Dear CCI Friends and Colleagues,

Gilbert Doctorow, a CCI trusted source, has summarized his opinion of the continued development and expansion of BRICS.  The new developments with BRICS plus create an opportunity for more multilateral cooperation away from the traditional western economies. This presents some good opportunities for Russia, China, and the entire global south.

Doctorow’s opinion is that the importance of BRICS including countries that are not naturally culturally or politically compatible is to be taken very seriously.   To quote Doctorow,

“The lesson here is one that the United States has not begun to learn: that inclusion of fractious nations is a far better way of arriving at policy moderation and coexistence than exclusion and creation of ‘pariah states’ through sanctions.”

We look forward to your comments.

Center for Citizen Initiatives

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Armageddon Newsletter

Is the expanded BRICS truly a new international institution or just the Nonaligned Bloc 2.0?

September 2, 2023

By Gilbert Doctorow 

In the week since the 15^th Summit meeting of BRICS in Johannesburg closed, there has been a lot of commentary in Western media directed at quashing the notion that something substantial occurred there which will further the emergence of a multipolar world, which had been the message of the five member states in their closing Declaration.

Some analysts have said that the addition of six new members taking effect on 1 January 2024 and plans for still greater enlargement next year to take in more of the 23 nations which had expressed an interest in joining amounts to little more than the recreation of the Bloc of Nonaligned Nations, which was a talking shop among Global South countries and little more during the Cold War. Other critics point out that there are serious contradictions between the national interests of the founding members India and China, and that this problem will arise between the new members, as for example between Iran and Saudi Arabia, so that the chances of BRICS arriving at consensus in policy matters and geopolitics in particular will be slim;  its weight on the world stage will be correspondingly small, they say.

[Continue Reading]

Dear CCI Friends and Colleagues,

Following our recent email, “Will the Fog Clear?”, we are sending another article by Edward Lozansky, the President of the American University in Moscow. This time, he and Matthew Ehret, Vice-President of the Rising Tide Foundation and Senior Fellow of the American University in Moscow, have teamed up to present their perspective of the emerging new normal of a multi-polar world.

New Kontinent is a Russian publication in existence for nearly fifty years (including its previous non-digital format) and we urge you to consider their stated mission,

“The mission of the New Kontinent (NewKontinent.org) is to publish the works by Western authors, whose opinions are more objective and balanced regarding Russia, U.S. – Russia, and East-West relations. The unprecedented anti-Russian campaign in Western political circles and the media gives the Russian citizens the impression that in such conditions no dialogue is possible, but this is not true. 

The current state of U.S.-Russia relations in no way reflects their real potential, nor does it serve the vital national interests of the two countries. In a world where the United States and Russia face so many common threats and challenges, they all too often view each other more as a foe than a friend. 

The roots of this animosity go back to the time of the Cold War with both countries being cast as inevitable opponents incapable of finding common ground on any issue. Even today, the United States and Russia are separated not only by history and culture, but also by their geopolitical goals and domestic priorities. Contributing to the problem is the shortage of direct communication between civil institutions and business groups interested in better relations between the two countries.

No two nations can ever achieve total harmony in their world views. This, however, should not prevent the United States and Russia from trying to develop a constructive working relationship. Closer U.S.-Russia cooperation is in the best interests of both countries and the history also provides ample evidence that a coordinated U.S-Russian response to world challenges tends to reduce tension and produce positive results.

Communication is a key factor here. In order to better U.S.-Russia relations, the quality of bilateral dialog must be dramatically improved. Political and civil institutions in both countries must have a solid platform to discuss issues, exchange opinions, and resolve outstanding problems.

With this in mind, we have created New Kontinent to promote political, economic, and civil cooperation between the United States and Russia. We are committed to fighting old stereotypes, building trust and identifying areas of common interest. And while we perfectly understand that bringing friendship and genuine cooperation into U.S.-Russia relations is a difficult goal, we believe it is realistic.”

We look forward to your comments.

Center for Citizen Initiatives

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New Kontinent

Make History or End It: An Existential Civilizational Choice

August 29, 2023

By Matthew Ehret and Edward Lozansky

It wasn’t long ago that every forward-thinking American politician understood that the unipolar world order under the U.S. leadership was the only game in town.

Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor and Trilateral Commission co-founder Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote the following in his 1997 Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives:

“How the United States both manipulates and accommodates the principal geostrategic players on the Eurasian chessboard and how it manages Eurasia’s key geopolitical pivots will be critical to the longevity and stability of America’s global primacy.”

Anyone resisting this new normal was considered a holdout of an obsolete past age and ignorant of the inevitable Darwinian forces of natural selection propelling humanity towards a long-awaited ‘end of history’ as outlined by neo-con academic Francis Fukuyama who is now mingling with the members of Ukrainian “Azov battalion” which up until recently was described in the U.S. Congress as a terrorist neo-Nazi organization.

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Dear CCI Friends and Colleagues,

For your consideration, two approaches to the two-front war we are witnessing and experiencing both in Ukraine and in the wider world:

• from Gilbert Doctorow, Russia studies scholar and professional Russia observer, a brief analysis of the recent Brics Summit and the potential long-term international economic ramifications;
• from Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and former CCI citizen diplomacy delegate, a perspective on the military situation.

As always, we appreciate and look forward to your thoughts on these timely and crucial subjects.

The Center for Citizen Initiatives

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“The Two-Front War”

“What did the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg accomplish?”

August 24, 2023
By Gilbert Doctorow
With one notable exception, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the great and the good of the Global South were all in attendance at the 15^th Summit of the BRICS leaders in Johannesburg these past three days.  A large part of the public proceedings, meaning the addresses to the Business Forum and the closing addresses to global media, were carried live on television majors, in particular on the Chinese CGTN.

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“Ex-CIA:  US Pentagon PANICS As Ukraine Collapses”  

August 22, 2023

By Stephen Gardner – Interview with Ray McGovern 

 Ex-CIA Ray McGovern and Stephen Gardner discuss the collapse of Ukraine.

[ Continue to Interview ]

Dear CCI Friends and Colleagues,

We are pleased to share with you an article written by Edward Lozansky,  president of  American University in Moscow, which traces the history of the US-Russia relationship by way of his personal experience:  born in Kiev, educated in the USSR, a citizen of the US.  Mr. Lozansky traces the history of US-Russia relations while the USSR was still intact, after the dissolution of the USSR, the initial period of euphoria between the US and USSR, the adversarial position that many appointees in the Clinton administration took towards Russia, and the results that followed.

The article is an important historical overview by someone who was on the ground when the crucial events shaping US-Russia relations of the last 50 years were happening.  We recommend his perspective to your attention as he analyzes the tragic role that US policymakers took soon after the Russian Federation became an independent nation when the cold war ended in 1991. It also traces the events leading up to the current crisis in Ukraine, a tragedy that has befallen both Ukrainian and Russian citizens.

We look forward to your comments.

Center for Citizen Initiatives

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Antiwar.com

Clearing the Fog of “Unprovoked” War

August 9, 2023

By Edward Lozansky 
 

For the record: I was born in Ukraine, studied in Russia, and worked in America as a laser fusion researcher and Professor of Mathematics and Physics. I have relatives and friends in all three countries, and for the last 35 years, I have been trying to do my best to make them friends, partners, or even allies. Instead, all three are now at war, even if some call the U.S. war only a war “by proxy.”

This looks like a total failure of my efforts, but I hope this short summary clears a bit the fog of war, which might help in the search for avoiding a worst-case scenario.

[Continue Reading]

Dear CCI Friends and Colleagues,

The exploration of why the US hates Russia is a fascinating and disturbing subject. It requires a little digging into history – the sufficiently close-up history that many of us can remember.

In the 1960’s and ‘70’s, terms like ‘détente’ and ‘rapprochement’ fell easily from the lips of many in the West, including the US, who appreciated the insanity of the arms race and any national “security” policy that depended upon the ability to destroy all life on earth in order to be “safe.” The US and Russia were in that mighty MAD standoff and, fortunately, humane people on both sides saw the madness. Serious efforts were made to develop diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations between the two adversaries and the results were so positive that we felt able to take a deep breath; maybe nuclear Armageddon wasn’t inevitable after all.

What happened? Why are we once again face-to-face with the unspeakable?

For your consideration, Alexander Mercouris gives a brief and succinct analysis of that recent history in the attached video.

Please let us know what you think.

The Center for Citizen Initiatives

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Neutrality Studies

US/NATO Maniacs Killed The Post-Cold War Peace On Purpose

Aug 2, 2023

Neutrality Studies is a channel dedicated to neutrality in international relations. We are committed to providing a platform for unbiased and objective analysis of global affairs, with a focus on neutrality and non-partisanship.

By:  Pascal Lottaz 

This is the second segment of the interview with Alexander Mercouris from The Duran. We talk about how and why NATO elites decided to kill the Post-Cold War peace in Europe that had set in after 1989. The poisonous idea that the US had “won” the Cold War completely distorted all decision-making, leading to some of the worst and most provocative geostrategic blunders in history. Peace was killed by those who thought they could reign with impunity and Ukraine is now paying the price of the zero-sum thinking.

FMI: [Interview with Alexander Mercouris from The Duran]