This column originally appeared on September 7, 2022, in the South China Morning Post. CLINICAL PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES – Last week, the last president of the Soviet Union at 91 had to leave us (his wife Raisa had departed in 1999), so it must be said now that a true…
Full Article RUSSIA: THE LESSON MIKHAIL GORBACHEV’S LEGACY HOLDS FOR VLADIMIR PUTIN AND XI JINPING
RYAN BYRNE WRITES – As Russian and Ukrainian soldiers fight one another for control of Ukraine, another battle rages on both inside and outside of Russia: The battle for control of information. In July, the banned television station TV Rain (Dozhd) returned to the airwaves-this time from outside of Russia’s…
Full Article RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: EVEN AS ‘TV RAIN’ RETURNS, RUSSIAN MEDIA SITUATION REMAINS GRIM
ISMAEL HAMMOUNAÏCHA DÍAZ WRITES – The recent 2022 Madrid NATO Summit offered a sense of how much the world order has changed. If one thing is clear, it is that Putin got the opposite of what he wanted: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is stronger and more united than ever.…
Full Article EUROPE: RATHER NASTY BILL OF PARTICULARS AGAINST BEIJING
CLINICAL PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES – Major participants in the Russia-Ukraine war, whether involved directly or by proxy, lack agreement about when and how it must end. These varying perspectives result in an unseemly policy scrum, adding more confusion to this humanitarian tragedy. This obscene war, despite the many ways…
Full Article RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: NO ONE, CHINA INCLUDED, WANTS TO SEE THE UKRAINE WAR GOING NUCLEAR
CLINICAL PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES – It’s just possible that a favorable diplomatic wind is forming that could alter the trajectory of the storm of war raging over Ukraine, the second-largest country in Europe. Pushing this war out to sea might help clear the gathering clouds of world economic collapse.…
Full Article U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS: WHY U.S. ARROGANCE, NOT THE RUSSIA-CHINA RELATIONSHIP, IS THE BIGGEST BARRIER TO PEACE IN UKRAINE
CLINICAL PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES – The topic of nuclear war is no joking matter, but I was rather tempted to cry out “Get me rewrite!” while dipping into my old book on the nuclear arms race. So much is changing now. My published tome had been premised on the…
Full Article THREAT OF RUSSIAN NUCLEAR ATTACK SHOWS WHY CHINA’S NO-FIRST-USE POLICY SHOULD BE GLOBAL STANDARD
KIANA KARIMI WRITES – « Vous dépendez du pouvoir russe et vous dépendez de Monsieur Poutine…Vous avez contracté un prêt auprès d’une banque russe… Vous ne parlez pas à d’autres dirigeants, vous parlez à votre banquier Madame Le Pen…Vos intérêts sont liés au pouvoir Russe. » “You depend on Russian…
Full Article EUROPE: SELFIES FROM LE PEN AND THE FAR-RIGHT
KIANA KARIMI AND LIAM ROGERS WRITE — What a scene: White, Blue, and Red stripes encapsulate a Moscow stadium with a crowd roaring in cheers and clad in Z’s giving a grand welcome to a celebration of “unity” while awaiting the illustrious dictator himself, President Vladimir Putin. The Russian government…
Full Article UKRAINE CONTROVERSY: MAKING THE CASE FOR ICC PROSECUTION OF PUTIN
BENJAMIN BARRETT WRITES – One of the most popular football clubs in the world, Chelsea FC, is currently facing sanctions due to its Russian roots. Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch and owner of Chelsea, is suspected of having close ties with Vladimir Putin. According to an Al Jazeera article, Abramovich…
Full Article ROMAN ABRAMOVICH: PARTISAN OR PEACEMAKER?
TOM PLATE WRITES – It is imperative that the government of Xi Jinping of China continue to edge away from the bleak dark shadow of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine and re-settle itself geopolitically into a better moral place. While it would be presumptuous to offer instructions on how in…
Full Article UKRAINE: CRISIS CALLS FOR CHINA TO TAKE PART IN A DARING DIPLOMATIC INTERVENTION
PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES — Suppose I stopped working so hard to stay on the sunny optimistic side of the street but instead defected to the dark side and always anticipating the worst? Consider the figure of Vladimir Putin. Just try to stay optimistic after reading the depressing but richly…
Full Article THE PUTIN SHADOW: DARKENING VISIONS OF OPTIMISM
KIANA KARIMI WRITES – Picture this: All of a sudden, Britney Spears spins around, dodging Russian bomb after Russian bomb. TikTok, a social media app, has entered your learning process. Videos depicting Ukraine’s state of siege cast an ominous shadow over all involved actors. Portentous cyberpunk music blasts as tanks…
Full Article UKRAINE/RUSSIA: A TIKTOK UNDERSTANDING OF AN INTERNATIONAL CRISIS
TOM PLATE WRITES — The Chinese tilt towards Russia is understandable enough. It is immensely satisfying to be able to tell American leaders that China will do what it wants to do, whether the arrogant West likes it or not. China is the big deal now – or so goes…
Full Article UKRAINE CRISIS: IS CHINA’S TILT TOWARDS RUSSIA IN BEIJING’S BEST LONG-TERM INTEREST?
TOM PLATE WRITES — Power is not always angelic. When the power to do something exists, it often gathers like a storm, ready to be unleashed. Power is also agnostic; it can be used for evil as well as for good. One thing is for certain. Without concentrations of power, not…
Full Article POWER GAME: UKRAINE’S FATE WILL BE SHAPED BY DECISIONS FROM RUSSIA, CHINA AND AMERICA
DMITRY KOLESNIKOV WRITES – Russia is getting ready to film the first ever movie in space. On October 5th, 2021 famous Russian actress Yulia Peresild, film producer Klim Shipenko and experienced astronaut Anton Shkaplerov traveled to the International Space Station in pursuit to film the first ever movie in space…
Full Article RUSSIA: BLAST OFF TO FILM THE FIRST MOVIE IN SPACE
KIANA KARIMI WRITES — A flickering light, screams of famished, sleep-deprived young girls inside tightly-packed crates, armed men ripping victims from each other’s arms, their innocence slowly stripped away in a twisted, torturous cycle of violence… A chilling rendition of Nirvana’s hit 90’s song “Teenage Spirit” creeps through the screen…
Full Article RUSSIA: MARVEL’S “BLACK WIDOW” PUTS A NEW SPIN ON FEMINISM