Staunton, June 13 – Andrey Illarionov delivered an address to a May 31st Vilnius meeting of the Committee on Economics and Security of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly in which he discussed ten theses on the nature and meaning of Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine and what the West must do to counter it. The Russian analyst […]
Staunton, June 12 – Many commentators have pointed out that Russia’s strategy and tactics in Ukraine are a more or less complete copy of the ones Hitler used against Poland and Stalin used in the Baltic countries. But if one looks beyond Ukraine, it is entirely possible that Vladimir Putin will copy another Nazi operation. […]
Staunton, June 12 – Russian writers occasionally refer to the existence of the Zelyonyi Klin [“Green Wedge”] in the Russian Far East as an historical oddity, but now in the midst of the Ukrainian crisis, they have gone all out not only to blacken its reputation by linking Ukrainians there to foreign intelligence services but […]
Staunton, June 12 – The Russian Federation, by focusing on the construction of “oligarchic capitalism,” essentially “threw all the union republics” to their own fates, and as a result, the governments and peoples have turned away from Moscow and ethnic Russians are fleeing back to Russia, thus further undermining Russian influence. That harsh judgment, one […]
Staunton, June 12 – As the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea continue to force out Crimean Tatars from positions of responsibility and exclude them from policy discussions, the Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD) there is playing a more prominent role in speaking out about Crimean Tatar concerns, especially in the area of “disappearances.” In an appeal […]
Staunton, June 12 – In another recrudescence of a Soviet-era pattern, journalists working in Russian regions and republics are being restricted by local leaders from covering related events in nearby federal subjects, thus limiting the content of their outlets to Moscow-produced coverage of national and international news and truly local stories. Such restrictions simultaneously restrict […]
Staunton, June 11 – Unlike Spain which turned to economic modernization only seven years after the beginning of political modernization, a pattern that prevented the recrudescent of the past, Russia’s leaders chose the reverse, enriching themselves but opening the way for a return to support for Soviet-style imperialism, according to Emil Pain. And it is […]
Staunton, June 11 – Not long ago, Vladimir Putin and his regime revived the Stalin-era term “national traitors” to describe any Russian who opposes the policies of the Kremlin as a way to isolate and perhaps ultimately punish them for this political crime. Now, he is resuscitating another Stalin-era category “worker wreckers.” Earlier this week, […]
Staunton, June 11 – Even as Vladimir Putin pursues what many see as an effort to restore an empire centered on Moscow, polls show that ever fewer Russians regret the end of the Soviet Union – something the Kremlin leader has said was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century – and ever more […]
Staunton, June 11 – Even as political leaders talk about a solution to the troubles in southeastern Ukraine, a Moscow analyst suggests that Vladimir Putin’s subversive policies there have had the effect of transforming the Donbass into a kind of Northern Ireland, a place where violence has been limited but not ended when the influx […]
