Russia: Other Points of View

Medvedev's wider Europe

by JANUSZ BUGAJSKI, Washington Times, July 17, 2008

RMW Analysis by Russia:Other Points of View

In this July 17, 2008 Washington Times article is written by a member of the anti-Russian Polish émigré lobby in America. Janusz Bugajski issues yet another Western mainstream media warning that the ‘Russians are coming.’ In order to save the West, he proposes continuing the very policy that over the last 15 years has pushed Russia away from the West - “expansion of the Euro-Atlantic zone,“ meaning the expansion of the Western military alliance, NATO, apparently until it encompasses all the former republics of the Soviet Union in Europe (and perhaps in Asia as well), except for Russia. This policy would not only isolate Russia from Europe but weaken its influence in the states along its border, not something that Russia can tolerate – nor could we under similar circumstances. For those pushing such a policy, the apparent intent is to breakup the Russian state in order to eliminate forever the ‘Russian threat’.

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The treatment of Russian Journalists in Comparative Perspective

by GORDON HAHN

The Western mainstream media focuses inordinately on the repression of journalists in Russia as compared to other countries with much worse records. Never mentioned are: (1) contract murders are notoriously hard to solve whether the jurisdiction is Moscow, Latin America or America; (2) the number of unsolved contract murders of journalists (not to mention businessmen and others) during Boris Yeltsin’s presidency outpaced those during Putin’s eight years; and (3) almost all contract murders in Russia, likely including Politkovskaya’s, are ordered by criminal groups and/or corrupt local officials (with criminal ties or improper business dealings) being investigated because of being accidentally, or intentionally, exposed by journalists.

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The Siloviki Downgraded. In Russia's New Configuration of Power

by GORDON HAHN

The personnel changes attending new Russian President Dmitrii Medvedev’s administration and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s new government appear to represent another defeat for the ‘siloviki’ clans (powerful Kremlin groupings led by Russia’s various organs of intelligence and law enforcement). These figures have dominated Kremlin politics and policy for the last eight years.

Taking on Russia's Ubiquitous Bribery

by PETER FINN, Washington Post, July 14, 2008

RMW Commentary by GORDON HAHN

In an otherwise good article on Russia’s rampant corruption published (July 14 2008 - Washington Post “Taking On Russia's Ubiquitous Bribery”), Finn writes: “President Dmitrii Medvedev has provided few details about his proposed attack on corruption. Some critics, including InDem Foundation president Georgii Satarov, believe his interest in establishing the rule of law grows from a desire to legitimize property acquired by Kremlin insiders and their loyal collaborators during the Putin year.”

A War The West Must Stop

by RONALD ASMUS, Washington Post, July 15, 2008

RMW by Russia: Other Points of View

In this July 15 Washington post opinion piece Ronald Asmus eventually reveals that he believes Russia seeks not just to back Abkhazian and North Ossetian independence from Georgia but to seize all of Georgia and then likely seize Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The fact that the author implies this almost by stealth underscores the propagandistic nature of the article. Asmus is executive director of the Brussels-based Transatlantic Center at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). It is closely connected with NATO, the expansion of which is the main driver aggravating the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Russian conflicts. The GMF has partnerships with NATO, U.S. defense contractors like Boeing, and the Georgian Defense Ministry.

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Russia's Medvedev sets out anti-corruption drive

by OLEG SHCHEDROV, Reuters, July 2, 2008

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday he wanted a package of anti-corruption legislation in place by next year, stepping up his campaign against a problem he says threatens national security. One of Medvedev's first steps when he took over as president from his mentor Vladimir Putin in May was to order his officials to draft a strategy for fighting corruption.

Enough Rope for Russia

by JIM HOAGLAND, Washington Post, June 29, 2008

Vladimir Putin's switch from running Russia as its president to running Russia as its prime minister has changed traffic patterns here but little else.

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RMW Analysis by Gordon Hahn

Jim Hoagland urges the West and the next U.S. administration to reject Russian president Dmitrii Medvedev’s proposal for a European Security Conference to design a new architecture based on a partnership between the U.S., the E.U. and Russia. He warns that Russian leaders think Moscow is set to surpass the U.S. and stand atop a “new world order” – and intends to use any new security architecture accordingly.

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Russia Versus NATO in the CIS

by STEPHEN BLANK, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 14, 2008

RMW Analysis by Russia: Other Points of View

In an article against Russia’s efforts to block NATO expansion into the neighboring states of Georgia and Ukraine, Stephen Blank, Russia specialist and professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, offers a somewhat ahistorical, one-sided, and often distorted assessment of the conflict between Russia and West in CIS states.

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Wrong on Russia

by STEPHEN F. COHEN, International Herald Tribune, July 1, 2008

Neither of the two major American presidential candidates has seriously addressed, or even seems fully aware of, what should be our greatest foreign policy concern - Russia's singular capacity to endanger or enhance our national security.

Unconventional Wisdom About Russia

by HENRY KISSINGER, distributed by Tribune Media Services, July 1, 2008

Conventional wisdom treated Dmitry Medvedev's inauguration as president of the Russian Federation as a continuation of President Vladimir Putin's two terms of Kremlin dominance and assertive foreign policy. A visit to Moscow with an opportunity to meet leading personalities of the political world, as well as representatives of various age groups in business and intellectual circles, convinced me that this judgment is oversimplified and premature.