Too often, experts ask the question “who governs Russia”, when they should be asking how the country is governed. Ryan Steele argues that by failing to understand the patterns in which Russia has been governed for centuries, we miss vital contexts to the power of Putinism. There are salient characteristics in the means by which … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: January 2015
Inertia might put Russian energy on a diet
On January 7, Russia’s former Deputy Energy Minister and well-known economist Vladimir Milov gave a speech at Columbia University about Russia’s woes in a time of low oil prices and Western sanctions. Paolo Sorbello gives this account of Milov’s argument. Milov’s intervention was bold and direct, a rollercoaster of facts and numbers. Reciting all manner … Continue reading
New year, new sanctions
The holiday period brought no rapprochement with the West for Russia, where sanctions and speculation are seen as having a large impact on the economic outlook. Indeed, the US has unilaterally imposed additional sanctions, and yet these alone will not determine either the future of Vladimir Putin’s leadership or Russia’s foreign policy. Our editor wrote … Continue reading