Little room is left for the movement led by Alexei Navalny to challenge Vladimir Putin’s bid for reelection.
Tag: russia
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The Spy Who Came In From The Cold War
-Analysis- Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in critical condition, three days after they were found unconscious on a bench in the English city of Salisbury. The pair were presumably poisoned by what is so far referred to as an “unknown substance.” Britain’s counter-terrorism police have now taken over the […]
-Analysis- PARIS — With his new sweeping round of protectionist tariffs on steel and aluminum, it looks like Donald Trump has decided to extend to the economic field the “madman strategy” he had already applied to the Korean Peninsula. That was the take last week from former CIA Director David Petraeus. Developed by the Nixon-Kissinger […]
Five Russian-linked Twitter accounts are clearly favoring anti-establishment Italian parties Five-Star Movement and Northern League ahead of March 4 national elections.
OneShot — Fairest of them all, 1996
-OpEd- PARIS — A people brings glory upon itself up when it is able to confront the complexity of its history. On the contrary, it dishonors itself when it takes on a defensive posture with its past. In Poland, both houses of the legislature have now voted in favor of a law criminalizing any reference […]
Russia’s imperial history is far from over for Vladimir Putin, who loudly declares that wherever Russians are is Russia. And the West should take him at his word.
There are still plenty in the European Union taking a hardline against the Kremlin. But a counter bloc is emerging from the corridors of the European Parliament.
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Saudi Arabia, If Oil Becomes A Curse
-Analysis- The unlikely rapprochement between the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia, orchestrated by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, seems to be a response to the rise of the Iran-Russia coalition. In this game of chess, the American decision to choose Jerusalem as the Israeli capital offers an interesting opening. This face-off between the four oil-giants […]
Trump’s former strategist Steven Bannon was quoted as saying the families of Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner may get caught in a significant federal money-laundering investigation.
OneShot — Young lesbian couple, 2015
Ahead of next year’s presidential election, where Vladimir Putin will seek a fourth term, young people in Russia are divided over the country’s future.
With billions in investments and a land distribution scheme not unlike the Homestead Act, in the U.S., Moscow is looking to revive a long-neglected region.
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Where Space Travelers Are Born
In rural Russia, in a rustic dacha very similar to this one, the man who’d become the first person in outer space was born. The town of Gzhatsk, midway between Moscow and Smolensk, was renamed in 1968 to honor Yuri Gagarin.
Television presenter Ksenia Sobchak’s surprise candidacy gives the democratic camp a second chance, as long as it is not a Kremlin ploy to attract younger voters.
“Trump is finished.” That sentence has been pronounced so often over the past 18 months that it has lost any real meaning. Still, the events unfolding in Washington right now are different. By targeting top Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Richard Gates, and perhaps even more crucially, a lesser known foreign-policy advisor named George […]
Cold War-style propaganda isn’t helping the Kremlin win over young Russians. For that, President Vladimir Putin has turned to social media and its teenage fans.
-Analysis- PARIS — Imagine if a foreign entity neutralized the public health system in the Paris region. Or if it went on to attack the electric grid, interfering with the meteorological services, manipulating French President Emmanuel Macron’s emails and targeting the military and police communication systems. All from a computer keyboard. Nobody would get killed, […]
Facebook has agreed to give the government information on political ad campaigns. But the social media giant must behave more like other media companies in a functioning democracy.
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Lining Up For Lenin
Even a decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, people were lining up in Red Square to get a glimpse of Vladimir Lenin: the Communist leader’s embalmed body remains on display inside the mausoleum.
-Analysis- MOSCOW — Aug. 9 came and went in Russia without an official celebration. And yet, the date is significant. It marks the moment Vladimir Putin first came to power — 18 years ago. Everyone, from his closest advisors at the Kremlin to independent political scientists, expects the Russian president to continue to heed his […]
-Analysis- During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump had promised to improve U.S. relations with Russia. His supporters said it was just the kind of bold move the world needed as escalating hostilities between the two nations stood in the way of solving major global issues from Syria to cybersecurity. Trump’s opponents, to this day, see […]
The declaration that he’d work with the Russian president on a joint cyber security unit shows that the man in the White House has a basic problem of understanding policy. And the consequences are real.
“A Masterstroke,” “A Tsunami,” “The Takeover.” Newspapers in France summoned their best metaphors this morning to describe what already looks like a landslide — yes, another favorite electoral metaphor — in favor of Emmanuel Macron’s party in yesterday’s first round of legislative voting. Ahead of next Sunday’s second and final round, the new president’s party […]
French-Russian relations are at a new low following the election of France’s young, pro-European President Emmanuel Macron.
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Golden Russia
The banks of the Neva River in Saint Petersburg were glistening like gold during this beautiful summer sunset. You can see the extra shine in Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, which may be because its dome is plated with pure gold. See more sides from My Grand-Père’s World here.
The New Times The past ten days have taken the U.S.-Russia relationship to a new low, as Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin “collided in Syria,” this week’s Russian magazine The New Times reports. After months of accusations that Trump and Putin were in cahoots, tensions between Washington and Moscow are suddenly running high, one […]
A candle-lit vigil for the victims of a bombing in St. Petersburg was pictured on the front page of Russian newspaper Izvestia. In an article entitled “St. Petersburg Survived,” the paper reported that the Monday attack had failed to cause mass panic in the city. At least 11 people were killed and scores others injured […]
In the overwhelming immediacy of modern society, weekends provide us with the opportunity to slow down, take a deep breath, disconnect. Especially a sunny, early spring weekend. For some, this means catching up on reading or seeing old friends. For others (like yours truly), this past weekend was a chance for an intense session of […]
MOSCOW — Slumped on the one of the fluorescent poufs in his Moscow office, a gothic T-shirt-clad Alexander Lyamin says he’s “stunned.” Founder of Qrator Labs, a Russian startup specialized in cybersecurity, and a staunch supporter of a free and borderless internet, Lyamin is seeing his world collapse around him. Located opposite a huge flour […]
-OpEd- It’s hard to say no to the prospect of free money. Imagine: Regardless of your activity (or lack thereof), you get your share of the “universal income,” of the nation you call home. Several hundred dollars or more, paid every month into your bank account — not to compensate your labor or reward some […]
-OpEd- BERLIN — The expansion of Vladimir Putin’s authority is directly connected to his ability to exploit the weaknesses of Western democracies. But people continue to play down the danger that Putin poses. Could this prove to be a fatal error for our system of liberal democracy? “If you can’t beat them, join them,” or […]
TRIPOLI — As the sun sets on the Libyan capital, the sky takes on an ochre shade over the old city walls surrounding Martyr’s Square. Children play on carousels and the muezzin’s call to prayer fills the air, booming from loudspeakers in the streets. It’s an arresting scene that — for a moment — makes […]
-OpEd- MILAN — Whether the West likes it or not, an old question has returned on the global stage: whether or not to reconstitute the former G8 by inviting Russia back in. The decision rests with Italy, the current holder of the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven and the host, in May, of […]
The arrival of Russia-friendly Donald Trump in the White House has heightened concerns that Moscow is ready for its next move after Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
France has long been the only country in continental Europe to invest in its military. Though others are now reacting to new threats, it may be too little too late.
-OpEd- ROME — The ongoing crisis in Libya poses the gravest threat to Italian national security, for multiple reasons. Halting flows of undocumented migrants and maintaining energy security are important, but a far more fundamental interest is at stake: ensuring that Libya recovers from chronic instability and civil war and avoids becoming a safe haven […]
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Capitalist Fish
Ten years had passed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union when my wife and I returned to Russia. The people were clearly hooked on the newfound entrepreneurial freedom, big and small scale alike. See more slides from My Grand-Père’s World.
Russia has become a main theme in the U.S. In part, perhaps, this is a sign of success of the Kremlin’s politics. But both Putin and Trump will have to compromise if they want to change things.