Staunton, December 5 – The process by which a government draws the electoral map in such a way that the number of its opponents in parliament will be minimized, long known in the West as “gerrymandering,” has now come to Russia in a big way and is being employed by Moscow for exactly the same […]
Staunton, December 5 – Even as evidence mounts that the Russian Federation may be more fragile than other post-Soviet states and that its aggression in Ukraine may accelerate its disintegration along ethnic or regional lines, Vitaly Tretyakov says that “Russia was and will continue to remain an empire.” Tretyakov, dean of the television faculty at […]
Staunton, December 5 – In his message to the Federal Assembly yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin combined bombast, historical ignorance and dishonesty on a wide range of issues. But he did make a number of comments which point to possible shifts in Moscow’s policies in the future. Perhaps none of these could prove as important […]
Staunton, December 5 – Yesterday, Ukrainian and Russian media reported that Microsoft had implicitly recognized the Russian annexation of Crimea by requiring those using its products on the Ukrainian peninsula to apply for new licenses, a story that turned out to be false but that highlights the need for a formal non-recognition policy to clarify […]
Staunton, December 5 – In 1969, Bertram Wolfe published his classic study, “Krupskaya Purges the People’s Libraries” in the London-based journal Survey, an essay in which he described the way Lenin’s wife began putting a straightjacket on intellectual life in the Soviet Union. Now, in yet another revival of the Soviet past, Vladimir Putin is […]
Staunton, December 4 – Most commentators have focused on the foreign policy implications of Vladimir Putin’s notion about the “Russian world,” but Pavel Svyatenkov argues that its domestic consequences may be at least as great because it can help overcome a fundamental contradiction in the Russian political system. The Russian nationalist writer says that the […]
Staunton, December 4 – The violence overnight in the Chechen capital not only underscores the fragility of peace in the North Caucasus but represents “a last warning” to Vladimir Putin that he must change course or face a future in which he will be searching for political asylum somewhere outside of Russia, according to Vladimir […]
Staunton, December 4 – Moscow is waging a highly effective information war in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with its Russia Today television broadcasts in their national languages, a war that the West must respond with its own efforts, according to Elina Lange-Ionatamishvili, a NATO specialist on counter-propaganda. In an interview with Tallinn’s Eesti Paevaleht, Lange-Ionatamishvili […]
Staunton, December 4 – Since Vladimir Putin became president, the Muslims of Russia have erected 7,500 mosques or slightly more one per day, a statistic in which the Islamic community of that country can take great pride but one that may disturb some of Putin’s supporters who believe that he is committed to making Russia […]
Staunton, December 4 – President Vladimir Putin’s speech to the Federal Assembly is the subject of intense interest for the light it will shed on where the Kremlin leader is headed next. But there is one question Russians are asking that he cannot possibly answer without calling into question whether he should be the person […]
