Archive for the 'AP Russia' Category
Sunday, September 7th, 2008
Remember the mammoths, say the clean-cut organisers at the youth camp’s mass wedding. “They became extinct because they did not have enough sex. That must not happen to Russia”.
Obediently, couples move to a special section of dormitory tents arranged in a heart-shape and called the Love Oasis, where they can start procreating for the motherland.
With its relentlessly upbeat tone, bizarre ideas and tight control, it sounds like a weird indoctrination session for a phoney religious cult.
But this organisation - known as “Nashi”, meaning “Ours” - is youth movement run by Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin that has become a central part of Russian political life.
Read on
Posted in AP Russia | No Comments »
Saturday, August 9th, 2008
Russia conducted airstrikes on Georgian targets on Friday evening, escalating the conflict in a separatist area of Georgia that is shaping into a test of the power and military reach of an emboldened Kremlin. Earlier in the day, Russian troops and armored vehicles had rolled into South Ossetia, supporting the breakaway region in its bitter conflict with Georgia.
The United States and other Western nations, joined by NATO, condemned the violence and demanded a cease-fire. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice went a step further, calling on Russia to withdraw its forces. But the Russian soldiers remained, and Georgian officials reported at least one airstrike, on the Black Sea port of Poti, late on Friday night.
The War is on? (from NYT)
Read Slate’s c overage from the Same Day
James Traub Interview on NPR (very good)Â
In Pictures from Foreign Policy Magazine
Condi Rice Gets Tough on Russia
No Cold War, but Big Chill Over Georgia
Posted in AP Russia | No Comments »
Monday, July 7th, 2008
We’ve been here before. In 2000, western leaders and media waxed lyrical about the new man in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. Now, they’re falling head over heels for his successor. We’ve heard about Dmitry Medvedev’s leather jacket and love of Deep Purple, and his background as a lawyer, rather than a KGB agent. He’s from “a new generation“, we’re told.The noises from the new man in the Kremlin have certainly sounded promising: a war on “legal nihilism” and corruption; a commitment to free media; and, last Thursday, a statement that “Russia is ready to move, to find compromises” with Britain.
But this kind of talk is precisely why Medvedev was selected as president by Russia’s political elite: it’s part of an ongoing campaign to improve the country’s image in the west.
Read more
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Saturday, January 12th, 2008
A Tsar Is Born
For a comparative analysis, here are profiles of the People of the Year since 1927
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Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
The field of comparative politics starts with the assumption that knowledge in the social sciences must proceed by way of the search for comparisons, or what has been called “suggestive contrasts.” Scholars of comparative politics compare in order to discover similarities and explain differences. As infrequent and highly complex events, revolutions have attracted a great deal of attention from comparativists.
In this article we will address the following topics:
- The Concept of Revolution
- Why Revolutions Happen?
- Can Revolutions be Predicted?
- What Do Revolutions Accomplish?
- What Are some of the Failures of Revolutions?
- Comparing Characteristics and Outcomes of Some Revolutions
- Questions
Posted in AP Introductory Materials, AP Russia | No Comments »
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
The Nation offers this obituary for Yeltsin
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