Soviet historian Sheila Fitzpatrick speaks on collective leadership after Stalin’s death


stalin

On November 23, 2015, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia welcomed historian Sheila Fitzpatrick, Professor at the University of Sydney and Distinguished Service Professor Emerita of the University of Chicago. Fitzpatrick, who has worked since the 1970s in the Soviet field, presented her research on “The Team Without Stalin: ‘Collective Leadership’ 1953-7.” Introducing the speaker, Jordan Center Director Yanni Kotsonis praised Fitzpatrick’s comprehensive scholarship. “No one else has mastered the Soviet field as Sheila Fitzpatrick,” Kotsonis said. She “singlehandedly transformed the way we did Soviet history because first of all, she treated it as history, and second of all, she […] put forth the proposition—which was very controversial in the middle of the Cold War—that the Soviet Union was a country” that was comparable to other countries.

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By Misunderstanding Crimea, the West Is Pushing Russia Further Away



On the recent anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea, residents of the peninsula came out on the streets to celebrate waving flags, cheering and clapping. There was music and dancing. The Night Wolves, a biker gang known for having close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, joined all the way from Moscow.

Crimea escaped civil war, but for some it remains a battleground.

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