ON MY MIND Don’t look now, but Vladimir Putin has just created the basis for a morality police. Putin has signed a bill into law that allows the Interior Ministry to monitor and collect data on “antisocial behavior” — which is so broadly defined (violating “the generally accepted norms of conduct and morality”) that it […]
The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday. Viewers can suggest topics via Twitter @PowerVertical or on the Power Vertical Facebook page. A transcript of today’s Daily Vertical can be found here.
ON MY MIND In the run-up to the 2011 State Duma elections, opposition leader Aleksei Navalny effectively branded the ruling United Russia as “the party of swindlers and thieves.” This week, police and prosecutors in Spain have shown that the label is probably even more appropriate than anybody suspected. Six Russian citizens have been detained […]
The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday. Viewers can suggest topics via Twitter @PowerVertical or on the Power Vertical Facebook page. A transcript of today’s Daily Vertical can be found here.
ON MY MIND It’s ironic that the Kremlin is celebrating the results of the Brexit referendum when no similar vote could ever take place in Russia. And even if one did, and if Russians voted — as the British just did — for something the elite opposed, the results would be falsified beyond recognition. So […]
The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday. Viewers can suggest topics via Twitter @PowerVertical or on the Power Vertical Facebook page. A transcript of today’s Daily Vertical can be found here.
ON MY MIND Russian state media will no doubt make a big deal out of Vladimir Putin’s visit to China later this week. But in reality, Moscow’s pivot to Beijing as an alternative to the West, a move announced amid much fanfare in 2014, has turned out to be much less than advertised. Last year, […]
The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday. Viewers can suggest topics via Twitter @PowerVertical or on the Power Vertical Facebook page. A transcript of today’s Daily Vertical can be found here.
ON MY MIND In a resolution passed today, the State Duma compared the ban of Russia’s track-and-field athletes from the Summer Olympics to “the Spanish Inquisition.” Over the top? Sure. But it’s also par for the course for Vladimir Putin’s regime. Back in early 2000, shortly after Putin came to power, a Foreign Ministry official […]
The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday. Viewers can suggest topics via Twitter @PowerVertical or on the Power Vertical Facebook page. A transcript of today’s Daily Vertical can be found here.
