RFE/RL: Erosion Of Independent Media A Key Feature Of Russia's Democratic Decline
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posted by eagle on June, 2010 as ANALYSIS / OPINION
June 29, 2010Erosion of Independent Media a Key Feature of Russia's Democratic Decline
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) According to a new Freedom House report unveiled at RFE/RL's Washington, D.C. office today, independent media have declined significantly across the former Soviet Union during the past decade. "What good is a protest if there's nobody to cover it?" asked Oleg Kozlovsky, a popular Russian blogger and human rights activist who participated in a panel to discuss the release of Freedom House's Nations in Transit 2010. The report documents a deterioration of democratic institutions in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe in 2009. The findings cap a decade in which all of the former Soviet countries (except the Baltic states) suffered declines in democratic accountability, with the steepest drop occurring in Russia.  If Russians want better lives, they need to implement Western-style democratic reforms. 
Vladimir Milov, one of the founders of Russia's opposition "Solidarity" movement and the country's former Deputy Energy Minister, blamed Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for the "slide towards authoritarianism." "If Russians want better lives, they need to implement Western-style ... >> full
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PBS: Justice Department: Russian Intelligence Officers Served As Illegal Agents
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
ANALYSIS AIR DATE: June 28, 2010 Justice Department: Russian Intelligence Officers Served as Illegal Agents
SUMMARY The Justice Department announced the arrest of 10 Russian intelligence officers for allegedly carrying out long-term, deep cover assignments as illegal agents in the United States. Jeffrey Brown talks with two experts for more. Transcript JEFFREY BROWN: Next: a modern spy story involving Russia and the United States once again. The announcement came late this afternoon from the Justice Department: 10 Russia intelligence officers arrested for allegedly serving as illegal agents of the Russian government in the United States. A statement was released saying that eight individuals were arrested Sunday for allegedly carrying out long-term deep-cover assignments in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation. It went on to say that two additional defendants were also arrested Sunday for allegedly participating in the same Russian intelligence program within the United States. Each of the 10 faced charges, including conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government. Nine of the defendants are also charged ... >> full
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The American Interest: Toolbox: Georgia's Territorial Integrity, by Alexander Cooley & Lincoln Mitchell
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posted by circassiankama on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Toolbox: Georgia's Territorial Integrity, by Alexander Cooley & Lincoln Mitchell |
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Wednesday, 05 May 2010 14:54 |

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The American Interest
From the May - June 2010 issue
ACTION MEMORANDUM
TO: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
FROM: Alexander Cooley & Lincoln Mitchell
DATE: May 1, 2010
SUBJECT: Georgia’s Territorial Integrity |
Since the Russo-Georgian War of August 2008, the United States and the European Union have adamantly, and justifiably, refused to accept Russia’s postwar recognition of the declared independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. However, Washington and Brussels have failed, together and separately, to develop a realistic strategy toward the breakaway territories that takes changed political dynamics into account. Indeed, we do not have a workable policy at all; we have platitudes stuck in amber that ignore reality. The core realities we must acknowledge are, first, that these territories are almost certainly ... | >> full
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The Wilson Center: Contemporary Attitudes and Beliefs in Transdnestria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia: A Preliminary Analysis of Survey Data
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posted by circassiankama on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Contemporary Attitudes and Beliefs in Transdnestria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia: A Preliminary Analysis of Survey Data Cosponsored by the School of Public and International Affairs, Virginia Tech
April 26 2010, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
At a 26 April 2010 Kennan Institute talk, John O’Loughlin, Vladimir Kolossov, and Gerard Toal presented data from a public opinion survey conducted by the Levada Center under their direction in Abkhazia in March and April of 2010. The survey is the first part of a broader social science project encompassing South Ossetia, Moldova, Transdniestria, Abkhazia, Kosovo, and Georgia that aimes to measure the attitudes of inhabitants of these areas on a range of social, political, and economic issues. The project ‘The Dynamics of Secessionist Regions: Eurasian Unrecognized Quasi-States after Kosovo's Independence’ is funded by the US National Science Foundation from 2008 to 2011.
The speakers described Transdniestria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia as de facto states, which they defined as "secessionist regions that have established internal territorial sovereignty but ... >> full
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Scraps Of Moscow: American Interests In The Caucasus
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posted by circassiankama on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
American Interests in the Caucasus, by Sergey Markedonov |
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Thursday, 03 June 2010 18:04 |
Polit.ru, May 13, 2010 (Американский интерес на Кавказе)
[Translated by Lyndon Allin for www.scrapsofmoscow.org]
The immediate reason for writing this article was my telephone conversation with a correspondent of the Voice of Russia radio station. The journalist for the state-owned station was interested in an article by Alexander Cooley and Lincoln Mitchell, two American specialists from Columbia University. The political scientists’ article, subtitled "Action Memorandum” and addressed to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, concludes that a serious reformatting of America’s foreign policy toward Georgia and Abkhazia is necessary. You read correctly, Cooley and Mitchell consider Abkhazia as a separate policy actor (and not just an object of policy), with which a constructive relationship should be developed, without, however, formally recognizing Abkhazia’s independence. "Engagement without recognition” is the formula used by the ... | | >> full
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