How Might Sanctions Affect Russia?
President Obama and his European Union allies have been criticized for the weakness of their response to the Russian military intervention in Crimea. The G-7 officially condemned Putin for violating…
Responding to Russia’s Illegal Military Incursion in Ukraine
(Co-author: Rudy deLeon) Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine has been neither legal nor remotely justifiable. It has alienated Russia in the international community, and its persistence will lead to even…
Obama Slaps Putin’s Hand in Crimea—to Little Avail
The two telephone conversations between United States President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 2 and February 22 marked a dramatic deterioration of relations caused by the…
Who are the Crimean Tatars, and Why are They Important?
All eyes are on Crimea, in Ukraine, where unidentified armed men have taken over local government buildings in the regional capital, Simferopol, hoisting Russian flags on the roofs and the…
How Russian nationalism explains—and does not explain— the Crimean crisis
The series of events in Ukraine, the Kremlin’s reactions, and the escalation to the point of Russia’s armed intervention in Crimea have progressed with bewildering speed. Most confounding about the…
After Crimea: Options for the West
Russia’s military intervention in Crimea, whatever its consequences for Ukraine itself, is first and foremost a gauntlet thrown down to the West. How the West responds will shape the future…
Russia’s Unclear Motives in Ukraine
(Co-authored by Samuel Charap and Keith Darden) In his book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel Huntington makes the case for the utility of an…
Putin’s Potentially Costly Blunder in Ukraine
I’ve avoided writing anything on the situation in Ukraine, because there’s so much material being written already and I’m not an expert on the Ukrainian military. But I do want to…
How To Prevent the Crisis In Ukraine From Escalating
The First World War has been described by some scholars as the war no one wanted. An alliance of Britain, France, and Russia was wary of the rising power of…
4 reasons why Crimea is not Abkhazia
Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksander Turchynov, has accused Russian-supported forces in Crimea of “working on scenarios which are fully analogous with Abkhazia.” The notion that the “model” of Abkhazia from the…
Ukraine and the “Big Movements” That Changed Europe
Among the most notorious aspects of the current debate on Ukraine are the multiple parallels between the ongoing developments within the country and the series of “big movements” that have…
The Sochi Olympics: An Unemotional Afterword
The Sochi Olympics, as well as verbal battles over them, are over, yet their legacy will be closely scrutinized from different policy perspectives. What seems to be of utmost importance…