Lucja Swiatkowski Cannon is a Senior Research Fellow at The Institute of World Politics’ Center for Intermarium Studies. Her research interests include Europe, Russia, and China and the foreign policy of the United States in areas of politics, political economy, and energy. Full bio
The consequences of defying Putin
The crash of a plane that carried Yevgeny Prigozhin and his close Wagner Group associates brings to mind the 2010 crash of the Polish presidential plane in Smolensk, Russia, under similar circumstances. Prigozhin was a significant political actor, advancing Russian interests internationally and especially in Ukraine, Africa, and the Middle East. Only two months ago, he engaged in a…
Read More from The consequences of defying Putin ›NATO summit revealed the US-German partnership of weakness
At the NATO summit in Vilnius, the United States allied itself with Germany, the greatest appeaser of the Western alliance. As a result, there were no breakthroughs in the decisions of the summit despite promising pronouncements going on for months. The overwhelming goal of the summit seemed to be the prevention of any possibility of escalation with Russia.…
Read More from NATO summit revealed the US-German partnership of weakness ›A disappointing Olympic decision on Russia
On March 28, the International Olympic Committee made a proposal to allow Russian athletes to compete in the Paris Olympics under a neutral flag as long as they did not explicitly support the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In view of past strong objections to its proposal, the committee offered to establish a screening panel, which…
Read More from A disappointing Olympic decision on Russia ›Thanks to Gorbachev’s reforms, the world is better off
Mikhail Gorbachev died almost exactly 42 years after the movement that gave his life meaning was born. Gorbachev’s whole career as the leader of the Soviet Union was a response to the Solidarity movement, a mass protest against communist oppression. Solidarity was a working-class phenomenon, a traditional communist stronghold. Thus, Solidarity proved that communism does not represent…
Read More from Thanks to Gorbachev’s reforms, the world is better off ›