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 […]
It was not the lethality of the AK that India feared, for it had a million-strong army to counter it. It was the psychological change that the assault rifle unleashed everywhere it went. AK stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova, and 47 denotes 1947, the year of its adoption by the Soviet military. The assault rifle made […]
Russia’s security differences with NATO countries have been encouraging Moscow to strengthen ties with Asian countries, above all China. These differences range from concerns over U.S. missile defense programs to unease about NATO’s increasingly capable conventional weapons to dissatisfaction with Moscow’s minimal influence on European security issues due to Russia’s non-membership in NATO. Read Here […]
Is the decade-long BRIC dream over? Bloomberg reports that capital flight from Brazil, Russia, India, and China has sent their bonds, currencies, and stocks down together for the first time since 2006. Read Here – Businessweek
Instead of joining the race to commercially exploit this pristine region, New Delhi must use its position in the regional council to push for a global mechanism to prevent an unseemly gold rush. Read Here – The Hindu
It would be perversely ironic if Edward Snowden’s crusade against the U.S. government Internet surveillance programs resulted in less Internet freedom in Russia. Read Here – Moscow Times
Russia has consummated some huge energy deals with China in recent weeks. These deals are – or at least are being advertised as – major steps forward in the Russo-Chinese energy relations, Russia’s pivot to Asia – which uses big energy sales to upgrade its influence and standing – and the development of the energy […]
President Vladimir Putin‘s improbable rise to the pinnacle of Russian power in 1999-2000 was partly the result of an elite consensus about the importance of restoring order to the Russian state after a decade of domestic crisis and international humiliation. Read Here – Moscow Times
Lavrov, at age 63, is already the longest-serving of Russia’s post-Cold War foreign ministers. Hard-drinking, hard-charging, a relentless and smart negotiator who has by turns infuriated and impressed his many diplomatic interlocutors over the years, he has come, more than anyone perhaps aside from Putin himself, to personify Russia’s return to the world stage. Read […]
No matter what one thinks should be done about global warming, the fact is, it’s happening. And its effects are not all bad. In the Arctic, it is turning an impassible region into an emerging epicenter of industry and trade, according to Scott Borgerson, Managing Director of CargoMetrics and Co-Founder of the nonprofit organization Arctic Circle. […]
looking beyond borders 