Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: Russia

The BRICS Under Cheap Oil

The BRICS Under Cheap Oil

The rapid rise in the value of the U.S. dollar and the effect of new riches in the U.S. energy market has left many adversaries of the U.S. with serious future financial issues

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A Candid Discussion with Ambassador Christopher Hill

A Candid Discussion with Ambassador Christopher Hill

Ambassador Hill sat down with Reza Akhlaghi of the Foreign Policy Association to discuss his new book and share his views on U.S. foreign policy.

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Conflict in the East and South China Seas: A Wikistrat Simulation

Conflict in the East and South China Seas:  A Wikistrat Simulation

Last week saw yet another meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which was hosted by Myanmar President Thein Sein on Nov. 12 and 13. ASEAN nations had initially hoped for further progress on territorial issues related to the East and South China Seas, yet once again came away with little agreement from Beijing.

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The S-300 Missile Threat in Middle Eastern Conflicts

The S-300 Missile Threat in Middle Eastern Conflicts

While the U.S. and the coalition against ISIS make attacks on targets in Iraq and Syria, there remains an uneasy relationship between Assad’s government and the U.S.

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The Cold War 2.0: Re-instating Deterrence

The Cold War 2.0: Re-instating Deterrence

After the end of the Cold War, Ukraine and the Soviet Union’s former Warsaw Pact neighbors agreed to remove some of their security apparatus in order to maintain stability in the region.

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Why Russia Intervenes

Why Russia Intervenes

Far from being an anomalous event, Russia’s coercive military pressure on Ukraine in the aftermath of the Maidan revolution is typical of the way great powers, including the United States, have behaved in the past.

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The Russia-Ukraine conflict: lessons for Europeans

The Russia-Ukraine conflict: lessons for Europeans

The current Russian-Ukrainian conflict is a game changer for European security. The entire European security architecture has trembled as the eastern flank of the continent has been destabilized. From a European perspective, four fundamental lessons-learned can already be drawn.

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The pitfalls of sanctions and financial warfare

The pitfalls of sanctions and financial warfare

Sanctions are all the rage in contemporary foreign policy circles. Following interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, Western populations rightly are less and less supportive of direct military action, especially of any initiative involving “boots on the ground.” Sanctions provide a tempting policy solution to decision makers all too conscious of public opinion; a sort of “financial […]

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The Dangers of Investing in Conflicted Areas

The Dangers of Investing in Conflicted Areas

Investments in Colombia in the ’80s and ’90s were often limited to large multinational companies. These companies would take the risks to mine in Colombia’s regions despite the dangers present to their employees. On many occasions, Colombians and foreign nationals were kidnapped for ransom, and many international workers and influential Colombians would not survive or were […]

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The Difficulties in Handling a Melee of Policy Decisions

The Difficulties in Handling a Melee of Policy Decisions

The last three weeks in world politics has been nothing less than a complete disaster of the international community. Since the end of the 2014 World Cup, it appears that anything that President Obama would have considered to be a major issue has appeared as a crisis upon a crisis. Unfortunately, there has been mostly […]

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Energy: The tie that binds Beijing and Moscow

Energy: The tie that binds Beijing and Moscow

Russia and China last month agreed to a landmark natural gas deal nearly a decade in the making that will put the two in partnership for the next 30 years. Russia’s energy giant, Gazprom, and the China National Petroleum Corp. signed the much-anticipated $400 billion natural gas deal on May 21. The exact pricing remains […]

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Insurgencies and Their Equipment: Modern Challenges on the Field of Battle

Insurgencies and Their Equipment: Modern Challenges on the Field of Battle

With the ISIS forces entering the outer region of Baghdad, the move towards Iraq’s capital lead to a lot of equipment being captured by those forces. This new and advanced equipment will likely play an important role in future battles. It is important to look at some of the tanks and artillery that might become […]

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Reassurance First: Goals for an Ambitious Weimar Triangle

Reassurance First: Goals for an Ambitious Weimar Triangle

The current crisis in Ukraine is a game changer for Europe. While it has reignited a necessary public debate about collective measures to ensure Europe’s security, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) immediate neighborhood has witnessed a considerable worsening of security conditions for some time.

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Brazil’s World Cup and the True Voice of the BRICS

Brazil’s World Cup and the True Voice of the BRICS

It appears that when the world was praising the BRICS nations a few years ago, that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were seen as the countries that would dominate the world economy in the future, and that any opportunity to link a company or organization to these mega-economies would pay off without any […]

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Book Review: Iran’s Historic Distrust of Foreign Powers

Book Review: Iran’s Historic Distrust of Foreign Powers

  Editor’s Note: The following is a book review by Reza Varjavand, associate professor of economics and finance at the Graham School of management, Saint Xavier University by Reza Varjavand Even though we still do not know for sure how we got to be on this planet, we have a long history of living on […]

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