Latest Articles about Foreign Policy

Moscow Angered and Bewildered by Biden’s Summit Proposal Followed by Sanctions
As the tensions over the buildup of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border continued to escalate, United States President Joseph Biden phoned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on April 13. Their conversation raised hopes in some quarters of an impending de-escalation around eastern Ukraine as... MORE

Iran’s New Pivot to Central Asia
High-ranking officials from Iran and Tajikistan made a total of three visits to Dushanbe and Tehran, respectively, in less than two months, a significant sign that after years of frosty relations, diplomatic ties are finally improving (Khovar, February 23, March 29, April 5). Even more... MORE

Russian Espionage Case in Italy: A Setback for Moscow?
On the night of March 30, an Italian frigate commander, Walter Biot, was caught red-handed selling documents to Dimitry Ostrukhov, an employee at the Russian embassy in Rome (Repubblica, March 31). The documents, whose content has not been disclosed, are said to regard North Atlantic... MORE

Moscow Moving 15 Warships From Caspian Sea to Waters off Ukraine
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced today (April 13) that Moscow is sending 15 naval vessels from its Caspian Flotilla to waters off Ukraine to take part in military exercises there. Earlier, Russian and Ukrainian media had reported stories about a smaller number. Although the... MORE

Early Warning Brief: The Xi Administration Openly Challenges American Global Leadership And Takes Multiple Measures to Counter Washington’s Containment
Introduction The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership has openly challenged Washington’s role as global rule-setter. The administration of CCP General Secretary and state president Xi Jinping (习近平) has also taken multi-pronged measures to counter perceived efforts by a U.S.-led “coalition of democracies” to contain China.... MORE

Minsk Wages Diplomatic War on Multiple Fronts
On April 4, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka proposed to “optimize” the number of Belarusian embassies and their staff around the world. Essentially, the Belarusian leader declared, if Belarus’s “diplomatic presence” in some countries has no “prospects” because of a minuscule volume of mutual trade and/or because... MORE

Penned in on Multiple International Issues, Putin Strives to Show Resolve on Ukraine
Putting military pressure on Ukraine could have seemed to the Russian leadership to be the most practical way to assert Moscow’s central role in international affairs. The standard working assumption in the Kremlin is that facing a risk of violent conflict, the disunited West would... MORE

China Learning From Russia’s “Emerging Great Power” Global Media Tactics
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers observed that China has employed newly assertive tactics—including spreading widespread Russian-style disinformation—which suggested that “Beijing is increasingly seeking to shape the global information environment beyond its borders” (Alliance for Security Democracy, March 30, 2020). Chinese propaganda researchers... MORE

Prospect of Cooperation With Russia on Nuclear Power Plant Clouds Uzbekistan’s More Immediate Energy Needs
During a recent (March 24) government meeting dedicated to upgrading Uzbekistan’s energy infrastructure, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced that, in 2021 alone, over $1.1 billion would be allocated to upgrading the country’s ineffective and outdated electricity grid and crumbling natural gas distribution system. Energy Minister Alisher... MORE

Moscow Struggles to Improve and Extend Siberian Railways to Preserve China Trade
Moscow has long wanted to develop its railway network east of the Urals, both to promote the development of that largely road-less region and to expand the export of raw materials like coal. Those two factors continue to be important, but they have been joined... MORE