Russia & FSU

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Snapshot,
Edward Lucas

From wigs to dead drops, the espionage tussles between the United States and Russia are increasingly playing by the old Cold War rules -- including the public shaming of the unlucky spooks who get caught.

Reading List,
Charles King

An annotated Foreign Affairs syllabus on the Caucasus.

Snapshot,
Charles King

Since the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing were identified as ethnic Chechens, the national conversation about the incident has focused on the connection between the violence and terrorism in Chechnya. Here's why that is the wrong model.

Snapshot,
Joshua Yaffa

The case against him may be phony, but Alexei Navalny, the Russian blogger and opposition activist, faces long odds in his trial, which begins Wednesday. When Putin cannot co-opt his enemies, it seems, he has other means of crushing them.

Snapshot,
Yuri M. Zhukov

Russia recently turned down a deal to save Cyprus’ banking sector. At first glance, the move looked like a huge strategic blunder. In fact, a credible offer was never on the table and Moscow needs no accord to secure its dominance on the island.

Snapshot,
Fiona Hill

Vladimir Putin's unwavering support for the Assad regime in Syria is best explained by his dread of fracturing states and Sunni Islamism -- fears he confronted most directly while brutally suppressing Chechnya's attempted secession from Russia.

Snapshot,
Leon Aron

Since coming to power in 2000, Vladimir Putin has added an overarching goal to Russian foreign policy: the recovery of economic, political, and geostrategic assets lost by the Soviet state in 1991.

Review Essay, Mar/Apr 2013
Brendan Simms

Foreign policy realists have long found inspiration in the ideas of Lord Castlereagh, who served as British foreign secretary during and after the Napoleonic Wars. A new biography of the statesman presents him as more ideological than is traditionally assumed, and suggests that his example is more relevant than ever -- and might even hold the key to solving Europe's ongoing crisis.

Snapshot,
Alex Vatanka

The standoff between Iran and the West has moved into the Caucasus, where both the Islamic Republic and Israel are trying to woo Azerbaijan -- a country with firm historical connections to Iran but whose interests have overlapped with those of Israel. The dynamic is upsetting the regional balance of power and threatening to overturn nearly two decades of uneasy peace.

Snapshot,
Aviezer Tucker

Unconventional energy technologies, such as hydraulic fracturing, are here to stay. They have already produced a staggering glut of natural gas in the United States, and in the years ahead, they will reshape world politics, bringing wealth and power to those who master them and leaving the old petro-dictatorships behind.

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