Huffington Post, August 17, 2008, Reposted from Foreign Policy In Focus.
[Source] The international condemnation of Russian aggression against Georgia – and the concomitant assaults by Abkhazians and South Ossetians against ethnic Georgians within their territories – is in large part appropriate. But the self-righteous posturing coming out of Washington should be tempered by a sober recognition of the ways in which the United States has contributed to the crisis.
Category: Europe
Eastern Europe
U.S. Role in Georgia Crisis
Foreign Policy in Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, August 14, 2008, By John Feffer, Stephen Zunes
The international condemnation of Russian aggression against Georgia – and the concomitant assaults by Abkhazians and South Ossetians against ethnic Georgians within their territories – is in large part appropriate. But the self-righteous posturing coming out of Washington should be tempered by a sober recognition of the ways in which the United States has contributed to the crisis. [Source]
Estonia’s Singing Revolution
Foreign Policy In Focus, June 4, 2008 [source]
In a remarkable new documentary, The Singing Revolution, filmmakers Maureen and Jim Tusty tell the little-known story of the Estonian people’s nonviolent struggle against decades of Soviet occupation, culminating in that country’s independence in 1991. The movement played an important role in the downfall of the entire Soviet Empire.
Video interview: The Politics of the U.S. Recognition of Serbia
The Real News Network, Feb. 26, 2008; 7-min. Video & Transcript
interview with Stephen Zunes and hear his audio interview at
Free Radio Santa Cruz/Indymedia Center(IMC) Feb. 26, 2008
Kosovo and the Politics of Recognition
Foreign Policy In Focus, Feb. 21, 2008, by Stephen Zunes
Also at Salem-News.com, ZNet, and Accuracy.org.
The Bush administration’s extended diplomatic recognition immediately upon that country’s declaration of independence on February 17 has raised serious concerns. Indeed, it serves as a reminder of the series of U.S. policy blunders over the years that have compounded the Balkan tragedy… For most of the 1990s, the Kosovar Albanians waged their struggle nonviolently, using strikes, boycotts, peaceful demonstrations, and strengthening their parallel institutions. This was the time for Western powers to have engaged in preventative diplomacy. However, the world chose to ignore the Kosovars’ nonviolent movement and resisted the consistent pleas by the moderate Kosovar Albanian leadership…
Strategic Dialogue: Kosovo
Foreign Policy In Focus, February 29, 2008 [source]
By John Feffer, Ian Williams, Stephen Zunes
Was the United States too hasty in recognizing the new state of Kosovo? Ian Williams and Stephen Zunes have different takes in this strategic dialogue. To see the original essays, follow these links to Williams and Zunes.
Don’t Credit Reagan for Ending the Cold War
Foreign Policy In Focus, Oct. 30, 2005
By John Gershman, Stephen Zunes [source]
Perhaps the most dangerous myth regarding the legacy of the late President Ronald Reagan is that he was somehow responsible for the end of the Cold War. Soviet-style communism was doomed in part because it fell victim to the pro-democracy movement that was also then sweeping Latin America and parts of Africa and Asia during this same period. No credit can be given to the Reagan Administration, which was a strong supporter of many of these right-wing dictatorial regimes, such as the Marcos regime in the Philippines…
Why Progressives Must Embrace the Ukrainian Pro-Democracy Movement
Foreign Policy In Focus/IPS, September 8, 2005
By Stephen Zunes [source]
Some elements of the American left have committed a grievous error, both morally and strategically, in their failure to enthusiastically support the momentous pro-democracy movement in the Ukraine. After more than three centuries of subjugation under Russian rule–first under the czars and then under the communists–followed by a dozen years of independence under corrupt and autocratic rule, the Ukrainian people appear to be on the verge of a new era of freedom…
U.S., Greece, and Turkey
Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes, November 1, 1999
[Source] President Bill Clinton’s visit to NATO allies Greece and Turkey is raising new questions about the ongoing strategic relationship the United States has with these two historic rivals, particularly in the light of the anti-American demonstrations which delayed and shortened the planned presidential visit. It was U.S. support of the pro-Western governments of these two countries in the late 1940s against a widely-perceived communist threat which most historians point to as the origins of the Cold War…
NATO’s Rush to War in Yugoslavia
Peace Review 11:3 (Fall 1999): 447-454. By Stephen Zunes.
The United States-led war against Yugoslavia continued for more than ten weeks despite the many ways it could have been avoided or ended sooner, and despite the opposition and uneasiness it generated even among its initial supporters. This essay outlines some of the reasons why the war was wrong from a moral, legal and utilitarian perspective…
Bombing Is Not The Answer
Common Dreams by Stephen Zunes, March 24, 1999
[Source is no longer available]
The ongoing threats of NATO air strikes against Serbia to end the Milosevic regime’s repression against Kosovo’s Albanian majority is a prime example of the wrong policy at the wrong time. The cause is certainly just: The Serbian authorities have imposed an apartheid-style system on the country’s ethnic Albanian majority and have severely suppressed cultural and political rights. However, this suppression has been ongoing since Milosevic revoked Kosovo’s autonomy in 1989…