http://www.rferl.org Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is an international news and broadcast organization serving Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia, the Middle East and Balkan countries http://www.rferl.org/img/rssLogo.gif http://www.rferl.org en-US Copyright 2009 - RFE/RL, Inc. 60 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:44:42 +0000 Pangea CMS – RFE/RL The parties that stormed out of the Russian State Duma in protest last week cannot possibly have believed that Dmitry Medvedev would respond any differently than Vladimir Putin would have. In the eighteen months he has been in power, Medvedev has not made a single statement that required courage, or taken a single step that could have upset the status quo. http://www.rferl.org/content/Dmitry_Medvedevs_Theater_Of_The_Absurd/1855621.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Dmitry_Medvedevs_Theater_Of_The_Absurd/1855621.html Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:34:20 +0000 Commentary http://www.rferl.org/content/Dmitry_Medvedevs_Theater_Of_The_Absurd/1855621.html#relatedInfoContainer For all their reputation for somnolence, corruption, intrigue, and occasional descent into paranoia, Russian rulers, courtiers, and bureaucrats have been anything but uncreative, inflexible and lacking in ideas. Even today, a Russian politician can perform U-turns and somersaults that would turn any acrobat green with envy. Witness, for example, the Kremlin's recent overtures to the exiled Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev. http://www.rferl.org/content/From_Byzantium_To_Grozny__Russias_UTurn_Toward_Zakayev/1801249.html http://www.rferl.org/content/From_Byzantium_To_Grozny__Russias_UTurn_Toward_Zakayev/1801249.html Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:07:26 +0000 Commentary http://www.rferl.org/content/From_Byzantium_To_Grozny__Russias_UTurn_Toward_Zakayev/1801249.html#relatedInfoContainer Those who observe the intricate chiaroscuro of Russian politics could take their cue from Rembrandt's devotees. Just as in perusing his canvases you should never overlook the patches that look as though they were infused in dark-brown gravy, it makes sense every now and then to shine candlelight into the dark corners of the Russian state to glean insights into its internal politics. And what could be darker than the North Caucasus? http://www.rferl.org/content/A_Connoisseurs_Guide_To_Chiaroscuro_In_Caucasus_Politics/1744950.html http://www.rferl.org/content/A_Connoisseurs_Guide_To_Chiaroscuro_In_Caucasus_Politics/1744950.html Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:11:05 +0000 Commentary http://www.rferl.org/content/A_Connoisseurs_Guide_To_Chiaroscuro_In_Caucasus_Politics/1744950.html#relatedInfoContainer Josef Stalin is dead, but there are some places where you would be forgiven for doubting it. In Chechnya, strongman Ramzan Kadyrov and his Kremlin backers seem to have closely studied Stalin's methodology: propaganda, information warfare, internments, mop-up operations, and the creation of a personality cult. http://www.rferl.org/content/Moscows_Tactics_In_Chechnya_Draw_On_Stalinist_Legacy/1607746.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Moscows_Tactics_In_Chechnya_Draw_On_Stalinist_Legacy/1607746.html Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:21:12 +0000 Commentary http://www.rferl.org/content/Moscows_Tactics_In_Chechnya_Draw_On_Stalinist_Legacy/1607746.html#relatedInfoContainer Why would a politician in a democracy, even for the sake of winning a few extra votes, want to resurrect (and be tied to) the rhetoric and slogans of an autocrat who has dismantled virtually every democratic institution in his country? http://www.rferl.org/content/The_Perils_of_Flogging_A_Dead_Metaphor/1490781.html http://www.rferl.org/content/The_Perils_of_Flogging_A_Dead_Metaphor/1490781.html Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:14:22 +0000 Commentary Nine years and thousands of destroyed lives later, Chechnya remains a bleak and desolate place, its cemeteries filled with fresh graves, evidence of the war still visible amid the Potemkin villages hastily erected by the local strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov, to impress the occasional visitor. Kadyrov, Putin's cherished protege and the chief purveyor of violence and corruption, runs Chechnya in despotic style and with little regard for the laws of the country. http://www.rferl.org/content/Putins_LongEnded_War_Enters_Its_10th_Year/1336921.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Putins_LongEnded_War_Enters_Its_10th_Year/1336921.html Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:42:27 +0000 Commentary http://www.rferl.org/content/Putins_LongEnded_War_Enters_Its_10th_Year/1336921.html#relatedInfoContainer For years, Russia has made repeated attempts to provoke Georgia into taking military action against its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Behind that plan was a basic belief that a Georgian crackdown would discredit Tbilisi in the eyes of its Western backers and cast permanent doubts on its aspirations to join NATO and the European Union. http://www.rferl.org/content/West_Fails_To_Deter_Georgian_President_From_Playing_Into_Russian_Hands/1190098.html http://www.rferl.org/content/West_Fails_To_Deter_Georgian_President_From_Playing_Into_Russian_Hands/1190098.html Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:30:21 +0000 Commentary There are three targets which the young and temperamental leader of Russia's Chechen Republic seems particularly fond of assailing: the Islamic insurgency, Russia's state-owned oil company Rosneft, and the Russian armed forces in Chechnya. http://www.rferl.org/content/Chechen_Leader_Takes_On_Three_Powerful_Foes/1186983.html http://www.rferl.org/content/Chechen_Leader_Takes_On_Three_Powerful_Foes/1186983.html Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:40:43 +0000 Commentary