Staunton, November 11 – Sixty percent of Russians say they are indifferent to politics in their country, and they appear to have good reason: not only do their views have no impact on the Kremlin but their votes are treated so cavalierly by Russian officials that even the formalities of democracy have lost any attraction. […]
Staunton, November 6 – Russians have significantly lower levels of trust than do other nations, especially in the major cities like Moscow where “only about one percent” trust anyone. But in small cities and rural areas, their levels of trust in others are somewhat greater. Indeed, commentator Pavel Pryannikov says, “the further one goes into […]
Staunton, November 10 – Speaking at the Valdai Club meeting this year, Vladimir Putin said that “trade and sanction wars are the reality of the contemporary global economy” and are “used among other things as instruments of unfair competition.” But he is wrong, Vladislav Inozemtsev says. “In the contemporary world, sanctions are not becoming the […]
Staunton, November 6 – The Kremlin has taken control not only of public discussions about memory of the repressed and not only about any criticism of Stalin but also “criticism of the contemporary exaltation of Stalin,” lest that lead Russians to draw the obvious parallels between the late dictator and Vladimir Putin, according to Irina […]
Staunton, November 9 – Most people who predict the disintegration of the Russian Federation focus on ethnicity, but in fact, as the situation in Karelia shows, ethnicity plays a much smaller role in mobilizing the population to defend itself against Moscow than do competitive elections, Vadim Shtepa says. “Real regionalism,” the Karelian activist and commentator […]
Staunton, November 9 – Most observers focus on ethnic and religious issues as the drivers of protest in the North Caucasus, but in fact, North Caucasians have in addition to these concerns many other reasons to protest, some of which are typical of Russia as a whole and others regionally specific, according to Anton Chablin. […]
Staunton, November 9 – For Vladimir Putin, Viktor Kaspruk argues, “Ukraine is the key to a future Russia or more precisely a future Russian Empire,” and consequently, even if he has lowered the temperature in the Donbass in recent weeks, the Kremlin leader is likely to renew his attacks on Ukraine next year having first […]
Staunton, November 6 – Many Russians are upset that their country lost 4.7 square kilometers last week as a result of Moscow’s handing over of a border parcel to China, but so far at least, they have expressed less anger that their country is losing 100 times as much territory every year to global warming […]
Staunton, November 6 – Given the bloody history of the USSR, few in either Russia or the West are surprised by the discovery of mass graves from the Soviet period. But the appearance of new mass graves in a Russian region, in this case of infants who were stillborn or died shortly after birth, is […]
Staunton, November 8 In his recent speeches, Moscow Patriarch Kirill has articulated a kind of Orthodox Fundamentalism that not only resembles the more familiar Islamist variant but like it will encourage those who want to attack modernity in the name of traditional rural values to engage in violence, Yevgeny Ikhlov argues. “If in Kirill’s speeches, […]
