Staunton, March 29 – In its new 11,500-word report on the ways in which Russian officials are misusing the country’s anti-extremism laws, the SOVA human rights monitoring organization concludes that one of the most important trends of the last year is a dramatic increase in the role of the FSB in such actions. There are […]
Staunton, March 29 – The FSB continues to disseminate its version of the murder of Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, one that links it to Ramzan Kadyrov, not out of any concern for getting at the truth but rather because of growing anger at the Chechen leader and the backing he continues to receive from […]
Staunton, March 29 – The contemporary human rights movement emerged at a time when its possibilities for action were generally increasing. Now that those possibilities are continuously decreasing, it needs to reinvigorate itself by recalling the efforts of its predecessors, those who fought for the same rights as the Soviet system was institutionalizing itself. That […]
Staunton, March 27 — Some Russians explain the holding of a conference in St. Petersburg of fascists from around the world by suggesting that those are the only supporters Vladimir Putin can find in much the same way they excuse Stalin for becoming an ally with Hitler via the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. That is part of […]
Staunton, March 28 — Moscow got some bad news this week: it is losing out to other more technologically advanced countries in the arms sales sector, something that is costing Russia money but also highlighting the reality that many of its weapons systems are no longer world class as far as potential buyers are concerned. […]
Staunton, March 28 — In a democracy, it is sometimes said, anything that isn’t prohibited is permitted; in an authoritarian country, anything that isn’t permitted is prohibited; but in a totalitarian country, anything that is permitted is compulsory. By that standard, Vladimir Putin’s Russia is moving rapidly from the second to the third category. Fresh […]
Staunton, March 28 — Speaking in Kyiv March 27, Russian opposition leader Garri Kasparov said that the collapse of Vladimir Putin’s regime could spark the disintegration of the Russian Federation and that that in turn would likely be far more dangerous and explosive than was the end of the USSR. Kasparov said it is impossible […]
Staunton, March 26 — Ethnic Ukrainians in the Russian Far East, the descendants of Ukrainians who moved there voluntarily in late tsarist times and forcibly in Soviet ones, are being harassed by Russians there for their support of Ukraine, even as Russians in Crimea are threatening the Crimean Tatars with deportation to that faraway region. […]
Staunton, March 26 — It is clear that Vladimir Putin has gone further in his confrontation with the West than many of those around him would prefer; but just as was the case with Adolf Hitler, they will threaten to oust him only when he begins to suffer defeat and his regime is at the […]
Staunton, March 24 – Whenever people are confronted by changes that call into question existing paradigms, their first reaction typically is to deny that anything has happened or that it is significant, but their second is to seek analogies and parallels in the past as guides to understanding. In recent weeks, the murder of Boris […]
