This page highlights moral and political challenges in global affairs today: China and Human Rights, Democracy, and Trade; Ecology and Environment; Human Trafficking; Israel and Palestine; Middle East; NATO; Russian Geopolitics.

Economist, Wealthy Politicians in China vs. U.S. The Economist, Sep 28, 2013.

Jeff Jacoby, Two Movies China Desperately Wants to Hide. Boston Globe, Dec 4, 2016. Movies about the Chinese government harvesting organs from political prisoners.

Matthew Klein and Michael Pettis, Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace. Amazon book, May 2020. discusses how corporate leaders shipped jobs overseas in search of cheaper labor that is unethical and/or a geopolitical risk, like in China. See also interview by Saagar Enjeti, Author: How Elites Sold American Workers Out And How To Fix It. Rising | The Hill, Dec 23, 2020.

Ho-Fung Hung, The US-China Rivalry Is About Capitalist Competition. Jacobin, Jul 11, 2020. “Proclamations of a New Cold War between China and the US herald a clash between authoritarianism and liberal democracy. But what we’re seeing in the growing rivalry between the two countries isn’t based on ideological difference but on inter-capitalist competition.”

Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg, Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping the World. Amazon book, Jul 2020. and interview by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Authors: How Bush Family, Western Elites Corrupted By Chinese Communist Party Money. Rising | The Hill, Dec 21, 2020.

Saagar Enjeti, BBC Anchor Corners Chinese Ambassador Live On Concentration Camps, Where Is Trump?. Rising | The Hill, Jul 21, 2020.

Ana Swanson, Nike and Coca-Cola Lobby Against Xinjiang Forced Labor Bill. NY Times, Nov 29, 2020. “Business groups and major companies like Apple have been pressing Congress to alter legislation cracking down on imports of goods made with forced labor from persecuted Muslim minorities in China.” See also Kate Duffy, Human Rights Groups Say the Xinjiang Forced Labor Bill Will Likely Be Passed as Huge Companies Like Nike and Coca-Cola Lobby Against It (Business Insider, Dec 6, 2020.

Saagar Enjeti, CCP Member Caught Revealing How China Will Use Wall Street To Control Joe Biden. Rising | The Hill, Dec 8, 2020.

Anthony Barr, If Mr. Kristof Is Taking Names, Apple Should Be Next. Mere Orthodoxy, Dec 21, 2020.

Arwa Mahdawi, The Chinese Government Is Trying to Rebrand Forced Sterilization as Feminism. The Guardian, Jan 9, 2021.

Richard Wolff, On China Becoming The World Economic Leader & What It Means For The Average American. Act.TV, Mar 24, 2021.

Saagar Enjeti, Biden, West Must Stand Up Against China Efforts To Cover Up Slave Labor. Rising | The Hill, Apr 1, 2021.

Sam Biddle, U.S. Military Bought Cameras in Violation of America’s Own China Sanctions (The Intercept, Jul 20, 2021. Purchased camera systems were supposedly made in the U.S. but actually originated from Chinese companies blacklisted for security reasons.

Amy Goodman, Historian Alfred McCoy Predicts the U.S. Empire is Collapsing as China’s Power Grows. Democracy Now, Nov 16, 2021. re: Taiwan. Although see also Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Authors Debate: Should US Defend Taiwan Or Not? Breaking Points, Dec 16, 2021. Enjeti reviews two articles in the National Review.

Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Denmark Accuses Russia, China, Iran of Espionage Threat.  Reuters, Jan 13, 2022.

Saagar Enjeti, Elon Musk Bows To China Revealing Fake Tough Guy Persona.  Breaking Points, Jan 13, 2022.  

Kim Iversen and Ryan Grim, Journalist Tracked Down Source Behind SOS Note, Discovered Chinese Network Of Forced Labor Camps.  Rising | The Hill, Jan 14, 2022.  Interviews investigative journalist Amelia Pang, Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods.

China Insights, Huawei's Chip Dream Failed and Its Core Business Shattered/Its Secret Ways to Bypass US Sanctions.  China Insights, Jan 17, 2022. 

Johnny Harris, Here’s What Happens If China Invades Taiwan. Johnny Harris, Feb 26, 2022. China’s flyovers in the China-Taiwan strait massively increased in 2021 and increased after the US and Canada sent naval ships into that strait.

Bloomberg Quicktake, How China Plans to Win the Future of Energy.  Mar 15, 2022.  China was dependent on other countries for energy, and is moving to carbon neutrality by 2060.  China dominates various materials (e.g. near monopoly on cobalt in DR Congo) and processes (e.g. cobalt processing, solar panel production) and is likely to lead on nuclear power.

Deutsche Welle, China Amplifies Russian Narrative of Ukraine War.  Deutsche Welle News, Mar 21, 2022.  

Stoic Finance, China's Collapse Just Got So Much Worse.  Stoic Finance, Mar 21, 2022.  This is the most pessimistic take on China I’ve encountered.  Argues that the real estate market is interminably indebted, leaving Chinese citizens on the hook.  If true, massive social unrest is just around the corner.

Isabella M. Weber, How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market Reform Debate.  Routledge | Amazon page, Jun 2021. See Weber’s narration by The Gravel Institute, How China (Actually) Got Rich.  The Gravel Institute, Jun 9, 2022.  “The economic rise of China is usually painted as a simple story: it was poor, it implemented "the free market," and now it's rich. But that picture is a simplistic one – and it's not accurate. China's rise is a reflection of its NOT implementing the ideological dictates of "shock therapy," but in its pursuing a state-led policy of industrialization. Russia's decline can be attributed largely to Western economists steering it in the exact opposite direction in the 1990s. Isabella Weber, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, explains.”

Cambridge Institute on Religion and International Studies (website)

Michael T. Klare, Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict. 2002.

Michael T. Klare, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitcs of Energy. 2008.

Michael T. Klare, The Race for What's Left: The Global Scramble for the World's Last Resources. 2012.

Tom Sullivan, Sweden's Dirty Secret: It Arms Dictators. Business Insider, May 20, 2014.

Shikha Dalmia, Why 'Climate Justice' Has India and the West at Each Other's Throats. The Week, Oct 26, 2015.

Michael T. Klare, The Desperate Plight of Petro-States. Nation of Change, May 26, 2016.

Terrence McCoy and Cecilia do Lago, The Amazon, Undone: The God of São Félix. Washington Post, Jul 27, 2022. “He’s been called a deforester and killer. Now he’s called mayor.”

Imogen Calderwood, India Rules Sex With a Child Bride Is Always Rape in a Massive Win for Girls’ Rights. Global Citizen, Oct 11, 2017.

Sarah Wildman, "America First" Means Human Rights Last During Trump's Visit to Asia. Vox, Nov 8, 2017.

Nima Elbagir, Raja Razek, Alex Platt and Bryony Jones, People for Sale: Where Lives Are Auctioned for $400. CNN, Nov 14, 2017. about human trafficking in Libya, and interview of Nima Elbagir by Trevor Noah, Uncovering Libya’s Modern Slave Trade. The Daily Show, Apr 7, 2018.; see also John Wight, Libya "Chose" Freedom, Now It Has Slavery. Counterpunch, Nov 27, 2017. and Ben Norton, Media Erase NATO Role in Bringing Slave Markets to Libya. FAIR, Nov 28, 2017. 

Amy Goodman, Nigerian Environmental Activist: Displacement from Climate Change Contributed to Rise of Boko Haram. Democracy Now, Nov 16, 2017.

Raj Patel and Jason W Moore, How the Chicken Nugget Became the True Symbol of our Era. The Guardian, May 8, 2018. when you turn the natural world into a profit-making machine

Brian Kahn, Scientists Have Pinpointed the Mystery Source of an Ozone-Destroying Chemical.  Gizmodo Earther, May 22, 2019. traced to China

Dexter Roberts, The Myth of Chinese Capitalism: The Worker, the Factory, and the Future of the World. Amazon book, Mar 2020. and Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, How Multinational Corporations Partner with China to Exploit Workers. Rising | The Hill, Mar 15, 2020. China exploits migrant workers, who were additionally vulnerable to COVID-19.

Breaking the Silence (website) from Israeli soldiers about treatment of Palestinians

Alan Dershowitz and Noam Chomsky, Debate About Israel. Harvard Institute of Politics, 2012.

Michele Chabin, Israeli Christians Seek Integration, Including Army Service.  Religion News Service, Mar 14, 2014.

Salim, Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian Apartheid in 11 Images.  Thrival Room, Apr 15, 2014.

Catherine Shakdam, The Truth About Israel's New War on Gaza:  The Energy Rush.  Memo Middle East Monitor, Jul 22, 2014.

Noam Chomsky, Nightmare in Gaza.  Truthout, Aug 3, 2014.

Richard Falk and Akbar Ganji, The Outlaw State of Israel.  Aljazeera, Aug 20, 2014.

Matti Friedman, An Insider's Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth.  Tablet, Aug 26, 2014. argues why reporters get Israel wrong

Gary M. Burge, Gaza: Some Secrets Few Will Say Aloud.  Huffington Post, Aug 26, 2014.

Rick Gladstone, Reporting From Iran, Jewish Paper Sees No Plot to Destroy Israel.  New York Times, Aug 12, 2015.

Vox, Settlements Part I: Israeli Settlements, Explained. Vox, Sep 19, 2016. and Vox, Settlements Part II: Why Israeli Settlements Don’t Feel Like a Conflict Zone. Vox, Sep 26, 2016. and Vox, Settlements Part III: The Fight for Jerusalem. Vox, Oct 6, 2016.

Avi Shlaim, Believe It or Not, Obama Had Israel's Best Interests at Heart.  Guardian, Jan 17, 2017.

Al Jazeera News, Israel Passes Law to Strip Residency of Jerusalem's Palestinians.  Al Jazeera, Mar 7, 2018.

Thomas Morton, Why Evangelical Christians Love Israel.  Vice | HBO, May 15, 2018. notes that American evangelicals are four times larger than the worldwide Jewish community, and are the majority of support for Zionism.

Aljazeera, Why Does Israel Want to Annex the West Bank? Aljazeera, Jul 12, 2020. water rights

Adar Weinreb, Debate: Israel-Palestine w/ Noam Chomsky & Rudy Rochman. Sulha, Feb 8, 2021. a 75 min debate highlights the current political issues, and demonstrates how the discussion tends to move back to theories of origin and land claims. Saagar Enjeti, Zaid Jilani: Why Media Coverage Of Israel-Palestine Is Dangerous. Rising | The Hill, May 17, 2021. Zaid notes Palestinian non-violent protests happen weekly (yet is not covered by Western media) because of the slow seizures of Palestinian homes on the basis that the home was occupied by Jewish people a century ago; Israel’s government does not engage in nation-building attempts to win over Palestinians to an eventual peaceful civil society because they are engaged in nation-destroying. Amy Goodman, Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem: Israel Is Committing War Crimes by Killing Civilians in Gaza. Democracy Now!, May 18, 2021. comments on Israeli media, and international law principles of the use of military force: distinction and proportionality. Krystal Ball, Palestinians Launch Historic General Strike Hailed Most Significant Action In Decades. Rising | The Hill, May 19, 2021. discusses the Likud Party’s settlement policies over the last 2 - 3 decades, and movement towards the right. David Doel, Geraldo Defends Palestinians And Schools Fox News On The Crisis.  The Rational National, May 19, 2021. discusses the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Flora Lori, ‘Suez 2’? Ever Given Grounding Prompts Plan for Canal Along Egypt-Israel Border. The Guardian, Apr 14, 2021. See also Geography Geek, The Crazy Plan to Nuke a New Suez Canal. Geography Geek, Mar 21, 2021. See also Ruby Valappil, Israel Plans to Create an Alternate Suez Canal + How Are Man-Made Canals Built? Medium, Feb 22, 2023(?). See also the David Ben Gurion Canal Project (Wikipedia article).

Hagai El-Ad, Israel Has Chosen a Two-Tiered Society. Violence Is the Inevitable Result. Washington Post, May 14, 2021. Hagai El-Ad is executive director of Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem.

Krystal Ball, Israel Decimates Associated Press Bureau and Biden Does Nothing. Rising | The Hill, May 18, 2021. anti-democratic regimes often destroy press access; no confirmation that Hamas was present in that building. See also Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Biden’s Call For Ceasefire Ignored By Hamas-Israel.  Rising | The Hill, May 18, 2021. A discussion about the demise of the two-state solution and its consequences.

Shrouq Aila and Anna Therese Day, Israel Destroyed Offices of More Than 20 Palestinian Media Outlets in Gaza. The Intercept, May 18, 2021.

Amy Goodman, Angela Davis & Noura Erakat on Palestinian Solidarity, Gaza & Israel’s Killing of Ahmad Erekat. Democracy Now!, May 20, 2021.

Al Jazeera, Palestinian Village Pays High Price in Defence of its Land.  Aljazeera, Jun 7, 2021. “Israeli settlers have made regular raids into Beita to chop down olive trees, vandalise property, and provoke locals on their land.”

Al Jazeera, Israeli Settlers Refuse to Vacate Illegal West Bank Settlement.  Aljazeera, Jun 25, 2021. “As settler violence and Palestinian protests spread, a major focal point is Beita in the northern occupied West Bank.”

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Israel Demands US Punish Ben & Jerry’s for BDS. Breaking Points, Jul 22, 2021.

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, "The Palestine Laboratory": Antony Loewenstein on How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation.  Democracy Now, Jun 23, 2023.  “We speak with journalist and author Antony Loewenstein about his new book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. Loewenstein explains that Israel's military-industrial complex has used the Occupied Palestinian Territories for decades as a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance technology that it then exports around the world for profit. "You find in over 130 countries across the globe in the last decades, Israel has sold … a range of tools of occupation and repression that have initially been tested in Palestine on Palestinians," Loewenstein says.”

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Hondurans Fight Private Cities Run by US Companies as Government Sued for Outlawing “Neocolonial Project”.  Democracy Now, Jun 28, 2023.  “In Honduras, communities are fighting back against privatization and foreign exploitation after Honduran President Xiomara Castro and Congress repealed a law that established so-called Economic Development and Employment Zones, where private companies have "functional and administrative autonomy" from the national government. Now a Delaware-based company called Próspera has launched a case to challenge the repeal of the law under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement and is seeking almost $11 billion, which amounts to nearly two-thirds of the country's entire 2022 budget. This is an example of the "extreme investor rights" of this international trade agreement directly opposing Honduran sovereignty, says Melinda St. Louis, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. We also speak with local leader Venessa Cárdenas of Crawfish Rock, the area directly impacted by the Próspera ZEDE on the island of Roatán, about the stress of losing control over their community. "We don't know when our home will be taken from us," says Cárdenas. "We, of course, have the rights to be free and previously consulted on any type of project that is being done in our community.”

Mehdi Hasan, Dina Sayedahmed, Blowback: How Israel Went from Helping Create Hamas to Bombing It.  The Intercept, Feb 19, 2018.  “Hamas wants to destroy Israel, right? But as Mehdi Hasan shows in a new video on blowback, Israeli officials admit they helped start the group.”  Ken Klippenstein, Intel Report Warned Abraham Accords Would Fuel Violence.  The Intercept, Jun 22, 2022.  “President Joe Biden is now pushing for a version of the Abraham Accords on steroids, leaving Palestinians behind.”

Katie Phang, The Rise of Hamas. MSNBC, Oct 8, 2023. Hamas’ rise and ideology, likely dependence on Iran and concern about a Saudi-Israeli relationship, and reliance on political confusion and disunity in the Israeli government.

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, History: Hamas Rise To Power Previews Gaza Fight. Breaking Points, Oct 9, 2023. And interview with Ken Roth: Netanyahu Blamed For Security Breakdown. Breaking Points, Oct 9, 2023.

Murtaza Hussein, Biden Doubled Down on the Abraham Accords — to “Devastating Consequences”.  The Intercept, Oct 9, 2023.  “The Biden administration’s policy of ignoring conditions in Gaza contributed to this weekend’s explosion of violence.”

Scott Horton and Connor Freeman, Netanyahu’s Support for Hamas Backfired.  Antiwar.com.  October 27, 2023.  See interview with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Flashback: How Bibi Empowered Hamas.  Breaking Points, Dec 4, 2023.  

Micah Lee, Anti-Defamation League Maps Jewish Peace Rallies with Antisemitic Attacks. The Intercept, Nov 11, 2023. “American Jews have mobilized several thousand Jews across the U.S. to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. ADL calls these Jewish organizations “hate groups.””

Isaac Chotiner, The Extreme Ambitions of West Bank Settlers.  The New Yorker, Nov 11, 2023.  A fascinating interview of a Jewish Zionist and her logic.  The activist wants to close the option of a Palestinian state. 

Amy Goodman, Jeremy Scahill: Israel's "Lethal Lie" About Al-Shifa Hospital as Hamas Base Was Co-Signed by Biden.  Democracy Now, Nov 28, 2023.

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Bibi, AIPAC Plan Big Lobby Against Ceasefire.  Breaking Points, Nov 30, 2023. 

Ronen Bergman and Adam Goldman, Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago.  New York Times, Nov 30, 2023.  “A blueprint reviewed by The Times laid out the attack in detail. Israeli officials dismissed it as aspirational and ignored specific warnings.”

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Shock Video: Israeli Hero Executed By Settler.  Breaking Points, Dec 4, 2023.  A statement about the cultural politics of Jewish Israelis becoming militarized, traumatized, fearful.

Kyrstal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Exposed: Israel's AI Mass Assassination Factory.  Breaking Points, Dec 4, 2023.  The U.S. decided to send 2,000 pound bunker buster bombs for the IDF to use in Gaza.  Israel uses AI to target civilian homes of supposed Hamas militants.

Krystal Ball, Norm Finkelstein Unleashed: Bibi, RFK Jr, Bill Maher.  Breaking Points, Dec 26, 2023.  An excellent 90 minutes of Dr. Finkelstein, a historian, responding to people making excuses for Israel’s conduct in the war with Hamas, and long before.

Krystal Ball, Confirmed: IDF, Biden Lied About Hamas Hospital Tunnels.  Breaking Points, Dec 23, 2023. 

Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland, Krystal Ball Shreds RFK's Israel Propaganda.  The Majority Report, Dec 20, 2023. 

Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky, 'Textbook Case Of Genocide' Israeli Historian On Gaza.  Counter Points | Breaking Points, Dec 28, 2023. 

Amos Harel, Israel-Hamas Hostage Deal Takes Back Seat Due to Netanyahu's Political Calculations. Haaretz, Jan 17, 2024. “Despite U.S. pressure, the only 'day after' Netanyahu is concerned about is post-Biden. The war cabinet is torn on hostage release, and for Netanyahu, his coalition comes first. If Gantz and Eisenkot bolt the emergency government, it could spark a wave of mass protests on the streets of Israel.”

Ryan Grim, Breaking: ICJ Finds Genocide Risk, Orders Israel To Comply.  Breaking Points, Jan 26, 2024.  Interview with Trita Parsi about the UN International Criminal Justice Court ruling that Israel is at risk of committing genocide, and orders a desist.

Amos Harel, Netanyahu's Current Coalition Won't Survive a Hostage Deal With Hamas. Haaretz, Jan 31, 2024. “The Israeli prime minister is nearing a critical decision point: to accept the deal with heavy concessions and face criticism from many Israelis, or reject it as demanded by far-right ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, risking the departure of centrist ministers. Meanwhile, he's resorting to vague semi-denials.”

Debbie Nathan, How Israel Quietly Crushed Early American Jewish Dissent on Palestine. The Intercept, Mar 3, 2024. “Our Palestine Question,” an explosive new book by Geoffrey Levin, delves into American Jewish McCarthyism from the 1950s through late 1970s.

Ryan Grim and Treeta Parsi, Shock: US Allows Ceasefire Resolution to Pass at UN. Breaking Points, Mar 25, 2024.

Amy Goodman, Breaking the Silence: Israeli Army Veterans Tour U.S. & Canada to Speak Out Against Occupation. Democracy Now, Apr 11, 2024. “Democracy Now! speaks with two former Israeli soldiers who are members of Breaking the Silence, an anti-occupation group of Israeli army veterans. The group’s education director, Tal Sagi, describes growing up in a settlement and joining the military without understanding what occupation was. “We’ve been told that this is security and we have to control millions of lives and we don’t have other options,” says Sagi, who says Israeli society is not open to ending the occupation. “We’re trying to say that there are other options.” We also speak with Breaking the Silence deputy director Nadav Weiman about why the group is touring U.S. colleges and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. “We stood in checkpoints. We raided homes. We attacked Gaza from the air. We fought from the ground,” says Weiman. “So, when you bring reality, you bring real conversation about the occupation, and you bring real conversation about Gaza.””

Jon Queally, Israel's Deadly Bombing of World Central Kitchen Convoy Was No Anomaly: Report. Common Dreams, May 14, 2024. A new analysis from Human Right Watch argues that numerous attacks on humanitarian relief operations by Israeli forces prove the April 1 bombing that killed 7 people was "far from being an isolated 'mistake.'"

Reuters, Palestinian Truckers Fear for Safety After Aid Convoy for Gaza Wrecked. Reuters, May 14, 2024.

Stephen Kinzer, Saudi Arabia is Destabilizing the World (Boston Globe, Jun 10, 2017.

Vox, The Middle East's Cold War, Explained (Vox, Jul 17, 2017. a 10 minute video on the history of the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the various proxy wars they fight against each other in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen

Doug Bandow, The Saudi-UAE Alliance is the Most Dangerous Force in the Middle East Today. The American Conservative, Jun 13, 2018.

Peter Baker, A Four-Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election. New York Times, Mar 18, 2023. “A prominent Texas politician said he unwittingly took part in a 1980 tour of the Middle East with a clandestine agenda.” “What Mr. Barnes said he did not realize until later was the real purpose of the mission: to sabotage the re-election campaign of the president of the United States. It was 1980 and Jimmy Carter was in the White House, bedeviled by a hostage crisis in Iran that had paralyzed his presidency and hampered his effort to win a second term. Mr. Carter’s best chance for victory was to free the 52 Americans held captive before Election Day. That was something that Mr. Barnes said his mentor was determined to prevent.”

Conrad Black, Trump’s North Korean Policy Is Succeeding. The American Conservative, Jun 13, 2018. Black writes a remarkably flattering piece on Trump, and a completely opposite view, also tempered by David French, Meet the New Hubris, Same as the Old Hubris. National Review, Jun 13, 2018.  And also Doug Bandow, The Saudi-UAE Alliance is the Most Dangerous Force in the Middle East Today. The American Conservative, Jun 13, 2018.

George Monbiot, Donald Trump Was Right: The Rest of the G7 Were Wrong. The Guardian, Jun 13, 2018. re: NAFTA sunset clauses 

Abraham Newman, Trump’s Feud With Europe Is Worse Than You Think. Politico, Jul 11, 2018. re: questioning sharing intelligence, guessing at corporate interests, etc. 

Jacqued Baud, The Military Situation in the Ukraine. The Postil Magazine, Apr 1, 2022. Retired Colonel in the Swiss Intelligence Service gives a very detailed argument about the Ukraine-Russia conflict. See summary by Kim Iversen: Former NATO Analyst & Top UN Official Says This Is The Real Reason For War In Ukraine. Rising | The Hill, Apr 19, 2022.

Peter Zeihan, Ukraine War Q&A Series: Who Really Started This Whole Thing? Zeihan on Geopolitics, May 19, 2023. Argues entirely Russia, based on NATO standards of membership and accession.

Peter Zeihan, The European Geography. Globe Watch, May 27, 2023. Zeihan holds that water navigation systems, and especially the rivers of Northern Europe, made trade and capital-raising easier for northern nations. The US’s Bretton Woods order allowed Europe to flourish in peace. France and Germany were able to work together for a while, where Germany benefited most economically. However, southern Europe cannot support export-led growth, which brought German finance into crisis and dysfunction. The Russian-Ukraine War also puts German energy and manufacturing in jeopardy. Zeihan examines Turkey (which has good demographics but new governance), Russia (which has terrible demographics and geography), Poland (the natural leader of the former Soviet republics), Sweden (which maintains independence and a healthy economic base), and France (which has high leverage and most economic nationalism). See also Peter Zeihan, Why France's Unique Geography Will Shape the Future of Europe. Economy and Geopolitics, May 5, 2023.

Maia Mikhaluk, A Divided Ukraine? Think Again. CNN, Mar 4, 2014.

Sophia Kishkovsky, Ukrainian Crisis May Split Russian Orthodox Church. Religion News Service, Mar 14, 2014.

Maxim Korshunov, Mikhail Gorbachev: I Am Against All Walls.  Russia Beyond, Oct 16, 2014 argues that Gorbachev denies that there was an understanding that NATO would not expand into Eastern Europe.  But this same Russia Beyond, just two weeks before that, in an article about filmmaker Oliver Stone interviewing Gorbachev, also says Gorbachev did have that understanding.  See Rossyiskaya Gazeta, Igor Dunayevsky, Igor Chernyak, Oliver Stone on Why Russia Is a Natural Ally of the U.S., Russia Beyond, September 30, 2014  cites Gorbachev saying that NATO expansion into Eastern Europe was “a betrayal of Russia and the spirit of agreements made with George Bush Snr. They were nothing on paper, but there was a spirit.” "He disapproves of what the United States has done, calling it a betrayal of Russia and the spirit of agreements made with George Bush Snr. They were nothing on paper, but there was a spirit. That spirit was violated first by Bill Clinton and again by George W Bush and Barack Obama. Since then, 13 states have joined NATO.  For Russia this is a nightmare." 

Patrick L. Smith, Putin Might Be Right on Syria. Salon, Oct 14, 2015.

Patrick J. Buchanan, Obama's World: Utopian Myth? The American Conservative, Nov 18, 2016. Buchanan on the resurgence of nationalism, and some positives

Stephen Sestanovich, The Two Putin Problem. New York Times, Nov 25, 2016.

Uri Friedman, Putin and Assad Are About to Achieve Their Biggest Victory in Syria. The Atlantic, Dec 8, 2016.

Zack Beauchamp, The Key Findings from the US Intelligence Report on the Russia Hack, Decoded. Vox, Jan 6, 2017. Beauchamp notes Russia Today.

Boris Mezhuev, In Russia, It's the Realists vs. the Ethno-Nationalists. The American Conservative, May 10, 2017.

Frontline PBS, The Putin Files: Julia Ioffe.  Oct 27, 2017.  Journalist Julia Ioffe recounts the rise of Putin, his views and aims, and the reason why pro-transparency and pro-democracy movements threaten his Russian kleptocracy.

Vladimir Pozner, How the United States Created Vladimir Putin. Yale University, Oct 2, 2018. Starts with Russia’s overtures of friendship, NATO’s expansion, and the US decision to act like the only global superpower, causing the chilling of American-Russian relations. Pozner believes that we are being manipulated by much of US media to dislike and fear Russia. He also believes that there is still goodwill in the Russia public towards the US.

Kevin Poulson and Spencer Ackerman, The Most Shocking Moments of the New Russia Complaint, from ‘Civil War’ to ‘Fake’ Rubio to ‘Colored LGBT’. The Daily Beast, Oct 19, 2018. “Promoting conspiracies. Attacking Trump friends and foes alike. Calling for their own detention. Russian trolls' alleged political manipulation got more targeted, and even weirder.”

Rachel Maddow, Trump Dismantling US Response To Russian Annexation Of Crimea. The Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC, Sep 5, 2019.

Oliver Stone, Ukraine On Fire 2016, Sivert Krudtå, Feb 15, 2020.  

William J. Broad, Putin’s Long War Against American Science. New York Times, Apr 13, 2020. “A decade of health disinformation promoted by President Vladimir Putin of Russia has sown wide confusion, hurt major institutions and encouraged the spread of deadly illnesses.”

Timothy Naftali, How Generations of Russians Have Tried to Influence American Elections. New York Times, Jun 30, 2020.

Joeri Schasfoort, Why Russia’s Economy is Immune to Western Sanctions. Money & Macro, Jan 19, 2022. Joeri is a post-doctoral research fellow in economics at the Univ of Cape Town, South Africa.

Amanpour and Company, Masha Gessen: The West Is “Insane” for Thinking Sanctions Will Deter Putin. Amanpour and Company, Feb 23, 2022. Compares the NATO invasion of Belgrade, Yugoslavia to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Putin does not recognize the current map of Europe because he claims the Soviet Union did not legally dissolve.

Ali Velshi, Trump's Policy Of Giving Putin Everything He Wants Was No Help To Ukraine.  MSNBC, Feb 23, 2022.  Velshi reviews the litany of events from Trump’s candidacy in 2016.  This has much bearing on the GOP’s flipflop on Russia and Ukraine.

Nicole Wallace, 'It’s Clear Putin Was ‘Never Interested’ In Diplomacy Says Amb. Bill Taylor. MSNBC, Feb 24, 2022.

Saagar Enjeti, History Will Have Revenge Against Putin. Breaking Points, Feb 24, 2022. Enjeti gives a historical and international account of Putin’s grand design, “the Russian Empire.” Putin believes that various countries have no right to exist in the first place, because Vladimir Lenin made a mistake.

Bill McKibbin, This is How We Defeat Putin and Other Petrostate Autocrats.  The Guardian, Feb 25, 2022.  See also Frank Vogl, The Enablers: How the West Supports Kleptocrats and Corruption - Endangering Our Democracy. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | Amazon page, Nov 2021. “Authoritarian regimes in many countries, and the men that lead them, depend on the international management of licit and illicit funds under their control. Frank Vogl shows that curbing their activities for their kleptocratic clients is critical to secure democracy, enhance national security, and ensure international financial stability.” See interview by Christine Amanpour, Anti-Corruption Expert: The West Is Enabling Autocracies. Amanpour and Company, Apr 14, 2022.

Deutsche Welle, War in Ukraine: What's Driving Putin? Deutsche Welle, Feb 26, 2022. Putin’s intellectual position is the pre-1917 Russian position. Putin wants to unite the Slavic nations: Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. He believes Lenin made a mistake by recognizing them as different nations. From a Christian ethics perspective, one concern with this is the manipulation of Slavic Orthodox identity.

Katharina Pistor, From Shock Therapy to Putin’s War.  Project Syndicate, Feb 28, 2022.  “Although Vladimir Putin alone is responsible for the war in Ukraine, it is worth remembering that prominent Westerners played a key role in shaping Russia's post-Soviet trajectory. They insisted that market reforms must take priority over political reforms, and we are still living with that choice.”

Amy Goodman, Bill McKibben on Dire IPCC Climate Report & How Oil and Gas Are Fueling Putin's Ukraine Invasion.  Democracy Now, Feb 28, 2022.

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales, Journalist Andrew Cockburn & Historian Timothy Snyder on Ukraine, Russia, NATO Expansion & Sanctions.  Democracy Now, Mar 1, 2022.

Deutsche Welle, The End of a Superpower - The Collapse of the Soviet Union. Deutsche Welle, Mar 3, 2022. A 53 minute video, excellent overview of the collapse of the Soviet Union into its 15 republics, and the conflicts and politics that have resulted. The Russian policy of defending the interests of ethnic Russians is emotionally understandable in the situation where Russians moved into the former Soviet republics. The role of the Russian Orthodox Church is important — will it also strive to unite Russians ethnically and imperialistically?

Aljazeera, Profile: Who Are Ukraine’s Far-Right Azov Regiment?  Aljazeera, Mar 1, 2022.  “Estimated at 900” people.  Grotesque, but small.

Financial Times, Russia No Longer Requesting Ukraine Be ‘Denazified’ as Part of Ceasefire Talks.  Financial Times, Mar 28, 2022.  Indicates that Putin’s claim that Ukraine has a Nazi problem was not that substantial to begin with.

Jacques Baud, The Military Situation in the Ukraine.  The Postil, Apr 1, 2022.  A substantial analysis by a former NATO military commanding officer who addresses various roots of the conflict.  He begins, “Let’s try to examine the roots of the conflict. It starts with those who for the last eight years have been talking about “separatists” or “independentists” from Donbass. This is not true. The referendums conducted by the two self-proclaimed Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in May 2014, were not referendums of “independence” (независимость), as some unscrupulous journalists have claimed, but referendums of “self-determination” or “autonomy” (самостоятельность). The qualifier “pro-Russian” suggests that Russia was a party to the conflict, which was not the case, and the term “Russian speakers” would have been more honest. Moreover, these referendums were conducted against the advice of Vladimir Putin.  In fact, these Republics were not seeking to separate from Ukraine, but to have a status of autonomy, guaranteeing them the use of the Russian language as an official language. For the first legislative act of the new government resulting from the overthrow of President Yanukovych, was the abolition, on February 23, 2014, of the Kivalov-Kolesnichenko law of 2012 that made Russian an official language. A bit like if putschists decided that French and Italian would no longer be official languages in Switzerland.”  He provides much more detail.

CNBC, Russia And Ukraine's Conflict Over Natural Gas Explained.  CNBC, Apr 7, 2022.  

Yanis Varoufakis, Looming Threats in the Global Economy? The Agenda with Steve Paikin, April 21, 2022. Varoufakis notes:

“With the benefit of hindsight, the West should be self-critical… Let me remind you that after 1991, Russia was on its knees. You had Yeltsin. You had, in the prime-minister-ship of Russia, liberal reformists. Why were they crushed? They were crushed because the International monetary Fund and Washington insisted on a policy of exacting a pound of flesh from the Russian economy in the form of debt repayments that the Russian economy was simply not prepared to make. Let me remind you that between 1995 and 1998, Russia was pushed into a major financial crisis by the West. The IMF brought Russia to its knees in 1998. Let me remind you that because of this policy by the International Monetary Fund and Washington, the life expectancy of men in Russia fell from 78 to 56 years of age. This has never happened, in any country in the world, in such a short space of time to have this crushing effect on an economy, a society. It is my considered opinion that the monster that goes by the name Vladimir Putin was bred in the guts of this gigantic humiliation of the Russian people. That was effected by the denial to the Russian people of the opportunity to join the global economy. It is time that Washington takes a very good look at itself in the mirror and understand that it’s not that integrating the Russian economy didn’t work. It was a choice of Washington and in particular the International Monetary Fund in association with Washington DC. It was a choice not to integrate Russia that gave rise to Putin, the oligarchs, and gave the impetus to a process by which Russia became the villain of the piece.”

Peter Zeihan, Russia's Military Starts Shopping Abroad.  Zeihan on Geopolitics, Sep 7, 2022.  Russia is relying on tactical artillery from Iran, and now looks to North Korea.  This means that Russia’s military equipment and sales is collapsing.

Peter Zeihan, The Collapse of Empires.  Zeihan on Geopolitics, Sep 15, 2022.  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine proved that Russia’s military power has precipitously declined.  Zeihan expects conflicts to break out in regions where Russia’s presence once stabilized tensions and conflicts:  Syria; Armenia and Azerbaijan; Georgia; Nistria in Moldova; Belarus; perhaps even Venezuela.

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Media, US Embraces Nazi Revisionism For Ukraine.  Breaking Points, Oct 3, 2023.  Discuss Antony Blinken and several media outlets pushing Holocaust revisionism to defend Ukraine and attack Russia.

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Ukraine Admits To Blowing Up Nordstream.  Breaking Points, Nov 13, 2023.  The highest military officer in Ukraine, at a minimum (if not President Zelensky himself), wanted to draw the U.S. and Europe into Ukraine’s defense in the war with Russia.