Staunton, October 6 – In what may presage an even more savage crackdown on the Crimean Tatars and their Mejlis, Russian occupation authorities on the Ukrainian peninsula are claiming that members of that nation are heavily armed and a threat to law and order, according to Russian journalist Ruslan Gorevoy. Moreover, his sources suggest the […]
Staunton, October 6 – Vladimir Putin views Barack Obama as being in “panicked retreat” because of the latter’s decision to extricate the US from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and believes that it would be foolish not to exploit the possibilities that such a drawdown in American power present, according to Konstantin von Eggert. But […]
Staunton, October 4 – Even if Vladimir Putin succeeded by some miracle in his current effort to get Western sanctions on his country for his aggression in Ukraine lifted, Konstantin Borovoy says, there are six reasons why even that would not prevent the looming humanitarian catastrophe in Russia. The head of Russia’s Western Choice Party […]
Staunton, September 30 Two weeks ago, 67 countries said they favored limiting the veto powers of permanent members of the UN Security Council; now, more than 100 do, perhaps the best indication of growing anger in the international community about how Vladimir Putin is using this power to block investigations into his aggression and crimes. […]
Staunton, September 29 No one should conclude that the current lull in the fighting in the Donbass marks the end of Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, according to Valentin Badrak, head of the Kyiv Center for the Military, Conversion and Disarmament. Instead, it points to a shift toward more subversive actions inside the rest of Ukraine. […]
Staunton, September 28 Vladimir Putin has nothing positive to offer toward the resolution of any of the crises he has helped create, but he has succeeded in getting a meeting today with US President Barack Obama because the Kremlin leader has shown himself capable of causing ever more crises, something others want to prevent if […]
Staunton, September 25 The flood of news stories from a country as large, diverse and often strange as the Russian Federation often appears to be is far too large for anyone to keep up with. But there needs to be a way to mark those which can’t be discussed in detail but which are too […]
Staunton, September 25 Valery Tishkov, former head of the Moscow Institute of Ethnology, says that Moscow should not grant “compatriot” status to ethnic Circassians now in war-torn Syria, thus allowing them to return to their ancestral homeland more easily, because such a step would open the way for radical Islamists to enter Russia. Officials and […]
Staunton, September 24 Statements by Russian officials and pro-Kremlin commentators that Salafi Islam is spreading in Russia and now threatens “traditional” Russian Islam are by themselves exacerbating tensions to the point of violence between the two — clashes Moscow may hope to exploit or to justify repression but that may cost it control of the […]
Staunton, September 24 The apparent agreement of US President Barack Obama to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next week in New York to discuss Syrian affairs represents a new Munich in which one side focuses on “peace in our time” and the other pockets recognition of his aggression while planning for more, Andrey Illarionov […]
