No less than 78.03% of Russians have just voted in support of constitutional amendments. Among these, we find the paramount Atlanticist obsession: the possibility that Vladimir Putin will be able to run for two more presidential terms. Predictably, anguished cries of “Dictator! Dictator!” have been lobbied like deadly shells all across the Beltway. They might... Read More

Greece invented the concept of barbaros. Imperial Rome inherited it as barbarus. The original meaning of barbaros is rooted in language: an onomatopoeia meaning “unintelligible speech” as people go “bar bar bar” when they talk. Homer does not refer to barbaros, but to barbarophonos (“of unintelligible speech”), as in those who don’t speak Greek or... Read More

In the America—and the West—we are experiencing an iconoclastic movement, when Marxists proudly proclaim their hope to destroy not only sites of cultural heritage but also churches. As Guy Birchall wrote on an op-ed on RT.com: A leading activist’s remarks that all “statues, murals, and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother”... Read More

So what’s goin’ on in Iran? How did the Islamic Republic really respond to Covid-19? How is it coping with Washington’s relentless “maximum pressure”? These questions were the subject of a long phone call I placed to Prof. Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran – one of Iran’s premier, globally recognized analysts. As Marandi... Read More

Professor Sergey Karaganov is informally known in influential foreign policy circles as the “Russian Kissinger” – with the extra bonus of not having to carry a “war criminal” tag from Vietnam and Cambodia to Chile and beyond. Karaganov is the dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the National Research University... Read More

Once upon a time in Pipelineistan, tales of woe were the norm. Shattered dreams littered the chessboard – from IPI vs. TAPI in the AfPak realm to the neck-twisting Nabucco opera in Europe. In sharp contrast, whenever China entered the picture, successful completion prevailed. Beijing financed a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang, finished in... Read More

If there were a Russian version of the website PropOrNot, Academician Arbatov could find himself listed there as “American agent/dupe.” Arbatov directs the International Security Center of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He demonstrates his Washington leanings by his recommendation that Russia avoid a strategic alliance... Read More

Let us consider why the Donald Trump White House is currently considering detonating a nuclear weapon. It would be the first “test” of a nuke since 1992 and is clearly intended to send a message that those weapons sitting around in storage will be available for use. The testing is in response to alleged development... Read More

President Donald Trump claimed last week that the US and Britain had won World War II. This was a shameless lie and distortion of the facts. Many Americans and Canadians like to believe their nations won the war in Europe and give insufficient recognition to the decisive Soviet role. Most Europeans would rather not think... Read More

What do the "Jewish Religion" and the Russian-American Goodwill Association (www.RAGA.org) have in common? Why do we plan to put on our website Ron Unz’s article about the “oddities of the Jewish religion”[1] both in the original and in Russian translation? Firstly, because Jews of varying degrees of religiosity have played an outstanding role in... Read More

It is perhaps inevitable that a major health panic like the coronavirus will have political ramifications based on whether those most affected by the illness will perceive that the government performed well or poorly in the crisis. The government for its part will engage in a blame game which seeks to place responsibility for what... Read More

George Soros is a billionaire Hungarian-born investor who is extremely controversial due to his promotion of what he chooses to define as democracy and free-trade movements, primarily conducted through the Open Society Foundations, which he founded and has funded with $32 billion, according to one estimate. He contributed to the campaigns of Barack Obama and... Read More

The Russia-Saudi oil-price war is a fabrication concocted by the media. There's not a word of truth to any of it. Yes, there was a dust up at an OPEC meeting in early March that led to production increases and plunging prices. That part is true. But Saudi Arabia's oil-dumping strategy wasn't aimed at Russia,... Read More

The Kremlin held a winning hand in oil negotiations and did not play it. Washington and Saudi Arabia desperately needed Russian agreement to their plan to raise the price of oil by cutting production and reducing the supply of oil. Russia can tolerate $20 or $25 barrel of oil, but the highly leveraged and bankrupt... Read More

Russia is on the front line of the coronavirus crisis in that it shares a very long territorial border with China/Asia. Nonetheless, many of its official reactions are similar to those in the United States. Citizens are being told to self-isolate. New responsibilities, authority, and public prominence are being devolved to regional governors and mayors... Read More

Donald Trump called Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss plunging oil prices that are wreaking havoc on America's shale oil industry. The two leaders talked briefly about the coronavirus pandemic but quickly switched to Trump's real concern which is oil production. For the last month, Saudi Arabia has been flooding the market with... Read More