It may now be even more tempting to agree with the view that: "all you really need to do to seem clairvoyant about [Russia] is to be an utter pessimist" My take: reflecting introspectively on why it is so tempting to take this approach is a useful exercise for conflict analysts.
In 2014 I re-read a book written in 2004 about "Russia's next ten years" and wrote a blog post about it. I even included a 1994 Putin quote. Now it's 2024, and I feel there's still useful food for thought in this "decade hopping" excercise […] [Original post on mastodon.social]
The Soviet correspondent (broadly), Совинформбюро, is available in an official scanned version - http://electro.nekrasovka.ru/collections/156 - and in a somewhat dodgy but at least easy-to-download text version - […]
I was considering trying out some text analysis of how different military forces have been reporting on wars in the past (and in the present), but I have been somewhat surprised that even such basic and structured texts do not seem to be readily available online in textual format. E.g. the […]
I just received the first issue of "From the Republics" a brand-new newsletter about developments in Russia’s non-Slavic ethnic republics https://fromtherepublics.com/#Russia
What I find most amusing, if I may say so, of Russia's newly proclaimed policy of giving visa to people escaping Western liberal values, is the (mis)use of the word "neoliberalism", used also in the official decree: > "Applications may be based on the […] [Original post on mastodon.social]
Highly informative brief by Crisis Group: "Afghanistan Three Years after the Taliban Takeover" https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/afghanistan/afghanistan-three-years-after-taliban-takeover It is short and highly readble, highlighting what got worst since the Taliban took over (women […]
New round of sanctions from #Russiahttps://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1965993/
Good interview with Heidi Tagliavini published 15 years after the publication of her report on war in South Ossetia back in 2008. https://www.ekhokavkaza.com/a/haydi-taljyavini-obstrel-tshinvali-stal-triggerom-kotoryy-privel-k-vtorzheniyu/33079882.html Worth paying attention to the final note […]
Olympics medals by place of birth of medalists in Europe, including ranking by region (rather than by country) Interactive map: https://edjnet.github.io/OlympicsGoNUTS/2024/medalists_map.html [Original post on mastodon.social]
