STRATOR: Ten Years of Putin
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posted by circassiankama on August, 2009 as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Ten Years of Putin
August 4, 2009 | 1914 GMT
By Peter Zeihan
This coming weekend marks the 10th anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s
assumption of a leadership position at the Kremlin. Much has happened
since Putin’s appointment as first vice prime minister in August 1999,
but Russia’s most definitive evolution was from the unstable but
semidemocratic days of the 1990s to the statist, authoritarian
structure of today.
While it has hardly been clear to STRATFOR that Putin would survive
Russia’s transition from tentative democracy to near-police state, the
transformation of Russia itself has always fit with our predictions.
Authoritarian government is a geographically hardwired feature of
Russia.
Russia’s authoritarian structure has its roots in two interlinking
features: its size and ... >> full
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Window On Eurasia: Huntington’s ‘Clash Of Civilizations’ Shaping Moscow’s Approach, Analyst Says
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Vienna, August 3 – Political leaders in Russia have been profoundly affected by Samuel Huntington’s theory of the clash of civilizations, all the more so, one Moscow commentator suggests, because of the late Harvard theorist’s suggestion that Orthodox Christianity constitutes the basis for one of those civilizational blocs.
In a provocative article posted online last week entitled “Why Huntington was Wrong about ‘Orthodox Civilization,’” Vladimir Mozhegov argues that it should have come as no surprise that Russian leaders would be attracted to and then fundamentally misuse Huntington’s ideas (www.russ.ru/pole/Pochemu-Hantington-oshibsya-s-pravoslavnoj-civilizaciej).
The Moscow publicist says that Moscow elites, political and especially religious, were drawn to Huntington’s theory less because of his call for a multi-polar world and criticism of the West for its application of “double standards” around the world than for his comments about the existence of a Russian-centered “Orthodox civilization” at odds with other civilizations.
The notion of a distinctly “Orthodox” civilization, as ...
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Window On Eurasia: Deadly Ethnic Clash In Closed City Adjoining Russian Missile Test Site
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Vienna, August 3 – A deadly clash between ethnic Chechens and ethnic Russians in a closed city near a missile test site in Astrakhan oblast on July 19th both has sparked fears among many Russians of a new wave of Kondopoga-type violence across that country and raised questions about security in some of Moscow’s most sensitive military facilities.
And these concerns have been intensified because Russian officials first tried to suppress media coverage, thus leaving the field to bloggers -- some of whom like those connected to the Movement against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) have their own agendas -- and then downplaying the events in ways that have led more people to ask what in fact took place.
Until the end of last week, as various Russian news agencies pointed out since Friday, the clash in the closed city of Znamensk near the Kapustin Yar military rocket test facility had “become ...
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RIA Novosti: Russian Missile Chief Fired Amid Speculation
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Rubric:Russia Russian missile chief fired amid speculation 03/08/200921:15
MOSCOW, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, has been replaced by his deputy, Lt. Gen. Andrei Shvaichenko, amid media speculation over failed missile launches. Solovtsov is reported to have been discharged from military service on reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60. His replacement Shvaichenko, 56, was first appointed deputy SMF commander and SMF chief of staff in 2001. Solovtsov became SMF commander in 2001. In December 2008 he turned 60, the retirement age for military commanders at the rank of colonel general. Some Western media sources, however, have linked his dismissal to a series of embarrassing failed test-launches of the troubled Bulava ballistic missile, as well as disagreements over Russia's controversial military reforms. However, Russian military experts expressed skepticism. Pavel Felgengauer, a military commentator for Novaya Gazeta, said there was nothing unusual about Solovtsov's dismissal on reaching the age of retirement, adding that the Bulava was part of the country's naval component and had nothing ...
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RIA Novosti: Russian Missile Chief Fired Amid Speculation
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Rubric:Russia Russian missile chief fired amid speculation 03/08/200921:15
MOSCOW, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, has been replaced by his deputy, Lt. Gen. Andrei Shvaichenko, amid media speculation over failed missile launches. Solovtsov is reported to have been discharged from military service on reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60. His replacement Shvaichenko, 56, was first appointed deputy SMF commander and SMF chief of staff in 2001. Solovtsov became SMF commander in 2001. In December 2008 he turned 60, the retirement age for military commanders at the rank of colonel general. Some Western media sources, however, have linked his dismissal to a series of embarrassing failed test-launches of the troubled Bulava ballistic missile, as well as disagreements over Russia's controversial military reforms. However, Russian military experts expressed skepticism. Pavel Felgengauer, a military commentator for Novaya Gazeta, said there was nothing unusual about Solovtsov's dismissal on reaching the age of retirement, adding that the Bulava was part of the country's naval component and had nothing ...
comments (0)
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