In his showcasing the Great Famine in Ukraine of 1932-33, we see how Snyder the scholar (and not just Snyder the pundit dealing with current affairs) plays into the hands of those many American ideologists who conflate Stalinism with Communism, Communism with Great Russian imperialism, and Great Russian imperialism with Putinism. Read on…
Continue reading “Timothy Snyder: American Intellectual Discourse on the Holocaust and Much Else”
Kauffmann’s op-ed essay shows that she deals in platitudes and makes foolhardy mistakes of fact and interpretation which, due to her august position in mainstream media, few if any call out. In this brief critique, I will break that silence…
The grim expressions on the faces of Russian ministers seated in the front rows of the Kremlin hall where Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yanukovich announced their agreement on rapprochement yesterday, sealed by $15 billion in loans and a steep discount on natural gas, indicated skepticism that many ordinary Russians also share over the generous handout to their dodgy southern neighbors. Has Putin got it right? Read on…
Continue reading “Ukraine-Russia Rapprochement, 17 December 2013: Point, Set, Match”
In his speech to the Federal Assembly yesterday, Vladimir Putin demonstrated repeatedly that Russia will stand up to the USA intellectually and physically to defend not merely its own national security, but to advance its own values…Read on
Continue reading “Making sense of Vladimir Putin’s State of the Nation Address, 12 December 2013”
When I learned that the eminent historian on East Central Europe, Yale professor Timothy Snyder, published a commentary article in The New York Review of Books five days ago entitled “A Way Out for Ukraine?” I lost no time bringing it up on the screen for a close read. Disappointment came quickly…Read on
Continue reading “Rebuttal to Timothy Snyder’s essay on Ukraine in the ‘New York Review of Books’”
Given the divisions in Ukrainian society over its history, its official languages, and its future civilizational orientation, the only way forward, the only win-win situation that can come out will be arrived at if all interested parties – EU, Russia and Ukraine – sit together at the table to define how Ukraine can move forward…Read on
Continue reading “Ukraine, between East and West: What Lessons can be Drawn?”
At a Brussels Press Club event on 12 November entitled “EU-Russia Relations before the Summit,” Hermitage Capital CEO Bill Browder treated a select audience of journalists and human rights activists to a variety show which included the launch of a book he has financed, Why Europe Needs a Magnitsky Law. The ultimate objective of his campaign, which now hits the road to the USA, is regime change in Russia. Read on…
Given the venomous treatment of Russia by the present-day professoriate in the United States, it may not be a bad thing if we lose a generation of Russianists and the field starts over from ashes like the phoenix. Read on…
The rot at the door of former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman is emblematic of the new Ugly Americans at the core of this US administration, starting with its boss, Barack Obama. Read on…
Continue reading “Former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman and the Snowden Factor”
The essential fact about Vladimir Putin is his remarkable ability to grow. The consummate statesman, respectful and yet firm with his opponents, who has dominated both the world stage and domestic politics these past three weeks is worlds apart from the hesitant and inexperienced newly minted President of Russia who famously responded to Larry King’s question about what happened to the submarine Kursk with the tight-lipped remark: “It sank.”
Gilbert Doctorow 