Vladimir Putin’s biggest enemy isn’t his opposition, but the simple passage of time.
Protest
Behind the Scenes of a Protest Blog
I’ll make a confession: the anti-government rallies that broke out in Moscow a year ago really annoyed me. Like Vladimir Putin, I had completely different plans than to worry about protesting middle-class Muscovites.
Face Without a Man
Vladimir Putin’s meeting with journalist Masha Gessen reveals the advanced stage of his megalomania. He is like the magician who bungles a trick and then asks his audience defiantly: “What? You really thought I was cutting the lady in half?”
On the Moscow Witch Trial
The judiciary is the Putin system’s last line of defense. The president stands fast behind the fairy tale of Russia’s impartial, independent courts. Mumbling judges, bumbling prosecutors and crumbling testimonies are the props for due process.
Contrarian Redux
Robert Shlegel’s peers contrast Russia’s archaic political system with advanced western democracies. Shlegel compares it to the North Korean-style dictatorship he witnessed growing up in Turkmenistan.
Take Me to Your Leader
Ilya Yashin, who has spent his entire adult life in politics, is one of the Moscow protest movement’s most experienced leaders. Tomorrow he turns 29.
Happy Birthday, Viktor Tsoi
My first visit to Moscow in 1991 was a trip into a surreal world. Amid so much strangeness, I was hardly surprised to discover that the Soviet Union’s greatest rock star was, like me, half Korean.
Between the Present and the Future
Despite police raids on the homes of protest leaders, a new law raising fines for demonstrators and violence at the last big rally, tens of thousands of Muscovites once again took to the streets to vent their anger with Vladimir Putin.
Faraway, So Close
Vladimir Putin arrived in Berlin an hour late after first visiting Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko. The symbolism was clear: Angela Merkel, Germany and the West can wait – and not just an hour but two whole weeks.
