Forty-seven years ago, Egypt and Syria launched a massive surprise attack on Israeli forces dug into fortifications along the Suez Canal and Golan Heights. The ‘limited’ Arab objective was to recapture both strategic areas that had been seized from the two Arab states in Israel’s victorious 1967 War. Re-armed with […]
Tag: Soviet Union
Pre- And Post-Soviet Language Policy In The East-Baltic States
Common historical feature of the “Three Baltic sister-states” (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) is that for most of the modern time instead of the state independence there were the decades of the foreign administrations imposed by several European powers. Such historical experience exposed the people living in this part of the […]
The Sino-Russian Alliance Comes Of Age (II)
“I look for the land of the Poles that is lost to the Germans, for the moment at least. Nowadays the Germans have started searching for Poland with credits, Leicas, and compasses, with radar, divining rods, delegations, and moth-eaten provincial students’ associations in costume. Some carry Chopin in their hearts, […]
The Sino-Russian Alliance Comes Of Age (I)
The joint statements between two countries are usually riveted on a particular event but in extraordinary circumstances involving great powers, it could assume an epochal character and can be viewed as diplomatic communication that reflects what the Germans call the zeitgeist — the defining spirit or mood of a particular […]
The Soviet Union Defeated Germany In World War II – Not The Western Forces
President Donald Trump claimed last week that the US and Britain had won World War II. This was a shameless lie and distortion of the facts. Many Americans and Canadians like to believe their nations won the war in Europe and give insufficient recognition to the decisive Soviet role. Most […]
Golden Anniversaries For Flawed Treaties: The NPT Turns Fifty
In an era where agreements have been abandoned as “bad”, to use that favourite word of US President Donald Trump, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons continues to feature on the books of diplomacy. But age seems to be wearying it and decoding sober readings from hype-filled tat […]
What’s Really Behind Estonia’s ‘Border Dispute’ With Russia?
The tiny Baltic nation of Estonia is attempting to revive a so-called “border dispute” with Russia in order to position itself as one of NATO’s “frontline states” against the Eurasian Great Power, which Tallinn expects will result in more military support from the bloc that its ruling party could then […]
Miracle In Berlin
Where did all the time go? Thirty years ago this week the Berlin Wall fell. Then Soviet chairman Mikhail Gorbachev freed the Baltic states and allowed divided Germany to reunite. It was a geopolitical earthquake of historic proportions – and a major miracle of our times. The once mighty Soviet […]
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact: 80 Years Of Fighting Against Russia
As British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wrote in his memoirs, the fact that such an agreement between Berlin and Moscow was possible meant that British and French diplomacy had failed: they did not manage to direct Nazi aggression against the USSR, and nor did they manage to make the Soviet Union their ally before World War II.
Lunar Narratives: Landing On The Moon, Politics And The Cold War
The Moon landing anniversary this weekend was given a vigorous clean-up, with the Cold War finding a back seat when it was, in fact, the main driver. The Moon project was a fundamental political poke, soaked by competitive drives. The science was the instrumental ballast and has come to provide the heavy cosmetics to romanticise what is, at best, an effigy.
Germany Was Defeated On The Eastern Front, Not Normandy
In 1940, the German Wehrmacht was modern history’s supreme fighting machine. But only four years later, the Wehrmacht was broken. Most Americans, British and Canadians believe that D-Day was the decisive stroke that ended WWII in Europe. But this is not true. Germany’s mighty Wehrmacht, which included the Luftwaffe, was destroyed by Stalin’s Soviet Union.
The New Grand Strategy Of The United States
It is commonly believed in the United States that the country has no Grand Strategy since the end of the Cold War. A Grand Strategy is a vision of the world that one seeks to impose, and that all administrations must respect. So, even if you lose in one particular […]
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