John McLaughlin

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President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, in June. Credit Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters

I last visited Russia in October to do research for a study of American-Russian relations. I returned home just before the election of President Trump, recognizing that the relationship was in terrible shape and heading steadily downhill. It continues on that trajectory, with Russia’s demand that the American diplomatic mission reduce its staff by 755 employees, in response to new sanctions imposed by Congress that were signed last week by President Trump.

That October trip and succeeding events raise important questions: Where does the United States want this to go? What is our vision of an acceptable end point? More than six months into the Trump administration, there are no answers.…  Seguir leyendo »

The crisis in Georgia has been discussed largely in terms of whether it echoes what we knew in the Cold War. Yet this is too narrow a conception. We must bear in mind that when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it was not just the end of the Cold War. It was, more important, the collapse of an empire -- one that took Russia centuries to build and that, during the Soviet period, exerted global influence.

The last time empires collapsed on anything approaching this scale was during World War I, whose end saw the demise of both the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires.…  Seguir leyendo »