Month: December 2007

December 3, 2007

Gorbachev’s Cognitive Dissonance

From a great article in WSJ today: As liberty recedes in Russia, Mr. Gorbachev’s stance raises a question: Is the former Soviet president a savvy politician who sees democratic instincts in Mr. Putin that his critics have missed? Or has he b...
December 3, 2007

Cheaters Aren’t Winners

When I was growing up in the Bronx, when somebody cheated during one of our many street games, they were in no way declared a legitimate winner. This apparently is not the case in the majority of the English-language media’s coverage of the ...
December 3, 2007

Grigory Pasko: Vote and Dance – Thinking is Optional

Vote and dance – thinking is optional The elections in the Russian backwoods, part I Grigory Pasko, journalist Kirzhach is a small town in Vladimir Oblast, 130 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Historians note that Kirzhach arose as a sloboda [settl...
December 2, 2007

Pulling Up the Roots

From today’s Observer comment section: And yet Mr Putin has his defenders in the West, including business people in Britain who want to invest in Russia. Mr Putin, they argue, has at least brought stability after the kleptocratic chaos of th...
December 2, 2007

Five Myths About Russia’s Election

Robert Coalson at RFE/RL writes about the five myths of Russia’s elections: 1) President Vladimir Putin is popular, 2) Parties matter, 3) Issues matter, 4) Election rules matter, and 5) Election results will reflect the public will. Coalson ...
December 2, 2007

RA in the Toronto Star: A Vote that Insults Democracy

A by-lined opinion article by Robert Amsterdam was published in today’s Toronto Star. A vote that insults democracy Canada has an interest in resisting dangerous anti-democratic trends afflicting Putin’s Russia Robert Amsterdam Preside...
December 1, 2007

Faces of the Opposition: Oleg Kozlovsky

From Grigory Pasko’s series of interviews, Faces of the Opposition, here is the coordinator of the Oborona youth movement, Oleg Kozlovsky. The impressive Mr. Kozlovsky also published a manifesto on our blog back in July. See all the Faces of...