Dec

29

Social Science Fiction

December 29, 2007 | 7 Comments

My first article for the eXile is now online.  Here is an excerpt from “A Russian-Watcher’s Fairytale“:

Russia and the world were stunned by the assassination of Vladimir Putin as he walked out of a midnight mass at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow on January 7, 2008.” This line is not out of Brad […]

Popularity: 3% [?]

Dec

23

Putin’s Wealth: The Next Episode?

December 23, 2007 | 77 Comments

I first learned from Andy over at Siberian Light about the press brouhaha over Putin’s alleged $40 billion tucked away in banks in Switzerland and Lichtenstein. Intrigued, I set my sights on said press accounts for the story.
Claims of Putin’s hidden money bags comes from an interview Stanislav Belkovsky recently gave to Die Welt. […]

Popularity: 7% [?]

Dec

23

A Geneology of “Putinism”

December 23, 2007 | 2 Comments

As the sun begins to set on Putin’s Presidency and his direct personal sway over Russia’s future is still undetermined, there is one legacy we can count on. A new “-ism” called Putinism.
With the help of LexisNexis, I’ve been trying to track down the first appearance of this supposed ideology attached to the person […]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Dec

20

Putin’s Time

December 20, 2007 | 60 Comments

Time’s Person of the Year. Who would have thunk it? Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin joins Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Mikhail Gorbachev. Three other Russian leaders who’ve received the honor.
Stalin was named twice, in 1939 and 1942. The first for “dramatically switching the power balance of Europe one August night” when the vozhd’ […]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Dec

18

Don Putin

December 18, 2007 | 12 Comments

Two iconic moments in television and film come to mind as I read Putin’s acceptance to be Prime Minister if his protege Dima becomes President. The first is the affable Gomer Pile ironically declaring as he often did, “Surprise, surprise, surprise.” Yes, a list Gomeric surprises since no one was really shocked by Putin […]

Popularity: 4% [?]

Dec

17

Russian Blacklist Grows

December 17, 2007 | 7 Comments

And so the list grows. On Saturday, the Kremlin added thirty more publications to its blacklist of extremist materials. That makes a total of 61 banned books, music, and films. The first list released in July was mostly a tally of Russian ultra-nationalist and Nazi literature. The sixteen works added in […]

Popularity: 3% [?]

Dec

12

“Neither Liberal nor Neo-Stalinist”

December 12, 2007 | 35 Comments

I thought Mark Ames said something quite interesting today. He concluded his addition to the Medvedfest, “Dmitry Medvedev & The Banker’s Murder” with,

If this sordid story reveals anything, it’s that the only way to grasp the current power-transfer is through Russian eyes. Trying to understand Medvedev and his significance through the liberal/Stalinist prism explains […]

Popularity: 4% [?]

Dec

10

Medvedev Anointed

December 10, 2007 | 63 Comments

And the winna is? Dmitry Medvedev. Putin named the young economic liberal as his presidential favorite in a meeting with United Russia leaders today. What is interesting is not so much what Putin chose, but what he didn’t choose. Putin didn’t choose the siloviki. He didn’t choose the economic nationalists. […]

Popularity: 6% [?]

Dec

8

The “Dark Double”

December 8, 2007 | 11 Comments

David S. Foglesong, The American Mission and the “Evil Empire”: The Crusade for a “Free Russia” since 1881, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
“Civilization is spreading rapidly eastward, it cannot stop or go around Russia, and whether with bayonet or psalm-book the march will be made through every part of the Tsar’s dominion.” Such were the […]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Dec

7

King Kadyrov

December 7, 2007 | 22 Comments

For Chechen hetman Ramzan Kadyrov, last weekend’s Duma elections was just another opportunity to show his loyalty to Moscow and further entrench his own power. 99.36 percent of the Chechen vote–574,101 votes out of an electorate of 580,918–went to United Russia. A staggering turnout of 99.5 percent. A number which appeared to […]

Popularity: 4% [?]

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