Staunton, October 22 – Over the last 15 years, Russia has been “transformed into a country of one leader, one party, and a state without law but with poor health care, education, and environment,” a system which can best be described as “nomenklatura authoritarianism,” according to Gennady Gudkov. And because the nomenklatura is interested in […]
Staunton, October 18 – Speaking at a small anti-war meeting in Moscow October 17, Lev Ponomaryev, head of the For Human Rights Movement, said that Russians must protest against Putin’s wars in Ukraine and Syria as Americans did about Vietnam and stop them or they will face even more aggressive wars in the future. The […]
Staunton, October 22 – Four former Soviet political prisoners have resumed the publication of the Chronicle of Current Events, the information bulletin about violations of human rights and official persecutions that circulated in samizdat between 1968 and 1983. The new version is being distributed via the Internet. The four are Viktor Davydov, Aleksey Manninkov, Kirill […]
Staunton, October 22 – Vladimir Putin has decided to listen to Russia’s hawks and intensify his confrontation with the West, a clear defeat for the so-called “peace party” in Moscow but quite possibly a good thing for Ukraine, according to Russian commentator Andrey Piontkovsky. By receiving Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, Putin indicated that he has […]
Staunton, October 21 – Declines in transfer payments from Central Asian labor migrants to their families in their homelands is leading to “a decline in the level of the loyalty of the population to the existing authorities” there and prompting Central Asians to ask then “uncomfortable” questions that ISIS can provide answers to, Gevorg Mirzayan […]
Staunton, October 21 – Guzel Ulumbekova, the head of the Russian Association of Professional Medical Societies, says that the health and life expectancy of Russians is directly related to the amount of government spending on health care and that as this amount is falling, their health is suffering and their life expectancies are falling. Speaking […]
Staunton, October 21 – Russian government censorship and self-censorship by editors and writers fearful of running afoul of officials are seriously restricting the coverage of religious issues and especially those involving conflicts between Russian Orthodox and others, groups not traditionally found in Russian society, and Muslims. Those are some of the conclusions that were offered […]
Staunton, October 21 – Almost every news report provides lessons in geography and history as people focus on places they had not done so before and precedents they had not considered. The former may simply be a “collateral” result of where things are, but the latter often reflects efforts by those responsible for new developments […]
Staunton, October 14 – Ten years ago, a clash between radicals and the authorities in Nalchik claimed 141 lives, but massive repression has not solved the problems that gave rise to terrorism but rather led to “a significant outflow of potential and real militants to the Middle East” from which they may return, according to […]
Staunton, October 20 – Poshlost’ – a virtually untranslatable Russian word connoting self-satisfied vulgarity has become the defining characteristic of Russia under Vladimir Putin, according to commentator Aleksey Shiropayev, something that unites and infects all those living under his regime. Indeed, Putin’s country should now be called “Poshlandia.” Despite what some think, the Russian commentator […]
