Poshlost’ is Defining Characteristic of Putin’s Russia, Shiropayev Says
Paul Goble Staunton, October 20 – “Poshlost’” a virtually untranslatable Russian word connoting self-satisfied vulgarity has become the defining characteristic of Russia under Vladimir...
View ArticleRussians Leaving Official Unions But Not Joining Independent Ones, Helping...
Paul Goble Staunton, October 20 – Because they no longer believe that unions of any kind do them much good and thus don’t want to pay union dues at a time of crisis, Russian workers are...
View ArticleMoscow Sending Chechens to Occupied Crimea as Draftees in Russian Army
Paul Goble Staunton, October 21 – Many of the 774 Chechens slated to be drafted into the Russian--military during the fall draft – which in Chechnya will last until December 31 -- will serve...
View ArticleWhen Moscow First Crushed an Islamic State … in China … in 1934
Paul Goble Staunton, October 21 – Almost every news report provides lessons in geography and history as people focus on places they had not done so before and precedents they had not...
View ArticleCollapse in Gastarbeiter Transfer Payments Pushing Central Asians to Look to...
Paul Goble Staunton, October 21 – Declines in transfer payments from Central Asian gastarbeiters to their families in their homelands is leading to “a decline in the level of the loyalty of...
View ArticleCensorship and Self-Censorship Restricting Russian Media Coverage of...
Paul Goble Staunton, October 12 – Russian government censorship and self-censorship by editors and writers fearful of running afoul of officials are seriously restricting the coverage of...
View ArticleMoscow’s Spending Cuts Undermining Russians’ Health and Reducing Life Expectancy
Paul Goble Staunton, October 21 – Guzel Ulumbekova, the head of the Russian Association of Professional Medical Societies, says that the health and life expectancy of Russians is directly...
View ArticleSoviet-Era Dissident ‘Chronicle of Current Events’ Resumes Publication on the...
Paul Goble Staunton, October 22 – Four former Soviet political prisoners have resumed the publication of the “Chronicle of Current Events,” the information bulletin about violations of human...
View ArticleA Russian Hybrid War in Belarus Could Take One of Two Forms, Denisenko Says
Paul Goble Staunton, October 22 – Viktor Denisenko, a Belarusian researcher at the University of Vilnius, says that a Russian hybrid war in Belarus could take one of two forms – “with...
View ArticleRussian Nomenklatura Five Times Larger, More Privileged and More Dangerous...
Paul Goble Staunton, October 22 – Over the last 15 years, Russia has been “transformed into a country of one leader, one party, and a state without law but with poor health care, education,...
View ArticleIs ‘Corporate Solidarity’ among Putin’s Governors Breaking Down?
Paul Goble Staunton, October 22 – The expectation by some governors that other governors will support them in every way is clearly misplaced to judge by a somewhat strange incident involving...
View ArticleDefeat of Kremlin ‘Peace Party’ in Syria a Good Thing for Ukraine,...
Paul Goble Staunton, October 22 – Vladimir Putin has decided to listen to Russia’s hawks and intensify his confrontation with the West, a clear defeat for the so-called “peace party” in...
View ArticleA Baker’s Dozen of Neglected Russian Stories – No. 7
Paul GobleStaunton, October 25 -- The flood of news stories from a country as large, diverse and often strange as the Russian Federation often appears to be is far too large for anyone to keep up with....
View ArticleSoviet-Era Xenophobia and Anti-Semitism Returning to Russia Today, Yakovenko...
Paul Goble Staunton, October 25 – Many who regret the passing of the Soviet Union have conveniently forgotten that that system was riven with xenophobia and anti-Semitism and as a result are...
View ArticleUnlike Putin, Not All Russians Idealize the Street Violence of Their Youth,...
Paul Goble Staunton, October 25 – Many Russians grew up in the mean streets of Soviet cities in the decades after World War II, at times engaging in turf fights with other young people of...
View ArticleKyiv Must Use Military Means to Recover Occupied Territories Now, Borovoy Says
Paul Goble Staunton, October 25 – Now that Vladimir Putin is focused on Syria and clearly unlikely to stop there, the Ukrainian government should take advantage of the situation by moving...
View ArticleRussia is Losing Belarus, Regnum Commentator Says
Paul Goble Staunton, October 26 – Pictures of several young Belarusian military cadets wearing T-shirts with pictures of the mounted knight, a symbol that many Belarusian nationalists...
View ArticleNew Law on Holy Texts of Traditional Religions ‘Not Only Useless But...
Paul Goble Staunton, October 26 – Vladimir Putin’s response to complaints about the findings of a Russian court that the Koran is extremist and to fears that some court will do the same...
View ArticleInozemtsev’s Five Reasons Why Russia Unlikely to Become a Democracy Anytime Soon
Paul Goble Staunton, October 26 – Democracy is a system which allows the population to “choose and replace their government through free and fair elections,” Vladislav Inozemtsev says. That...
View ArticleRussians ‘Snitch’ for Very Different Reasons than Westerners Do, Policy...
Paul Goble Staunton, October 26 – Officials in St. Petersburg and other Russian cities are encouraging Russians to snitch on those dealing in imported products, but this use of...
View Article