Ksenia Svetlova Journalist Profile

Articles

The Mahmoud Khalil Case

1 month ago | jstribune.com | Drew Thompson |Jacob Heilbrunn |Ksenia Svetlova |Robert Silverman

American diplomats are supposed to serve at least one tour on the visa line overseas, interviewing would-be visitors. It’s important work that has the side benefit of supplying some good stories. The Mahmoud Khalil case reminds me of a story from my first tour at Consulate General Jerusalem in 1990, interviewing mainly Palestinians on the West Bank. One day we received a handwritten letter in Arabic addressed to the American Consul.
Whither Europe?

1 month ago | jstribune.com | Ksenia Svetlova |Robert Silverman |Paul du Quenoy |Jacob Heilbrunn

The six chords, each spaced with a rest of about a second, came crashing down in the resplendent home of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The audience sat transfixed. Seated in the rear balcony, I was listening to Santtu-Matias Rouvali conduct Jean Sibelius’ 1919 fifth symphony based, like Beethoven’s, around a four-note motif. The opening of Beethoven’s fifth has been called “the knock of fate” and the conclusion of Sibelius’s—with its six thunderbolts—evoked it.
Preoccupied with Ukraine, Russia needs Iran to save embattled Assad in Syria

Dec 2, 2024 | haaretz.com | Ksenia Svetlova

About Your PrivacyWe process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent and legitimate interest. You may exercise your right to consent or object to a legitimate interest, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose.
Ukraine in a Second Trump Administration: The Case for Optimism

Nov 27, 2024 | jstribune.com | Daniel Runde |Ksenia Svetlova |J. Peter Pham |Melinda Haring

Since the US presidential election, friends and supporters have asked us at Razom for Ukraine how we feel about the future of Ukraine. Razom for Ukraine is an American aid and advocacy organization that has delivered more than $100 million in humanitarian assistance since 2022. Razom employs dozens of staff in Ukraine currently on the receiving end of Russian bombardment. We know what’s at stake. In short, our optimism about Ukraine’s future hasn’t changed. Ukraine will prevail in this war.
Going on Offense, Designating the Muslim Brotherhood

Oct 7, 2024 | jstribune.com | Ksenia Svetlova |Drew Thompson |Yaakov Lappin |Robert Silverman

“Dad, open your WhatsApp and see the [photos of] dead Jews. Your son has killed Jews.” “God bless you.” “Dad, I’m calling you from the phone of a Jew! I just killed her and her husband, with my own hands.” – Intercepted cellphone call, October 7, from Hamas elite unit memberOne unanswered question is why Hamas members publicized their brutal murders of women, children, elderly persons and other civilians.
The Ukrainian Invasion Exposed Russia's Weakness, but Putin Doesn't Care About Losing Territory

Aug 21, 2024 | haaretz.com | Ksenia Svetlova

Analysis | The Russian president focused in the last two weeks on diplomatic meetings while his mouthpieces taunt the West.
A Guide to Harris’ Foreign Policy

Aug 12, 2024 | jstribune.com | Andreas Umland |Matthew Kroenig |Dan Negrea |Ksenia Svetlova

How will Kamala Harris conduct foreign policy if she becomes president in January 2025? Would she hew to traditional Democratic Party stands on dealing with authoritarian regimes, climate change and foreign alliances? Or will she veer off in unpredictable directions? One obvious place to try and answer this question might be to explore Harris’ own recent foreign policy stands.
Who was Ismail Haniyeh?

Aug 12, 2024 | clevelandjewishnews.com | Ksenia Svetlova

The first and the only time I interviewed Ismail Haniyeh, the late head of Hamas’s political bureau, was in January 2006 in Gaza, on the day of the fateful elections for the Palestinian parliament, shortly after exit poll results were published. Like every other member of Hamas, Haniyeh was overwhelmed by this unexpected victory. Hamas had been aiming for a significant increase in power in the parliament, but had not expected outright victory.
The deadly attack in northern Israel exposed the Druze community's precarious situation

Jul 28, 2024 | haaretz.com | Ksenia Svetlova

Druze in Syria, Lebanon and Israel face a series of threats, and Israel must signal to anyone trying to harm the Druze that this will not be met with inaction Get email notification for articles from Ksenia Svetlova Follow On Saturday night, when news of the death and injury of numerous Druze children in Majdal Shams started to spread, thousands of Druze families in Israel, Syria and Lebanon made urgent phone calls to one another, trying to learn the fate of their dear ones, to console, to...
The Rise and Fall of America’s DiplomatsThe Voice of the Foreign Service: A History of the American Foreign Service Association at 100 by Harry W. Kopp

Jun 18, 2024 | jstribune.com | Jacob Heilbrunn |Andreas Umland |Ksenia Svetlova

In his short story “Mosby’s Memoirs,” which was based on the life of the conservative scholar and former State Department official Willmoore Kendall, Saul Bellow expressed his disdain for foreign policy mandarins: “…the Foreign Service is staffed by rejects of the power structure.