Lots of Russian Guns in Latin America

By James Kimer | Published: February 26, 2010

Sometime in early 2010 it was made official:  Russia officially became the largest supplier of arms to Latin America.  Maybe that’s because the U.S. started getting more picky about their arms customers.  Here goes a brief note from Mac Margolis at Newsweek on the $5.8 billion in recent deals Russia has made with various Latin […]

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The Failure of the Russia Reset

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: February 15, 2010

Michael Weiss has an interesting comment on the Obama administration’s reset diplomacy posted over at Pajamas Media. “Reset” in hindsight has claimed one extraordinary achievement for the administration: it has wiped out what once seemed a permanent memory with respect to U.S.-Russian relations. As Vladimir Kara-Murza, the Washington bureau chief of RTVi television network and […]

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How the Scott Brown Upset May Change U.S.-Russia Relations

By James Kimer | Published: January 27, 2010

Writing in the Moscow Times today, David Firestein of the EastWest Institute argues that the Democrat’s loss of the Massachusetts senatorial seat to Republican Scott Brown will make 2010 a very tough year for President Barack Obama to pursue his Russia agenda, as some lawmakers may be tempted to block the ratification of a replacement […]

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McCain’s Connection to Yanukovych

By James Kimer | Published: January 18, 2010

Though Sen. John McCain was recently in Georgia to receive an award for his outspoken support both during and after the 2008 Russian invasion, his reputation in Ukraine might be a bit tarnished among the pro-democracy liberals once Viktor Yanukovych takes over with a victory int eh polls. As we reported a few years ago […]

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Praying for Haiti

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: January 13, 2010

As I am sure all of you know, it has been a very terrible day for the country of Haiti, where thousands are believed to have been killed in an earthquake in Port-au-Prince.  I urge all readers to consider donating to the emergency relief effort through Doctors without Borders or Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation.  […]

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How a pro-Obama diplomat discusses Russia

By Citizen M | Published:

From an interview with Madeleine Albright in the FT: FT: Secretary Albright, you are now a business woman as well as everything else. What parts of the world are your clients most interested in right now as business opportunities? MA: Well, we are – particularly my firm focuses primarily on emerging markets, and part of […]

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Nudging toward Democracy Promotion

By James Kimer | Published: January 12, 2010

Below is from a Wall Street Journal editorial, one of many, about the new 2009 Freedom in the World report by Freedom House.  They see Obama’s “principled pragamaticism” as a major weakness which contributed to the trend observed in the report. If in the days of Jack Kennedy or Ronald Reagan, we worked to fashion […]

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There’s No Refund on the Russia Reset

By James Kimer | Published: January 8, 2010

So what is the conventional thinking behind the new U.S. administration pursuing the “reset” of relations with Russia?  We are likely to hear well-intentioned words about opening up a new chapter in bilateral relations, and improving frayed ties for the good of both nations, but at the end of the day there are of course […]

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Hugo Chávez’s Attempted Murder of a Judge

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: January 6, 2010

In almost any other country in the world, it would be a scandalous outrage and national obsession.  In Venezuela, where the speed of absurdist political theater zips along a such a fast pace – from war with Colombia to an attack on golf to presidential advice on the proper duration of a shower – such […]

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Democracies Don’t Always Stick Together

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: January 4, 2010

In addition to that article on Brazil by Susan Kaufman Purcell published in the Wall Street Journal today, Gideon Rachman’s latest column in the Financial Times (see excerpts below) is the second time in one day we’ve the Obama Administration catch some criticism for its lapse in global leadership.  Whether we are talking about Washington […]

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