Ivan Samolovov's Blog

The decision of the United States to conduct Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) around the artificial islands in the South China Sea, which China uses for justifying her sovereigny claims in this area, has somewhat increased tensions between the…

Putin is one of the favorite topics in the Western media. While in office, the Russian president has been put under the microscope from different angles. Many attempts at creating his psychological portrait and discovering his identity have been…

In recent months, Russian officials have repeatedly emphasized Russian sovereignty and autonomy. Russia indeed is not a part to an integration project or a military alliance that dismantle its bundle of sovereign rights. There are no foreign troops on…

1. More cohesion in NATO? According to the balance-of-threat assumption the lack of unambiguous threat decreases cohesion of military alliances, whereas the free-rider problem increases in inverse proportion. Even if one doesn't consider…

The recent impasses in the UNSC is another proof for the shakiness of attempts to build a centralized powerful institution`for conflict prevention. In other words, Security Council keeps failing to act in the sense of common good, it fails even in…

Describing the project of the Eurasian Union Vladimir Putin referred to the successful integration experience of the EU. It is not about feasibility of the EAU what I am concerned with. Putin's project has indeed close resemblance to the…

It's been a while since the rivalry between Russia and the West took such harsh forms. Actually, the object of the contestation - Ukraine - may imply that apart from China and few other countries Zbigniew Brzezinski may be a beneficiary. "Told ya"…

The talks about bipolar world and its alleged stability in relation to other models of the world are very popular in Russia. However, the realists are rather indifferent to the internal structure of a state. Instead, they tend to see the state as a…

In recent days, the official U.S. position on the situation in Syria has experienced certain transformation. As we know, Russia called for putting Syrian chemical weapons storages under international control which must ultimately lead to its…

Russia is willing to consider giving political asylum to the American intelligence agencies whistleblower Edward Snowden. But why do we do that?   So, Edward Snowden, former CIA and NSA contractor, is a man who has made public highly classified…

For better or worse, let us be clear: Russia and Georgia are the last subjects of international relations at the moment that have waged a conventional war.   What are the reasons for this exceptional character of the Russian-Georgian War? …