Cold War

Given their lack of information about the Ukraine-Russia deal scuttled by Boris Johnson early in the war, many Americans will be inclined to believe Biden’s evidence-free claims in last week’s CNN debate. Ray McGovernSpecial to Consortium News, July 2, 2024 July 5, 2024 At Thursday’s debate with Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” claimed that he “wants all of Ukraine. … Do you think he’ll stop? … What do you think happens to Poland and other places?” Spoiler Alert: Official Ukrainian sources confirm that Putin did stop in March 2022, after Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky agreed to forswear membership in NATO. This was the key provision in the Ukraine-Russia deal initialed by Davyd Arakhamia, who at the time was Zelensky’s chief negotiator (and his party’s faction leader in the Rada) at the talks in Istanbul at the end of March, hardly a month...

Jeffrey Sachs June 23, 2024 For goodness’ sake, negotiate! For the fifth time since 2008, Russia has proposed to negotiate with the U.S. over security arrangements, this time in proposals made by President Vladimir Putin on June 14, 2024. Four previous times, the U.S. rejected the offer of negotiations in favour of a neocon strategy to weaken or dismember Russia through war and covert operations. The U.S. neocon tactics have failed disastrously, devastating Ukraine in the process, and endangering the whole world. After all the warmongering, it’s time for Biden to open negotiations for peace with Russia. Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. grand strategy has been to weaken Russia. As early as 1992, then Defence Secretary Richard Cheney opined that following the 1991 demise of the Soviet Union, Russia too should be dismembered. Zbigniew Brzezinski opined in 1997 that Russia should be divided into three loosely confederated entities in...

Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (Black Painting with Portal Form), 1952-53 (alternative orientation) San Francisco MOMA. Gordon Hahn June 4, 2024 The NATO-Russia Ukrainian war for and against NATO expansion, is on the brink of expanding to the NATO countries that provoked Russia to invade Ukraine on 24 February 2024 and have supported its continuation ever since, save one—the United States of America—ironically, the real force behind the war’s genesis. Sixteen years ago today’s CIA Director, at the time US Ambassador to Moscow, William Burns was ignored when he informed Washington:  “Ukraine and Georgia’s NATO aspirations not only touch a raw nerve in Russia, they engender serious concerns about the consequences for stability in the region.  Not only does Russia perceive encirclement, and efforts to undermine Russia’s influence in the region, but it also fears unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences which would seriously affect Russian security interests.  Experts tell us that Russia is...

When he first took office, the Russian president was trying to integrate with the West, now the whole ball game has changed Fyodor Lukyanov May 30, 2024 The question of how Russia’s foreign policy will be managed during President Vladimir Putin’s new term seems redundant, if not irrelevant. The head of state is a man who has led the country in one form or another for almost a quarter of a century. He is known for his conservatism – not only in the ideological sense, but also in his aversion to sharp turns. Moreover, Russia is engaged in an intensive military campaign against an international coalition, and there is little point in making plans until it is over, and while its prospects are still unclear. The successful completion of this campaign remains a task of incomparable importance. Nevertheless, it is necessary to reflect on this issue. Firstly, all of the...

It is the West that has peaked, not China Li Xing & Jan Oberg May 24, 2024 Published in China Daily Global – 2024-05-20 08:00 TFF recommends that, when you have read this article, you browse China Daily and get a feel for this distinguished newspaper and what to learnfrom it about China and China’s view of the West.This article marks the beginning of a new cooperative effort between TFF, the two authors and Chinese media in both English and Chinese editions, which means a very large readership. More to come. 20240520_Ling_Oberg_China_DailyDownload zgshkxb_20240524_A03Download The authorsLi Xing is a Yunshan leading scholar and a distinguished professor at Guangdong Institute for Interna-tional Strategies, and a professor of international relations at Aalborg University, Denmark. Jan Oberg is a former professor and co-founder and director of the independent Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, Sweden. The authors contributed this article to China Watch,...

John Jiggens May 20, 2023 Imagine being Tony Blinken and facing the arduous responsibility as US Secretary of State to rule the globe! This seems a daunting task, but fortunately, Blinken doesn’t have to strain his brain too much because he has a manual already written to instruct him. Originally published by “Pearls and Irritations” This manual is called The Grand Chessboard. It tutors you to imagine the world as a giant chessboard, and imagine the countries of the world and their people as pieces on that giant chessboard. Countries are seen as pawns in a game like chess, a game of empires. As hegemon the US manipulates the pawns and occasionally strategically sacrifices them to advance its position. As well as pawns, there are some very powerful pieces on the global chessboard and as the US advances through Eurasia, they oppose the US as it pushes into their spheres...

Moscow by night. Photo by Pavel Homenko on Unsplash And it means turning its back to the West once and for all, finding itself and joining the non-West Majority World Dmitry Trenin April 23, 2024 When President Vladimir Putin, back in February 2022, launched Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, he had specific, but limited objectives in mind. It was essentially about assuring Russia’s security vis-à-vis NATO. However, the drastic, expansive and well-coordinated Western reaction to Moscow’s moves – the torpedoing of the Russo-Ukrainian peace deal and the mounting escalation of the US-led bloc’s involvement in the conflict, including its role in deadly attacks inside Russia – have fundamentally changed our country’s attitude towards our former partners. We no longer hear talk about “grievances” and complaints about “failures in understanding.” The last two years have produced nothing less than a revolution in Moscow’s foreign policy, more radical and far-reaching than anything...

“This was never about Ukraine, it was about weakening Russia.” Ex-NATO analyst, Colonel Jacques Baud, is a special guest with Afshin Rattansi’s “Going Underground” April 15, 2024 Jacques Baud is a legendary expert on Ukraine – not the least thanks to his book, “Operation Z”, his former life at NATO’s HQ and his being in Ukraine at the time when the historical changes took place… that you never heard about. You know, you only began to hear about Ukraine under the headline of Maidan and then when Russia took over Crimea. But it all started a bit earlier, and everything the West/NATO did was about getting control of Ukraine – not because that country has any importance to the West – but because it could be used to “weaken Russia.” The US/NATO “useful idiots” in our media, politics and research continue to deceive you (and themselves?) that it all started...

Farhang Jahanpour Professor emeritus & TFF Associate* April 10, 2024 The world is in turmoil and perhaps closer to the possibility of a devastating nuclear war than at any time since the Second World War. There are at least three ongoing conflicts that have the potential of expanding into something much more serious that will lead to regional or even global wars. Wars are raging in the heart of Europe, the Middle East and, if some US hawks can get their way, soon there will be another disastrous war between the West and China. Yet, world leaders seem to be asleep and are moving blindly towards the precipice. War in Ukraine On 25 March 2024, in a letter to President Joe Biden, a large number of the members of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity warned that in the light of the reports that France was preparing to dispatch a force...

Jan Oberg April 8, 2024 This 7-minute video was shot by The China Academy in January 2024, posted on Wave Media on YouTube and then picked up by Taiwan’s CTi News and the Chinese Global Times magazine. This means a very large audience. Here is the link to see the many comments it created. I’m simply trying, in the shortest possible manner, to summarise what is happening these years from a macrohistorical perspective. If you think this way of thinking is interesting, why not reward TFF for bringing you fresh, different perspectives and always with a touch of a better future and a more peaceful world? It’s fast, simple and safe. Just hit this Big Red Button

Meeting between NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner and Russian President Boris Yeltsin at the Chateau du Stuyvenbergh, December 9, 1993. From left, Russian Foreign Minister Andrey Kozyrev, Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, Yeltsin, and Woerner. The National Security Archive at George Washington University April 8, 2024 New evidence on the high hopes of 1992-1995 Documents include transcripts of NATO secretary general with Russian parliament leaders,U.S. defense secretary with high-level Duma delegation, andreports on Russian defense minister at joint U.S.-Russian exercises Washington, D.C., April 4, 2024 – Top NATO and U.S. officials worked out cooperative agreements with senior Russian leaders including the defense minister of the newly independent Russian Federation during three years of high-level dialogue and hands-on engagement from 1992 to 1995, according to previously secret Russian and American documents published today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. Marking the 75th anniversary of the signing of the NATO Treaty...

Liberate yourself from NATO’s anti-intellectual and militarist fearmongering today! Why the omnipresent, massive, and uniform propagation of Russia as a threat against NATO is humbug. How a credible professional quality threat analysis is made instead. Why deciding military expenditures as a percentage of GDP is exemplary nonsense. Why NATO cannot be called ‘defensive’ and 17 reasons why Russia is not a threat to NATO or to neutral states. Jan Oberg March 19, 2024 NATO soon turns 75 – amid its deepest crisis ever, no matter what they say. During all these years, we have heard repeatedly that the ” Russians” – the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact and today’s Russia – are coming! But while the Soviets/Russians have invaded other countries, they’ve never invaded a NATO or a neutral country in Europe. And when the First Cold War ended a good 30 years ago, and archives were opened, allegedly no plans were...