Despite their conflicting interests and ideologies, every political affiliation across post-Soviet Europe blamed Russian war crimes on the Asian “other.”
Continue reading...Russian Liberals and the Kremlin: Racism and Colonialism as Common Ground, Part I
Anna Gomboeva |Russian liberals present themselves as “civilized Europeans” who would like to fix the “backward Asianness” of Russia. By drawing such Orientalist distinctions, these figures justify the existing colonial economic relationship between the wealthy “European” metropole and its impoverished, “Asiatic” provinces.
Continue reading...Are Sanctions on Russia Effective? How (Not) to Inform the Debate, Part II
Juliet Johnson |The unprecedented nature of the current sanctions, both in terms of their scale and in terms of the economic size of the target state, makes it more challenging to extrapolate from prior experience.
Continue reading...Are Sanctions on Russia Effective? How (Not) to Inform the Debate, Part I
Juliet Johnson |According to many indicators, the Russian economy has bounced back from the initial hit of sanctions, thanks in large part to skillful financial policy and planning by the Russian central bank and finance ministry, as well as loopholes in the sanctions regime.
Continue reading...Destruction, Reconstruction, Belief: The 1837 Fire at the Winter Palace and its Aftermaths (A Paper in Verse)
Paul Werth |‘Twas evening in St Petersburg
The days were very short
It happened in December
At the dwelling of the court.
The tsar was at the theater
When the news was brought to him
“The palace has gone up in flames!”
The news was very grim!
Civic Poetry and the Decembrist Revolt: Pushkin, Virtue Signaling, and Liberal Vibes
Emily Wang |Through its effective use of language that went on to become a hallmark of its genre, Pushkin’s political verse helped shape a subgenre of civic poetry and was subsequently interpreted in the context of this broader corpus and its increasingly radical opposition to the state.
Continue reading...Cossack Education Becoming Further Institutionalized Across Russia’s Regions
Richard Arnold |Russia is going to great lengths to maintain its war effort in Ukraine without having to resort to another wave of mass mobilization. Military-adjacent structures, such as the Registered Cossacks, are becoming increasingly important as a source of recruits for the Russian army. Cossack education plays a central role in this process, ensuring the indoctrination of Russian society for a long war in Ukraine and physical preparedness for future conflicts.
Continue reading...“Daddy, Read!”: Ukrainian Children’s Writer, Father, and Fallen Hero Volodymyr Vakulenko
Anastassiya Andrianova |Fearing that his time was up and committed to making public the war crimes of those flying the letter “Z,” Vakulenko buried his secret diary under the cherry saplings in his yard and asked his father to share it with the international community once the village was liberated.
Continue reading...For Victory in Freedom: Why Ukrainian Resilience to Russian Aggression Endures, Part II
Mikhhail Alexseev and Serhii Dembitskyi |The increasing toll of the war has not dampened Ukrainians’ support for political freedom. In fact, it appears that this suffering has engendered a clearer understanding of the importance of continued fighting by building a sense of shared sacrifice and raising the value of political freedom.
Continue reading...For Victory in Freedom: Why Ukrainian Resilience to Russian Aggression Endures, Part I
Mikhhail Alexseev and Serhii Dembitskyi |Not only does the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians remain resolute in its commitment to driving Russia out of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory, but this commitment is strongly fused with a determination to be a healthy, thriving democracy and to honor and avenge their devastating shared losses and sacrifices.
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