Staunton, April 27 – When an individual, a leader or a country takes something personally rather than viewing it as being in the way of business, that makes the situation far more dangerous because the usual options others have for countering actions taken on the basis of hard-headed calculation fall away. Still worse, such shifts […]
Staunton, April 26 – Tatar organizations in the Middle Volga have nominated Mustafa Cemilev, the longtime leader of the Crimean Tatar national movement, for the Nobel Peace Prize, a step that calls attention to Cemilev’s efforts to defend his land against Russian aggression and growing ties between the Tatars of Crimea and the Tatars of […]
Staunton, April 26 – There is an old Soviet joke that the West sends diplomats to Moscow and Moscow treats them like spies while Moscow dispatches spies to Western capitals and Western governments treat them like diplomats, a joke that had more than a little basis in fact and that resonates now because of what […]
While the US President, Barack Obama, is due to announce a new range of sanctions against Russia later today, the situation in Ukraine is rapidly getting worse. Russian-backed fighters still hold seven OSCE monitors and three SBU officers hostage, in addition to others including the Ukrainian journalist Irma Krat. Furthermore, the violence has spread further […]
Russian-backed separatists “paraded” their prisoners through Slavyansk today, ultimately releasing one international observer on medical grounds. Three more Ukrainian servicemen, and the regional TV and radio headquarters in Donetsk, were captured by the gunmen. Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help […]
After OSCE Monitors were kidnapped by Russian-backed gunmen in Slavyansk, and after Russian aircraft have repeatedly violated Ukrainian airspace, both the G-7 and the EU say they have come up with plans for new sanctions against Russia. Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest […]
Updated Daily. The Russian parliament has passed a number of laws designed to rein in an increasingly free and outspoken blogosphere, lately filled with criticism of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. Legislators have passed a law mandating bloggers with more than 3,000 readers to register as mass media under the restrictive Russian press law. If dissenters […]
Last night, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, threatened further sanctions on Russia, apportioning full blame to them for the ongoing deterioration of the Ukrainian crisis. Warning of the economic damage that could be wrought by a Western response to Russia’s actions, Kerry said that: The window to change course is closing. If Russia […]
Staunton, April 24 – It is notoriously easier to spark a protest movement than to control its direction thereafter or to ensure that it does not become a model for others one does not want to be involved in. That risk is now on display in eastern Ukraine where pro-Moscow activists are not only seeking […]
Staunton, April 24 – Vladimir Putin has developed “a new kind of war” in Ukraine, one that has achieved many of his goals including the partial dismemberment of that country and the creation of a new region on the basis of his perception of “new international conditions,” according to Yuliya Latynina. In an article in […]
