How a medieval Indian emperor explains today’s ruler of Russia Vladimir Putin is apparently an enigma, who plays chess when others play checkers, who deals with foreign policy and domestic policy just as smoothly and aggressively as a Judoka’s natural mix of brute force and finesse. His inner circle is closed and cocooned, no one […]
The Daily Vertical is an RFE/RL video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday. Viewers can suggest topics via Twitter @PowerVertical or on the Power Vertical Facebook page.
Staunton, July 1 – A call by some Duma members for the Russian government to review and declare illegal the Soviet government’s recognition of Baltic independence in September 1991 has attracted widespread attention and concern as an indication of Moscow’s intentions but ultimately ridiculed as otherwise meaningless grandstanding. But there are other straws in the […]
Staunton, November 13 – “The victory of pro-Russian forces in Georgia would be a catastrophe not only for Georgia,” Gela Vasadze, the head of the Svobodnaya Zona portal, says, because that development, one actively promoted by Moscow, would also cut off Azerbaijan, Central Asia and China from a land route to Europe bypassing Russia. Vasadze’s […]
