Opinion & viewpoint

Russia's Top Investigator Sees U.S. Hand in Economic Crisis, Litvinenko Probe

Russia's top investigator Alexander Bastrykin has accused the United States of heralding in a new phase of “open confrontation” with Russia that has seen it undermine justice to damage Russian interests.

Bastrykin told a roundtable discussion at Moscow's All-Russian State University of Justice that the United States and its allies had waged a “hybrid war (economic, political, informational)” against Russia for two decades, a transcript of his speech on the Investigative Committee's website published Friday said.

“In the past years, this war has entered a new phase of open confrontation,” said Bastrykin. “Sadly, justice itself has become the victim of this hybrid war.”

Opinion & viewpoint

Russia's Ruling Regime Must Modernize or Face Collapse

In 2014-2015, Russia's domestic policy was pushed abroad — first toward Ukraine, then toward Syria. In 2016 the Russian authorities will have to shift their focus away from shaping the world order and toward putting their own house in order. Otherwise, they will not survive.

Over the last two years, President Vladimir Putin has confirmed his legitimacy through the use of extraordinary measures — war and the mobilization of public opinion. But that type of legitimacy desensitizes a society that requires ever more frequent and grandiose "feats" to evoke a comparable response. Russia's dealings with Crimea, Novorossiya, Syria and Turkey being the most recent government actions to a rouse public response.

Opinion & viewpoint

‘Wise Man’ Robert Gates Trashes Donald Trump, Doubts Obama’s Spunk

So on Saturday, when the ever-active Gates was snowed in a block from the White House, where he had dispensed information and vital insights to eight presidents, I gave him a call to try to find out why Obama has been surprised again and again by dictators and, indeed, terrorists, around the world.

Gates, nursing a bit of a cold, mainly wanted to talk about his new book, A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service.

But you can’t talk about leadership in the United States, and especially in foreign policy, without talking about current and future presidents. And Gates nailed the problem with Obama: He is a hyper-rationalist in what’s still an irrational world.