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

Today the Russian press reports that the country has a shortfall in profits from the sales of oil and gas to the amount of 54.5 billion roubles and that it is sellling Chinese yuan to make up the deficit. Elsewhere it is reliably reported by Anna Golubova, highlighted on Kitco.com, that it has also had … Continue reading The Russians Feel the Impact of the Energy Embargo

When Ukraine's President Zelensky made a surprise visit to Britain on Wednesday he made the urgent request for British fighter planes to be sent in aid of his forces against the Russians. In the past he also asked for German aircraft and US fighters as well. But how exactly are they to be deployed when … Continue reading British Fighter Planes to Deploy in Ukraine: How Exactly?

The unexpected only very rarely happens in Russia; so much so that when it does happen, one scratches one's head and cleans one's glasses. In the last few days former Vice-President of Russia Major-General Rutskoi - yes, the very man who in 1991 tried to block Ukraine from becoming independent - has launched a scathing … Continue reading Former Vice-President Rutskoi Attacks Putin’s War

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly one year ago, the United States pressed upon its European allies the necessity of both economic and financial sanctions (forget the scissors and paste measures after annexation of Crimea in 2014). Germany led the way in dragging its feet on sanctions, of course. This was not surprising. It has … Continue reading One More Unintended Consequence of Biden’s Foreign Policy: Dedollarisation, Russia Enters the Chinese Currency Zone

On 9 November Russian television, TV Zvezda, aired a documentary on George Blake brought to you courtesy of the man indicted for the murder of Litvinenko. Blake was notoriously the MI6 officer who has long defied credulity by claiming a Damscene conversion while a prisoner of war in the hell hole of North Korea in … Continue reading George Blake: A Russian Documentary on Deep State TV