2020-03-01

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last week dismissing Vladislav Surkov as his adviser.Given the power he wielded, and his improbable rise, this news has become one of the most talked-about things in Russia.  It's not exactly a transparent place, so what has resulted are various theories regarding the reasons for this decision and its potential consequences.

2020-02-09

Recent domestic political changes in Russia, including the process of amending the Constitution, have become the subject of close attention.  Most experts believe that Putin's main goal is to formulate new political structure to preserve his rule over the county after the end of the term in 2024.  However, the reasons for these transformations have deeper roots that are associated with changes in the geopolitical picture of the world.

2020-02-09

This year, the international community will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the allied victory over the Third Reich. This date is extremely important for the entire civilized world, which suffered huge human and material losses. In fact, everything regarding World War II is of particular value to Russia's President Vladimir Putin. During his visit to Israel, he once again emphasized the need to preserve the memory of all victims of the War.

2020-01-28

It has been almost nine years since the murder of Moammar Gaddafi. All this time, the North African country has been trying to find a foothold and overcome the chaos that followed the collapse of Gaddafi's regime. The Libyan crisis of power, with all the unpleasant consequences associated with it, bothers quite a lot of players in the arena of global politics.

2020-01-23

The new political season in Russia began with serious transformations of the internal political configuration. President Vladimir Putin announced the preparation of constitutional amendments. After that, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev declared the dissolution of the government. Clarity of action and quick personnel shifts show that these decisions of the Russian leader were the result of long-term planning.

2019-12-22

Recently, Russian leader Vladimir Putin held the end-of-year press conference where 2 thousand journalists from around the world tried to understand the future political plans of the Kremlin's holder. This event has become a tradition whereby Putin demonstrates that the liberal elite’s policy of isolating Russia has failed. The logic is that it is impossible to ignore the interests of the largest country. Therefore, the efforts of top news agencies to understand its next steps are clear evidence of this.

2019-12-12

The meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Four countries in Paris became one of the most important foreign policy events of this year.  As a result of lengthy and rather nervous negotiations, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and France, as well as the chancellor of Germany, adopted a final communiqué with three main highlighted points.  The first is immediate stabilization measures in Donbass.  It is about establishing a ceasefire before the end of 2019, as well as creating three new areas of withdrawal of forces by the end of March 2020. 

2019-12-07

Bilateral consultations between Moscow and Beijing on strategic stability were held this week in Shanghai. At the end of the conference, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said the Russian-Chinese bond was confidently established among the key factors in maintaining international security and stability and in the establishment of multipolar world order. Interestingly, such statements are frequently heard from the Kremlin's high-ranking politicians, who are responsible for the development and implementation of the country's foreign policy. 

2019-12-02

Today's Russia is in the most critical stage of its ideological design.  Its beginning was laid in the article by Vladislav Surkov (aide to the Russian president) under the symbolic title "Long-lasting state of Putin."  The piece was widely discussed by the expert community in Russia and abroad.  Many took this article as a signal that Putin was not going to leave after his presidential term's expiration in 2024 and was preparing his domestic public and international community for this through his éminence grise (as Surkov is often called).  However, with a detailed analysis of the processes that occur in modern Russia, one can come to deeper conclusions.

2019-11-25

Vladimir Putin’s aide, Vladislav Surkov – called the Kremlin’s grey eminence by the Russian elite – said that the ideology of Putinism has long ceased to be local and has reached a global level. Prior to that, in one of the Kremlin journals, Surkov wrote an article-manifesto entitled “The long-lasting state of Putin.” The core thesis of the piece was that, for the times to come, Russia would be governed according to the ideological foundations that had been introduced during the reign of the current president.Nicolas Maduro and Evo Morales are dangerous dictators who led their countries into chaos. 

2019-11-09

Nicolas Maduro and Evo Morales are dangerous dictators who led their countries into chaos. From a rational viewpoint, left-wing socialists in Latin America can be called a dead political burden. Betting on these regimes is futile in the long run. Does the Kremlin understand this? Yes, it does. Hence, a completely logical question may arise here:  What is the reason for Russians to support them? There can be no simple answer: to understand the real motives of Moscow’s actions,

2019-11-09

Elimination of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the ISIS terrorist organization, was a bright victory for Donald Trump's presidential administration. However, the implications extend far beyond eliminating the number one Middle East terrorist. It is extremely interesting that Trump openly expressed gratitude to the governments of Russia, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq for their support in achieving this important goal. The statement of American leader may seem like a formal courtesy, but it is truly crucial. During Obama's presidency, US foreign policy proceeded from the philosophy of the need to inflict maximum harm on Russia because of personal hostility to President Vladimir Putin and his conservative policies.

2019-10-21

Putin has consistently consolidated power and synchronized the work of its individual branches. The basic principle of his model is not a conflict of powers that is based on competition and distrust to each other but their synchronization that relies on trust and cooperation. As a result, not only the clan conflict of the post-Soviet 90s was left behind but, more importantly, the necessary political conditions for solving urgent tasks for the country's development were created. Having survived the period of internal divisions that were accompanied by transcendental political ambitions of regional elites and oligarchs, the state managed to return to its natural form of a solid harmonious mechanism.

2019-10-18

This week, in the U.N. Security Council, Russia refused to support the United States' press statement on the Turkish military operation in the Syrian Arab Republic.  It feels as though the Kremlin's step is rather due to the principles of the dominant ideological system of modern Russia — the ideology of Putinism — than to momentary tactical considerations for solving Middle Eastern problems.  Vladimir Putin's ruling method as applied to international issues implies rigid protection of national interests based on the principle "we do not bother anyone, but we will not let anyone bother us."  There is a well known quote by the Russian leader on this subject: "a bear will not give up its taiga."».

«President Trump’s position on Syrian issues is extremely pragmatic. It proceeds from the philosophy of the United States national interests. Why would American citizens sacrifice their lives in these conflicts? Neoliberals that lowered the rating and international prestige of the country during their reign are to carry responsibility for them. In Syrian case, Russia acted on the basis of its national interests. Therefore, Putinism won. We have to do the same».

Den Kalmyk – PhD, expert in economics. He was a Senior Lecturer at Yale University and Oxford University. Guest author to «The Liberty Nation».

 

"Not only sanctions are political and economic tools against Russia, but they also unite Congress as a legislative institute of power. Only sanctions against Moscow are adopted by an absolute bipartisan majority in both chambers of Congress. Meantime, the similar instrument against Iran or China causes harsh debates within each of the parties, between the parties, various committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Interestingly, the American legislators that typically have discussions and doubts in other cases do not have anything of that kind when it comes to restrictions against Russia."

Areg Galstyan – PhD, a regular contributor to the American Thinker, The Liberty Nation and Forbes.

On preparation of new sanctions.

2019-10-05

Having arisen as a response to negative consequences of the French Revolution of 1789, conservatism has reappeared as a means of gaining ideological and value consolidation in the ideological chaos of the modern world. In these days of our lives that could be characterized by inconsistency of political processes, high levels of information entropy, and blurred value orientations, the conservative agenda is becoming increasingly appealing. It is known that everything new is well-forgotten old. Therefore, the phenomenon of reappearing dominance of the conservative vector requires conceptual substantiation and attracts the attention of specialists and representatives of the political and intellectual establishment of the world's leading states

2019-09-05

The prosecution of Russian agents in the 2014 shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine has given Vladimir Putin one more reason not to relinquish power when his term ends in 2024 even if the Russian Constitution says he must. Boris Yeltsin, you may recall, was reportedly eased into retirement by Mr. Putin with a promise that his family would be spared any recriminations for years of corruption. Who would do the same for Mr. Putin? His regime is no less dependent on wealthy individuals who may well decide their wealth and prospects are more at risk from Mr. Putin’s survival than his departure, most glaringly because of the tightening Western sanctions that interfere with their enjoyment of their foreign assets and bank accounts

2019-08-19

It is the year 2000 – the beginning of the first presidential term of Vladimir Putin. In an interview with Paris Match, a French weekly magazine, journalist Marek Halter states that the lack of ideology is filled with religion. President Putin answers: “But religion is also an ideology.” In fact, it was the ideological impassability in Russia of the 2000s that served as the background for this phrase; the communist system of values sank into the political abyss, various kinds of neophyte movements began to gain popularity, and there was no holistic system of universal reference points

2019-07-03

President Putin declared the liberal idea obsolete. However, he is not able to offer something in return, says columnist "Le Monde"(France) Sylvie Kaufmann. Such a statement shocked the West. But the words of the Russian leader got a point, as thirty years after the victory of the liberal idea over communism, Western democracies feel vulnerable. In 2012, on the eve of his election for the third term as the President of Russia after a break as Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin received at his dacha in Novo-Ogarevo six Western journalists, including a representative of the French newspaper "Le Monde".

2019-06-28

Recently, a Russian newspaper published an article by Vladislav Surkov, an advisor to the President of Russia. The piece was entitled “The long-lasting state of Putin.” In it, the Kremlin’s grey eminence explained the country’s current state and set coordinates of the long-term development of Russian statehood. What follows is an exploration of his views, not my own. The author identified several types of empires that existed in Russian history: the state of Ivan the Third; the Empire of Peter the Great; Soviet Union of Lenin; and Russian Federation of Vladimir Putin. They had different social architecture and were formed in opposition to each other. In the era of Ivan the Third, the country freed itself from the Mongol-Tatar yoke; meantime, Moscow strengthened as a political center around which the fragmented principalities merged.
 

2019-06-17

Over the past thirty years, the neoliberal order has noticeably weakened the concept of nation-states as traditional actors on the international stage. The collapse of the USSR indicated the triumph and unconditional domination of global democratization theory – that is, the notion that democracy is the ideal system for every society. After the unexpected victory of young Democrat Bill Clinton over political titan George H. W. Bush in the 1992 election, international organizations, transnational corporations, and various non-profit associations came to the fore. They enacted a policy to erase national boundaries and economies by encouraging integration across borders. However, time has shown that standardized mechanisms and approaches fail when applied to diverse civilizations. Therefore, nations and peoples are now looking for fresh benchmarks.
 

2019-06-07

"It only seems that we have a choice." These words are strikingly bold and deep.Pronounced a decade and a half ago, they are forgotten and not quoted today. However, according to the laws of psychology, what we have forgotten affects us much more than what we remember. Extending far beyond the context in which they sounded, these words became the first axiom of the new Russian statehood and the foundation of all theories and practices of contemporary politics. The illusion of choice is the most important of all illusions, being the main trick of the Western way of life in general, and Western democracy in particular, which has long been committed to the ideas of Barnum rather than Cleisthenes. In the first place, rejecting this illusion in favor of realism of predestination led our society to reflecting on its own, special and sovereign version of democratic development. Then, it completely lost interest in discussions on what democracy should be and whether it should exist at all.
 

2019-05-28

While the standoff between adversaries rages on, recent weeks saw an intensified communication between American and Russian high-level officials over the wide array of issues on which Moscow and Washington have contrasting views. On May 14, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and later with President Vladimir Putin in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi. As the Russian side reports, although the delegations spent hours of concentrated negotiations discussing the situations in Venezuela and Syria, as well as North Korea, Iran and Ukraine, the meetings ended without any result. The Sochi meeting was followed by another Pompeo-Lavrov conversation on May 6, on the margins of the Arctic Council meeting held this year in Finland.

2019-05-15

Vladimir Putin meets with officials from Washington in bid to restore good relations. Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both expressed hopes that their two nations could forge stronger ties during talks in Sochi this week.With “tensions running high over Iran, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela”, says the Associated Press, Putin told Pompeo that it was time to move on following the conclusion of the US probe into Russian election meddling investigation. In turn, Pompeo said the Donald Trump administration was eager to improve relations with Russia in order to work on areas of mutual concern, and described Tuesday’s talks in the Russian Black Sea resort as “a good step in that

2019-05-14

The world is currently living through a very intriguing period. Obviously, we live in an era of global changes. The dichotomy of relations between Russia and the West is the most interesting and unpredictable phenomenon. The West and Russia are in geopolitical confrontation. Moscow won in Syria and is strengthening its position in Afghanistan and in the Middle East. NATO member Turkey is drifting towards it, intent on buying Russian S-400 systems. The largest country in the Arab world, Egypt is deepening its military ties with Russians. In Europe, dissatisfaction with anti-Russian sanction policy is also growing. In Italy, Austria, and a number of countries in Eastern and Southern Europe, parties are striving to seek an understanding with Vladimir Putin's Russia.
 

2019-04-09

The impact one can have on building institutions like the modern state, the rule of law, and democracy is limited. The area where it’s easiest is the third category, building democracy. The first two, building the modern state and building a real rule of law, are much harder, and those are the areas that have been the real obstacles to the modernization of the political systems of many countries, including Ukraine. The reason that those are particularly difficult is that they’re essentially about power. If you hold an election, the old guard can think we will win the election. We know how to run candidates, we can contest things, we can protect our interests. If you want to build a modern state, it’s a different task. If you want to have a rule of law that applies to powerful people in a society, that is much harder because one is basically forcing them to give up power.
 

2019-04-04

Recently, there has been an interesting trend of high-ranking Russian politicians writing articles of an ideological nature in which they attempt to analyze the metaphysical meaning of global political processes and find a place for Moscow in a changing world. The most interesting piece originates from Vladislav Surkov, personal adviser to Vladimir Putin. The article is devoted to the new civilizational stage of the Russian state. In Surkov's opinion, there are four state models in Russian history: the Grand Duchy of Moscow of Ivan the Third (XV -- XVII centuries), the Russian Empire of Peter the Great (XVIII -- XIX centuries), the Soviet Empire of Lenin (XX century) and the Russian Federation of Vladimir Putin. Surkov’s main message is that the country has approached a certain period when the process of forming a new long-term national ideology -- “Putinism” -- is being completed.