Staunton, March 25 – The Kremlin’s anti-Western mythology is now so widespread that many in Moscow and some in the West accept it as a given and fail to understand how it reflects a specific political program and how dangerous and self-destructive it is for those who are putting it about, according to Vladimir Milov. […]
Tag: Vladimir Putin
Russians Must Oust Putin Rather than Suffer for His Imperial Ambitions, Felshtinsky Says
Staunton, March 24 – Russians must recognize that Vladimir Putin is “an aggressor and instigator of war,” that he is making them into “victims and participants in state crimes,” that he will eventually lose to the democratic world, and that he, they and their country will suffer and be held accountable just as the Germans […]
Moscow Using Russian Regions to Fund Unrecognized States
Staunton, March 20 – When Ramzan Kadyrov promised that Chechnya would help rebuild the economy of Crimea after its absorption into the Russian Federation this week, most observers concluded that he was just being his usual flamboyant self. But the truth is more complicated and potentially more disturbing. As journalist Andrey Pertsev points out on […]
Putin’s Crimea Policy Destroying the Post-Soviet Space
Staunton, March 20 – Vladimir Putin may be seeking to restore a Russian empire, but his annexation of Crimea is destroying many of the things that had tied the former Soviet republics together and simultaneously allowed Moscow to be able to count on influence across that region and permitted outside analysts to speak of it […]
Putin’s Most Fateful Words Not about Ukraine but about ‘Traitors’ inside Russia, Babchenko Says
Staunton, March 19 – Not surprisingly, many in Russia and the West have focused on Vladimir Putin’s comments about Crimea, Russian military journalist Arkady Babchenko says. But most important words in the Kremlin leader’s remarks are his references to a “certain fifth column” and “various kinds of national traitors.” In a blog post on Ekho […]
Russia’s ‘Surreal’ Geography Threatens the World, Georgian Writer Says
Staunton, March 19 – In the past, “every country had its own map, each of which was more or less different,” a Georgian writer says, but with Marco Polo and Google, most came to accept a similar map of the world, one in which borders are clear and fixed. But Russians remain an exception. According […]
Five Possible ‘New World Orders’ after Crimea
Staunton, March 19 – Arguing that “after the Crimean events, the world will not be what it was” because key element of the previous international system – the inviolability of national borders – has been finally and irrevocably violated, four Moscow analysts say that this opens the door to five possible “new world orders” in […]
Putin’s Support for Federalism and Ethnic Russians in Ukraine Creating Problems for Moscow at Home
Staunton, March 19 – Vladimir Putin’s push to transform Ukraine into a genuinely federal state and his invocation of the state of ethnic Russians as the reason for his intervention in Ukraine is having an impact at home, leading some to ask why federalism should be only “an export good” and others to demand that […]
Like All Aggressors, Putin Must Continue Attack or Risk Appearing to Be Backing Down, Bykov Says
Staunton, March 19 – Despite Vladimir Putin’s assurance that he won’t seek to absorb more of Ukraine than he has done already, the Kremlin leader almost certainly will continue his offensive approach there and elsewhere lest he look to himself or to his supporters as if he is backing down in the face of international […]
Why Should We Care About Crimea? Interpreter Podcast: March 19 2014
In this week’s edition of The Interpreter Podcast, Interpreter’s managing editor James Miller speaks with New York University’s Andrew S. Bowen about Ukraine: Why should we care, how does it effect the West, and what happens next? See our Ukraine front page for the latest news and analysis. Click here to hear our previous podcasts. […]