Tag Archives: western

The Russian capacity for hardship is legendary. So too is the country’s ability to deal with, and overcome, adversity. From the Time of Troubles through the revolutions of 1917, the Civil War, Stalinist repression, the Second World War, the collapse of communism, and the economic and social travails of the …

In an interview published by Moscow news agency Interfax on Tuesday, Deputy Justice Minister Mikhail Galperin said that litigation over the collapsed Yukos oil empire and fallout from Russia’s 2014 reabsorption of Crimea means that “a tough year” is on the cards. The long-running dispute over Yukos, once among Russia’s …

In 1992, Japanese-American scholar Francis Fukuyama authored a book titled ‘The End of History and the Last Man’ which fabled liberal democracy as the final, inevitable and ultimate stage of man’s evolutionary development. The timing was no coincidence, only a year earlier, the Soviet Union collapsed and brought an end …

If past form is a guide, it’s likely Bellingcat staffers will attack this article on social media, labelling it “propaganda” and cherry picking one or two sentences, out of context, in a bid to discredit the whole. But the fact remains the journey of their outfit from a supposedly ‘open …

Last week, it was announced that Moscow had revoked the residency of Vanessa Kogan, a US national who heads the NGO Stichting Justice Initiative (SJI) in Russia. If her appeal against the decision isn’t successful, she’ll be forced to leave the country, where she has lived for over a decade, …

Recently, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte effectively blocked a Parliamentary motion to allow an external independent investigation of Dutch government funding of terrorist groups in Syria. Rutte initially tried to deny his involvement in the burial of the investigation but tenacious questioning from journalists forced him to admit his personal …

Britain’s Daily Mail reported on Thursday that Moscow was “practising for nuclear war,” while the Daily Express told its readers that Russian “sabre-rattling risked reigniting World War 3 fears as global tensions remain high.” However, some observers took to the internet to point out that they must have missed the …

On Sunday, local newspaper Fontanka reported that the political scientist had been detained for breaching the region’s coronavirus prevention laws – specifically those requiring the wearing of masks – at what police say was a rally for his ‘Peremen’ opposition movement. According to reports, the event was disrupted by counter-protesters, …

That they sit around scheming up ways to deceive their audiences into supporting war, oligarchy and oppression for the benefit of their plutocratic masters. Once you’ve learned a bit more you realize it’s not quite happening that way. Most mainstream news reporters are not really witting propagandists – those are …

As Former Vice President and Democratic candidate Joe Biden declared victory on Saturday, commentators in the US and UK fought over whether President Vladimir Putin would be disappointed with the outcome, or delighted. During the election, Biden had referred to Russia as the “main enemy” of the US and said …