#sanctions

The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]

When President Donald Trump announced on 8th May that the United States would not be a party to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran deal, anymore, it was easily predictable that new tensions between Tehran and Washington will emerge soon. It didn’t take long for the European Union to voice […]

The Iranian regime poses a strategic threat to the entire world and thus, it is critical for the US to act against this threat. Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov once proclaimed, “A country that does not respect the rights of its people won’t respect the rights of its neighbors.”  If one carefully examines Iran’s activities across the […]

Oil, energy, banking, aerospace, auto and manufacturing industries are lobbying against Russia sanctions legislation going through Congress.

U.S.-Russian hostilities have decreased U.S. strategic options with respect to China, enabling Shinzo Abe’s own Russian diplomacy to be more fruitful.

The unthinkable has happened as rising U.S.-Russia tensions in Syria have started to undermine global security through a key nuclear deal cancellation.

Talking to locals in Burmese coffee shops reveals optimism about Myanmar’s future and its fledgling relationship with the West.

Simultaneously courting the West and expanding its influence beyond its borders could work in the short-term. But in the short-term only.

After protracted negotiations, China has finally withdrawn its opposition, joining in the UN Security Council’s unanimous decision to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea in response to its recent nuclear and ballistic missile test.

The IAEA’s final report left many observers dissatisfied: reactions to it tended to reflect people’s preexisting attitudes toward the issue.

A great deal has been written about the agreement negotiated between Iran and the P5+1 countries. A lot of the commentary has been nonsense. Here I would like to address three unfounded lines of attack.