Новости за 12.10.2016

Laubscher & Bourget, Narratively
They disconnect on yearly expeditions into the remote Russian wilderness -- and one of them documents each and every moment.

Oliver Bullough, New York Times
Although Mr. Putin need not worry about domestic opinion, he cares desperately about what the world thinks of him. Foreign critics of his Chechnya policy enraged him to the extent that he once offered to have a French journalist castrated. If he succeeds in imposing peace in Syria, even at the cost of leveling Aleppo, he will try to legitimize his victory. He will do that by giving it the outward trappings of a real, democratic peace process: of a Northern Ireland, or a South Africa.

Robert Fisk, The Independent
There are moments -- precious few, you understand -- when you can believe in Kurdistan as part of Turkey. You hear the great wedding drum from far away, sinister, not unlike the Protestant Lambeg drum with all its sectarian reverberations, echoing, quite literally, off the walls of the city.Â

Judy Dempsey, Washington Post
Calls for a European military force are shortsighted and poorly thought out.

Mary Dejevsky, Guardian
Facetious or in earnest, the foreign secretary's call in the Commons for protests in London shows how hard it was for him to defend the government line on Syria.

Shashi Tharoor, Project Syndicate
The announcement that Indian commandos recently conducted “surgical strikes” on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control in Kashmir has disrupted the predictable pattern that has characterized the bilateral relationship in recent years. For Indians, their government's move against Pakistan-based militants was long overdue.

Vladimir Frolov, Moscow Times
The question is what Moscow was really trying to accomplish. Cyber operations to collect intelligence are normal spycraft. The DNC and RNC are legitimate targets for Russian HUMINT and SIGINT operations, as are private email accounts and cell phones of key U.S. policy makers. You get intelligence by eavesdropping on people with access to real secrets.Â

Nikolas Gvosdev, Nat'l Interest
Moscow is setting red lines of its own. The United States, under the current administration and then under new management come January, needs to assess which of those lines it is unwilling to cross, which ones Russia is serious about defending, and which ones America must be prepared to defy—and in so doing, be prepared to pay the costs.

Michael Kofman, War on the Rocks
Moscow doubles down because its hand is often weaker, and, thus, they must demonstrate resolve. If you tell them to stop bombing hospitals, they will bomb two the next day. If you threaten a war crimes investigation, they will hit civilians with abandon to show international law has no coercive power. Point being, you are going to get far more people killed than you are liable to save with best intentions. This is an element of Russia's leadership that our policy community fails to appreciate... Читать дальше...

Niaz Murtaza, Dawn
No strong state has ceded land recently to its arch enemy through bilateral or multilateral talks or overt or covert war. Afghanistan's freedom came not from the fabled bravery of the ‘mujahideen' but USSR's lack of emotional investment there and the creeping collapse of communism. India is a rising, not decaying, power and is emotionally invested strongly in Kashmir. Thus, the chances of India ceding Kashmir due to bilateral or multilateral talks or covert or overt war are near zero.

Francisco Toro, New York Times
Once again, Venezuelans are disgusted with a government they elected. Since Mr. Chávez's death from cancer in 2013, Venezuela has been run by his hand-picked successor, Mr. Maduro. In just three years, the Maduro administration has overseen a record decline in Venezuelans' living standards.

Dan Peleschuk, Al Jazeera
Celebrated as one of Ukraine's most elegant cities, Lviv is still uncovering its recent history of totalitarian crimes.

Luke Phillips, The American Interest
Disraeli sought to bring Britain into the future; Trump seeks to restore a golden past.

Lawrence Martin, Globe and Mail
Bill Clinton hit it off with Jean Chrétien. Hillary Clinton will do the same with Justin Trudeau.

Benny Avni, NY Post
Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, has become a battlefield for the Mideast's most vicious rivalries. That's bad for Yemenis, bad for the region and bad for us.

Bonnie Kristian, The Diplomat
A recent Pew survey sheds light on China's relationship with the outside world, in particular the United States.

Luke Hunt, South China Morning Post
Fresh from backing Beijing over South China Sea dispute, a country reeling from falling rice prices and foreign investment has its eyes on emergency aid and a boost in trade.

Franco Ordonez, McClatchy
Russia is looking to expand its military presence and has its eye on Cuba and other Latin American countries. Russia has made several inroads in Cuba on several fronts, including nuclear energy, repairing trains and air traffic control technology. But experts question whether Cuba would allow the Russian government to open a military base on the island as it could be seen as a threat to the United States at a time when the island nation is seeking better relations with its larger northern neighbor.

Naomi O'Leary, Politico EU
Credited as the inventor of the Freedom Party, Martin Bosma casts the average Dutch voter against the leftist elite.

Harry Mount, The Spectator
Boris Mark II has entered the fray. As his conference speech this week showed, he's still making the gags but they play second fiddle to his more serious aspirations -- as a successful Foreign Secretary and, ultimately, PM.

Rick Noack, Wash Post
Criminals turning into terrorism suspects is becoming an increasingly common pattern in Europe, according to a new report released Tuesday by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ICSR) at King's College London.