Tag: Russia
Stevenson’s army, September 8
-WaPo draws from new biography that Musk cut satellites to hinder Ukraine attack on Crimea.
– WaPo also has excerpt from the biography.
– Dan Drezner says Musk needs some foreign policy advisers.
– NYT warns pro-Russians lead in pending Slovakia elections
– Pro Publica criticizes the Littoral Combat Ship program
– NYT describes the upgraded Situation Room
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, September 6
– Is Kim-Putin alliance a win-win for both, as NYT says?
– Can Kenya force really pacify Haiti?
– Is Modi going to change India’s name?
– Will AUKUS fail unless US changes laws?
– Do we really need a Space Command?
– Can Senate “jam” House GOP on spending bills?
– How bad is the Ukraine assassination program?
And from Legistorm’s free weekly newsletter:
Republican staffers are more likely than their Democratic counterparts to pass through the revolving door, according to LegiStorm data.
So far this year, 415 partisan ex-staffers have registered as federal lobbyists or foreign agents. Of those, 225 (54%) were Republicans, and 190 (46%) were Democrats. Republicans made up 53% of partisan staffers who registered as lobbyists in 2022.
For over a decade, Republicans have made up the majority of staffers-turned-lobbyists every year except 2021, when numbers were virtually tied.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, September 2
– Matt Yglesias shows why the GOP proposal for war on Mexico is simplistic, short-sighted, and stupid.
– Colin Woodard shows how different regions of the US are even on life expectancy.
– WSJ graphically shows Russian defenses in Ukraine
– WaPo tells the political history of Labor Day
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, September 1
-US wants Philippine base close to Taiwan.
– Russia vetoes UNSC resolution on Mali.
– Carnegie analyst discusses impact of Niger coup.
– Russian oligarchs had US lobbyists.
– Trump Treasury official wants better interagency process for economic policy.
– LA Times sees conservative plan to take over US government.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, August 26
– It’s all over, says Charlie Cook. Trump will be the GOP nominee.
– WaPo still does some fact-checking on other presidential candidates.
– Georgetown SFS group has recommendations to improve US diplomacy.
– NYT has declassified US intelligence report on Russian influence operations in US & Europe.
-Pentagon protested false Fox report
– Singer protests GOP use of his song.
– Economist lists important books for read for IR and offers candidates for Great American Novel.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Lessons from the Wagnerian tragedy
While the odds of my saying anything new are minimal, it is difficult not to comment on the death yesterday of Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner comrades. I think it is fair to assume it was murder. A plane accident would be just too convenient. And we’ll never know for sure, so why not assume the obvious?
What we don’t know and what the incident tells us
It is difficult to fathom why Prigozhin thought he could fly around Russia safely. Just a few days ago he put out a video purporting to show him in Africa. Might he have imagined that Putin would be fooled? Might he have believed that his good friend Vladimir would allow him to continue to live after attempting a coup? Had he tried to blackmail Putin into leaving him alone, by promising to have published incriminating material if he were to die? No one knows.
What we do know is that this incident confirms, once again, that Putin is a garden variety homicidal dictator. No one should have doubted that–the denefestrations and poisonings have been confirming it for decades. But it has political implications, both in Russia and in the United States.
Russians need to get brave
The implication in Russia is that Putin will never leave office voluntarily. He knows that peaceful retirement is not an option. He’ll try to stay in power as long as he can.
To get rid of him, Russians will need to be courageous. There is little sign of such courage so far, but it might be brewing beneath the surface. Whoever arranged for Prigozhin’s plane to come down could do the same for Putin’s. That will make him extra cautious and repressive. He has already tightened the screws on dissent, but will likely do more. Even much more.
Americans need to get smarter
Following Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson, there is a part of the Republican Party, and a fringe on the left, that has been inclined to accommodation with Putin. They would like less aid for Ukraine and more, echoing a Moscow troll line, for Hawaii, though of course the Republicans would never actually push aid in Hawaii’s direction.
Trump and Carlson may continue to shill for Putin. They are not just dumb but craven. But the filo-Russian faction on both left and right should now be as dead as Prigozhin.
There is no longer any alternative, if ever there was, for the West in Ukraine. Europe and the US need to give Ukraine everything it needs to defeat Russia and expel its forces from all Ukrainian territory. Putin’s defeat may not guarantee his fall, but if he manages to hold on to territory in Ukraine it will make his fall much less likely. His succesor may be worse for Russians, but defeat in Ukraine will make him and Russia weaker. That is what Americans need to aim for.
Accountability would be nice
I guffawed at the first news of Prigozhin’s accident. But it is not a laughing matter, even if he was a clownish war criminal. Dictators worldwide will be watching to see the consequences. Let’s hope Russians can somehow give Putin his just desserts.
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