(2 comments) SHARE        Friday, May 12, 2017
The Russian Revolution, Stalin's Crimes and the Day the U.S. and Red Armies Met Up at Elbe Overall it was a fulfilling but exhausting day and I was glad to get back to the apartment. Later, I would begin processing what I had seen and learned from my guided tour through Russia's complicated history, from the Revolution to the Gulags & the Elbe meeting between the US & Red armies.

(1 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Victory Day & The Thwarted Quest to See Lenin's Tomb It's a shame that the Cold War and Washington's post-Cold War triumphalism have undermined our ability to acknowledge the sacrifices and achievements of the Soviet Union when we were allied against the Nazis.

(11 comments) SHARE        Monday, May 8, 2017
Greetings from Moscow The first thing one sees to their right as they begin the descent down into Moscow's main airport is the sun glistening off the Moscow River surrounded by lots of greenery. It gave me the pick-up I needed after an exhausting 24 hrs of minimal sleep, being crammed on several airplanes & literally running from one end of an airport to another because one flight was almost 2 hours late & nearly made me miss a connecting flight.

(24 comments) SHARE        Monday, October 24, 2016
Russia's Very Different Reality The demonization of Russian President Putin and Russia, in general, has reached alarming levels in the West with a new "group think" taking hold that ignores Russian realities and interests, writes Natylie Baldwin.

(51 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Has Zbigniew Brzezinski Really Changed His Tune? Zbig's idea that Washington could somehow implement a divide-and-conquer strategy with China against Russia is a pipe dream. The train has left the station in terms of Eurasia largely controlling its own destiny in the future and Zbig seems to be in denial.

(12 comments) SHARE        Saturday, July 30, 2016
Pre-Soviet Philosophical Thought & Contemporary Russia - Part I of III A common theme in Russian philosophy of the 19th and early 20th century involved trying to reconcile different forces and influences. To some extent, these are universal concerns for most cultures at various points in their development, but for Russia, it is perhaps even more so due to the nation's particular geography, climate and history.

(3 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Still a MAD World: The Insanity of Nuclear Weapons Jerry Brown provides an excellent and thought-provoking review of William J. Perry's book, My Journey at the Nuclear Brink, this month at the New York Review of Books. Brown takes the reader through Perry's evolution of thought about the weapons that he was providing research, management and advice on over the course of decades.

(9 comments) SHARE        Friday, June 24, 2016
"EXTENDING AMERICAN POWER" -- A Sneak Peek at What a Clinton Foreign Policy May Look Like The Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a think tank connected to the Democratic Party, particularly with Obama's transition team at the beginning of his first term, published a 20-page policy paper last month called "Extending American Power." This think tank is not only close to the Democratic Party establishment, but this policy paper is disturbing because it was co-authored by Neocon Robert Kagan.

(4 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, June 1, 2016
"FAIL-SAFE": How a Classic Cold War Novel Still Resonates Today Unlike articles, which attempt to marshal facts and logic, story-telling is what moves people. Our need and capacity for story-telling is perhaps one of the most essential aspects of being human. A film, book, or other work of story-telling art for a contemporary mass audience that can convey on such a visceral level what is at stake in terms of the continuing dangers of geo-politics in the nuclear age is desperately needed.

(14 comments) SHARE        Friday, February 26, 2016
Review: JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters The book elicits a profound respect for the moral courage demonstrated by both President Kennedy and his Cold War counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, at moments when so much hung in the balance. The bond these two men developed as a consequence of their taking humanity to the brink and the terror they both felt from looking into the abyss led to a mutual desire to negotiate an end to the Cold War and work toward disarmament.

(10 comments) SHARE        Monday, January 25, 2016
The Empire Files: Examining the Syrian War Chessboard The war in Syria is an unparalleled crisis. It has gone far beyond an internal political struggle, and is marked by a complex array of forces that the U.S. Empire hopes to command: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and more. To simplify this web of enemies and friends, Abby Martin interviews Dr. Vijay Prashad, professor of International Studies at Trinity College and author of several books.

(64 comments) SHARE        Sunday, January 10, 2016
Vladimir Putin: Neither a Monster Nor a Messiah I have debunked a number of myths propagated by the western mainstream media that portray Putin as some archetypal monster-villain. But in my perusal of a wide range of alternative media sites and their comments sections, I have observed another trend: a segment of people who are viewing Putin as some kind of Messiah figure. Just like the demonizers, some of these people lack nuance and complexity in their analysis of Putin.

(4 comments) SHARE        Sunday, October 18, 2015
Postcard from St. Petersburg After dinner, we stopped to gaze in awe at the Neva river, surrounded by illuminated bridges, with the spire of the Peter and Paul Fortress visible northeast and the Hermitage in the south, as well as Catherine's Palace and St. Isaac's Cathedral. I can now understand why many experienced world travelers name St. Petersburg as their favorite city in the world. It's beauty, history and character make it hard not fall in love.

(5 comments) SHARE        Friday, October 16, 2015
Rotary Meeting In Krasnodar, Russia In a provincial Russian town, I meet Rotary members, NGO workers, members of a "Public Council" who work with local governments to make sure they are responsive to the needss and desires of residents, and a group of high schools students eager to set up exchanges with their American counterparts.

(3 comments) SHARE        Saturday, October 10, 2015
Yalta Then and Now I continue my guided tour of Vladimmir Putin's Russia in Crimea, whose residents voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia last year. The Black Sea peninsula has harboured Russia's main warm water port since Catherine the Great and had only been gifted to Ukraine by Kruschev in 1954.

(2 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, October 6, 2015
My Arrival in Moscow Many journalists and academics write about contemporary Russia, but few have actually been there. Sharon Tennyson offered Natylie Baldwin, co-author of "Zbig's Grand Chessboard and How the West was Checkmated"a unique opportunity to meet with Russians in several Russian locations. More to follow.

(6 comments) SHARE        Sunday, September 27, 2015
Tour the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow with Pretty Russian Guide (Video) While in Moscow in May/June of this year, Sharon Tennison's citizen diplomacy group took some time out from meetings to visit the famed Moscow Tretyakov Gallery. It houses a thousand years of magnificent Russian art. The collection began in 1856 when a wealthy Moscow merchant, Pavel Tretyakov, developed a passion for collecting art for himself and his family.

(2 comments) SHARE        Monday, September 21, 2015
Citizen to Citizen Diplomacy: Americans in Russia Interview Andrei Kortunov (Video) Note: As part of the citizen-to-citizen diplomacy group, consisting of 20 Americans and led by CCI's Sharon Tennison, that traveled to Russia in June of this year, a discussion was conducted with Andrei Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and President of the New Eurasia Foundation (FNE). Below, Sharon provides an introduction to the interview.

(2 comments) SHARE        Thursday, September 17, 2015
Citizen to Citizen Diplomacy Group's Trip to Russia: Video of Red Square In June of this year, Sharon Tennison, founder of The Center for Citizen Initiatives (CCI), took a group of approximately 20 Americans on a citizen-to-citizen diplomacy tour of Russia. Sharon provides an introduction to the 13-minute video of the high points of the group's tour from Moscow airport to Red Square.

(1 comments) SHARE        Thursday, September 10, 2015
9/11/06: Russia Dedicates Memorial to 9/11 Victims I wonder how many Americans know about the monument that was created by a renowned Russian sculptor, Zurab Tsereteli, and dedicated as a gift in 2006 by the Russian government in honor of the victims of 9/11. The mainstream western media does not seem to have provided much coverage of the event, if any at all.