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, November 17 – Russian nationalists have long insisted that a supra-national non-ethnic Russian identity not only doesn’t exist but undermines Russian identity, but now one of their most prominent theorists is arguing the unthinkable. According to Pavel Svyatenkov, an ethnic Russian nation does not now exist while a Ukrainian nation very much does. Svyatenkov […]
Staunton, October 1 – Anatoly Makarov, the head of the Russian foreign ministry department for work with compatriots, says Moscow is doing everything it can to make “our multi-million strong diaspora a reliable partner of Russia, from which we have the read to expect deep internal moral support and understanding of our foreign policy initiatives.” […]
Staunton, September 28 – Just as it did in Ukraine, Moscow is preparing again to play the citizenship card in Estonia and Latvia, muddying the waters as to who is “a Russian” and who is thus part of Vladimir Putin’s “Russian world” and worthy of Moscow’s defense whether any of them want that “defense” or […]
Staunton, September 26 – Rashit Akhmetov, the editor of the Kazan weekly Zvezda Povolzhya, says that Vladimir Putin’s promotion of the idea of a “Russian world” is the death knell for a civic Russian identity and that this, combined with his authoritarian and great power chauvinist approach, is exacerbating ethnic identities of Russians and non-Russians […]
Staunton, September 20 – If the West does not stop Vladimir Putin’s campaign to subordinate Ukraine to Moscow, then the Kremlin leader will move against the Baltic countries even though that carries with it the direct threat of a military conflict with NATO, according to Andrey Piontkovsky. But if Putin and his concept of a […]
Updated Daily. This week’s issue: – Further Peace March Arrests: 7 in St. Petersburg; 2 in Yekaterinburg; 2 in Barnaul – Peace March of 26,000 in Moscow Finishes Without Incident; A Few Arrests Reported – At Least 10,000 in Peace March in Moscow – AP – 5,000 March in St. Petersburg Despite Ban – ‘If […]
Staunton, September 16 – The Russian government is laying the groundwork for a Ukrainian scenario in the Baltic countries, arguing that the three are mistreating ethnic Russians, that the West has failed to oppose such actions, and that Moscow is compelled under the circumstances to work to protect these members of “the Russian world.” Konstantin […]
Staunton, August 26 – The leaders of major Western countries declare that they are seeking to find an answer to the crisis in Ukraine, but in order to find an answer, it is important that they begin to ask the right questions. It is all too clear that many of them are not doing so […]
Staunton, August 26 – If Kazakhs demand that their national language takes precedence over all others in all situations in that Central Asian country, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev warned in a television interview this week, they risk seeing their country suffer as Ukraine now is. If Kazakhstan were to “ban all languages except Kazakh,” he said, […]
