The Russian government is convinced that US sanctions are aimed at regime change in Russia.RT US sanctions aimed at turning business elite against Putin before election – KremlinSee also RT's Capitol press credentials cancelled.Sputnik InternationalRussia Hysteria: US Congress Revokes RT’s Capitol Hill Press Credentials
Read More »Alexander Mercouris — The Trump – Putin call: summary and analysis
Everything you might want to know about the phone "summit" without actually listening in. Positive overall. The Trump-Putin relationship seems to be developing along the lines of the Trump-Xi relationship. Basically good relations. The DuranThe Trump – Putin call: summary and analysis Alexander Mercouris
Read More »John Helmer — Machiavelli’s Thirteen Rules For The Successful Ruler – Two Vladimir Putin Did Learn; Eleven He Didn’t, Not Yet
So how close, or how far from Machiavelli’s model ruler, is Putin the frontrunner, and what does the president himself think of Machiavelli?.... Good backgrounder on Russia and refresher on Machiavelli.Dances with BearsMachiavelli’s Thirteen Rules For The Successful Ruler – Two Vladimir Putin Did Learn; Eleven He Didn’t, Not YetJohn Helmer
Read More »Thu-Huong Ha — A longtime critic of Vladimir Putin just won the US National Book Award
Masha Gessen? (rolls eyes)I can't wait to see the reactions to this.Masha Gessen is the epitome of the liberal Russian russophobe.QuartzA longtime critic of Vladimir Putin just won the US National Book Award Thu-Huong Ha
Read More »Stephen F. Cohen — The Unheralded Putin—Russia’s Official Anti-Stalinist No. 1
Professor Cohen puts to bed the charge that Vladimir Putin is a Stalinist, a crypto-Stalinist, or is trying to rehabilitate Stalin. I would compare the Russian attitudes — there is a wide range of it — to American attitudes and now raging controversies about people formerly regarded as American heroes over their connection with slavery. This is epitomized in the demand to remove stature of Confederate heroes and it is also reflected in the controversy over slave ownership by the...
Read More »Anatol Lieven — Here is What I Saw at the Valdai Club Conference
As a number of participants (including myself) pointed out, compared with these existential threats to existing states, the issues currently dividing Russia and the West are likely to seem to the historians of the future (if there are any) so minor as to be almost insignificant. One hundred years from now, our descendants are likely to look back on disputes over Crimea, the Donbas and Syria with the same combination of incomprehension and contempt with which we regard the European elites...
Read More »RussiaFeed — Vladimir Putin SLAMS the US for its past, present and likely future
Previously, Putin has generally sounded conciliatory. Now the gloves are coming off? Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered one of his most wide reaching criticisms of the United States to-date, during his Q and A session at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi. Putin described a worsening Moscow-Washington relationship that dates back to the 1990s when an ‘untrustworthy’ west took advantage of Russia’s weak leadership in the age of Yeltsin, Gaidar and Chubais.... “Our biggest...
Read More »Tom Luongo — Russia’s Crypto-Ruble Just Changed the Game
Well-reasoned analysis from an cryptocurrency advocate's point of view: A win for cryptocurrency and a win for Putin that will be a win for Russia. Gold Goats n GunsRussia’s Crypto-Ruble Just Changed the Game Tom Luongo also The DuranCrypto-Rouble: Russia to launch first state sanctioned cryptocurrency in the worldAdam Garrie
Read More »Maura Reynolds — How to tame Putin
You can't make this stuff up.If this is not snark, then the West is in for an ass-whipping, administered by themselves. If true, the entire West has caught the Hillary Clinton syndrome. They simply cannot see that their major problems are of their own creation. Deep in denial. PoliticoHow to tame Putin Maura ReynoldsSee also The first communist revolution had almost as many consequences for the rest of the world as it did for Russia itself. Its demise has brought about another type of...
Read More »Moon of Alabama — The “Russian Influence” Stories Promote Russia’s Might – Is Putin Paying For Them?
Moon of Alabama explains how ridiculous, but dangerous for democracy nevertheless, the "Russian influence" media mania has become. He speculates felicitously that perhaps Putin is funding it to make the US look weak and Russia strong. Looking from the outside the U.S. media have simply gone nuts. There seems to be no other way to explain the silliness of their "reporting". Then again: Could they all be under Russian influence? Are Russian secret services paying for such stories? Consider...
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