A conversation with Professor Glenn Diesen: edition of 5 March 2026
Published by gilbertdoctorow
Gilbert Doctorow's latest book, "War Diaries. The Russia-Ukraine War, 2022-2023" is a unique contribution to literature on the war thanks to the author's reports on the Russian home front written during his periodic visits to St Petersburg at a time when Russia no longer issued visas and nearly all Western journalists had left the country. Doctorow's two-volume "Memoirs of a Russianist" published in 2020 also constitutes a category of its own, consisting largely of diary entries rather than reminiscences written decades later.. Volume 2 focuses on the community of 50,000 expatriate managers working and living in Moscow during the 1990s, about which none of his peers has yet to write. Gilbert Doctorow is a professional Russia watcher and actor in Russian affairs going back to 1965. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1967), a past Fulbright scholar, and holder of a Ph.D. with honors in history from Columbia University (1975). After completing his studies, Mr. Doctorow pursued a business career focused on the USSR and Eastern Europe. For twenty-five years he worked for US and European multinationals in marketing and general management with regional responsibility. From 1998-2002, Doctorow served as the Chairman of the Russian Booker Literary Prize in Moscow. During the 2010-2011 academic year, he was a Visiting scholar of the Harriman Institute, Columbia University. Mr. Doctorow is a long-time resident of Brussels. View all posts by gilbertdoctorow
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Gilbert Doctorow 
Hi Prof. Doctorow,
You are on top, top, form. One of your very best, and anyone elses, analsysis of the situation. Thanks you.
/Garry
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The only thing that could threaten Russia’s stability is internal riots on ethnic or religious grounds. No one talks about it, but in my opinion, such disorders could occur when Russian Jews begin to return en masse from Israel. Almost all of them still have Russian citizenship, so they cannot be denied the right to return. They will certainly declare themselves victims and loudly demand help and care. But then neither Putin, nor Kadyrov, nor the Russian Orthodox Church will be able to stop the people from attacking them. Attacks on planes arriving from Israel have already taken place, and only the threat of severe punishment is preventing further ones. This will be a great opportunity to attack Russia! When we consider such a scenario, we will look at the war with Iran with different eyes.
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Putin is not going to listen. He will lead Russia to doom. History and Russia (if there will still be a Russia) will be merciless about how this pathological procrastinator has managed the war in Ukraine.
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