Next Cold War Roundup 2/10/16. Kerry Rebukes Syrian Civil Society Activists at Cocktail Reception Hosted by Prince Charles During Syrian Donors Conference in London. _ Over the weekend, Middle East Eye reported about a sideline conversation between John Kerry and some “aid workers” at a cocktail party reception hosted by

Next Cold War Roundup 2/1/16 Syrian Peace Talks After delays and controversies, the Geneva 3 Syrian peace talks are proceeding, despite many experts’ doubts that they would ever get started or produce any useful results.  The Saudi-backed High Negotiating Committee arrived in Geneva after receiving some assurances from the US

Next Cold War Roundup 1/27/16 Syrian Peace Talks Delayed. Opposition Groups Still Undecided on Attendance. _ Syrian “opposition” has three main categories: Sunni groups organized by Saudi Arabia into something called the “High Negotiation Committee” (HNC), Syrian Kurds (YPG) and Syrian political groups. The HNC contains some jihadist groups that

U.S. policymakers have been in a precarious position since backing the coup that overthrew Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Though many within President Barack Obama’s administration support a policy of tension with Russia and believe a new Cold War can secure budgets and promote their relevance, the Ukrainians actually

Next Cold War Roundup 1/18/16 Iran Sanctions Lifted, Prisoners Swapped, US Treasury Slapped New Ballistic Program Sanctions "We’ve achieved this historic progress through diplomacy, without resorting to another war in the Middle East." —@POTUS #IranDeal — The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 17, 2016   _ #JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal) criteria were

Next Cold War Roundup 1/8/16 Libya _ Thank goodness someone reads email news dumps slipped in on holidays. In this case it was the excellent investigative journalist, Brad Hoff. The New Year’s Eve release of Hillary Clinton emails now show that she was “getting personally briefed on the battlefield crimes”