Staunton, March 12 — It is an article of faith for Vladimir Putin and many Russians as well that, despite what he and they are sometimes willing to concede were Joseph Stalin’s excesses, the Soviet dictator was absolutely necessary in building up a strong Soviet Union that was then capable of defeating Nazi Germany. But […]
Staunton, March 12 — Yesterday, Nikolay Patrushev, secretary of Putin’s Security Council, warned that Russia will face a serious terrorist threat if and when militants from Russia who have been fighting with various Islamist groups in the Middle East return home. But he said nothing about what may be a more immediate and serious threat: […]
Staunton, March 12 – When Vladimir Putin decided a year ago to annex Crimea, he and his supporters expected that this would be “the first event in a chain of unending victories which would show the world the dangerousness of ‘ignoring’ Moscow’s appetites and instead convert the Russian Federation into the Soviet Union of the […]
Staunton, March 11 -Even though Vladimir Putin is extremely successful in managing the news about the big issues in Russian life, such as what he calls “the investigation” rather than the cover-up of the murder of Boris Nemtsov, he cannot control the flow of news items which directly or indirectly show the way in which […]
Staunton, March 11 – The new cold war that has begun in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine does not have the formal ideological shape of its predecessor, but Vladimir Putin very much has an ideological vision, Igor Eidman says, and it is one that tragically makes it more likely that this cold war […]
Staunton, March 11 — Ramzan Kadyrov has said he is prepared to give his life for Vladimir Putin, but the larger and more immediate question now, Oleg Kashin argues, is ‘where is the guarantee that Kadyrov’s men will not kill” the Russian president or others in his entourage so that the ambitious Chechen leader can […]
Staunton, March 11 – Vladimir Putin’s Anti-Maidan movement has received a great deal of media attention, but it will not be any more capable of stopping change and even revolutionary change in Russia once the number of dissatisfied Russians reaches “critical mass,” according to Dmitry Bykov. That has not yet happened, the Moscow commentator says, […]
Staunton, March 11 – As in Stalin’s time, Russians are now denouncing other Russians simply in order to get their apartments, their jobs or other benefits, a trend that reflects the current moral degradation of Russian society and one that can lead to a situation in which denunciations and purges get out of hand, according […]
Staunton, March 11 – Vladimir Putin’s Anti-Maidan movement has received a great deal of media attention, but it will not be any more capable of stopping change and even revolutionary change in Russia once the number of dissatisfied Russians reaches “critical mass,” according to Dmitry Bykov. That has not yet happened, the Moscow commentator says, […]
Staunton, February 1 — It is unclear which should disturb the Kremlin more — that Muslims in the Russian Federation are now sufficiently angry that they are thinking about taking part in public protests or that these same Muslims feel that they should ask not what Russian law says about such meetings but rather what […]
