International relations is a tough game. International trade without a free market is just as tough. In late September 2023 Moscow mayor, and formerly presidential administrator Sergei Sobyanin, said what the Kremlin thinks but avoids saying. In turning to the East after the West imposed sanctions, the Russians have faced new difficulties. "We have to … Continue reading An Economic War with Russia. India is Difficult, and China Says No To Yet More Russian Gas

  Unlikely as it may seem, with the brutal exchange of fire inflicted on long suffering civilians from both sides of Ukraine's border with Russia, the two warring parties appear anxious to settle. Ukraine's supporters abroad appear fair weather friends, whether in Europe, where the populist wave is isolationist in spirit as economies drift into recession, or … Continue reading Putin is Now Looking for a Deal to Separate the West from Ukraine

When in February 2022 Russia's president for life embarked on a speedy invasion of Ukraine confident from security service (FSB) reporting that he could overthrow an unpopular régime even without the element of surprise, Putin never imagined where he would end up today, over a year later, mistrusted from the far right as well as … Continue reading Putin’s Growing Trouble at Home

In Soviet Russia a major war scare, as in the winter and spring of 1926-1927, would immediately prompt peasants to bury grain that would have been seed corn for the spring sowing and to hoard salt. The towns, the stronghold of Bolshevik power, were in the stranglehold grip of the countryside. The next harvest was … Continue reading The Mutiny’s Impact on the Economy

A classic frame from an old fifties black and white thriller: the bank raid goes hopelessly wrong. The cops are called and come in guns blazing. Meanwhile, back at the hideout the thieves fall out with one another. Switch to the gold coated halls of the Kremlin, an ornate palace that Shakespeare would have recognised. … Continue reading Act III. The Thieves Fall Out. Or Frankenstein’s Revenge

For the first time in the post-Soviet period the rouble has been falling in value against other currencies at a time when the price of oil has risen. Russia has long been very heavily dependent upon the export of energy (oil and gas) for foreign exchange at around two-thirds of its income in dollars. Nezavisimaya … Continue reading Russia’s Economic Crisis: Worse to Come

Covering the war against Ukraine from within Russia is not only dangerous for Western journalists, like the Wall Street Journal correspondent now under arrest. It is even worse for Russian nationals, where it is also a potentially fatal task, even from the comparative safety of the living room in Moscow. So one well tried way … Continue reading Trench Warfare and the Problem of Morale

The press coverage in the West of China's relations with Russia has usually been tilted towards the exaggerated concern that Beijing will provide Moscow with weapons that make up the shortfall created by aggression in Ukraine and the stubborn resistance from Kyiv to Russian bombing. The US mass media, seriously disturbed since a bad case … Continue reading Russia Needs China’s Mediation on Ukraine

When you write under a dictatorship, not least one at war, which those who lived in the Soviet Union are well practised at doing, you have to make any criticism in muted and indirect form. Turning to history is to be recommended. At a time when Putin is openly threatening military-industrial enterprises with direct state … Continue reading War is Less About Technology; More About Expert Analysis

For those who have followed the dramatic ups and downs of the struggle to free Russia from Stalinism, from its instruments in search of something better like Georgii Malenkov, through to its demolition men like Alexander Yakovlev, the Putin era has seen the clock put back. Granted, the President for Life acknowledges the appalling barbarity … Continue reading The Fight Against Stalinism in Russia Today