Among Cold War presidents, from Truman to Bush I, there was an unwritten rule: Do not challenge Moscow in its Central and Eastern Europe sphere of influence. In crises over Berlin in 1948 and 1961, the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Prague in 1968, U.S. …
“I say to the people of Estonia and the people of the Baltics, today we are bound by our treaty alliance. … Article 5 is crystal clear: An attack on one is an attack on all. So if … you ever ask again, ‘who’ll come to help,’ you’ll know the …
As the old saying goes, you cannot truly understand a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes. Perhaps Americans, a fortunate tribe, should try to see the world from the vantage point of the Russian people and Vladimir Putin, and, as the poet Robert Burns said, “see …
“Mr. Obama is focused on isolating President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia by cutting off its economic and political ties to the outside world … and effectively making it a pariah state.” So wrote Peter Baker in Sunday’s New York Times. Yet if history is any guide, this “pariah policy,” even …
In the last stanza of “The Battle of Blenheim,” Robert Southey writes: “But what good came of it at last?” Quoth little Peterkin. “Why, that I cannot tell,” said he; “But ’twas a famous victory.” What did it really matter? The poet was asking of the triumph of the Duke …
Police began to back away from their positions in the square, said Engel. And the protesters attacked. Gunfire was exchanged and the death toll, believed to be in the dozens, is not known. In short, the reality in Kiev is more complex than the black-and-white cartoon of Vladimir Putin vs. …
“What Would America Fight For?” That question shouts from the cover of this week’s Economist. It is, asserts the magazine, “the question haunting its allies.” While most agree that America would fight to defend her treaty allies and to protect vital interests if imperiled, the question is raised by President …
With Vladimir Putin’s dispatch of Russian troops into Crimea, our war hawks are breathing fire. Russophobia is rampant and the op-ed pages are ablaze here. Barack Obama should tune them out, and reflect on how Cold War presidents dealt with far graver clashes with Moscow. When Red Army tank divisions …
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