The central issue of Wednesday's meetings in Moscow was whether Russia would give in. An immediate change of policy was obviously not on the cards since it is not in Putin's nature to make sudden concessions under pressure. But will he gradually and incrementally pull the rug from under the Syrian president?
According ...
... several important agreements, indicating the progress in the long-standing dispute settlement. Dmitry Streltsov comments on Vladimir Putin’s visit.
First and utmost, the parties confirmed their commitment to peace treaty signing. The route to achieve ... ... special regime to ensure Japan’s economic presence in the Islands. The leaders’ statements
note
that through consultations Russia and Japan may achieve signing a separate international treaty on this matter.
According to the joint statement, simultaneous ...
The outgoing US administration painted itself into a corner with the Ukraine issue, says Dmitri Trenin.
Above all, Russia’s cynical President Vladimir Putin expects to conclude agreements with the new US President Donald Trump regarding the Ukrainian question: to pressure Kyiv into implementing the Minsk agreements in Donbass and to promise not to accept Ukraine into NATO, explained the Director ...
... soon be deserted, or we launch a serious dialogue on building a relationship taking into account each other’s legitimate interests. In the long run, we agreed to meet, wasting no time.
REUTERS
U.S. President George W. Bush shares a laugh
with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the two
answer questions at the Crawford High School in
Crawford, Texas November 15, 2001
We met in Paris in early April, and had a very sincere and constructive talk, just in the manner for all further encounters with Colin Powell,...
... likelihood of the disintegration of nuclear arms control, and the rate at which it happens, depends on who will be in power in the US by the end of the year, and what decisions will be taken by the Kremlin.
From partners to rivals
During his first two terms, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that his country is a European nation, characterised by European values and standards. Those statements have faded today.
US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is quick to point fingers at Russia. Donald Trump, the ...
Should the West be concerned about the Eurasian Economic Union? Is it a disguised attempt to resurrect the Soviet Union?
Does Vladimir Putin want to restore the Soviet Union? Nobody can irrefutably prove that he does not. However, nobody can prove either ... ... aside, can Putin realistically plan to restore the Soviet Union? The answer is a definite “no” assuming that the Russian leader is a rational politician capable of a realistic assessment of Russia’s current capabilities as well as of ...
... real dictatorships, thousands or even tens of thousands disappear, and are tortured or killed. Criticism of the regime can be picked up by the secret police and can lead to the worst of consequences.
This bears no relationship to the regime over which Vladimir Putin presides in Russia. In addition to the aspects of life Daniil mentions, there are other features that distinguish Putin’s Russia from real dictatorships. Daniil doesn’t have to have the slightest worry about making critical remarks about Putin and his ...
... arrested or purged entails a whopping 30,000 per week, the West is looking to normalize relations with fellow NATO member Turkey at the earliest opportune moment. This will assuredly happen after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan determines the extent of Russian geopolitical concession, if any, during an Aug 9 meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Everyone is playing a game of waiting, or more specifically, a “game of chicken” which incidentally was a Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) scenario developed during the Cold War.
Hardly any mainstream Western writer or ...
... amidst the backdrop of US-sanctioned neo-Nazi thuggery in Ukraine, and a pandemic rise in anti-Semitism all over Europe.
Did someone say “Never again!”?
Perhaps, the growing chasm between Western rhetoric and reality was a reason why Russian president Vladimir Putin called for the creation of “a non-aligned system of international security to counter global terror” during his May 9 V-Day speech. He warned off the “double standards” and “short-sighted indulgence to those ...
... authoritarian rule may be entirely compatible with democracy. Oppressive regimes can survive in the long run only if they are supported by society, or at least if there is not sufficient support for resistance.
Has there been a rollback of democracy in Russia? Was Boris Yeltsin more of a democrat than Mikhail Gorbachev or Vladimir Putin? In 1993, Yeltsin illegally dissolved the Supreme Soviet, and shelled the Russian White House, resulting in the deaths of 187 people. He unconstitutionally scrapped the existing constitution, and temporarily banned political opposition....