Staunton, September 24 – Like its Soviet predecessors, the Putin regime has adopted three strategies in dealing with the non-Russian quarter of the population: increasing repression, divide-and-rule efforts within these communities and among them, and suppressing the dissemination of information about their plight. But these strategies are proving less effective than they once were, the […]
Staunton, September 24 – The eight developments Russians identified as of their greatest fears are all coming true, and that pattern regardless of what else happens undermines the stability of Russian society and the Russian state, according to Moscow economist and commentator Yevgeny Gontmakher. In August, Russians were asked by Levada Center pollsters to identify […]
Staunton, September 24 – Igor Semivolos, director of the Kyiv Center for Near Eastern Research, says that the Crimean Tatars must prepare themselves for what had been unthinkable only a few months ago: their forcible deportation from their homeland by the Russian occupiers for the second time, an action that would constitute a clear “crime […]
Staunton, September 23 – In an article bearing the title “There Was No March But the Traitors Were Found,” Anatoly Tsygankov, “the chief political observer of Karelia,” according to Politika-Karelia.ru, provided a classical example of tendentious disinformation about the protest against Moscow’s war in Ukraine that took place in Petrozavodsk on Sunday. Such articles often […]
Staunton, September 23 – Sometimes the fact that someone is asking a question at all is more important than the answer he or she offers. That is almost certainly the case with a new article by an anonymous Russian military commentator concerning whether or not Russia can avoid “losing Siberia and the Far East” to […]
Staunton, September 23 – Just as the purpose of terror is to terrorize, the purpose of provocation is to provoke – and if the targets of a provocation understand what the one engaging in it wants to provoke, they will be in a much better position not only to prepare for it but also to […]
Staunton, September 20 – Pressured by the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian education ministry is preparing to dramatically expand the number of hours school children spend studying religion, a move that Nezavisimaya Gazeta says will reduce the number of hours they spend on other subjects and ultimately Russia’s ability to compete in the world. In […]
Staunton, September 20 – Vladimir Putin appears stronger than he is because he is exploiting three weaknesses of the West: confusion among journalists of balance and objectivity, a desire to get a ceasefire rather than to repulse aggression, and a lack of will to punish Moscow politically and not just economically. The Kremlin leader’s clever […]
Staunton, September 20 – Aleksandr Sotnik, who has set up an independent television studio in Moscow, says that “unfortunately Western politicians absolutely do not understand what is happening in present-day Russia” and thus are incapable either of assessing the nature of the threat Vladimir Putin represents or countering it effectively. In an interview with NR2.com.ua, […]
Staunton, September 20 – Leaders of various countries have exploited terrorist attacks against their countries for their own purposes, but Vladimir Putin has made terrorism an integral part of Russian state policy, not only exploiting attacks but involving Russian security agencies and forces in terrorist actions as needed, according to Konstantin Plamenyev. “Historical experience shows,” […]
