Neutrality Studies

Originally published on Mar 3, 2025.Remarks to an international conference on ending the disaster in Ukraine organized by Radio Roma News TV / Amici Network. Full conference video here:    • ENDING THE DISASTER IN UKRAINE: AN IN...   Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.)Remarks delivered on February 22, 2025How wars end matters. The Napoleonic wars ended in the reconciliation of Europe’s great powers, including the defeated French, at the Congress of Vienna. The resulting, inclusive “Concert of Europe” ensured a long, if imperfect, peace that ended only in World War I.That war was fought mainly in Europe. It was followed by the vindictive exclusion of two great European powers from any role in or commitment to sustaining stability in Europe. The excommunication of Germany and Russia laid the basis for World War II, which – for Americans – was both transatlantic and transpacific. That war ended not in a peace but in a cold war – a tense but stable order sustained by mutual deterrence through military confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States. The failure to include a role for Russia in Europe commensurate with its power has now once again brought war to the continent. The lessons of history are clear. There can be no stable order in Europe that excludes any of its great powers. Those with no peaceful way to ensure respect for their security interests will see no reason not to use force to defend them. And if there is no prospect of a sustainable framework to safeguard their interests, they will prefer outcomes on battlefields to those contrived at the negotiating table.....

Originally published on Mar 1, 2025.After already publicly negotiating with Macron of France and Starmer of Britain, Trump now faced off with Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in an unprecedented manner. This is the new reality of how the US engages with its client states and it creates much needed reality in the relationship with all of Europe.

Originally published on Feb 28, 2025.The US and its "coalition of the willing" did not only illegally attack and invade Iraq, it also never left. The 22-year long military occupation is going hand in hand with the political and economic ruin of a 40 million people nation—another crime of epic proportion by the defenders of the "Rules Based International Order".Today I’m talking to Hussein Askary who is the Iraqi-Swedish Vice-Chairman of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden and the West Asia Coordinator for the International Schiller Institute. Hussein has been working as a strategic and economic analyst since 1996. Today we want to talk about West Asia and Iraq.

Originally published on Feb 26, 2025. From Paris, Berlin, Brussels and London, all of Europe is in panic and shock over the US dropping its allies for a better relationship with the former "Enemy Nr.1". What happened and how is European media reporting this? Is there any kind of "foreign policy" that we could talk about? Short answer: no.Ian Proud was a British Diplomat from 1999 until 2023. He worked in Thailand, Afghanistan, and Russia. And recently published a book called “A Mistfit in Moscow: How British Diplomacy in Russia Failed” (https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Ian-T-P...)Today we want to discuss Europe’s deep crisis over the peace talks that are underway between Washington and Moscow—Ian has been publishing several great articles about this over on his Substack and I can’t wait to pick his brain. So Ian, welcome back.Ian's Substack: https://thepeacemonger.substack.com

Originally published on Feb 25, 2025.Today I’m speaking to Dr. Andrey Kortunov, the Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council. Last week, Dr. Kortunov published a short but highly interesting article about what he called “The Grand Bargain”. In the piece, Dr. Kortunov analyses the warming relations between Washington and Moscow and asks if the two Great Powers together will manage to rewrite history. Dr. Kortunov's analysis can be found here: https://russiancouncil.ru/en/andrey-k...

Originally published on Feb 24, 2025.Germany voted for a new parliament. But what can come out of such a divided Bundestag? Here's my analysis of what could happen in the upcoming coalition talks.

Originally published on Feb 23, 2025.The other day I was on Ezequiel Bistoletti’s show Demoliendo Mitos de la Politica (‪@demoliendomitosdelapolitica‬). He runs that channel in Spanish and published our conversation in that language, and here it is for you in English—or in your language if you watch this on one of our other channels. It’s mainly an interview with me about what’s going on with the new Trump administration and the War in Ukraine. One of my key arguments is that Europe got plaid so hard by its "ally" the USA that the Europeans still can't wrap their little NATO minds around it. And this is not just a "Trump phenomenon". No, the systematic undercutting of European interests by Washington has a very long tradition, the old continent just had no political leadership that could have prevented that.... And now "the weak suffer what they must".

Originally published on Feb 22, 2025.So, the USA and Russia are negotiating an end the War in Ukraine and the Europeans as well as the US neocon-establishment are still freaking out over it. I’ve done a couple of episodes on this already, but let me just show you how desperate these people at the moment are by way of some New York Times headlines. After that I’ll show you what a real analysis of the situation looks like.But let’s start with the New York Times and its desperate clinging to a fanatic framing of the situation. At this point, it’s really becoming pathological since the facade is not just crumbling but breaking down in light-speed.CORRECTION: Katrina vanden Heuvel was Editor in Chief of "The Nation" not of "The National Interest". My bad.Here's the page of historian Geoffrey Roberts: https://geoffreyroberts.netThe National Interest article: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/...

Originally published on Feb 21, 2025.The diplomats always knew what the US was up to with Ukraine, Eastern Europe, the coups, and the intrigues. This was and is well-known in diplomatic circles, especially in Europe. They just never told us because national politics would forbid them from letting anyone know. That's the verdict of Ambassador José Antonio Zorrilla, one of Spain's former top-diplomats. How utterly depressing.Ambassador Zorilla joined the Spanish Diplomatic Service in 1973, becoming Consul General to Milano, Shanghai, and Moscow and finally Spain’s Ambassador to Georgia in 2011. Ambassador Zorrilla is also a passionate filmmaker and script writer, as well as a keen analyst of international relations. Hence, today we want to talk about Spain, the future of Europe, and diplomacy in the multipolar world. Ambassador Zorillav, welcome.Ambassador Zorrilla's (Spanish-language) YouTube Channel:    / @eurostrategos  

Originally published on Feb 20, 2025.[Part 2 of 2] While the West is still busy trash-talking China at every waking moment, it has completely eluded them that China has an unbeatable domestic system that neither the USA nor Europe can match. China has one of the most decentralized fiscal policy systems in the world and built its national structure around local competition beyond a simple market economy. Now compare that to the ever-increasing centralization in the European Union and you get a sense of why Brussels doesn't stand a chance to ever produce the same kind of products at the quality that China is now able to bring to the world on a massive scale.This is the second part of an interview with Arnaud Bertrand, one of Twitter/X’s best and most profound political analysts. I recommend everybody subscribe to Arnaud as he really hits the nail on the head every single time. He does fantastic current affairs and data analysis. Aranaud’s Twitter/X Profile: https://x.com/rnaudbertrand?s=21&t=hv...