Long before Edward Snowden worked for the NSA — before PRISM and Wikileaks — there was SORM, the Russian system of intercepting and monitoring communications. In the hands of a dictator, SORM has become a powerful weapon for the Kremlin to target his opponents both at home and abroad. Bloomberg has even questions whether Russia’s […]
War returns to Ukraine, as fighting has broken out across the front. World powers and intelligence sources continue to debate whether the Metrojet crash in Egypt was an act of terrorism. These are big, ugly headlines, but another headline may give insight into the source of so many of Russia’s problems — President Vladimir Putin’s […]
This week, Interpreter’s managing editor James Miller and Boston College professor Matt Sienkiewicz are joined by The Interpreter’s Pierre Vaux to discuss internet trolls and Russian propaganda. In particular, we discuss Kremlin-run “troll farms” which attempt to influence, and ultimately distort, the narrative surrounding world events. Click here to hear our previous podcasts. You now […]
Is the Russian intervention in Syria going to make things better or worse? What are the possible solutions for the Syrian crisis, and can the US work with Russia to end a war that has significant consequences for the Middle East and the world at large? This week, Interpreter’s managing editor James Miller and Boston […]
Sociologist Denis Sokolov, an anthropologist and senior researcher for the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, has traveled to the Russian Caucasus and the Donbass to interview warlords to find out what factors sustain them. He finds not so much confirmation of the poverty theory of the “root causes of terrorism” but […]
As we reported in recent weeks, prominent Russian blogger Oleg Kashin has revealed the identities of the men who brutally assaulted him in 2010 for his critical writing, leaving him hospitalized for months. For years, he investigated the possible perpetrators of the attack, theorizing it could be either related to officials angered at his coverage […]
Samuel Johnson famously advised James Boswell and his circle to “clear your mind of cant.” This is equally sound advice for students and commentators about Russia but it is not always followed. As a result much of contemporary writing about Russia falls prey to various mythologies. One of the pervasive and most stubborn of these […]
