Celebrating Russia Day, the Country Finds Itself With No Future
The meaning of Russia Day, the holiday celebrated last Friday, June 12, remains obscure and even foreign for the majority of Russians. Overall, the population has mixed feelings about the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was precipitated by the declaration of state sovereignty of the Russian Federation (commemorated by Russia Day) and the...
Bringing Belarus Back in From the Cold (Part Three)
To read Part One, please click here.To read Part Two, please click here. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s policy is one of benevolent neutrality sympathetic toward Ukraine in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Belarus’s diplomacy and its trade policies tilt in Ukraine’s favor to the extent possible without antagonizing Russia (see...
Russia Shutters Northern Distribution Network
On May 15, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev issued a resolution closing the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), a network of rail and road links across Russia and the post-Soviet space that had provided logistical transit to Afghanistan for International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) military equipment and weapons since 2008 (Moskovsky...
Activist Flees Baku for Switzerland Refuge, Moldova Voters Remain Split
Plus, Saakashvili is poised to make big cuts in Odessa and the UN leader talks human rights in Central Asia. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Quickie Russian Citizenship in Transdniester
The consulate in the breakaway region of Moldova is reportedly creating lots of new citizens, who might need to be protected one day. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Soros – An American Oligarch‘s Dirty Tale of Corruption
Rarely does the world get a true look inside the corrupt world of Western oligarchs and the brazen manipulations they use to enhance their fortunes at the expense of the public good. The following comes from correspondence of the Hungarian-born billionaire, now naturalized American speculator, George Soros. The hacker group CyberBerkut has...
Orthodoxy and the Future of Secularism After the Maidan
In many ways the undeclared war between Russia and Ukraine has triggered seismic shifts in the religious landscape in the two countries. Although united by a common Eastern Christian faith tradition, Russia and Ukraine are increasingly separated by the same. …read more Source: Woodrow Wilson International Center for...
Confidence Games: Azerbaijan, the European Olympics, and the West
A recent open letter written by American and European experts and former officials concluded “the government of Azerbaijan cannot be both a respected member of the international community and a repressive, kleptocratic autocracy.” However, with the first-ever European Games that open today in Baku, Azerbaijan’s leadership is trying...
Resignations Pile Up in Polish Government, Russian Reporter Faces Threat
Plus, sickly oil economies drag down the region and Czech protesters try to stop mining expansion. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
It would take an accident to see the conflict in Donbas blow up into all-out war
The conflict in Ukraine continues to escalate and could spiral out of control, reports the Anadolu Agency. “The tension has reached an extremely high level,” says Oleksiy Melnyk, Co-director of Foreign Relations and International Security Programs at the Razumkov Centre. “It would only take an accident or incident of some kind to see the conflict...