… Trump … has a unique opportunity … to reset the worst relations between the U.S. and Russia since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. For a blueprint, Trump would be wise to look to Alaska. Beginning in the mid-1980s, citizen-diplomats from Alaska and the Russian Far East overcame tensions to melt the ‘Ice Curtain,’ which had prevented human contact across […]
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(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – David Ramseur – August 31, 2016) A former journalist, David Ramseur is writing a book on Alaska-Russian relations for the University of Alaska Press, scheduled for publication in Fall 2017. He worked to melt the Alaska-Russian “Ice Curtain” as a top aide to Alaska Governors Steve Cowper and Tony Knowles and U.S. Senator Mark Begich. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Stirling, Laura Ridpath – June 16, 2015) In February 2016, a team of three British men will attempt to travel across the Bering Strait by ski and kayak, traveling westward from the United States to Russia. If successful, the expedition, headed by Scotsman Mike Laird, will join eight others in completing this treacherous journey. […]
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Russia is in the news, again. NATO ministers continue to discuss how to upgrade their response capabilities to contain Russia, an increasingly unpredictable neighbor, and Pentagon officials advise Congress that Russia is a primary military threat. All the meanwhile, President Putin ramps up his military modernization effort. Could this finally be the end of strong Russia-U.S. cooperation in the one […]
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WASHINGTON, May 13 (RIA Novosti) – A Chinese plan to build a high-speed rail line connecting China to the United States via Russia and Canada is entirely feasible, but it remains to be seen if the US and Russia can cooperate amid the Ukrainian crisis, US rail expert Hal Cooper told RIA Novosti. Cooper, of the Cooper Consulting Company in […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Georgy Manaev, RBTH – April 20, 2014) In 1867, Russia sold the territory of Alaska to the U.S. for $7.2 million. A mere 50 years later, the Americans had earned that amount back 100 times over. How could the imperial officials have given up such a choice parcel? RBTH sorts out the muddled […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 1, 2014) A mere four kilometers separate Russia’s Big Diomede Island from Alaska’s Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait. This boundary between two feuding powers – known as the “Ice Curtain” during the Cold War – is likely the only place from which former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin could really see Russia. But […]
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