Video: Viktor Bout’s Surprise Court Ruling

China-Japan Conflict Reveals Asia’s Institutional Deficit

What began with an arrest of a Chinese fisherman in disputed waters has escalated into the most intense  diplomatic dispute between between Japan and China in recent memory.  The incident has provoked severed ties, reciprocating arrests, frozen trade, and unusually bellicose language.  The rhetoric is nothing short of chilling:  “This matter has already seriously damaged […]

Put Some Pressure on Thailand

From my latest on Huffington Post: It has been particularly heartening to see Germany’s decision to halt the sale of of military equipment – in the specific instance, engines that power Ukrainian-made armored personnel carriers – to the Royal Thai Army, citing EU rules which prohibit the sale of arms to “governments that systematically use […]

Viktor Bout’s Upcoming Great Escape

From Robert Amsterdam’s latest article on the Huffington Post: Most importantly, Bout is a picture perfect representation of “one of the men” currently in power in the Kremlin, and say what you will about Vladimir Putin, he is very loyal to his friends. Even if we could discount what Bout might or might not share […]

Hard Bargaining Over Viktor Bout

The saga of the “merchant of death” Victor Bout has taken a stunning new turn. Last week, a Thai appeals court reversed a lower court judgment and ordered the Russian citizen extradited to the United States. This was clearly in response to heavy pressure placed by the American government on the shoulders of Abhisit’s administration, […]

Viktor Bout’s Big Secret

It has long been a subject of wild speculation as to why the Russian government has lobbied to bring home the reputed arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is currently detained in Thailand and, according to a recent announcement, may in fact be extradited to the United States. The former Russian Air Force officer has allegedly […]

Iran Sanctions Create Opportunities for Russia and China

This insightful piece published on Bloomberg today takes a look at the unintentional (but surely somewhat predictable) effect of the sanctions recently imposed on Iran: new business opportunities for Russia and China. Experts quoted in the article say the sanctions are hurting European suppliers while paving the way for greater cooperation between Iran, Russia and […]

Sanctions for Breaking Sanctions

A US house representative is calling for sanctions against Russia for undermining the recently-implemented sanctions against Iran. The AFP reports: “It’s time to implement our sanctions laws and demonstrate to Russia and China that there are consequences for abetting Tehran and flouting US sanctions,” Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement. Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican […]

Fickle Friends: The History of Russia-US-China Relations

Writing in the Moscow Times today Yevgeny Bazhanov offers a succinct historical overview of the shifting alliances between Russia, China and the US. He concludes that, just as the attempted China-US alliance against Russia fizzled in the 1980s, so any Russia-China or Russia-US alliance is doomed to fail in the long term: China learned its […]

White Paper: The Bangkok Massacres – A Call for Accountability

Below you will find a video introduction, press release, and link to the full document of our latest White Paper prepared in response to the tragically violent Bangkok killings of protesters occurring in in April and May of this year. Please see www.robertamsterdam.com/thailand for more information and continuing coverage.