Archives

Staunton, March 5 – The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize, to suggest that old rules and old expectations no longer apply and thereby increase uncertainty and fear. That explains why someone like Kseniya Sobchak has suggested that she is next on Putin’s list now that the Kremlin has killed Boris Nemtsov and why an […]

Staunton, March 5 – Two weeks ago, Vladimir Putin named Aleksandr Levintal to head the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO) in the Russian Far East, an action that Konstantin Kalachev says has reopened talk about the future of a region rich in natural resources but which “in fact is cut off from the rest of Russia” […]

Staunton, March 5 – With the murder of Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Putin has caught up with and surpassed Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, according to Igor Eidman, by casting off all moral constraints as Andrey Zubov suggests and putting him on the road to becoming “the most dangerous man in the history of civilization” in […]

Staunton, March 5 – On the 62 anniversary of his death today, Stalin continues to cast an ever darker shadow over Russia, sparking debates about how he should best be remembered. But beyond these symbols, the influence of Stalin on the thinking of Vladimir Putin and his regime is increasingly obvious and strong, as Moscow […]

Staunton, March 4 – Vladimir Putin’s Anschluss of Crimea and continuing aggression against Ukraine means that Ukrainians will never again accept ethnic Russians as “a fraternal people” or be prepared to defer to Moscow unless they are compelled to by forces beyond the capacity of today’s Russia to field. Instead, they will continue to pursue […]

Staunton, February 27 – Disturbing events are happening with such dizzying speed that it is impossible to keep up with all of them. Indeed, this flood seems to be part of the Kremlin’s strategy to overload everyone’s cognitive system so that no adequate assessment or response can be developed or employed. The last few days […]

Staunton, February 28 – Government-controlled television is such a dominant player in Russian life that if the TV didn’t show Putin for two weeks and in the third said he is a criminal who had unleashed war, the Russian people would say “yes, we are against Putin,” according to Oleg Panfilov, a specialist in information […]

Staunton, February 28 – Almost three weeks ago, Boris Nemtsov said that he feared that Vladimir Putin would kill him for his opposition activities, and last night, the Kremlin leader did, either by direct order which some are convinced is the most likely or by creating the barbarous climate in Russia which has made such […]

Staunton, February 28 – The murder of Boris Nemtsov within sight of the Kremlin means that “instead of a Maidan,” against which Vladimir Putin has organized, “the Donbass has come” to Russia, a development that means “the little house of cards” that the Kremlin leader had been building has come crashing down, Kirill Martynov says. […]

Staunton, February 28 — Many people in Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere have wondered why two nations so closely linked by history and culture should have descended into such a vicious war, but they shouldn’t be surprised, Boris Grozovsky says, because peoples close to each other more likely to get involved in wars and to suffer […]