Staunton, October 22 – Seventy percent of Ukrainians say that there is a war going on between Russia and Ukraine, while only 26 percent of Russians agree with that, a remarkable testimonial to Moscow media’s power to distort the situation — and one that also has had a impact in the West where many governments […]
Staunton, August 22 – Russians are less inclined to believe that Moscow’s recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia was useful to Russia and to think that the annexation by their country of these two breakaway republics would be a good idea, yet another echo of Vladimir Putin’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea. […]
Staunton, August 19 – Vladimir Zhirinovsky has become notorious for saying what must not be said and doing what must not be done, but now his approach has spread to the Russian people as a whole, a development that cannot last forever but one that will end badly, according to Aleksey Levinson. In an article […]
Staunton, August 12 – Aleksei Levinson, a sociologist at the Levada Center, says that iron curtains like the one now being erected around Russia are a political strategy that reflects weakness rather than strength and that its appearance is not the end of the story but somewhere in the beginning. In an interview published in this […]
Staunton, July 1 – Given the Kremlin’s ability to mobilize the population via Moscow television, Vladimir Putin could “at any time” refuse to cooperate” with the West on Ukraine “and receive the support of society,” according to a lead article today by the editors of Nezavisimaya gazeta. That reality, the editors say, dramatically increases the […]
Staunton, June 29 – Russian attitudes toward Ukraine are appear to be shifting in response both to changes in the Kremlin’s approach and to changes in the coverage Moscow television has given to them. Only a few weeks ago, both were beating the drums for war; now, they are talking about finding a way to […]
Staunton, June 21 Despite increasing use of the Internet, Moscow television has “a practically unlimited monopoly on the formation of the social-political agenda” for Russians, according to a Novaya Gazeta commentary on the findings of the latest investigation of media use by the independent Levada Center. Many commentators have suggested or perhaps more accurately expressed […]
Staunton, June 11 – Unlike Spain which turned to economic modernization only seven years after the beginning of political modernization, a pattern that prevented the recrudescent of the past, Russia’s leaders chose the reverse, enriching themselves but opening the way for a return to support for Soviet-style imperialism, according to Emil Pain. And it is […]
Staunton, June 11 – Even as Vladimir Putin pursues what many see as an effort to restore an empire centered on Moscow, polls show that ever fewer Russians regret the end of the Soviet Union – something the Kremlin leader has said was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century – and ever more […]
Staunton, June 8 – Much of the public support in Russia for Vladimir Putin reflects the fact that his actions allow Russians to believe if only for a time that their country is once again a great power even though they fully understand that Russia is not in a position to be one the equal […]
