Writing in the middle of a crisis is always dangerous.
Continue reading...Russia and Ukraine: Stupidity, Cynicism, or Both?
Eliot Borenstein
Like most of the people who bother to read this blog, I’m finding it difficult to think about anything besides the looming war between Russia and Ukraine.
Continue reading...The Red Balloon of Russian History: How American Media Misunderstood The Sochi Olympics Opening
Veronica Davidov
Letting go of Communism and the Socialist dream was not the interpretation Russian audiences reached for. And that makes sense—ending a theatrical segment entitled “Dreams about Russia” with the fall of communism is very, well, retro.
Continue reading...Distorting Russia: How the US Media Misrepresent Sochi, Putin, and Ukraine
Stephen F. Cohen
American media on Russia today are less objective, less balanced, more conformist and scarcely less ideological than when they covered Soviet Russia during the Cold War.
Continue reading...Orthodox Awakening: The Fraying of Russia’s Church-State Alliance
Nadieszda Kizenko
To conclude that the Russian Orthodox Church is nothing more than a bastion of extreme conservatives is to miss the many ways that change is being forced upon it.
Continue reading...Tsar Nicholas Putin: Continuity or Coincidence?
Nathaniel Knight
On a cold December morning in the capital city a crowd gathered to protest Russia’s new ruler. Slogans and cheers sounded through the winter air as the people awaited the regime’s response…
Continue reading...Putin: the man who arranges the blocks
Mark Galeotti
The entirely brilliant Complete History Of The Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris by Pig With The Face Of A Boy, encapsulates what we could call Russia’s long century – from the start of the twentieth century to the present – with the tale of “the man who arranges the blocks that descend upon [him] from up above.”
Continue reading...