Archive

September 1, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Sept 1, 2008

TODAY: Ingush opposition figure shot dead; EU summit to be held today; Medvedev reveals foreign policy plan to preserve nearby territories; South Ossetia to join Russia; Turkey and Russia heading for “trade war”; Putin “saves” television crew from...
August 31, 2008

Free Riding in Georgia

Peter Kiernan has a pretty good piece in World Politics Review which argues that Washington the West throughout most of the 1990s were accomplishing a lot with very little resources in the Caucasus, but now with Moscow’s assertion by invasio...
August 31, 2008

Soviet Déjà Vu

Andrew Meier and Michael C. Moynihan are debating the whole Soviet thing over at the LA Times… First, Russia remains a land of doublespeak. Listen to what Putin’s puppet president, 42-year-old former corporate lawyer Dimitri Medvedev, ...
August 29, 2008

Video: Putin Interview on CNN

The Russians are working hard on pushing the whole “Washington started the war to get McCain elected” angle. Anybody buying yet?
August 29, 2008

Sham Formalism and Socialist Legality

Western leftism and contemporary Russia are like a box of chocolates – you just never know what you’re going to get. This one is worth reading however: Putin’s KGB origins should not be misconstrued. There was a power vacuum when the S...
August 29, 2008

Eine Kleine Steinmeier

Here’s a bit from an interesting profile of a guy we think is very bad for Russia and Europe. Germany’s foreign minister strolls through an organic farm, buys an apple from smiling children — and then turns from the idyllic scene...
August 29, 2008

Post Imperial Stress Syndrome

We’ve had a number of blog posts featuring commentary from Zenyo Baran, and I think this contribution to the WSJ highlights an important area of concern for NATO, Turkey, Georgia, and stability in the Caucasus. Nonetheless, Ankara sided with...
August 29, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Aug 29, 2008

In a recent commentary penned by Financial Times columnist Philip Stevens, the argument is made that Russia’s ultimate goal is to turn back the clock: to extend his (Putin) country’s borders to create the greater Russia sought by the leaders...
August 28, 2008

Russia Feeling Lonely After 8/8

Somewhere deep down in the labyrinthine hallways of the Kremlin, I like to imagine the silovik team currently handling the country’s foreign policy (this week) vigorously debating which foreign leader can most quickly be flown into Tskhinval...
August 28, 2008

Putting the Pinch on Gazprom

Perhaps the catch-all slogan for this year’s U.S. presidential election could be “it’s not the economy, but the energy, stupid.” Surely it takes no genius to see the immense challenge of Moscow’s foreign policy as inf...