Recent Posts

How Austria became Putin’s Alpine Fortress

For Vienna, neutrality is simply good business. It didn’t occur to the Austrian chamber of commerce that hosting a cozy networking event on the outskirts of Moscow might raise eyebrows in some quarters. As record cold gripped the Russian capital in January, the local chapter saw an opportunity to pierce …

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The Cold War roots of Scholz’s tank trauma

Olaf Scholz’s long dithering before sending tanks is symptomatic of a deep-seated mindset that détente won the Cold War, not Reagan’s belligerence. In early January of 1984, an aspiring young West German socialist with a shoulder-length curly mane traveled by train to East Berlin with his comrades for an important …

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Putin proving his ambitions don’t stop at Ukraine

The day before Vladimir Putin’s long yearly address to parliament Thursday, politicians from Transnistria, a pro-Kremlin breakaway region of Moldova, asked the Russian president to “protect” it against Moldova’s “increased pressure” — and Moscow responded it considers protecting its “compatriots” a priority. It’s a reminder Putin’s ambitions don’t stop at …

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