Russia

Cyber Interference in the Federal Election? Part 1
- April 12, 2019
“We judge it very likely that Canadian voters will encounter some form of foreign cyber interference related to the 2019 federal election.” So says the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), Canada’s equivalent to America’s NSA and Britain’s GCHQ, in a …
By Paul Robinson
Defence and Intelligence, Democracy, Russia, Technology
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Cyber Interference in the Federal Election? Part 2
- April 12, 2019
Part 1 of this blog dealt with the fairly generic alarms raised by the CSE regarding election tampering by foreign cyber threats. As far as the specific threat to Canada is concerned, CSE says the following:

“Since the 2015 federal …
By Paul Robinson
Defence and Intelligence, Democracy, Russia, Technology
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The Geopolitics of America’s New Africa Strategy
- December 19, 2018
The Trump administration has not had much to say about Africa, and what little it has said has been mostly nonsense or offensive, or both. First there was the President’s infamous “sx!#hole” comment, then his faint praise for the non-existent …
By Rita Abrahamsen
Africa, China, Russia, USA
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The Prospects for Chinese Leadership in an Age of Upheaval
- July 24, 2018
Srdjan Vucetic, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa

Bentley B. Allan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University

Ted Hopf, Provost Chair Professor of Political Science, National University of Singapore…
By Srdjan Vucetic
China, International Relations, International Trade, Russia, USA
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Russian Expulsions: “If there was ever a time for diplomacy, this is it”
- April 5, 2018
By Jeremy Kinsman

About 50 years ago, Swedish writers Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo created addictive detective stories rooted in sociology. The reader knew who was murdered and often learned early on who did it. The mystery to be solved …
By CIPS
Cold War, Defence and Intelligence, International Relations, Russia, UK
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The West Gets Tough on Russia. What’s Next?
- March 29, 2018
Canada has now joined an international effort to punish the Russians for their role in the use of a nerve agent to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England.

Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland …
By Wesley Wark
Cold War, Defence and Intelligence, Russia, UK
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What Canada Should Do about Russia’s New Aggression
- March 16, 2018
The crisis between Russia and the West over the poisoning of former Russia spy Sergei Skripal, daughter, Yulia, and a British police sergeant, Nick Bailey, has now moved to the global stage of the United Nations Security Council. The crisis, …
By Wesley Wark
Cold War, Defence and Intelligence, Russia, UK
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From Spy Story to Global Crisis
- March 16, 2018
The biggest crisis in relations between Russia and the West since Russian aggression in Crimea and Ukraine is now in full force. The enormity of the action that led to this crisis — the poisoning of a former Russian spy …
By Wesley Wark
Cold War, Defence and Intelligence, Russia, UK
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Old-Style Poisoning Sets the Scene for New Cold War
- March 14, 2018
An aging Russian general and former spy is found murdered in a London park, the victim of an assassin’s gun. That’s a story straight out of a John le Carré novel. An aging Russian colonel and former spy is discovered, …
By Wesley Wark
Cold War, Defence and Intelligence, Russia, UK
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Russia: Foreign Policy of a Country In-Between
- January 21, 2018
by Viatcheslav Morozov

University of Tartu, Estonia

How much do we know about the driving forces behind Russia’s foreign policy? Despite our repeated failures to predict the Kremlin’s actions, we actually do understand a lot. Probably the most important thing …
By CIPS
Europe, Russia
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A New G-20 for a Leaderless World
- July 14, 2017
The US retreat from leadership of liberal multilateralism could open a policy space for new members within a reformed G-20.

The 2017 G-20 summit, normally dull and technical, emerges as a key transition point in global power relations. G-20 …
By John Sinclair
Canadian Foreign Policy, Europe, Russia, USA
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NATO: A Liberal Alliance in an Increasingly Illiberal World?
- July 9, 2017
By Alexandra Gheciu

Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa

In recent weeks, we have witnessed a number of developments designed to signal NATO’s persistent — arguably reinvigorated — role as the key security institution of the …
By Alexandra Gheciu
International Security, Russia, USA
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