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Testimony before the Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia, Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives
By Ariel Cohen December 5, 2012
As election eve in the United States approaches, Moscow is hoping for a return of the incumbent.During a recent meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, a forum for exchanging views on Russia, at least three senior Russian officials announced that the U.S. president’s reelection would be good for Russia. This is hardly surprising. Russians respect and get along with power.
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
November 5, 2012
On October 16–28, the world is marking the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a standoff between the United States and the former Soviet Union that nearly ended in a nuclear war between the two superpowers.
The confrontation of the Cold War still affects the relationship between the U.S. and Russia to this day and is a cautionary tale in a world where nuclear proliferation is rampant.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation, October 18, 2012
On October 3, the FBI reported [1] it had charged 11 people with running a military technology procurement network based in the United States and Russia that was allegedly illegally procuring [2] and exporting high-tech microelectronics to the Russian military and intelligence services. Alexander Fishenko, the owner of the Houston-based Arc Electronics Inc., was charged with operating as an unregistered foreign agent.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation, October 5, 2012
The Tavan Tolgoi coal mine in southern Mongolia.Eight hundred years after Genghis Khan, Mongolia is back in the news. Nicknamed “Mine-golia,” it is enjoying the largest energy and raw-materials boom [3] on the planet. Today, Mongolia boasts the world’s third-largest copper mine [4], as well as one of the largest coal mines.In the first quarter of 2012, Mongolia’s economy grew at an average annual rate of 16.7 percent.
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
September 27, 2012
On Wednesday, Under Secretary of Defense Jim Miller argued that the Obama Administration’s “reset” policy with Russia had succeeded.
According to Miller, rapproachment with Russia has enabled the U.S. to diversify supply routes into Afghanistan and implement tough sanctions against Iran.
Miller’s claim does not pass the reality test on several levels.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation, September 20, 2012
Last week, General Sergei Karakayev, Commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces, announced [2] plans for a new heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to go into production as soon as 2018. He emphasized that the new missile would be capable of penetrating the NATO missile shield Russia dislikes so much.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
September 13, 2012
Russia hosted the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum this past weekend in its Pacific port of Vladivostok. It was a clear signal that Moscow’s interest in Asia is rising as the traditional market for its energy and raw materials—the euro zone—wallows in crisis and stagnation. And After America’s much-ballyhooed “pivot to Asia,” it is now Russia’s turn.
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest, September 11, 2012
Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 6156, the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal Act of 2012, by voice vote with only one “nay.” This is a step in the right direction, given that Russia will join the World Trade Organization (WTO) on August 22.The 1974 Jackson–Vanik amendment denies Russia permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status...
By Ariel Cohen, Michaela Bendikova, and Bryan Riley
July 27, 2012
American Leadership, The Heritage Foundation
Competing aggressively with the United States for the “hearts and minds” of people around the world, many state and non-state actors are funneling significant resources into their public diplomacy strategies. The Chinese government announced in 2009 that it would spend almost $7 billion on a “global media drive” to improve its image. The Russian government allocated $1.4 billion for international propaganda in 2010.
The Heritage Foundation, June 21, 2012
President Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin met at the G-20 summit in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The meeting’s results disappointed realists and international interventionists alike.
The two leaders failed to reach agreements on core geopolitical issues. But the body language said it all: after the two hour meeting the two barely looked at each other, and Reuters reported their demeanor as “cool and detached.”
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
June 20, 2012
Today, President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are meeting [1] at the G-20 summit in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This meeting is likely will be tense, as the two leaders have fundamentally different agendas regarding some of the most pressing international problems.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation, June 18, 2012
Progress on the ability of U.S. firms to take advantage of new business opportunities when Russia joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) took a step forward yesterday when Senate leaders acknowledged that legislation to promote human rights will be a condition needed for permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to move forward, too.
By Ariel Cohen and Bryan Riley
The Heritage Foundation, June 13, 2012
This Thursday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will put the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act up for a vote. The bill seeks “to impose sanctions on persons responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky, and for other gross violations of human rights in the Russian Federation, and for other purposes.”
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
June 5, 2012
Late last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her tour of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. In Scandinavia, she was to address several forums on climate change and green energy. While in Sweden, she also planned to discuss Internet freedom, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest, June 4, 2012
U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will engage in intense geopolitical discussions in the Caucasus and Turkey during her visit, the leading expert of the Heritage Foundation for Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy, member of Trend Expert Council, Ariel Cohen said.
Today.AZ
May 31, 2012
The former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan is a small country sandwiched between Russia and Iran along the coast of the Caspian Sea, which is in fact the largest salt lake on earth, not a sea. Americans should not feel bad if they can't find it on a geography quiz. But due to its unique location, the country is playing an increasingly important role in the West’s confrontation with Iran.
The National Interest,
March 21, 2012
On Monday, Washington and Moscow clashed yet again in the U.N. Security Council over what to do about the bloody conflict in Syria. Neither side came up with a solution the other one agrees to. But this rivalry is about much more than just Syria.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
March 13, 2012
By Ariel Cohen and Anton Altman
Total, Europe’s third largest oil company, announced last Friday that they have made a major gas discovery in the Caspian Sea.
The discovery, made in the Absheron block off the coast of Azerbaijan, is thought to have large pockets of gas spread over a 270-square-kilometer field and holds about 350 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 45 million metric tons of gas condensate, according to SOCAR, the state oil company of Azerbaijan.
By Ariel Cohen and Anton Altman
Last week, oil giant ExxonMobil announced an agreement with Russia’s state oil company, Rosneft, to explore for oil in the Arctic continental shelf in the Kara Sea. America’s largest oil company is taking the place of BP (British Petroleum), whose dealings with Rosneft earlier this year collapsed.
Ariel Cohen and Anton Altman
The accelerated melting of the polar icecaps and recent Russian announcement that the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is now “ice-free” beg the question of whether or not the passage is already a commercially viable option. The Heritage Foundation examined Russia’s ambitious plans for the “last frontier” in the High North in great detail.
By Ariel Cohen & Anton Altman
A report released last week by the Baker Institute at Rice University, “Shale Gas and U.S. National Security,” focused on the foreign policy benefits of this domestically produced fuel. The authors undertook the study in light of the tremendous growth in discoveries of natural gas from shale in North America and the technological innovations that made it possible.
By Ariel Cohen
Tensions are rising in the eastern Mediterranean between Israel and Lebanon, this time over roughly 430 square miles of contested waters that contain considerable underwater gas reserves. Iran, Hezbollah and Syria are all interested in a war withIsrael, each for their own reasons. Tehran and Damascus want to save the embattled regime of Bashar Assad.
Ariel Cohen and Michaela Bendikova
The United States lacks effective energy policy responses in the event of a major oil crisis. This was the conclusion reached at a recent simulation by Securing America’s Future Energy. Little surprise here: We arrived at the same conclusion in three energy simulation exercises conducted at The Heritage Foundation in 2007,2008, and 2010.
By Ariel Cohen & Anton Altman
Tensions are rising between Israel and Lebanon, this time over underwater gas reserves. After months of debate, Israel’s cabinet approved last week a proposed maritime border that overlaps with a competing Lebanese claim, creating a sliver of some 430 square miles in dispute.
