David R. Sands

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blocked as Iran clerics sharply limit presidential field

Two-term former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not be allowed to pursue a comeback bid in next month's Iranian presidential elections, the religious body which vets all candidates announced Tuesday.

May 25, 2021

A stormy title match — away from the chessboard — 100 years ago

For many, the 1972 Fischer-Spassky championship match is at least as famous for the tempestuous dramas away from the board -- the challenger's diva-like near-no show, the last-minute Reykjavik arrival, the Game 2 forfeit, the soap opera over television cameras -- as for the games themselves.

May 25, 2021

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ex-Iranian leader, blocked from comeback run in presidential vote

Two-term former hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not be allowed to pursue a comeback bid in next month's Iranian presidential elections, the religious body that vets all candidates announced Tuesday.

May 25, 2021

Russian lawmaker says cordial meeting, Nord Stream move ‘good sign’ for U.S. relations

A leading foreign policy voice in Russia's national parliament said the amicable talks this week between the U.S. and Russian top diplomats and the Biden administration not to try to block a controversial Russia-German energy pipeline are a hopeful sign that bilateral ties may improve soon.

May 20, 2021

Russia fetes, Ukraine frets over Biden pipeline ploy

Top Russian officials said the relatively amicable talks this week between the U.S. and Russian top diplomats and the Biden administration's decision not to try to block a controversial Russia-German energy pipeline are hopeful signs that bilateral ties may improve soon.

May 20, 2021

Germans celebrate, critics slam Biden’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline retreat

Germany officials were celebrating and some on Capitol Hill were fuming as the Biden administration confirmed it was effectively dropping U.S. efforts to block the nearly-completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline supplying Russian natural gas directly to Germany.

May 19, 2021

Two rising Russian chess stars to keep an eye on

The child is father to the man, as the poet once said, so it behooves us to keep a close eye on the young chess talent now bubbling up around the world.

May 18, 2021

Sergei Naryshkin, Russian spymaster, ‘flattered’ by accusations he orchestrated SolarWinds hack

He's denying any role, but Russia's spy chief said Tuesday he was "flattered" that Western intelligence services believe he was able to pull off the massive SolarWinds computer hack of U.S. private and government networks last year.

May 18, 2021

U.S. neighbors Mexico and Canada weigh reopening COVID-19 closed borders

The governments of Mexico and Canada are taking the first tentative steps to reopen their borders to the U.S. that have been shut down by the global coronavirus pandemic, complicating both business and personal cross-border ties.

May 18, 2021

Matthew Lohmeier, Space Force commander, fired for comments on Marxist influences in the ranks

A self-published book warning that neo-Marxist thought and leftist practices such as diversity training are threatening to undermine the effectiveness of the U.S. military has cost a senior officer in the U.S. Space Force his command.

May 16, 2021

Iranian Quds Force commander strongly backs Hamas in Israel clash

The commander of Iran's elite military Quds Force is promising strong backing for the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement in its escalating military clash with Israel, Iran's state media reported over the weekend.

May 16, 2021

U.S. struggles for leverage in escalating Israeli-Palestinian clash

The Biden administration struggled to find its diplomatic footing Sunday in a bid to contain escalating clashes between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, even as other outside players stepped up their efforts to shape the crisis.

May 16, 2021

Child’s play: Chess title combatants go way back

The story goes that Benjamin Franklin, while negotiating a peace treaty in France in 1783, was in the crowd the day the first manned hot-air balloons soared above Paris. When an unimaginative skeptic in the crowd wondered at the utility of the newfangled invention, Franklin replied, "What good is a newborn baby?"

May 4, 2021

Ian Nepomniachtchi clinches spot in world chess title match against Magnus Carlsen

To the chagrin of headline writers and Twitter posters everywhere, Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi on Monday won the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg, Russia, with a round to spare, earning the right to challenge Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in a title match later this year.

April 27, 2021

Kremlin says Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will meet this summer

The Kremlin's top spokesman said Monday that President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are planning for a summit this summer to be held at an undetermined third country, meeting at a time when Moscow's relations with the U.S. and the West have badly deteriorated.

April 26, 2021

Blinken names experienced diplomat Jeffrey Feltman as envoy for troubled Horn of Africa

Jeffrey Feltman, a career diplomat who served for a time as assistant secretary of state and as the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for political affairs, has been named the State Department's special envoy for the Horn of Africa, where a civil war in Ethiopia has created a destabilizing humanitarian crisis in one of the continent's most strategic areas, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken announced Friday.

April 23, 2021

Candidates pick up the pieces in disrupted hunt for chess title match

It was the longest halftime break in the history of tournament chess and perhaps all of sports, but Round 8 of the FIDE Candidates Tournament to pick a challenger to world champion Magnus Carlsen finally was played Monday, some 389 days after Round 7 was completed.

April 20, 2021

U.S. to monitor Afghanistan after troop withdrawal

President Biden has put a date certain on the U.S. military's withdrawal from its 20-year mission in Afghanistan, but that might be the only thing certain about Afghanistan's short- and long-term future.

April 18, 2021

Saudis, Iranians deny report of first direct talks in years

Saudi and Iranian officials held secret talks in Iraq earlier this month to try to tamp down a raging regional struggle for influence, the Financial Times reported Sunday.

April 18, 2021

U.S.: Russia could face ‘consequences’ over treatment of jailed dissident Navalny

The Biden administration said Sunday it is weighing possible punishments on Russia amid reports of the deteriorating condition of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in the third week of a hunger strike to protest his treatment by the government of President Vladimir Putin.

April 18, 2021