Tag: ethnic conflict

Staunton, August 19 – An increasingly common theme in many commentaries about Crimea and the Donbass is that Ukrainians should not want them back. Pro-Russian attitudes in the those regions would, if they were again included within the borders of the Ukrainian state, make them a classic “fifth column.” But that is “yet another lie […]

Staunton, July 5 – Since the peoples of Altay learned that the elections staged to ratify the Kremlin’s choice of their governor showed that he failed to win in electoral districts dominated by the non-Russians, their leaders have been struggling to unite in order to put pressure on the government there in the name of […]

Staunton, June 15 – The potential for ethnic conflicts in Tuva is relatively low, according to Vladimir Datsyshen, but if economic problems, Russian flight, and increasing localism among Tuvan intellectuals continue, Russia’s control of that republic on the Mongolian border could be threatened by the rise of militant Buddhism and shamanism. In a new article […]

Staunton, October 31 – Like so many Moscow leaders before him, Vladimir Putin’s incautious and insensitive playing with Russian nationalism is backfiring in his multi-national country, raising questions about how well he understands its nature and leading Russian nationalists to act in ways certain to infuriate the non-Russian quarter of the population. Responding to a […]

Updated Daily. The Russian finance minister has admitted that the government has raided the pension savings of ordinary Russians to pay for the forcible annexation of the Crimea — and will not be returning the funds. Opposition blogger Alexey Navalny continues to be harassed with libel suits and fabricated criminal cases — as well as […]

Updated Daily. The Chinese-Russian gas deal is getting mixed reviews, depending on what observers think of Putin in the first place. LifeNews reporters are still being held by Ukrainian authorities on charges they helped armed separatists, sparking a debate in the regional journalist community about embedding with insurgents. Russian liberals are concerned that Putin’s aggressive […]

Staunton, May 10 – The Pew Research Center this week released the results of a poll it conducted in the Russian Federation concerning Russian attitudes toward the independence of any region or republic in that country. It found that 48 percent said they would support such actions if they reflected the popular will and that […]