Tag Archives: western

Russia’s constitution is sometimes described as “super-presidential.” It concentrates enormous powers in the hands of the head of state, including the right to appoint ministers, initiate legislation, and issue decrees. While the parliament does in theory have the right to remove the president, the impeachment process in practice makes this …

Witness, for example, this year’s meeting of the Yalta European Strategies group (or YES, get it?). The forum was established as an annual event by Victor Pinchuk, one of Ukraine’s most well-connected and richest men. Since then, YES has been perhaps the single most efficient image-laundering project ever undertaken by …

I have just returned from my second trip to Lebanon and Syria this year. I previously visited in May, and in the course of a few months I have witnessed a precipitous decline in the wellbeing of the people of both of these countries.  Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, seemed …

For years, Moscow’s Levada Center – officially labelled as a ‘foreign agent’ by the country’s Ministry of Justice over links to overseas funding – has been trying to shed light on how people living in the country think and feel. On Friday, it published its latest research into trust in …

Speaking to a video conference of the BRICS economic international group, Putin said the crisis in Afghanistan results from an attempt to impose foreign ideas in a country where they won’t be accepted. “I have said many times that the current crisis in Afghanistan is a direct consequence of irresponsible …

Kolesnikova, a highly trained musician as well as a political activist, is one of the three women who together challenged Lukashenko in last August’s election. She also helped lead calls for a new vote, after it took place amid opposition and international claims of fraud, sparking an undeniably brutal crackdown …

In a recent article, ‘Ukraine’s Dangerous Success’, veteran Moscow critic Edward Lucas argued that “Ukraine’s almost unimaginable progress since 1991 is a nightmare for Russia.” The crux of his argument is that the country’s stance toward Ukraine is not dictated by Kiev’s domestic anti-Kremlin posture. Russia, he says, is fearful …

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed on Thursday that Washington is encouraging Kiev to continue its attempts to join both the Cold War-era analogue to the long-disbanded Warsaw Pact and the European Union – measures which he said would put the two Western organizations directly on Kiev’s long border with Russia. …

In an interview with Spanish radio station COPE on Wednesday, the head of the Catholic Church was asked his views on the chaos that has unfolded in the region since Kabul fell to the Taliban last month. According to the pontiff, he had seen wisdom in comments from Merkel, and …

The difference is that when America or its allies do it, it’s called “promoting democracy.” Now, a campaign to undermine the legitimacy of Russia’s parliamentary elections, due to be held next month, is explicitly linked to power politics. Any criticism of that approach, however, is denounced as an attack on …