Carnegie Moscow Center
The administration of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan embraced a Russian takeover of the nation’s economy that left political control in Armenian hands. As Sargsyan began to have second thoughts about this bargain, he found himself short of options.
Marwan Muasher and Andrew S. Weiss will respond to questions on the situation in Syria, the likely implications of a U.S.-led attack, and what to expect in terms of Putin-Obama dynamics at the G20 meeting.
During the G20 summit, the world leaders need to tackle serious economic challenges. At the same time, the abrupt halt to a scheduled U.S.-Russia summit and a potential intervention in Syria have pushed security issues to the top of the summit’s agenda.
Moving away from the standard agenda may help the United States and Russia exit the current impasse in bilateral relations and avoid a long period of stagnation and hostilities.
After abandoning the Soviet Union, Russia prolonged and reproduced the same basic system, but without communism. In comparison, Ukraine is on the positive side of the process of taking shape as a state and a nation.
Russia and the European Union are competing intensely for influence in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and other countries.
From Vladimir Putin’s perspective, U.S. policies in the Middle East since the beginning of the Arab Awakening have been misguided, unprincipled, and dangerous, and Washington’s record of prognostication and intervention has been abysmal.
The Kremlin appears to have found its distinct international role. It is based on conservative nationalism; support for traditional international law with its emphasis on national sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs of states; and a strong preference for evolutionary path of development over revolutionary upheavals.
It is time to recognize the security threat that corruption overseas poses to U.S. interests and begin taking it seriously at the level of high politics.
Snowden did not create the security-privacy dilemma, but he did illuminate a deeply rooted problem that Western leaders have long tried to obscure.