Group items tagged

After the US walked away from discussions on Syria, President Putin stepped up his country's military activity, with an enormous mobilization of first responders and civilians on the home front. In addition, the President redeployed nuclear weapons, making sure to leave some in place for American surveillance satellites to see. Mr. Putin also suggested the reopening of Russian military bases in Vietnam and Cuba. However, many see this as a distraction from the Russian economy, which is showing the first dip in income for the country's citizens since Putin assumed the Presidency in 2000. The nation's budget is also being heavily slashed, with healthcare and the military losing 33% and 6% of their funding, respectively. People inside Russia commented that the new budget leaves money for the military and police, and little else. Further speculation is that Mr. Putin is using the same strategy he employed in the Ukraine, which is to ramp up Russia's military and leverage that in diplomatic conversation with other nations. Some of Putin's comments also suggest that he wants to push Russia as a concern of the US Presidential election, and make sure that whoever the next President is will see Russia as a force to be reckoned with.

I hope my annotations saved

Great use of Diigo annotation tool, Anay!

Russian government says Vladimir Putin requested to meet with President Obama next week during their travels to the United Nations. The meetings comes as Obama and Putin have been at odds over Russian military activity in Ukraine and Syria.

The current Kazakh president has not been both indecisive and self-interested shaping the nation's alliances. At the beginning of this year, Tokayev shut down the whole country due to protests, and gave the equivalent to the national guard shoot to kill orders. He invited Russian forces to intervene. Then, bizarrely, when the draft in Russia began, Kazakhstan accepted fleeing Russians without giving them problems, and had a falling out with the Kremlin. Now, Tokayev reaffirmed positive relations with Russia. This is probably a matter of money moving hands.

Three more bits from the article: 1. from Tokayev, the Kazakh leader: "For Kazakhstan, Russia is and has always been a strategic partner." 2. Putin told Tokayev that relations between Moscow and Astana have a "special character." 3. Speaking at a summit of the Moscow-led CSTO security bloc in Armenia last week, Tokayev called for a "joint collective search for a formula for peace." . . . "We must not allow the fraternal Russian and Ukrainian peoples to part ways for tens or hundreds of years with mutual unhealed grievances." Sounds like Tokayev has a tricky line to draw in his relationship with Russia. Really interesting, Slava!

"Dmitry Medvedev is president (head of govt) as of May 2008, with Vladimir Putin PM (officially head of state) and really holding the reigns of power

Yuri Luzhkov is one of the first Mayors Moscow and the greater Russian nation has ever seen. Since Soviet control, Russia has not had many individuals trying to assume power on a level lower than the Kremlin. Because the higher up Russian officials want to keep all of their power "There can only be one ruler in Moscow" and that is Putin (now Putin and Medvedev)." So, the kremlin started a vicious smear campaign outing many of this pretty-popular politicians secrets. They have tried to sabotage his popularity and kick him out of office.

"As soon as such a claim is proved, the nobility of our nation requires [me] to do this," Erdogan told reporters at the climate change summit in Paris on Monday. But, he added, if the allegations are untrue, then Russian President Vladimir Putin should resign. "I am asking Mr. Putin, would you remain?"

"Istanbul (CNN)One of the world's most volatile regions was roiled further Tuesday when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border. Turkey said it hit the plane after it repeatedly violated Turkey's airspace and ignored 10 warnings. "

If you're on break and don't have time to really read the article: - one of the two pilots was killed in the Russian jet that was shot down (they were military personnel) -Putin says this will result in "serious consequences" in reference to the relationship between Russia and Turkey -There are no ISIS members in this area so it makes the people who are allied with the USA in the fight against ISIS are enemies too, which takes the focus away from defeating ISIS -NATO called an emergency meeting which indicated the severity of the situation as far as international diplomacy goes and it seems like more officials (President Obama included) think that there is a high risk for this incident to lead to an escalation or a breaking point in the Middle East for the current tension between countries.... so essentially the takeaway is: this is really bad

What Hollande achieved in Moscow remains to be seen. Putin agreed to share intelligence on IS activities and to coordinate air strikes to avoid dangerous incidents. He also asked Paris to provide a map of forces on the ground fighting IS so it could avoid bombing them, according to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

Russians head to the polls in what is expected to be an easy victory for the ruling United Russia Party. The power of the opposition parties has been significantly reduced thanks to crackdowns on political dissent by Putin and his government. It is interesting to watch Russia fall into authoritarianism while many lesser developed countries are moving towards democracy.

I wonder what it will take for Eastern European "democracies" to hold relatively fair elections (thinking of Belarus here as an example). Based on the corruption detailed in the article, it seems that dictator presidents kind of filled the vacuum left by the fall of the USSR and people haven't been able to break their iron hold since.

Yes, lots of corruption. Yet the 2004-05 orange revolution in Ukraine led to a time of high participation democracy. It's a mixed bag of mostly corrupt regimes, some more so than others, Russia the worst.

Russia is hitting its highest daily cases of COVID since the beginning of the pandemic despite being the first to authorize a vaccine. They have plentiful supplies but like the U.S., they are suffering from vaccine hesitancy. Putin is ordering a one-week lockdown starting October 30th.

On second thought (in response to my initial comment on "Amnesty International to close Hong Kong offices this year"), I think that maybe a decrease in freedom can also lead to an increase in equality (in this case fewer virus cases) in a non-economic situation. Although, this lockdown in Russia is in a way economic because poorer people will suffer more and have a harder time making money.

I was surprised to hear that Russia had such low vaccination rates since they were the first to authorize the vaccine. The article says that public attitudes are "lax", especially with conflicting signals from authorities, and I wonder if these lax views on vaccination relate in any way to nationalism or to their views on freedom vs. equality.

Interesting source choice.

These nuclear "exchanges" between NATO and Russia are starting to seem much more like a Cold War #2.

Seems like Putin is getting very desperate, and a very real question as to whether he would take the bet on using the nuclear option in return for a chance at winning the war.

Given its potential implications for both Russia's advance into Ukraine and the safety of Russian land it seems hard to tell whether Putin is bluffing or not, but given his history the current situation is frightening.

It's truly a waking nightmare in the RF right now; it has not been this bad since WWII. There's no way to encapsulate all the information in a comment like this, or even in an article like the one attached - that's just an overview. Russia is in a de facto total mobilization. There are no rules, every man 18-"50"(70) is eligible so long as the recruiters have quotas to fill. People are being detained and drafted at their jobs, homes, on public transportation and at the border. The number Vladimir Vladimirovich touted was 300,000 recruits; it's looking more like several million, from a nation of officially 140, believed to be 120 million people. Prisoners have been all offered freedom if they fight - no need to worry about the long term consequences after they come back. Needless to say society is in a state of collapse, but that does not at all imply the state is. The state is doing a-ok, barely bruised by the riots. State operatives will continue to perform their duties, because the second they slip up their replacements will send them to the front with the rest. What is Putin's goal? Who knows! The most sensible answer is that he's actually just having fun in his own degenerate way. I was born during the most democratic and economically promising period in recent Russian history. Putin and his court have brought it all the way here.

Your comment is powerful, Slava, and your inside perspective on Russia is so informative. Thank you for posting this article and commenting so thoroughly.

President Vladimir Putin is "doubling down" the security across all of Russia, especially along the border. This is due to the counterattack from Ukraine which has taken some of Russia's own territory but also continues to attack Russian settlements along the border of the country. To carry out President Putin's decree, all regional governors have been ordered to set up "operational headquarters" which are ordered to "meet the needs of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops and troop formations"

It's intriguing to see that the Kremlin still holds an insane amount of power. After disagreements between the Russian President and the Moscow Mayor, Mayor Luzhkov refused to resign. President Medvedev did what any good Russian president would do and fired him. All of Russia's most powerful regional leaders have been sacked or replaced in the last 18 months, all by the Kremlin. How can the Kremlin do this? Because in 2004 Putin "changed the law to abolish elections to these posts". Yes, that's right, the Russian people can no longer elect their own governors.

More than a month after Russia began airstrikes against targets in Syria, western capitals remain uncertain of Vladimir Putin's endgame in the country, as the world waits to see what effect, if any, the apparent bombing of a Russian jet in Egypt last week has had.