Carnegie Moscow Center
Putin aims for a world order in which the Security Council’s five permanent members, not the United States—alone or with its allies—decide on major issues pertaining to war and peace.
Connectivity in Asia and the Pacific, one of the main themes of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, held on October 7 and 8 in Bali, is certainly growing.
Both Russia and the European Union are at a stage when setting out their own domestic priorities and defining their respective global roles are more important than achieving an alliance.
Next to maintaining a strict balance between two former overlords, Beijing and Moscow, Ulan Bator seeks to balance its both physical neighbors with a third—virtual—one.
Russia’s position on Syria is not primarily about Syria. It is about the world order: who has the right to decide on a military intervention?
Obama needs to follow up on the Syrian disarmament plan and be ready to augment it by a serious effort at a political settlement in Syria within the Geneva framework. If there is to be a solution on Syria, Iran should be part of it. Engaging the Iranians on Syria would be a confidence building measure which would also help in the nuclear talks.
As Russia proceeds with its massive rearmament program, its arms exports, a lifeline in the 1990s, will be important, but no longer critical. The truly critical question is, what Russia itself will be arming against.
For Europe as a whole to play a strategic role in global affairs it needs to be more integrated internally. A sense of direction will be required, alongside a will to be an independent actor on the world stage, and pay the price.
For Vladimir Putin, seeing Ukraine moving away from Russia and leaning toward the EU is unnatural, even perverse.
The United Nations is a recognized platform for debate, but its performance depends on its key members actually working together.