Moscow - Society and Regions

Meet the Second-Rate Academic Who Is Vladimir Putin’s Culture Cop

Maria Lipman — Fri, 23 May 2014 15:17:03 +0000

Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky’s primary motive is to curry favor with Vladimir Putin. As Putin has shifted gears to a more conservative, anti-Western, and isolationist outlook, scores of his aggressive loyalists have followed the new trend.

The Russian State Power and the Ukrainian Human Factor

Maria Lipman — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 10:50:17 +0000

Russia will likely succeed in holding sway over Ukraine and turning this country into its buffer zone, but it cannot secure itself from the people’s resentment and resistance.

Putin’s Crimean Conquest Pushes Russia to an Anti-Modernization Course

Maria Lipman — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 09:48:28 +0000

The seizure of Crimea is Putin’s personal conquest, as well as a dramatic reinforcement of his regime of personal power. For now Putin has succeeded in halting Russia’s social and economic modernization and has pushed Russia to an anti-modernization course.

The End of Free Press in Russia

Maria Lipman — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:46:02 +0000

The Ukrainian crisis has intensified the Kremlin’s crackdown on the Russian media. Nongovernment media simply no longer belong in today’s Russia.

After the Sochi Games: Russia Remains With Itself

Maria Lipman — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 10:55:21 +0000

Just as any grand event, the Sochi Olympics will soon be over and Russia will remain with itself. Its prospects are uncertain since the economic growth has dropped and the Kremlin’s policy has shifted toward social conservatism.

In Russia Political Power Is Above the Law

Maria Lipman — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 10:20:53 +0000

The aggravation of the human rights situation in today’s Russia is impossible to deny. What makes things worse is that in Russia the political power is above the law.

Russia’s Newly Designed Traditional Values

Maria Lipman — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 09:56:03 +0000

The anti-gay campaign may have helped the Kremlin to pit the conservative majority against the excessively modernized trouble-makers. But the wave of negative publicity this campaign is generating has taken a heavy toll on the image of Russia in general, and the Sochi Olympics in particular.

A World Without Authority

Maria Lipman — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 09:24:23 +0000

Since the collapse of the Cold War order many countries around the world have engaged in wars and revolutions. The outcomes of these battles no longer fit in the good-or-evil framework. What’s more, in today’s disorderly and erratic world even major nations do not have the authority to make such judgments.

Celebrate the People, Not the Leaders

Maria Lipman — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 09:52:55 +0000

This year’s top three “men of the year” include Pope Francis, Vladimir Putin, and Edward Snowden. But if the “people who made history in 2013” were to be chosen, it should be the actual people—those Ukrainians who have gathered in the Kiev Independence Square.

Standoff in Ukraine and Nation-Building

Maria Lipman — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 10:50:16 +0000

Nation-building in Ukraine is a formidable task, its divided nation also a hurdle to a democratic development. Still, Ukraine seems to have a better chance of evolving as a democracy than Russia.

The Day of National Unity, a Celebration of Wishful Thinking

Maria Lipman — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 10:36:21 +0000

On November 4, President Putin spoke in the Kremlin about cohesion, consolidation, and indissoluble unity of the people of Russia. Government policies, in contrast, do more to deepen the xenophobic sentiments than to temper them. If the Day of National Unity was established as a step toward consolidating the Russian nation, today it sounds at best as a celebration of wishful thinking.