One of the crucial sources of tension and conflict in relations between the Soviet Union and Communist China was the issue of the unequal treaties concluded between the weakened Chinese empire of the 19th Century and the expanding empire that was tsarist Russia. As soon as the relationship completely broke down in the autumn of 1962, … Continue reading China Wants Sakhalin Back

President Trump of course had no alternative but to deny emphatically that C.I.A. agents had been arrested and detained in Iran. But the Iranian secret services have a high reputation and the Iranian news agency, FARS, not only lists the agents' recruiters and handlers, it also published colour photographs and, in some instances, of their … Continue reading Iran Rounds Up C.I.A. Agents

        Organised opposition against Vladimir Putin's régime grows slowly but steadily. What reaches the headlines is insignificant compared to what is actually going on throughout the country. Having heard a detailed description of the Fabian tactics pursued by Putin's young opponents, one comes away impressed and then cheated by the absence of … Continue reading Moscow Protests: 1373 Arrested

In the bad old days, Soviet "youth' (roughly anyone under 45) used to lament the fact that foreign travel was not possible. If anything it was the greatest complaint among the apolitical mass of the "middle class". But they did not think of going and not returning. Now, young people - more sensibly defined by … Continue reading Emigration Tempting Russian Youth

President Putin has always highlighted the United States as the major security threat to Russia. In turn the United States has invariably focused on Russia, the old enemy, as the main adversary; as though interfering in the domestic affairs of the other side was a novelty worthy of withering indignation. Somehow the obvious seems to … Continue reading China Also Threatens Russian Security

The poisonous fall-out from Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential elections of 2016 continues. It also underlines the fact that the United States no longer has a unitary foreign policy but several: that of the deep state, that of President Trump and that of the Congress. An innovation in the conduct of international relations that … Continue reading Yet Another American Attack to Cripple the Russian Economy

Yesterday's Nezavisimaya gazeta appeared with a piece on Syria's fuel crisis. Entitled "British Marines Have Left the Syrian Army Without Fuel", Vladimir Mukhin points out that the seizure at Gibraltar on 4 July of the Iranian supertanker Grace 1 carrying 2 million barrels of oil  by the British authorities was surreptitiously planned from London and Washington. … Continue reading The West Puts the Squeeze on Iran and Syria. Russia Wants Talks.