This is an interesting, though highly technical, article published in Ria Novosti, a federally owned outlet with one of the widest circulations in Russia. It details the technical processes that are required to destroy chemical weapons. The article makes no mention of Syria, though it is clear that one of the key reasons that this […]
Andrey Kokoshin, the Dean of the MSU Faculty of World Politics, talks with the pro-Kremlin Izvestia about the possible consequences of a U.S. strike against Damascus for the international community. Kokoshin states, among other things, that Saudi Arabia and Iran will both be encouraged to develop nuclear weapons should Syria be attacked by the West, […]
The CIA has begun the delivery of weapons to detachments of the Syrian opposition. For now it’s a question of only firearms, ammunition, and communications devices. All of this is necessary to wage combat in cities in small groups. This fact once again confirms the wish of Washington to continue the escalation of the civil […]
Many people across the globe are debating Syria, and the content of Vladimir Putin’s editorial in the New York Times. However, in Snob.ru, a Russian online magazine with a somewhat more liberal slant, the debate is not just about the content of the editorial, but about the wisdom of reportedly paying a PR company to […]
The political analyst Boris Mezhuev writes, in Izvestia, about how President Putin’s initiative influences the world political climate. Note that Mezhuev implies that it was Western powers that postponed the latest meeting of the United Nations Security Council. In fact, Russia both called for the meeting and then cancelled it in light of demands from […]
On September 3rd, a somewhat puzzled world awoke to a hyperventilating Russian media. The report making its rounds in the Russian press, translated by The Interpreter, said that Russian radar systems had recorded a ballistic missile launch over the Mediterranean. Eventually, the Israeli government stated that it had conducted a test of a missile defense […]
The Kerry Plan Some say it was a mistake, but if it was then it was the “gaffe heard round the world.” John Kerry made a sarcastic, and possibly off-the-cuff, comment about how Syrian President Bashar al Assad might escape U.S. military attacks aimed at punishing him for using chemical weapons on August 21st: He […]
Kommersant publishes this article, claiming that Russia will go ahead and deliver the S-300, a powerful anti-aircraft system, to Iran. However, Interfax news agency has published an article which disputes this claim. Their source says that the delivery of the modified S-300 system can’t be excluded, but that no plan has yet been put into […]
Russia’s media is highly impacted by government control. Many news organizations have direct or indirect ties to the Russian government, and yet many more have ties to a web of Russian power brokers. Even when a newspaper is independent, the power of Russia’s power structure can be felt in the press. Since 2001, four journalists […]
Apparently it took a while for the Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to figure out what to do to stand out from the chorus of EU politicians who realize more and more clearly with every day what kind of catastrophic consequences for international relations the U.S. attack on Syria, without UN authorization, will have. His […]
