Staunton, April 15 — Because of demographic trends, Muslims are on their way to becoming the dominant group in Russian life sometime within the next generation or so, and they need to begin to think about what that will mean and how they should act in anticipation of that, according to Abdulla Rinat Mukhametov, a […]
Staunton, April 15 — Ukraine’s new legislation on de-sovietization is a necessary step toward restoring historic justice, Vadim Shtepa says. “Without the liquidation of the imposed heritage of communism…it is impossible to achieve the complete liberation of national mentality from soviet-imperial stereotypes and real Europeanization.” But the Russian regionalist writer says, “the brutal destruction of […]
Staunton, April 18 — There are many reasons why Vladimir Putin has been threatening the West with the possibility that he will use nuclear weapons against its allies, but one that has not received much attention is that he may be doing so because his country is rapidly losing its nuclear defense capability. That possibility […]
Staunton, April 13 — In a clearer indication of Moscow’s priorities than Vladimir Putin’s speeches and of Russia’s difficulties at home than Moscow TV, St. Petersburg activists who have collected three tons of humanitarian aid for fire victims in Khakasiya have been told by officials that there are no vehicles available because “everything is going […]
Staunton, April 13 — Moscow’s decision to ban the film Child 44 for its supposedly anti-Russian treatment of World War II is only one of the decisions the Russian authorities have made to restrict the right of Russians to view what they want. But these prohibitions are going to blow up in Moscow’s face: bans […]
Staunton, April 13 — Vladimir Putin by his aggressiveness and bluster has convinced many in his country and elsewhere that he and his system are extremely strong, but in addition to the obvious comparisons many make with the often pathetic response of Western leaders, Putinism suffers from serious and incurable weaknesses, according to Kseniya Kirillova. […]
Staunton, April 16 — The number of people in Crimea identifying as ethnic Ukrainians has fallen by 232,000 between the 2001 census conducted by the Ukrainian government and the 2014 census conducted by the Russian occupation authorities, a decline that has reduced the percentage of ethnic Ukrainians on the peninsula from 24.0 to 15.1 percent. […]
Staunton, April 16 — For the last three months, the Russian population has been declining, and Moscow has coped with this by not publishing its usual monthly data collections or calling attention to the data in any way. But the regime is not capable of functioning without at least some officials having data, accurate or […]
Staunton, April 16 – Vladimir Putin says his decision to sell S-300 air defense missiles to Iran will stabilize the situation in the Middle East, but an analysis by Andrey Piontkovsky strongly suggests that it will have exactly the opposite effect and drive up the price of oil and that that outcome is why Putin […]
Staunton, April 9 – The Kavkazskaya Politika portal has launched a new series of articles that pose the question as to what “a perfect storm” might look like that would overthrow the existing political order; whether such a whirlwind is approaching; and how both regional elites and Moscow might be able to cope. The first […]
