Joseph Djugashvili was a student in a theological seminary when he came across the writings of Vladimir Lenin and decided to become a Bolshevik revolutionary. Thereafter, in addition to blowing things up, robbing banks, and organizing strikes, he became an editor, working at two papers in Baku and then as editor of the first Bolshevik […]
For all his brazen anti-Western rhetoric, Putin would like nothing more than for the elected Western leaders to join him on the Olympic stands in Sochi in four months’ time—a confirmation of his regime’s legitimacy, prestige, and status as an accepted equal on the world stage. Read Here – WorldAffairsJournal
Twenty years ago on October 4, months of political conflict climaxed when President Boris Yeltsin ordered the army to shell and storm the country’s legislature. Read Here – The Atlantic
Xi Jinping’s first foreign visit to Moscow and other signs of growing cooperation between the two countries, the bilateral relationship is a short-term calculation by Russia that while interests coincide for now it is in fact China that poses the greatest threat to Russia’s presence in the East. Read Here – The Diplomat
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he may run for a fourth presidential term in 2018, confirming the expectations of most Russians and frustrating those now working to restore free elections in Russia. If Putin runs and wins, it would keep him in power for about a quarter century and make him the nation’s longest-serving leader since […]
President Putin’s op-ed in the NYT today is fantastic. It’s a virtual end-zone twerk, as this botoxed former KGB hack brags about restoring a more peaceful world order, basks in the relatively new concept of Russia’s global stature, asserts obvious untruths – such as the idea that the rebels were behind the chemical attack of August […]
Today’s most important political battle in Russia is not for control of the Kremlin, but for power over its capital city. Indeed, the outcome of Moscow’s mayoral election campaign concerns every Russian – and everyone who is interested in Russia’s fate. Read Here – Project Syndicate
The White House’s decision to cancel a planned one-on-one meeting between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, apparently over NSA leaker Edward Snowden receiving temporary asylum in Moscow, seems like a new nadir to the ever-troubled U.S.-Russia relationship. It would seem to be yet another setback for the Obama administration’s once-vaunted “reset” of relations […]
Despite the distraction posed by Edward Snowden’s continued presence in Moscow, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama would like to inject some positive momentum into the flagging U.S.-Russia relationship. The Kremlin, however, evinces little interest in making progress on issues that are important to the White House. If that remains President Vladimir Putin‘s approach, the Moscow summit in early September is in jeopardy, and Putin may find he does […]
What changed Putin’s largely positive attitude toward the United States were the “color revolutions” in Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan, which he saw as U.S. actions to displace Russia from its “zones of interests,” at best, or, at worst, as a dress rehearsal for a regime change in Russia itself. Putin then changed tack and left […]
looking beyond borders 