The Russian economy faces low growth at best and prolonged stagnation at worst. The outcome does not depend on oil prices and sanctions alone but also on more deeply rooted problems. Although some reckon that prolonged stagnation would bring Putin down, his repressive system shields him from economic mismanagement and from the costs of political […]
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 […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin will need to mix fresh ideas with his trademark patriotism and tough-guy image on Wednesday when he lays out his plans to a cynical population weary of corruption and poor state services. Thirteen years after he rose to power, and more than two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, […]
When most people think of British-Russian relations, they imagine Bond films, iron curtains, Cambridge double agents, irradiated dissidents, and billionaire oligarchs who dress like Evelyn Waugh but behave like Tony Soprano and then sue each other in London courts. But there’s another element underwriting this not-so-special relationship. British elites, elected or otherwise, have grown highly susceptible […]
You hear it routinely during congressional events involving defense issues, when a defense secretary wants to protect his budget (or his legacy), and when candidate Barack Obama or hisoperatives defend the administration’s national security record: The American armed forces are “the best in the world.” It has become such an unremarkable bit of conventional wisdom that the comment is usually prologue to some […]
Many educated and highly placed Russians tend to see sinister enemy plots behind the international financial crisis, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the growing protest movement. Wherever we turn, from informal conversations to official pronouncements and state-controlled television programs, Russians are told that the Pussy Riot performance and the international reaction to the verdict against the group were part of a coordinated campaign designed to undermine Russian values […]
looking beyond borders 