Comment on Interview with Alena Ledeneva http://www.rferl.org/content/interview-russia-alena-ledeneva-sistema/24944910.html
Ledeneva is one of the few to have confronted the reality that in order to reform Russia and the other post-Soviet republics, one has to understand the mechanisms underlying the system.
Interestingly, it was Putin’s answer to her question about corruption that opened Ledeneva's eyes to the existence of “The System” and its importance. Many believe...
- Опубликовано:
- 03.10.2014 11:56:00
Russia's leaders have long recognized a need for competitive politics. They tried twice, in 1995 and in 2006, to create a two-party system from above. Most observers among those who even took note of these attempts ridiculed them. Both times, they stressed that the parties created from above were "pro-Kremlin," so the attempt to create a two-party system could not be serious.
Such observers failed, and still fail to recognize that there are powerful reasons why the Kremlin needs...
- Опубликовано:
- 24.09.2014 16:22:00
... To boost his home front popularity he recently cancelled the big Mistral assault ship deal with Moscow (ostensibly linked to Obama’s Ukraine sanctions) and has made France a more active part of the U.S.-led alliance to rein in ISIS.
President Vladimir Putin, regardless of his policies, is a nationalist and a strong leader. The global governance movement does not like that kind of leadership. Draw your own conclusions.
Defense dollars spent on ISIS will not end the ongoing economic crisis
...
- Опубликовано:
- 11.09.2014 10:13:00
... dialogue. The image credit is rferl.org Brinkmanship turns into economic warfare Until early this year, diplomatic interactions between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry showed the willingness of presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama to dialogue too. But complications involving anti-Assad Islamists supported by U.S. interests, taking part in the fighting in Syria, and Russian allegations that Chechen and Azeri extremists have been involved with the ...
- Опубликовано:
- 11.08.2014 07:12:00
... BRICS nations would do well to be mindful of Shamir’s analysis "Coping With Non-state Rivals (login and registration required) .
The BRICS continue to have image problems
The Buenos Aires Herald reported that Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin has praised Argentina, where he just signed a major nuclear deal with the government. But in their coverage the BBC also noted that the Russian leader remains circumspect about the future of the BRICS.
Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was ...
- Опубликовано:
- 14.07.2014 04:38:00
... a website with close ties to the Israeli defense and intelligence communities, posits that both Bandar and Kochavi made "miscalculations".
Bandar had sealed his fate last year during his secret visit outside Moscow with Russian president Vladimir Putin. He bragged that Riyadh controlled Chechen extremists in Russia, and that he would unleash them on the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics unless Putin ended his support for the Assad regime in Syria.
Haaretz and Al Monitor reported that as far ...
- Опубликовано:
- 22.05.2014 01:04:00
... president Obama’s first term is on the record saying that Russia’s presence in Crimea is effectively a fait accompli.
Former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger has urged the international community not to assign blame to Russian president Vladimir Putin and recommends that more negotiations over the future of Ukraine are required to achieve a tenable solution.
Stern, one of Germany’s leading print and online media platforms, has published a poll indicating that 77 percent of those ...
- Опубликовано:
- 27.04.2014 18:46:00
Although the government of Russian president Vladimir Putin has authorized writing off 90% of Cuba’s $32 billion debt Kremlin policy toward the Castro regime is characterized by caution. Foreign direct investment by the Russian Federation in Cuba remains insignificant.
But Cuba’s economic ...
- Опубликовано:
- 07.03.2014 20:01:00
... spoke to FSA leader General Salam Idris, who is currently based near they Syrian border in Turkey, to assure him that Washington launching an attack on Assad controlled Syria is very much an option. Then too, there are no indications that president Vladimir Putin has backed off from his “yes we will” commitment to support Syria if the nation is attacked. Meanwhile the two factions, both with a strong complement of cadre from other Islamic nations rumbles toward their third year of civil ...
- Опубликовано:
- 15.09.2013 13:09:00
