Staunton, March 27 – Even though polls show Vladimir Putin’s approval rating close to its highest level ever, his Anschluss of Crimea is upsetting many citizens of the Russian Federation, with ethnic Russians at least so far concerned mostly about its cost and non-Russians upset about the rights Moscow says it is defending in Crimea […]
Staunton, March 27 – Many commentators have pointed out that Moscow’s seizure of Crimea will give it much greater freedom of action at its Sevastopol naval base and allow the Russian government to project greater power southward against the littoral states, including Turkey, and into the Mediterranean. But two maps accompanying a blog post by […]
Staunton, March 27 – The Western powers have long talked about “red lines” in Syria and elsewhere: actions or events that they say have suggested underscore their concern and indicate where they will act. Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin has done the same, and his “red lines” underscore that his moves in Ukraine are part […]
Staunton, March 26 – The view of some Russians that Moscow should get Alaska back from the United States has attracted a certain amount of bemused attention both in the Russian Federation and abroad. But the idea has been around so long that most people do not pay it much attention. But it is indicative […]
Staunton, March 26 — As the Circassian issue became prominent in the run-up to the Sochi Olympics, Russian commentators focused on and denounced Circassian desires to re-create a single Circassia in the North Caucasus, a step that would require the wholesale redrawing of Soviet-imposed borders there. But now it appears that Ankara’s efforts to spread […]
Staunton, March 26 – Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea has not only opened a new divide between Moscow and the West. It has re-ordered relations among the former Soviet republics and that in turn has raised questions about the way such changes will affect the future of many unresolved conflicts there. In an article for Vestnik […]
Staunton, March 26 – By his annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin has re-awakened the imperial dimension of Russian messianism, a force that has been contained since 1991 but that now will lead to ever-broader conflicts that will lead either to a Russian victory over all its supposed enemies or the collapse of Russia, Vladimir Pastukhov […]
Staunton, March 25 – Members of Protestant Christian denominations are playing a major role in the new Ukrainian government, from acting president Aleksandr Turchinov, who is a Baptist, on down, a development that these denominations are celebrating but that some Russians see a threat to what they call “the Russian world.” Ukraine sits astride cultural […]
Staunton, March 25 – Many people are asking themselves what will be Moscow’s next steps in Ukraine, but military analysts are focusing in particular on the question of timing Pavel Felgengauer, a leading independent Moscow expert on military issues, says that Russia will begin military operations in Ukraine by the middle of May or won’t […]
Staunton, March 25 – Not only have the Crimean Tatars become “the main problem for Russia” on the peninsula, Aleksey Makarkin says, because of their opposition to unification with Russia, but they represent an issue that won’t be resolved any time soon and thus are something that “will create ever more problems” in the future. […]
