Putin’s Eclectic Cynicism Leading Russia and the World toward Disaster,...
Paul Goble Staunton, January 12 – Vladimir Putin does not have a well-developed ideology, however much people want to find one. Rather, his eclectic cynicism provides him with the...
View ArticleUnder Putin, Great Fatherland War Victory has Become a Cult, Eidman Says
Paul Goble Staunton, January 12 – The Soviet Union’s role in defeating Hitler in what Russians refer to as the Great Fatherland War has always been a central element of Russian national...
View ArticleCentral Asians in Today’s Russian Army Might Not Fight for Moscow, Turkmen...
Paul Goble Staunton, January 12 – Both the tsarist and Soviet armies had at various points units consisting of Muslim soldiers, and these units fought well. But if Moscow allows Central...
View ArticleKoenigsberg ‘Cries Out’ for Independence from Moscow, Activist Says
Paul Goble Staunton, January 12 – Kaliningrad -- or Koenigsberg as it was historically called and is known to many of its residents -- because of its geographic situation as an exclave and...
View ArticleCould Casino Gambling Save Russia’s Smallest Peoples?
Paul Goble Staunton, January 12 – Some activists among Russia’s numerically small peoples of the North would like to open casinos on their territories in the hopes that such facilities...
View ArticleUkraine is the Vilnius of Today
Paul Goble Staunton, January 13 – Twenty-four years ago today, Soviet forces shot and killed 13 Lithuanians in Vilnius as part of Mikhail Gorbachev’s failed effort to block that Baltic...
View ArticleRussians Haven’t Consolidated as a Nation Because Russian State Became an...
Paul Goble Staunton, January 13 – The continuing dominance of an imperial mentality among Russians and their failure to consolidate as a nation reflects the fact that the Russian state...
View ArticleCrimean Tatar Experience Echoes in Karelia
Paul Goble Staunton, January 13 – Moscow’s decision to make Crimean Tatara state language even though it is written in Latin script, a violation of Russia’s language law, should open the...
View ArticlePutin Killing Russians and Russia’s Future by Cutting Alcohol Prices, Moscow...
Paul Goble Staunton, January 13 – Vladimir Putin may have won some support with his plan to cut prices for alcohol and may even keep part of Russia so drunk that it will not challenge him,...
View ArticleRussia Civil Society will Grow like ‘Blade of Grass through Concrete,’...
Paul Goble Staunton, January 13 – Yevgeny Gontmakher, a prominent Moscow economist and commentator, has invoked one of the most powerful images available about the ways in which the human...
View ArticleUkraine’s Drive to Become a European Country Leads Russians to See Their...
Paul Goble Staunton, January 14 – Ukraine’s drive to become a European country is forcing Russians to recognize that their country isn’t one, a reflection that helps to explain why many...
View ArticleRussian Propaganda in Belarus is Alienating Belarusians, Writer Warns
Paul Goble Staunton, January 14 – Moscow has unleashed a powerful wave of “black propaganda” against Belarus, often using Belarusians who now live in the Russian Federation to do it. But...
View Article‘Top 15 Russian Fears for ’15’ -- a ‘Versiya’ Checklist
Paul Goble Staunton, January 14 – Russians face so many problems and have so many fears that it is often a daunting task to ensure that one is keeping track of all of them. As a guide for...
View ArticleTraditional Values Aren’t Eternal but Political Use of Them May Be, Russian...
Paul Goble Staunton, January 14 – A return to “traditional values” is being promoted by the Russian leadership to reinforce public support and demanded by some Russians for a variety of...
View ArticleWill North Caucasus Accept External Rule as the Price for Development?
Paul Goble Staunton, January 14 – Practically all efforts to promote development while maintaining a power vertical based on the existing arrangements of regions, republics and...
View ArticlePrimakov’s ‘Anti-Crisis Federalism’ Seen Threatening Russia’s Non-Russians
Paul Goble Staunton, January 15 – Many in Russia and the West are celebrating Yevgeny Primakov’s argument presented at the Mercury Club this week that hyper-centralization, a policy...
View ArticleMoscow Preparing to Ban Any Film which Threatens Russia’s ‘National Unity’
Paul Goble Staunton, January 15 – The Russian ministry of culture has prepared a draft decree that would ban the showing of any film that its officials viewed as denigrating the country’s...
View ArticleEU Will Not Recognize Crimean Anschluss ‘in This Millenium,’ Mogherini Says
Paul Goble Staunton, January 15 – Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, commenting on Russia’s annexation of Crimea, says that “we will never accept the change of borders by...
View ArticleMoscow Creates Updated Version of Notorious ‘Interfronts’ to Fight a Maidan...
Paul Goble Staunton, January 15 – Despite bold talk that Russia does not face any threat of a color revolution, Moscow is organizing the Anti-Maidan Movement to block “color revolutions of...
View ArticleWould a Belarusian Maidan Help or Hurt Ukraine?
Paul Goble Staunton, January 15 – If a Maidan-like movement were to arise in Belarus and overthrow Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Moscow almost certainly would invade as it has in Ukraine and would...
View Article