Section: News & Summaries

      From Correspondence: 9/11: Moscow’s Phantom Vision –> End of Gaza’s Suffering
      Apr01

      From Correspondence: 9/11: Moscow’s Phantom Vision –> End of Gaza’s Suffering

      “Yes, but there many things that must be explained… the terrorist attack of 9/11 received the support of Saudi Arabia… ???” No, ______, it did not....

      Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Says Salisbury Attack Proves Putin Has ‘No Red Lines’
      Mar23

      Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Says Salisbury Attack Proves Putin Has ‘No Red Lines’

      Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin came to Brussels this week to meet European Union (EU) foreign ministers. He had a dual mission. Klimkin made his usual appeal to his European counterparts for more help for Ukraine, but also asked them to do more to protect themselves from a Kremlin he says has no limits after Vladimir Putin’s...

      Fulani Herdsman Rampage Through Dundu Village, Kwall District, Bassa, Plateau State, Nigeria
      Mar14

      Fulani Herdsman Rampage Through Dundu Village, Kwall District, Bassa, Plateau State, Nigeria

      BackChannels’ source has reported nineteen men, three women, and three children killed by Fulani herdsman Monday night (March 12, 2018) in Dundu Village, Kwall District, Bassa Governate, Plateu State, Nigeria. The attack follows by three days the burning of 50 homes and the killing of two children, twins, and 9 adults in Jos, the capital of...

      On President Trump’s ‘Jerusalem Declaration’
      Dec14

      On President Trump’s ‘Jerusalem Declaration’

      The prompt: opprobrium for much of President Trump’s other actions and utterances with glowing exception for announcing the moving of the American Embassy to Jerusalem. Trump has to respond to internal personal as well as external political pressures. He has to make decisions with those two universes somewhat in balance. The “Jerusalem...

      FTAC: “Oh, Jerusalem” and Islam’s New Divide
      Dec08

      FTAC: “Oh, Jerusalem” and Islam’s New Divide

      The prompt was the familiar — too familiar — and now cliche threat: the whole Muslims world will now unify against the “Little” and “Great” Satan that would be Israel and the United States were it not that Moscow, Damascus, and Tehran have consistently and with enthusiasm proven themselves cruel and evil to the Believers fervent or moderate:...

      FTAC: Political, Racial, Religious Singularity and Purity / Distribution x Equilibrium
      Dec05

      FTAC: Political, Racial, Religious Singularity and Purity / Distribution x Equilibrium

      Perhaps by way of the editor’s accidental tourism in poli-sci and poli-psy, BackChannels has from the start been about the distillation of basic concepts and values. That’s evident down the column of the left sidebar (which hasn’t been updated in some time): there are the universals — Compassion Empathy Justice Humility...

      The Importance of Being Angela Merkel
      Nov21

      The Importance of Being Angela Merkel

      Chancellor is vital for European solidarity on Russia sanctions, says Atlantic Council’s Fran Burwell If German Chancellor Angela Merkel were to step down from her role it would create uncertainty over the fate of sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine, according to Fran Burwell, a distinguished fellow at the...

      Also in Media: “Western Worries About Russian Disinformation ‘Just Fits of Hysterics’” | Hungarian Spectrum | November 15, 2017
      Nov16

      Also in Media: “Western Worries About Russian Disinformation ‘Just Fits of Hysterics’” | Hungarian Spectrum | November 15, 2017

      Of course the title of the Hungarian Spectrum article is ironic, not dismissive. Moscow’s manipulation of “Information Space” beyond its boundaries is serious stuff, and the American public and other western democratic constituencies need to know it down to and through their grassroots. Good examples of Russian manipulation can be seen in...

      FTAC: A Thought on Powerful Global Elite and America’s Own Holy War in Defense of Democracy
      Nov14

      FTAC: A Thought on Powerful Global Elite and America’s Own Holy War in Defense of Democracy

      Our (American / EU / NATO) failure to so far address Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Russo-Iranian support for tyranny in Syria and war by proxy in Yemen, and our manner of perhaps chiding China (and trying to talk down North Korea off its military nuclear-development platform) may signal both result and cause for ceding the fullness of an...

      Paul Manafort’s Ukraine Connection
      Oct31

      Paul Manafort’s Ukraine Connection

      Long before Paul Manafort served as Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign chairman he worked for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian former president of Ukraine. It was in this role that Anders Åslund, a resident senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, first met Manafort. Manafort would seek advice from...