As the Arctic ice cap is decreasing in size, the international race for Arctic resources is heating up. The High North countries—including Russia, Denmark, Norway, and Canada—are scrambling to lay claims on previously inaccessible giant oil reserves and begin their development. Richard Weitz, Ph.D., senior fellow at Hudson Institute, recently published a report on the subject that comes to an unpalatable conclusion: “U.S. is dead last in committing resources to the Arctic mission.” There are a number of reasons for that strategic blunder. First is the lack of public and …
On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee postponed the planned nomination vote for Michael McFaul as the next ambassador to the Russian Federation by request from GOP Senators. This is a common practice when Senators have concerns that they want the executive branch to address. Foreign Policy says that this decision is completely unrelated to McFaul’s qualifications for the position. In fact, according to an unnamed committee staffer, McFaul is “about as good of a nominee as Republicans can expect from this administration.” As highlighted in a previous Heritage Foundation …
Last week, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee began confirmation hearings for Michael McFaul, nominated as U.S. Ambassador to Russia. McFaul’s statements on U.S.–Russia relations expose the Obama Administration’s failing international strategy as well as disconcerting flaws in the President’s policy toward Russia. McFaul is the architect of the much-publicized U.S.–Russia “reset.” For the Obama Administration, “reset” is simply another chapter in the doctrine of “leading from behind,” which Colin Dueck, a foreign policy scholar and professor at George Mason University, called “a policy of accommodation.” On a few occasions, …
Today, a regional court in Kyiv has found Yuliya Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s former prime minister and leading opposition figure, guilty of “abuse of office” stemming from her role in the 2009 Ukraine–Russia gas deal. The sentence includes a seven-year prison term with an additional three-year prohibition to hold political office, as well as the stipulation that she must pay $190 million in compensation to Ukraine’s gas monopoly Naftogaz. Tymoshenko herself, her supporters, and even her critics—as well as European leaders and legal experts—view the prosecution and the sentence as a political …
On Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev forced Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin to resign. Medvedev’s harsh treatment of Kudrin was a response to the statement Kudrin made over the weekend. Following the announcement of Vladimir Putin running for president in the upcoming presidential elections and Medvedev’s future job as the prime minister, Kudrin said, “I do not see myself in the new government. I think that those differences of opinion that I have [with Medvedev] will not allow me to join the government.” Rumor has it, however, that there was more …
Yesterday, the State Department released an official reaction to media reports on upcoming joint naval exercises between Russia and North Korea. The U.S. declared that “any engagement with the North Koreans should be conducted in a way that does not detract from the international community’s clear message of concern about the North’s weapons programs, and the necessity for Pyongyang to do what is necessary to return to the Six-Party talks.” The response is timid, considering the danger that the recent behavior of both countries presents to U.S. interests. Continued North …
