Edward Lucas: Irony amid the menace. Echos of a captive past
By Edward Lucas, for CEPA
Vladimir Putin is often criticized for his nostalgia for the USSR (he memorably called its collapse a “geopolitical catastrophe”). But...
The Kremlin’s numbers racket
By Brian Whitmore, for CEPA
A Persistent and Prolific Propaganda Machine Meets a Deadly Global Pandemic. Now What Happens?
Despite sharing a 4,200-kilometer (2,600-mile) border with China,...
The Atlantic’s executive editor talks conspiracy theories, journalistic norms, and new products for all...
By Sarah Scire, for NiemanLab
“I had people believing outlandish, harmful things who were repeating back to me the values that I, as a journalist,...
Stanisław Żaryn: Putin’s “corona-diplomacy”
By Stanisław Żaryn, for StopFake
In the COVID-19 pandemic Vladimir Putin sees a chance to pull Russia out of its international isolation. Therefore, the coronavirus...
Brian Whitmore: A viral Victory Day
By Brian Whitmore, for CEPA
The subdued Victory Day celebrations in Russia this weekend were an apt metaphor for the state of Vladimir Putin's propaganda...
A Backward looking nation: WWII memory as a consensus building event in today’s Russia
By Maria Snegovaya, for CEPA
The phenomenon is called “Pobedobesie,” or “victory frenzy.” The May 9 anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in the...
Russian radicals turn Trump into a hero of the “Holy War”
By Kseniya Kirillova, for Byline Times
Kseniya Kirillova explores how the more extreme Coronavirus conspiracy theories emanating from Russia are created for export to US...
Kremlin creating a syncretic religion combining state-controlled Orthodoxy and a neo-pagan Victory cult, Eidman...
By Paul Goble, Window on Eurasia
The appalling revelation that the faces of Vladimir Putin, Sergey Shoygu, Joseph Stalin, and Putin’s “little green men” of...
The desanctification of Putin
By Brian Whitmore, for CEPA
The Political Costs of COVID-19 Are Beginning to Mount
After weeks of indecision, the Kremlin bowed to reality last week and...
Afraid of the known Russians now see Putin as a threat not a saviour
By Kseniya Kirillova, for Byline Times
Against the backdrop of the Coronavirus pandemic, Russian President Vladimir Putin cancelled a largely symbolic nationwide referendum on his...