Staunton, March 12 — Yesterday, Nikolay Patrushev, secretary of Putin’s Security Council, warned that Russia will face a serious terrorist threat if and when militants from Russia who have been fighting with various Islamist groups in the Middle East return home. But he said nothing about what may be a more immediate and serious threat: […]
Tag: World War II
If US Doesn’t Arm Ukraine, Putin Will Move Against Baltic Countries
Staunton, February 16 — If President Obama follows German Chancellor Merkel and doesn’t arm Ukraine, the US president will not only “be playing the role Putin has assigned to him” but he will also open the way toward an effort by Moscow to dominate the Baltic countries while threatening the world with first use of […]
In Nuclear Age, ‘Politics Is the Continuation Of War By Other Means’
Staunton, January 27 — Many people are operating under the misapprehension that nuclear weapons make war impossible: they don’t. Rather they simply change the way in which war is conducted, with each side employing as weapons many things that no one would have called weapons before, according to Dmitry Yuryev. Indeed, the Moscow analyst says, […]
Putin Acting As a Terrorist Because He Can’t Afford Full-Scale Invasion Of Ukraine
Staunton, January 27 – Despite fears that Vladimir Putin may soon shift from his partially covert and still in some circles deniable offensive in Ukraine to a full-scale military invasion of that country, there are five compelling reasons why that won’t happen, Kseniya Kirillova says. But the very fact that a full-scale invasion won’t happen […]
Under Putin, Great Patriotic War Victory Has Become a Cult
Staunton, January 12 – The Soviet Union’s role in defeating Hitler in what Russians refer to as the Great Patriotic War has always been a central element of Russian national pride, but under Vladimir Putin, it has taken on the form of a religious cult, one that is helping to push the country from authoritarianism […]
Can the People Of Pskov Region Save Themselves By Themselves?
Staunton, November 30 – Ignored by Russian officials in Moscow and Pskov, some 2,000 people and businesses of Velikiye Luki in the Pskov region have organized a Union for the Rebirth of Pskov Region to provide assistance to those who need it most in one of the most economically depressed regions of European Russia. The […]
75 Years On Russia Again Engaged In a Winter War
Staunton, November 30 – Seventy-five years ago, Moscow launched what became known as the Winter War against Finland. It used much the same propaganda and tactics it is using against Ukraine now. It faced far greater resistance than its vast disproportion of forces had led it to believe. And thanks to that resistance, it achieved […]
Is Tuva a Precedent for Putin’s Handling of the ‘Unrecognized’ States?
Staunton, September 10 – This week, the Republic of Tuva or Tyva as it is also known marked the 100th anniversary of “the union of the republic with Russia,” an event that sparked various events including academic conferences and the erection of a new monument to the center of Asia as well as attracting various […]
Moscow Engaging in Ethnic Cleansing in Crimea, Latvian Foreign Minister Says
Staunton, September 8 – The Russian occupation authorities in Crimea are engaging in ethnic cleansing on the Ukrainian peninsula, something that the international community must not only take note of but do everything possible to stop, according to Edgar Rinkevics, Latvia’s foreign minister. And Mustafa Cemilev, the longtime leader of the Crimean Tatars who has […]
Putin Accepts Only ‘Imperial-Militarist’ Component of Soviet Inheritance, Shtepa Says
Staunton, August 30 – Vladimir Putin is often accused of wanting to restore the Soviet system or at least its core values, but in fact, the Kremlin leader is interested in promoting the its “imperial-militarist” element and not its “revolutionary” component, a pattern that has the effect of limiting Russia’s ability to deal with the […]