Americans’ contemporary thinking about the international political mess has the tendency to group the elites in the West as right or left, and ignore the distinction within political and religious blocs. And despite the evidence, many in the West, … [Read more...] about American Internationalists and the Real World
U.S. Foreign Policy
American LNG to the Rescue! Not Exactly.*
When Secretary of State John Kerry tried to lead an LNG posse to rescue the Europeans, blackmailed in the Ukraine affair by their heavy dependence on Russian natural gas, his bluff was soon called. True, the U.S. has a growing natural gas surplus. … [Read more...] about American LNG to the Rescue! Not Exactly.*
Will Korea Be the Next Ukraine?
Washington’s eyes may be on the latest developments in the Keystone pipeline dispute and the Crimean Peninsula crisis, but a bigger story is unfolding, involving an entirely different pipeline and an entirely different peninsula. In a swift move to … [Read more...] about Will Korea Be the Next Ukraine?
U.S. Fears Israeli Tourists
Someone in the United States government is afraid of Israelis. That has to be the best explanation why Israelis' ongoing attempts to enter the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) are encountering stubborn resistance, despite the fact that 38 countries, some … [Read more...] about U.S. Fears Israeli Tourists
Russia: The Geopolitics of Natural Gas
Russia’s economic weakness lies in its dependency on natural gas, which represents nearly 60 percent of its exports. This dependency, which led Senator John McCain to describe Russia as “a gas station masquerading as a country,” should make economic … [Read more...] about Russia: The Geopolitics of Natural Gas
“Czechoslovakia” or “Finland”
All historical analogies are odious, some dead white man – probably a Frenchman – has said. Obviously, he meant that times change, the cast changes, the nuances change, the world moves on, and no geopolitical situation really replicates an earlier … [Read more...] about “Czechoslovakia” or “Finland”
Weekly Briefing, April 12-18, 2014
From ACD Blaming the Jews. Again -- Rachel Ehrenfeld -- Blaming the Jews, is a tradition in the borderlands of East Europe, where numerous governments and insurgency groups felt free to “use the Jews,” as the saying goes, blame them for … [Read more...] about Weekly Briefing, April 12-18, 2014
Misreading Russia
Andrei Zubov, a well-respected Russian historian at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, was recently fired because of an op/ed that aptly compared Putin's annexation of Crimea to Hitler's annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland … [Read more...] about Misreading Russia
Ideology/Incompetence?*
Belatedly in this instance, in our search to solve the mystery of the Obama Administration’s policy formulation process, the highly touted The New Yorker extended interviews by David Remnick are found wanting. A little more Obama, a little less … [Read more...] about Ideology/Incompetence?*
ACD—Scientific and Policy Briefing on EMP Threats – 10 April 2014
The US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will meet in full committee today to consider “Keeping the lights on - Are we doing enough to ensure the reliability and security of the US electric grid?” ACD will broadly articulate and … [Read more...] about ACD—Scientific and Policy Briefing on EMP Threats – 10 April 2014