Salem-News.com Foreign-relations articles

The Threat Business: Russia or China?

Analysis by political scientist Dr. Mel Gurtov of our current threats and what they are producing politically and economically.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - The Biden administration has cast China and Russia, in that order, as the major threats to US security.

China is a “pacing challenger,” whereas Russia is an “acute” challenger.

Why Should War Criminals Operate with Impunity?

Although the governments of the United States, Russia, and Israel signed the treaty, they never ratified it.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - The issue of alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine highlights the decades-long reluctance of today’s major military powers to support the International Criminal Court.

The ICC may only try nationals or residents of nations that are parties to the treaty...

Russia Vows To Reduce Foreign Dependency as Sanctions Grow

Russia supplies Europe with a third of its gas needs.

(SALEM, Ore.) - The Russian Federation has been in the news for some time now for obviously the wrong reasons.

On February 24, 2022, the country launched a military attack on its neighbor Ukraine for what it termed “military oppressions to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine.”

Putin`s War

Sooner or later, Putin believes, Europe will accept his entire list of demands.

(LONDON, UK) - Putin is not a military general. He is a modernist leader, a trained spymaster and strategist who understands that war is a continuation of politics by other means (Clausewitz).

We should look at the military campaign as a political instrument that is set to mobilize a global and regional geopolitical shift and on a mammoth scale.

Brent Renaud, First U.S. Reporter Killed in Ukraine

Democracy Now! brings this special report about the loss of Brent Renaud

(NEW YORK CITY, NY) - On Sunday, the U.S. journalist and filmmaker Brent Renaud was shot dead near Kyiv while working on a documentary about refugees.
He is the first foreign journalist known to have been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian officials are accusing Russian forces of his death.

The Truth of Ukraine`s Ongoing Civil War Omitted

...a violent minority believe that understanding and loving enemies does not work.

(OCCUPIED PALESTINE) - What they are omitting is that Ukraine has been having a civil war for at least the last eight years. Unfortunately, both the US and Russia have recently made this violence worse.

We are sending in massive amounts of weapons. And we are pushing NATO to admit Ukraine, in spite of our previous promises to not tighten NATO’s military noose around Russia.

Destroying Democracy: China in Hong Kong

The new face of Hong Kong is direct Chinese intervention.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - On July 1, 1997 the United Kingdom formally handed Hong Kong over to China under an agreement that was supposed to give Hong Kong 50 years of autonomy: “one country, two systems,” Deng Xiaoping promised.

That same year, students and professors at the University of Hong Kong erected a statue, called “Pillar of Shame,” to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.

Imagine a World with U.S.-China Cooperation

The cooperative approach has worked in the past, and it can again.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - On September 10, 2021, during an important diplomatic meeting that occurred by telephone, U.S. President Joseph Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping affirmed the necessity of a better relationship between their two nations.

At the moment, however, the governments of the two nations seem far from a cooperative relationship.

Why Riot? Toward a Typology of Social Unrest

What is the difference between a riot and a protest?

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - In the US, of course, rioters breached all security and overran the US Capitol on 6 January this year.

In what must be a delicious irony to Venezuelan autocrat Nicolas Maduro—whose country exploded with riots against his leadership, got his chance to issue a public statement of great concern that the US was experiencing riots.

U.S.: Hands Off Venezuela

What’s next — an invasion and occupation?

(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) - I am sure everyone would agree that Venezuelans deserve a better government.

Let’s face it, the late Hugo Chávez's vision of a modern day “Bolivarian revolution” — a Latin American political block with a socialist bent as an alternative to U.S. hegemony — has descended into repression and economic decline under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.