Vladimir Putin is often written about as a devisive figure, alienating and attacking his enemies and generally isolating Russia from the rest of the world. His policies towards the Ukraine are a perfect example of how he would rather punish those who don’t support Russia than pursue policies that build partnerships. And his doubling-down on […]
ITAR-TASS (the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia) is a state-owned outlet with close ties to the Kremlin. Last week they published the article below in response to the editorial written by American Senator John McCain, which was published on another pro-Kremlin outlet, Pravda.Ru. The article is called “Public Opinion: Reply to McCain,” but as we see […]
This has been the week where foreign policy battles have been waged in newspaper op-eds. First, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote an editorial in the New York Times, criticizing the Obama administration’s rush to war in Syria. In response, an indignant Senator John McCain, highly critical of both Assad and Putin, demanded to write an […]
This is an interesting, though highly technical, article published in Ria Novosti, a federally owned outlet with one of the widest circulations in Russia. It details the technical processes that are required to destroy chemical weapons. The article makes no mention of Syria, though it is clear that one of the key reasons that this […]
Alexei Navalny has announced his readiness to head the Popular Alliance party created at the initiative of his supporters. As a source in the party leadership told Kommersant, the “formal appearance” of Navalny in the post of leader increases the chances of Popular Alliance to register at the Ministry of Justice, which has twice rejected […]
On Monday, September 16th, there was a shooting at the Naval Yard in Washington, D.C., which left 13 people dead. While initial reporting of the incident was notoriously, or perhaps even hilariously, full of false information, by the following day, many of the misinformation had been cleared up. This, among other things, makes the following […]
In the United States, the White House launched an initiative where people could organize a petition drive, and if they got enough signatures then the White House would officially respond by either giving a public statement or by proposing legislation. Putin appears to have copied that effort. Before the Moscow election, Alexei Navalny started a […]
This editorial by Dmitry Oreshkin in Novaya Gazeta provides a statistical argument that the results of the Moscow Mayoral Election were rigged. However, what’s far more interesting is that Oreshkin also argues that, despite the fact that Sobyanin stole the last few percentage points needed to avoid a runoff, democracy has been achieved. For the first […]
Andrey Kokoshin, the Dean of the MSU Faculty of World Politics, talks with the pro-Kremlin Izvestia about the possible consequences of a U.S. strike against Damascus for the international community. Kokoshin states, among other things, that Saudi Arabia and Iran will both be encouraged to develop nuclear weapons should Syria be attacked by the West, […]
The CIA has begun the delivery of weapons to detachments of the Syrian opposition. For now it’s a question of only firearms, ammunition, and communications devices. All of this is necessary to wage combat in cities in small groups. This fact once again confirms the wish of Washington to continue the escalation of the civil […]
