http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com The World Affairs Blog Network Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:46:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In the 1990s, the Russian film landscape had come to resemble something straight out of Tarkovsky's Stalker, with stray dogs wandering through Mosfilm studios in Eisenstein's footprints and actors and directors stumbling around a menacing no man's land in search of money and meaning. What happened before, and after, is the ... http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/17/is-russian-cinema-dead/ Putin, according to Forbes, which has named the Russian Prime Minister the third most powerful man on Earth, towering not only above Oprah (45) and Google CEOs Brin and Page (5) but also, conspicuously, above his own president (Medvedev, 43). Forbes goes on to declare Putin the 'anti-Obama', who 'might as ... http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/16/who-really-rules-the-kremlin/ The Russian government may not have a stellar judicial record, as Khodorkovsky can confirm. Yet the fact that he is alive at all he owes to his country's even worse democratic record. You see, whereas "a recent survey shows around two thirds of Russians support the death penalty", Medvedev and the ... http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/11/kremlin-saves-russians-from-killer-democracy/ Don't get me wrong: I cried as much as anyone when I watched the BBC 9 o'clock newscast from November 9, 1989. In fact, it was precisely the raw human solidarity behind those unforgettable scenes that exposed the farcical, hypocritical and self-serving nature of the official commemorations marking the fall of ... http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/09/why-i-didnt-celebrate-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall/ The Global South, it seems. According to a BBC poll published on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, "opinion about the disintegration of the Soviet Union is sharply divided. Europeans overwhelmingly say it was a good thing: 79% in Germany, 76% in Britain and 74% in France feel ... http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/08/who-misses-the-ussr/ My last post chronicled the large numbers of people (45% of Russians and up to 62% of Ukrainians) made worse off by the fall of the USSR. But what about the rest? One man who certainly did not figure among them was Misha, the hero of a vivid, at times zany, ... http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/05/chronicles-of-a-oviet-capitalist/ After twenty years of post-Communism, it's time to ask: cui bono? According to a sweeping Pew Research Center poll of Eastern Europeans released yesterday, "the prevailing view in Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary is that people were better off economically under communism. Only in the Czech Republic and Poland ... http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/03/better-red-than-unfed-a-survey-of-post-communism/ Terrified German officers called them Night-Witches. 'Night' because of the way they idled their engines to glide silently over German cities in daring night-time bombing raids. And 'witches', because they were women. Today, the BBC aired an unmissable documentary about the legendary Soviet 46th Night Bombers Guards Regiment, the first female ... http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/02/tale-of-two-night-witches/ With a neo-con editor who believes that "with the Russians, if you don’t demand and threaten a little, you get zero", the New Republic is the last place to find a reasoned view on Russia.  Or on Iran for that matter, considering this famously faux-liberal magazine's hawkish anti-Islamic stance. So imagine ... http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/27/a-good-russia-article-in-the-new-republic-and-a-flying-pig/ An interesting (fake?) discussion took place between top oligarch Boris Deripaska and Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday. According to veteran rogue journalist John Helmer, the exchange went as follows: Deripaska told Medvedev that it is impossible to get a fair ruling from the law courts without paying bribes. “The courts have become overgrown with ... http://russia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/22/corruption-in-russia-nothing-is-what-it-seems/