https://issforum.org/reviews/PDF/AR966R.pdf

Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine inadvertently inaugurated a new era in international relations; but not quite the one he expected. The Russian president has achieved a great deal without meaning to while failing to achieve the one goal he had set himself for a place in history worthy of Catherine the Great. The most … Continue reading Kazakhstan and Turkey Find Common Cause

It did not take long for the hardliners in Russia - in the military-industrial newspaper - to call for a purge of higher education and the media under the slogan "The Denazification of Ukraine Makes No Sense Without the De-liberalisation of Russia." The demand appears beneath a caricature entitled "Words Can Kill." The social sciences … Continue reading The Call For Purges in Russia

In order to evade accusations of inflating prices for consumer goods, groceries in particular, Russian manufacturers are following a practice not unknown in the West with respect to chocolate, for example, or those half empty packets of cornflakes for sale or bottles of vitamins that are two-thirds empty. Komsomol'skaya pravda, said to be Putin's favourite … Continue reading Signs of Suppressed Inflation in Russia

Perhaps the world's greatest living pianist, the Russian, Grigorii Sokolov, has rarely given an interview. He rarely talks of anything other than music or instruments. He has never sought a platform for his opinions. And his stage, since the fall of the Soviet Union unveiled his prodigious talents to the rest of the world, has … Continue reading Russia’s Moral Conscience in Music