Most recently, the world was stunned when the forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded and seized Crimea in March 2014. In the months since, Putin’s actions in Crimea, eastern Ukraine and, more recently, in Syria have provoked a sharp deterioration in East-West relations. Basic questions have been raised about Putin’s provocative policies, his motivations, and the future of U.S.-Russian relations—and whether the world has now entered a new Cold War.

On October 26, the Foreign Policy program at Brookings hosted Nonresident Senior Fellow Marvin Kalb for the launch of his new book, “Imperial Gamble: Putin, Ukraine, and the New Cold War” (Brookings Institution Press, 2015). In “Imperial Gamble,” Kalb examines Putin’s actions in Ukraine, the impact on East-West relations, and how the future of the post-Cold War world hangs on the controversial decisions of one reckless autocrat, Vladimir Putin.

Joining the discussion were Thomas Friedman, The New York Times columnist, and Nina Khrushcheva, professor of international relations at The New School. Brookings President Strobe Talbott provided introductory remarks, and Martin Indyk, Brookings executive vice president, moderated the discussion.

October 26, 2015

China invades India (1962): JFK’s finest hour

…..on October 22, President John F. Kennedy announced to the nation that Soviet missiles had been discovered in Cuba….. What the president did not discuss with the American public was that, two days prior, Chinese forces attacked Indian forces along a disputed Himalayan border between the countries.

Bruce Riedel from the Brookings Institute discusses newly-declassified evidence that Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru asked President Kennedy to use American air power.

October 23, 2015

Containment 2.0 [podcast]

Always interesting to listen to James Sherr of Chatham House discuss global geo-politics.

http://www.rferl.org/audio/27310324.html

Can the West contain a Russia that is determined to upend the international order — but which at the same time is deeply integrated into the global economy?

The latest Power Vertical Podcast tackles these questions with guests James Sherr, an associate fellow with — and former head of — Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia program, and Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and author of the books Theories Of International Politics And Zombies and the recently published The System Worked: How The World Stopped Another Great Depression.

October 23, 2015

Why Japan Should Rearm by Brahma Chellaney | Project Syndicate

….It is Japan’s security, not its economy, that merits the most concern today – and Japan knows it. After decades of contentedly relying on the US for protection, Japan is being shaken out of its complacency by fast-changing security and power dynamics in Asia, especially the rise of an increasingly muscular and revisionist China vying for regional hegemony.

….China has not hesitated to display its growing might. In the strategically vital South China Sea, the People’s Republic has built artificial islands and military outposts, and it has captured the disputed Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines. In the East China Sea, it has unilaterally declared an air-defense identification zone covering territories that it claims but does not control.

With US President Barack Obama hesitating to impose any costs on China for these aggressive moves…..the reality is that ensuring long-term peace in Asia demands a stronger defense posture for Japan.

….Would Japan need to become a truly independent military power, with formidable deterrent capabilities like those of the UK or France?

The short answer is yes. While Japan should not abandon its security treaty with the US, it can and should rearm, with an exclusive focus on defense…..

October 11, 2015

Charles Moore: Margaret Thatcher’s Cold War Legacy

https://vimeo.com/85816848

September 30, 2015

Sen. John McCain on Russia’s airstrikes in Syria

Shades of Churchill in 1938:

Winston Churchill, denouncing the Munich Agreement in the House of Commons, declared:

“We have suffered a total and unmitigated defeat … you will find that in a period of time which may be measured by years, but may be measured by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi régime. We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude … we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road … we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: “Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting”. And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.”

On 3 October 1938, Churchill added:

“England has been offered a choice between war and shame. She has chosen shame, and will get war.”

September 15, 2015

Why Europe Failed

Dr Oliver Hartwich of The New Zealand Initiative discusses his new book, Why Europe Failed.

Over the past years, we have become used to Europe’s debt crisis. However, the fiscal problems of countries such as Greece are only the tip of the iceberg. Europe’s crisis has much deeper roots. Here, Dr Hartwich explains the causes of Europe’s decline.

August 17, 2015

Why we need to end the War on Drugs | TED

“Prohibition is not the ultimate in regulation — it is the abdication of regulation.”

Is the War on Drugs doing more harm than good? In a bold talk, drug policy reformist Ethan Nadelmann makes an impassioned plea to end the “backward, heartless, disastrous” movement to stamp out the drug trade. He gives two big reasons we should focus on intelligent regulation instead.

August 11, 2015

Window on Eurasia: Kyiv Must Work to Isolate Moscow Rather than Negotiate with It

From Paul Goble:

Staunton, August 11 – Up to now, Ukraine has made “a serious error” by trying to negotiate with Russia about the Donbas, Bogdan Yeremenko [former Ukrainian diplomat] says. What it should be doing is devoting all its efforts to isolating Russia internationally. That will have far more impact on Moscow’s behavior than any talks Ukraine might have with it……

Up to now, Russia has acted more effectively than Ukraine by “imposing its will and taking the initiative both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.” Ukraine in contrast “has held fast to a disastrous strategy responding with diplomacy to armed aggression and reducing the opportunities of its own Armed Forces.”

“…..Diplomatic efforts ought to be concentrated not on talks with Russia but on the creation for it of an uncomfortable foreign policy environment and the resolution of practical issues of securing the defense capacity of the country.”

July 22, 2015

Japan Escalates Its Standoff With China in the South China Sea | VICE News

By Jennifer Peters
July 22, 2015 | 8:45 am

Japan has put its foot down — at least in writing — over China’s attempts to assert greater control of the South China Sea.

….Japan isn’t the only one pushing back against China’s expansion in the region. The Philippines is taking China to court over territorial claims to the South China Sea, with top Filipino officials appearing at The Hague to argue their case before a United Nations arbitral tribunal. China has called it a “political provocation.”

“The Chinese take kind of a Leninist approach to these things,” [Kelley Currie, a senior fellow with the Project 2049 Institute] said. “They probe with the bayonet until they hit steel, and then they’ll stop. When they start to see that people are serious about pushing back, then they will back off a bit.”