Staunton, November 17 – Anti-Semitism has a long and horrific history in Russia, Olga Irisova writes, and every time Moscow has “tightened the screws” and focused as now on the supposed existence of “a fifth column,” Russians will focus on nationality – the notorious “fifth line” in Soviet passports – and attacks on Jews will […]
Staunton, November 16 – Prisons in many countries have often become seedbeds for radicalism, but rarely have those in charge done more to make that so that the Russian Federal Penal Service, which is now putting materials on jihad in prison libraries in the mistaken hope that learning more about radical Islam will dissuade prisoners […]
Staunton, November 16 – Demonstrations in Tbilisi and Kyiv on November 15 are the latest and most public indication of a development that not only challenges Vladimir Putin’s seizure of territory in Georgia and Ukraine but also calls into question Russia’s earlier occupation of other non-Russian lands. Moscow has always tried to deal with its […]
Staunton, November 13 – A remarkable change has come over Vladimir Putin in recent months, one that few anticipated but that carries with it some serious risks. He is no longer offering answers and plans; instead, the Kremlin leader is asking Russians to share his emotions over past events and the lack of respect he […]
Staunton, November 13 – “The victory of pro-Russian forces in Georgia would be a catastrophe not only for Georgia,” Gela Vasadze, the head of the Svobodnaya Zona portal, says, because that development, one actively promoted by Moscow, would also cut off Azerbaijan, Central Asia and China from a land route to Europe bypassing Russia. Vasadze’s […]
Staunton, November 12 – Most ethnic slurs are so obviously derived from the names or stereotypes of another ethnic group that one need devote little time to where they come from, but one, increasingly used by Russians about Americans as tensions between the two nations have grown, has a curious and interesting etymology. That is […]
Staunton, November 13 – As many as 40 million residents of the Russian Federation – almost 30 percent of the total — are people of mixed ethnicity, either because they are the offspring of ethnically mixed families or have had life experiences which have left them not with a single ethnic identity but with a […]
Staunton, November 12 – Vladimir Putin is organizing a “separatist international” against European countries, thus combining two of his more widely recognized policies: promoting separatism in the former Soviet republics around Russia’s periphery and reaching out to nationalist extremists in Europe. According to the Severodonetsk portal, Russia is now attacking Europe using the old principle […]
Staunton, November 10 – Some members of the Russian Duma want to take a step that even the Soviet government never did: they want to prevent the residents of the Russian Federation from giving their children names that someone in authority deems “ahistorical” or “inappropriate.” Thirty years ago, the author of the standard five-volume dictionary […]
