Russia Matters

The authorities are faced with the fiendish task of convincing democratic-minded voters that there is no point in voting, while making every effort to boost turnout among the conformist, state-dependent electorate.

Rapid economic growth requires reforms; reforms frighten entrenched elites; lack of economic growth will eventually force the regime to change—though whether this means more democratization or more repressiveness remains to be seen.

Graham T. Allison, Paul Pillar and Jessica Stern discuss how the United States should deal with terrorism in the aftermath of its military withdrawal from Afghanistan and with friends and rivals abroad to secure vital security interests today.

U.S.-Russian cooperation in the initial stages of the Afghan war appeared to be transformative. Today, it is instructive to ask why the anti-terror partnership collapsed and what the Taliban’s victory might mean for future relations.

This year, the FT wrote that Russia’s GDP per capita is 30% lower than in 2013—a surprising claim as neither Russia’s GDP nor its population had changed so drastically in that time. We find the number to be debatable.

As Russia prepares to hold exercises in its western regions again, we hear warnings that Moscow will use the wargames as cover for aggression against another country; however, the conditions necessary for a Russian military intervention are absent.

When it comes to the events unfolding in Afghanistan, perspectives of Russia’s non-government Middle East experts on the ascent of the Taliban and its impact on Russia appear to be more varied than those of Russian diplomats and their other official ...

Moscow’s military intervention in Afghanistan lasted nearly a decade (1979-1989). It cost the USSR dearly in blood, treasure and power, but imparted lessons as well. Can some of these prove useful to the U.S. today?

Laruelle convincingly depicts the perils of the poisonous potential of the memory wars and frivolous accusations in fascism to eliminate prospects for a negotiated modus vivendi on the European continent and driving the game to a set of zero-sum enco...

In this episode of Sean's Russia Blog, host and Eurasia expert Sean Guillory talks with Alexander Morrison on his new book, "The Russian Conquest of Central Asia," published by Cambridge University Press.