By denouncing the war in Ukraine, Boris Nemtsov inspired the same hatred as Andrei Sakharov had by opposing the invasion of Afghanistan.
Russia
Russia won’t let me go. I became fascinated by Russia as a boy when my parents gave me a 700-page book of Russian fairy-tales one Christmas. The fact the Soviet Union was closed, far away and America’s mortal enemy added to the country’s mystique. I devoured every book on Russia I could get my hands on. When I went to college, I started studying Russian.
What continues to intrigue me is that no matter how close I get to Russia and Russians, I always end up feeling like a foreigner. Despite all the Western influence, Russia preserves its distinctiveness, belonging to neither Europe nor Asia.
Navalny Is a Thorn in Putin’s Side, But Silencing Him Won’t Be Easy
Navalny’s biggest challenge now is to prove that he’s a national leader who can speak to Russians beyond the cities with a substantial middle class.
Vladimir Putin’s Religious, Ethnic Rhetoric Gets a Little Scary in Russian State-of-the-Union Address
Putin shared no vision of where the country is heading. Instead he looked back, portraying Russia as a besieged fortress since time immemorial.
Putin the Pariah
Putin’s isolation points to a larger problem and one of the greatest failures of his presidency: namely that Russia has practically no allies left.
What Obama Doesn’t Get about Russia
The Obama administration is being either naive or delusional in its belief that Russia will ever pull in the same direction over Syria. Putin will back al-Assad to the bitter end.
How Russia Fears Being Forgotten
Putin needs the U.S. as an enemy, because it builds him up as a brave leader and allows him to crack down on internal dissent. The regimes in Iran, Venezuela or North Korea are no different in their dependence on U.S. censure – the harsher, the better.
Time Is Catching Up with Putin
Vladimir Putin’s biggest enemy isn’t his opposition, but the simple passage of time.
A Weakened Putin Is Questioned Abroad, Under Siege at Home
When Vladimir Putin takes the presidential oath of office for a third time, he will be facing two unexpected new challenges that will rattle and shake his once formidable power base.
Putin’s Bag of Tricks
Kremlin politics is so opaque that it functions like a sort of personality test. Optimists glean just enough hope to justify their wishful thinking, while pessimists find hints of the most monstrous conspiracy theories.
Russia’s Approaching Nonelection
If all goes according to plan, the Kremlin candidate will sweep the election as the standard-bearer of strength and stability. Whatever the next president’s name, the winner will be Putin.
