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Natylie Baldwin is the author of The View from Moscow: Understanding Russia and U.S.-Russia Relations, available at Amazon. Her writing has appeared in Consortium News, RT, OpEd News, The Globe Post, Antiwar.com, The New York Journal of Books, and Dissident Voice.
(5 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 9, 2015 Deconstructing the Ukraine War: The Players and Their Interests
As ominous reports of increased violations of the Minsk 2.0 ceasefire continue to surface and the Kiev government paves the way for martial law, the winds of war appear to be picking up again.
It seems like a good time to take a look at the parties in the Ukraine war, their interests and what may be expected in the future.
(6 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 23, 2015 3 Western Media Myths About Russia
For those open-minded enough to look, Russia is undergoing a gradual process of creating a post-Soviet national and cultural identity. As Paul Grenier discusses in his most recent article, Distorting Putin's Favorite Philosophers, Russia has a strong philosophical and cultural tradition to draw upon in this quest. Russia will also likely borrow some elements from the West, but they will never be a carbon copy of the United Sta
(31 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 21, 2015 The Case for Enlightened Isolationism
At a time when Washington is experiencing the hubris of imperial overreach and the prospect of the eventual collapse that history shows is the inevitable endgame of all empires, it is time for concerned Americans across the political spectrum to begin to seriously consider what a new paradigm and policy platform representing sanity might look like.
(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.
(9 comments) SHARE Saturday, February 20, 2021 The 75th Anniversary of "The Long Telegram": Was George F. Kennan's Assessment of the Soviet Union Accurate?
February 22nd marks 75 years since George F. Kennan sent his famous "Long Telegram" to the State Department in which he provided an assessment of the Soviet Union that is credited with shaping the U.S. containment policy of the Cold War. Conventional wisdom generally has it that Kennan's assessment of the Soviet government was accurate. But was it?
(8 comments) SHARE Monday, June 1, 2015 American Propaganda and the Mass Media
Edward Bernays' work and the philosophy underpinning it have paved the way for the cynical use of grand ideas like freedom, democracy and human rights to sell mindless consumption, wars, coups, color revolutions (i.e. contrived regime changes under the pretense of spreading democracy or "western values"), and instability - all in the service of a small group of people who benefit.
(5 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 23, 2020 Is Putin a Nationalist and What are the Implications for Russia's Relationship with China and the West?
In an interview with Rossiya 1 on May 17th, Putin stated that Russia - a country straddling two continents and 11 time zones - was more its own civilization than just a country. He also said that, while Russia may borrow useful ideas from others, it would retain its own independent path and had the ability to develop technologically in its own manner.
(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.
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, August 27, 2015 Texas Woman Who's Lived in Russia for 25 Years Speaks Out
Cheryl Ann Sigsbee is originally from Texas and has lived in Russia for 25 years. She is married to a Russian man named Victor Konovalenko who is of Belarussian and Ukrainian descent. This is a letter she wrote in response to 2 articles by Peter Pomerantsev, a writer at the Legatum Institute, which she believes repeated many of the distortions about present-day Russia and Vladimir Putin that are so common in the western media
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 5, 2015 Frontline Slings Mud at Putin
Karen Dawisha is not the most credible source on Russia or its president. Making a documentary program with no other academic or journalistic experts on Russia, government officials or business people is short sighted. Not performing due diligence as to the dubious claims she and the handful of others on Frontline make smacks of propaganda.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, May 13, 2020 How We All Benefit from Improved U.S.-Russia Relations
But, in fact, the U.S. and Russia together still have 1700 nuclear weapons pointed at each other on hair trigger alert. Several scientific studies have indicated that, in addition to killing millions in the immediate aftermath of the explosions, even a limited exchange of these weapons would lead to nuclear winter within a year, wiping out much of our global agriculture and killing billions of people through starvation.
(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.
(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.
(7 comments) SHARE Tuesday, October 27, 2020 A Hot Mess of Innuendo: A Closer Look at Catherine Belton's "Putin's People"
'Putin's People' is an attempt to weave all the strands of the anti-Russia propaganda narrative into a coherent whole: Putin is a corrupt autocrat who has created a kleptocracy. His main purpose, however, is not just to undermine or prevent the development of democracy in Russia. His purpose, according to Belton, is to destroy western democracy in the U.S. and Europe ever since the end of the Cold War.
(9 comments) SHARE Friday, June 26, 2015 State Capitalism on Behalf of Militarism
What is hard to argue with is the fact that what constituted a huge part of the Soviet economy in terms of input of resources -- and, ironically, what it has had in common with the U.S. economy -- was a sprawling and wasteful military-industrial complex guaranteed by the state to enable an arms race.
(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.
(41 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 2, 2015 Review: War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
I have read many accounts of the horrors of war; yet, I never seem to become inured to it. I still wince and feel my stomach curdle, not knowing whether to weep for or rage at humanity.
(5 comments) SHARE Friday, July 31, 2020 Why America Needs to Embrace Pluralism Instead of Exceptionalism
Diplomacy will require the acceptance of a balance of power and pluralism. The United States is gradually losing its preeminent status of most powerful nation in the world. It is also gradually losing its ability to dictate what will be. It should therefore stop wasting its resources on an absolutist and "exceptionalist' agenda that inevitably leads to eternal and implacable conflict.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 29, 2021 Weaponizing Human Rights and Democracy in Russia Has Backfired on the U.S.
The U.S. likes to promote itself as a bastion of liberal democracy on the world stage. But if recent comments by Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov are any indication, it seems that the way in which the U.S. has advocated for liberal democracy and human rights in Russia has led to mistrust of American motives and has arguably done more harm than good for those Russians it is claiming to want to help.
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(14 comments) SHARE Friday, August 21, 2015 Review: Dying Unneeded: The Cultural Context of the Russian Mortality Crisis
The book is deeply sad at times, but the reader does not walk away simply feeling sorry for Russians, something this proud people likely wouldn't want. In addition to the sadness, one also comes away with a glimpse of what gives the Russian people their character and resilience as well as their mystique.
(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.
(4 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 16, 2020 Is the U.S. the Norma Desmond of the World Stage
As a fan of old movies in general and Sunset Boulevard in particular, I keep coming back to how the psychological profile of Norma Desmond's character seems so reminiscent of the United States right now - or more precisely the political class that dictates its policies and the narrative used to maintain the illusion.
(3 comments) SHARE Sunday, September 19, 2021 How Do Russians View Democracy in Russia?
We hear a lot about Russia being a dictatorship under Vladimir Putin. It is said frequently by U.S. media commentators that there is no democracy, free media, or substantive rule of law in the country. The reality is much more complicated. Moreover, what Russians actually think about these aspects of their country and what the historical context of democracy is in Russia is rarely explored in any depth.
(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.
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 16, 2021 Enough is Enough: Russia Cuts Ties with NATO
On October 18th, Russia announced it would formally suspend its mission with the NATO alliance, including ending official communication. It's important to look at what led up to Russia deciding it had enough and that it was no longer worth having an official relationship with the western military alliance as there is a lengthy historical context to the breakdown.
SHARE Saturday, March 27, 2021 Book Review: Memoirs of a Russianist, Volumes I & II, by Gilbert Doctorow
Russia analyst Gilbert Doctorow has written a 2-volume memoir that takes the reader on a journey through his years as a Russia specialist. Starting with college and graduate work in Russian history at two Ivy League universities followed by decades of business management and consulting work, Doctorow provides a rare peek into the last days of the Soviet Union and the chaotic transition of the Russian Federation.
(7 comments) SHARE Monday, January 31, 2022 Trump, Russiagate & Covid: How Corporate Media Profits from Fear
There exists financial incest among corporate media owners and those with financial investments in the three Covid vaccines used in the U.S. Two of the biggest such financial entities with interests in the major media companies and all three of the vaccine makers are Blackrock Fund Advisors and Vanguard Group, Inc.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
SHARE Friday, January 15, 2021 A Closer Look at Russia's Constitutional Amendments
In January of 2020, Putin gave his annual Address to the Federal Assembly, announcing that amendments would be made to the Russian constitution. Now that those amendments and supporting legislation have been passed, we can look at how they line up with what Putin actually said in his speech.
(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.
SHARE Wednesday, October 20, 2021 Book Review: The Valediction - Two Independent Journalists' Dig for the Truth of the Other Afghanistan War
Afghanistan has been in the news recently due to the end of the U.S.'s formal 20-year war there. However, there is a much longer history for the U.S. in that unfortunate nation that has been caught in the middle of imperial rivalries and power plays. That history has largely been obscured since the end of the Cold War. Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould have entered to shed light on this history in The Valediction.
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(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.
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, September 1, 2020 Putin on the Situation in Belarus, Interview With Rossiya TV
In a recent interview with Rossiya TV, Vladimir Putin discussed several issues, including the current state of the Russian economy and the Covid pandemic. However, I have excerpted below the portion dealing with what is presently happening in Belarus. - Natylie Baldwin
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.