Tag Archives: nationalism

On the brink

As I am writing this blog entry, something that worryingly resembles the beginning of a civil war is underway in Eastern Ukraine. The triple strategy of the Ukrainian government – send in the military but restrain its activity, ask for … Continue reading

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Storm clouds from Crimea

The invasion of Crimea was a reality check for all of us that assumed that Russia had been integrated into a rule-based global system and was working fairly rationally. As I have blogged before, most of us were wrong about … Continue reading

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Time machine

I have repeatedly blogged about the tremendous costs Russia would incur by annexing Crimea. As the referendum on the peninsula’s joining Russia takes place today, those costs are still there in the background: if the Russian government accepts the peninsula … Continue reading

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Call my bluff

There it is: the longer, more violent and potentially more dangerous version of the Orange Revolution turned Ukraine around and put Viktor Yanukovych out to grass for good. Partly because of Yanukovych tragically poor political skills but also because of … Continue reading

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A one-legged giant

As I am writing this blog entry, there is a tense standoff between protesters and policemen in Kiev, both groups waiting for the ultimatums they have given each other to run out. Sham roundtable talks are in preparation, featuring two … Continue reading

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Playing with matches

The ethnic riots in Biryulyovo last week turned out to be an X-ray of Russian politics as a whole. What became as a simple murder soon became a serious demonstration that triggered a messy and precipitous reaction showcasing the inability … Continue reading

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Immoral foundations

Somehow, the autumn has so far failed us, those who expected seismic changes to happen in Russian politics as a consequence of the local and regional elections and/or the debate on next year’s budget. What we have seen so far … Continue reading

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