Back to Blogging

Well, it has happened again.  I had become overwhelmingly occupied attending to client files, focusing on family, and an inconvenient activity known as sleep, to the point that I had not been regularly writing my own posts for this website.  Now it’s time to get back into gear.

I thank you, dear readers, for sticking with us, even if our main production in recent months has been the aggregation of articles published elsewhere.  This naturally happens from time to time, especially when you have been blogging since 2006, with more than 5,000 posts now published, and what may seem like a baffling array of colliding interests beyond Russian politics. Exhaustion can set in, and the realities of running a law firm, unending travel, and the unavoidable commitments stack up.

As I step back into the fold with the intention of writing more, the entire project begs reflection.  Is “blogging” even a thing any more, or has been rendered obsolete as so many people can do the same thing from within the confines of Twitter and Facebook.  And how about the general Russia focus of this blog, when in fact I have spent far more time in Africa and Asia in the past two years?  It may just be my own skewed terms of reference, but no matter where I go these days, I can’t help but see these same patterns and trends that I first saw in Russia, whether I am talking about false anti-corruption campaigns in Asia, a brewing Cold War with China in Africa, or the declining ability of the United States to produce its desired geopolitical outcomes.

In my view, quite selfishly, it is still worthwhile to think, write, and share on this site – call it blogging or what have you – with the hope that some value is added, that debate is prompted, and that ideas are developed.  Things might be a bit different this time around as I begin writing about my other experiences, but all the same, I look forward to hearing from you.  — Robert Amsterdam