United Russia
Putin Turns 60, Russians Rejoice
Just when you want to get off the Putin-is-ridiculous beat, you get a story like this and you realize: You can never get off the Putin-is-ridiculous beat. READ MORE >>
The Blunt Weapon of Russian Law is Turned Against One of its Makers
What Russia’s Election Was Really About
The Hibernation
Minutes after the polls closed on March 2 in the westernmost Russian city of Kaliningrad--certifying a blowout victory by presidential candidate Dmitri Anatolyevich Medvedev, handpicked heir to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin--the men of the hour made an appearance at a massive concert underway in Red Square. As broadcast by NTV, a television channel owned by Gazprom (where Medvedev chairs the board of directors), the scene looked like something out of Mission: Impossible. READ MORE >>
See No Evil
IMAGINE THAT THE king has died. Now imagine that every day on television you see a procession of people chanting, “Long live the king!” Imagine it wasn’t always this way: Just a few years ago, if the king’s health became shaky, everyone discussed the problem openly. But no more. And now you have to choose. Either you go along and pretend that a dead man is alive—which isn’t all that difficult, since everyone is doing it—or you insist, unreasonably, that you see what you see, in which case you will be branded a kook. READ MORE >>
