Staunton, February 24 – The war in Ukraine must be seen as a direct “continuation” of the decay and disintegration of the Soviet Union and the failure of Russia and many other of the countries which emerged from it to develop the kind of political institutions necessary for stability, according to Moscow commentator Ivan Sukhov. […]
Staunton, February 23 — Russian lies have been a constant feature of the Moscow media scene since the start of Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea and intervention in other parts of Ukraine. Most of them have been so extreme that they call attention to themselves and are easy to show are false. But as Moscow’s […]
Staunton, February 23 — A “new stage” has begun in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, one that involves terrorist actions like those in the Chechen wars but “with this important modification: in this case, a nuclear power is suspected of terrorism” or possibly its “incompletely controlled militants,” according to Ilya Milshteyn. “This in general […]
Staunton, February 23 — In a short story written under the pseudonym Aron Shemaier, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, a close advisor to Patriarch Kirill, describes the end of Moscow in 2043 when “the Moscow Confederation” is attacked by “fascists from ‘Free Russia,’ Islamists from the Caucasus, and rightwing figures from Ukraine” at one and the same […]
Staunton, February 23 – After the events in the Donbass, not all that many Russians or Russian speakers in Latgale would welcome any intervention by Moscow, Aleks Grigoryevs says, but a small fraction of 10 to 20 percent might be prepared to and, “if they were armed,” could create major problems for Latvia because the […]
Staunton, February 23 – Many of yesterday’s liberals are in the wake of the annexation of Crimea supporters of Vladimir Putin’s “’patriotic’ rhetoric” about reversing the collapse of the USSR, but most of those believe that they can do so without sacrificing any of the benefits they had received from that and the developments that […]
Staunton, February 22 – Russian forces fought in the Donbass the way Soviet forces fought “50 years ago,” a reflection of their lack of contemporary equipment and training and that they are so “unprepared for modern war” that in a war with NATO, they would suffer much the same fate as the Zulus against the […]
Staunton, February 22 — Ever more often, life in Vladimir Putin’s world imitates not art but Soviet anecdotes. The latest move of his agents in occupied Crimea — to deny registration to and thus set the stage for shutting down Crimea’s QHA news agency — brings yet another of those anecdotes to mind. The story […]
Staunton, February 22 — As elsewhere in the Russian Federation, people are leaving rural areas in the North Caucasus and adjoining areas, leaving villages deserted or half-deserted, undercutting prospects for agricultural growth, and changing the security situation in many places. Indeed, in many of these places, the only things that remain are cemeteries. In an […]
Staunton, February 22 — Since the Crimean Anschluss, Russia has attacked Ukraine not only on the ground but also in cyberspace, Vladimir Gorbulin says. And Ukraine must respond both by building up its capacity to defend itself in this sector and also develop the capacity to take the battle back into Russia as well. On […]
