For all his “democratic shortcomings”, there is one very “Western” thing about Vladimir Putin: he is the most pro-Israeli Russian ruler since Stalin (for all his anti-Semitism, Koba the Dread actually supported founding the Jewish state, and the US and USSR were the first countries to recognise it). Putin’s position is odd for two reasons: […]
Admittedly, it’s not all doom and gloom coming out of Russia. I mean, look on the bright side. Chief Federal Prosecutor Aleksandr I. Bastrykin is really sorry for driving an opposition journalist into the woods, threatening to kill him, and joking that he himself would lead the investigation into the death. Bastrykin even offered the man (now […]
What’s going on with Russia? Yesterday, the country celebrated independence (from itself), the opposition marchers defied the new draconian laws without any reply from the police, football fans roughed up Warsaw before a draw with Poland, maybe some attack helicopters were sold to Assad. Stocks are up. Several Western observers have attempted to make some […]
So, no surprises then during the first months of Putin’s return to the presidency: Signing a new law that would raise fines for anti-government protesters from 5000 to 300,000 roubles, or $9000, which is about the average annual salary. The amended law specifically targets the middle class people making up the bulk of the protesters. […]
Russia looks to do its part for Afghanistan, and itself While trigger-happy drones do their part to smooth a coming US drawdown in Afghanistan, pundits and diplomats alike nervously pace the green rooms of news and late-night talk shows. What will a counter-insurgency look like without a stabilizing super power? Whether one bets on red […]
Crowds with banners amassed on red square, surrounded by thousands of military personnel and truck loads of heavy artillery. This was not a record anti-Putin protest but the annual Victory Day parade held every May 9th in honor of the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany. In a country that lost over 30 million during […]
Why is the captured U.S. soldier not part of the strategic release program in Afghanistan? Update (May 9, 2012): Confirming earlier speculation, the parents of Bowe Bergdahl today announced that he is a focus of now-stalled negotiations between the United States and the Taliban over a proposed exchange of Guantanamo Bay prisoners. The New York […]
It’s certainly not confetti and roses that are currently falling through the air on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s Monday inauguration. At the time of writing, thousands of protesters have been engaged in a street battle with Moscow police units. Russia’s three main opposition leaders – Alexei Navalny, Sergei Udaltsov and Boris Nemtsov – have […]
The deal President Obama recently signed in Kabul with his Afghan counterpart President Hamid Karzai ostensibly sequesters U.S troops on the ground in Afghanistan for the next twelve years. And then in 2024, so the story goes, the U.S. will leave for good. Of course, the plan includes graduated measures that decrease the U.S footprint […]
With the United States and NATO making plans to draw down most of their troops over the next few years, Afghanistan faces a precarious future. While the military situation has improved, insurgency continues; the government’s authority extends little beyond the capital; foreign aid accounts for 80 percent of the national budget; and the country’s principal cash […]
In the beginning of April, Russia officially launched the ‘Eurasia dialogue’ that will serve as the groundwork for discussions on creating a Eurasian Union. Furthermore, in October 2011 then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin voiced a new integration project that invoked a controversial reaction form the West. Many talked about Russia showing its appetite for imperial […]
In the maelstrom of conflict reporting from different corners of the globe, and its analysis and resultant policy-setting by major powers, the local scorecard is often unclear. If insurgents control six out of ten villages in a district, are they winning? Many would say yes. But if we knew that this was two fewer than […]
When I first met Georgi Vanyan back in 2009, I couldn’t hide my excitement. For me that middle-aged man who smoked one cigarette after another and had sadness in his eyes, even when he smiled, was equal to a rockstar. I couldn’t believe I was talking to the person who organized Days of Azerbaijan as […]
You can tell a lot about the guilty conscience of a nation’s elite by its photoshopping. During the 1930s, Communist leaders executed in Stalin’s purges were famously airbrushed out of official photographs to cover up the facts of their brutal demise, as well as ensure that they do not become magnets for opposition. An entire […]
It’s just so hard to launch an international bash these days. Everyone’s a critic. Just ask Azerbaijan. Preparations for Eurovision, one of Europe’s biggest song contests to be held in May in Baku, are regularly sidetracked either by criticism of the country dismal human rights record, or allegations of the country’s silent involvement in Iran-Israeli […]