Opinion - Russia Beyond The Headlines

Russia and China have valid reasons for UN position on Syria

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:28:00 +0400

Resolving the conflict in Syria requires taking into consideration the perspectives of all the parties involved, not just laying the blame at the feet of one side

What it would take to win the war against corruption?

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:55:00 +0400

Truly fighting the war against corruption requires both significant changes to Russia’s legal system and supranational efforts to stop hiding assets

For Putin, too little, too late

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:41:00 +0400

The government continues to propose ideas to win over the protestors, but so far they are only superficial.

Russia’s economy needs a change of strategy

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:40:00 +0400

Russia’s position vis-à-vis China and the rest of the BRICS show that the decisions made two decades ago continue to plague the country and hold back its economic development. Can today’s politicians reverse the trend?

“We need a new economy”

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:04:00 +0400

Russia beyond the Headlines publishes the abridged version of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's recent article, which appeared in the business daily Vedomosti.

Can we overcome the perception gap?

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:02:00 +0400

Russian businessmen in Davos were happy to talk about how Western investors have Russia all wrong, but were they really missing the point?

The Russian opposition’s bad date

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:18:00 +0400

Opposition leaders may think they have an ally in new U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, but the situation could still blow up in their faces

Roskosmos at a crossroads

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:55:00 +0400

Can the Russian space industry embrace the major reforms needed to bring about successful missions?

Can a businessman make a good politician?

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:55:00 +0400

Are the skills learned in business school transferable to the political stage? Or are they not even much good for business leadership?

The world needs an Internet code of conduct, not regulations

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:22:00 +0400

U.S. moves to regulate the Internet go counter to the country’s claims about freedom and democracy

Office plankton vs. the rest

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:50:00 +0400

Russia is unlikely to face a change of leadership in 2012, because the opposition failed to connect with Russians beyond the middle class

The west still looks at Russia through a prism of stereotypes

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:22:00 +0400

Respectable international media are still unwilling to delve deep into the specifics of Russia’s reality, which often leads them to ridiculous conclusions. This perception is due not to bias, but to banal intellectual laziness

The West vs The Rest in 2012

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:43:00 +0400

Emerging markets may continue to grow in the new year, but it remains too early to say that the new economies have beat the developed world at its own game

Political will is not enough

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:01:00 +0400

The only way Russia-U.S. relations will really improve is if the reset is broadened beyond politics to include other areas of cooperation

The fate of the region is in the hands of observers

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:26:00 +0400

After Libya, Russia treads carefully with a UN Security Council resolution

Conscripting Russia’s military future

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:44:00 +0400

Although one of the goals of Russia’s extensive military reform was to create a force that was at least partially made up of volunteers, so far the country’s armed forces continue to rely heavily on conscripts

Don’t call me to the barricades

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:22:00 +0400

Public dissatisfaction with the authorities’ actions is growing, but it will not result in revolution

European investment in Russia: Patience pays off

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 10:48:00 +0400

Although some investors are pulling out of Russia in the face of political uncertainty, the past 15 years have shown that those businesses who are willing to look to the long-term can reap big dividends

Medvedev’s address: Lots of talk, little action

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:13:00 +0400

As Dmitry Medvedev prepares to leave the Kremlin next year, his last address to Russia's Federal Assembly served as both a wrap-up of accomplishments and calls for future change

Bullying the bureaucrat

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:12:00 +0400

Ordinary Russians understand why civil servants do not want to disclose tax declarations

Reappraising our values in international relations

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:55:00 +0400

The fact that that foreign policy is becoming less and less ideology-driven may be regarded as an optimistic sign

Why we have finally fallen out of love with Europe

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:26:00 +0400

The financial crisis has triggered an upsurge of national egoism in the EU, with all the members showing that they are really only concerned about their own well-being

Does Putin's re-election mean a new Cold War?

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:22:00 +0400

Will Vladimir Putin's election as Russia's president bring new defense alliances to life? Yevgeny Shestakov, the international desk editor of Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and Svetlana Babaeva, an analyst for RIA-Novosti US Bureau, discuss the political agenda

Enemy at the door?

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:08:00 +0400

In the absence of a domestic policy platform, foreign policy could play a bigger role in Russia’s presidential election campaign

Russia’s WTO entry a boon for foreigners

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:55:00 +0400

The accession of Russia into the WTO this week is a bright spot amid the gloom and doom surrounding the global economy

Russia's energy strategy must look to the future

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:30:00 +0400

As more and more countries explore the possibility of shale gas, Russia's reliance on energy exports for future economic growth looks more and more fragile

Towards Russia’s 2012 APEC Chairmanship

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:36:00 +0400

Russia’s upcoming APEC Chairmanship indicates that Moscow should pay more attention to the Asian region to integrate with Asian-Pacific community

Better Prokhorov than protests

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:36:00 +0400

Although Mikhail Prokhorov’s candidacy may come to nothing, allowing him to run will make the whole political process seem more legitimate and get people off the streets

Russian NGO Pitches Anti-corruption to UN

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:59:00 +0400

NGOs must act in concert, consolidate, and engage the business communities they are trying to police and protect

Pinning Hopes on the Pepsi generation

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:56:00 +0400

Even if nothing comes of the most recent protests, the politicization of young people will have consequences for Russia’s future

Sorting out the reset

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:02:00 +0400

Andranik Migranyan, the director for the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, talks about the thorny issues of U.S.-Russia reset

A first line of defense

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:33:00 +0400

Will Russia’s new Aerospace Defense Forces shift the balance in the dangerous missile defense game taking place in Eastern Europe?

Voting to spite everyone

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:05:00 +0400

At the moment, when the opposition in Russia is still a bunch of disparate groups, the authorities could diffuse the growing political unrest by engaging the discontented parts of society in dialogue and showing them that their opinions matter

A democratic deficit – or just sheer apathy?

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:53:00 +0400

While people in the streets at first glance seems to indicate a movement for political change, it may only indicate how easy it is to organize large groups using the Internet.

Still willing to fight for a new country

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:12:00 +0400

Protests show Russians have something they want to protect

Politics in Russia is reborn

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:37:00 +0400

Rather than once again producing a rubber-stamp victory for the ruling party, Russia’s State Duma elections on Dec. 4 have revived the whole concept of politics in Russia

Eurasian economic union is a barrier against China

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:16:00 +0400

The economic integration of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will have innumerable benefits for the member countries. The biggest effect of the new organization may be the formation of an economic bloc to counter the effects of China in Central Asia

United Russia fails to win 50 percent in State Duma elections

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:14:00 +0400

The results of Russia’s State Duma elections will be finalized only in the morning, but it’s already clear that for the first time since 2003, United Russia did not receive the majority of the popular vote

Lights from the underground

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:37:00 +0400

Norton Dodge, an American professor, created the largest collection of Russian Noncomformist art. He died on Nov. 5 at the age of 84

The landscape of memory

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:32:00 +0400

Russian artist Oleg Vassiliev gives memory a voice. Often he begins with a personal memory of his family, a home, a road, even a field. Then he recreates the vision, one that echoes all the more as he experiments with light and space

Thinking small can lead to big innovations

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:10:00 +0400

If Russia is to end its long dependency on natural resources, it has to encourage innovation and SMEs

Which path will Russia take after the 2012 election?

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:06:00 +0400

Following the 2012 elections, there are any number of routes that Russia’s future development might take in the next five to eight years.

The great game is to avoid war in Iran

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0400

The Heritage Foundation, the U.S. conservative think-tank, often view Russia as a tacit ally of Iran, turning a blind eye to its dangerous nuclear programme and ignoring the Iranian regime’s aggressive form of Islamist fundamentalism

Fukushima has made the nuclear industry safer

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:48:00 +0400

Nuclear power is still by far the safest, cleanest, and most cost-effective source of energy today

Saving the reset from attack

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:45:00 +0400

Before the U.S. presidential elections some Republicans try to diminish the achievements of the Russian-American reset while the U.S. business circles and Democrats keep supporting it

The best offense is a good defense

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:43:00 +0400

Space satellite formations are playing an increasingly important role in modern weapons systems

The triumph of virtual politics

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:37:00 +0400

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is threatening to deploy ballistic missiles that do not yet exist in response to a missile defense system that has not yet been set up and whose task is to intercept Iranian missiles that are yet to be deployed

Russia rejects the “European choice”

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:16:00 +0400

As Europe continues to show disinterest in increased involvement with Russia, the country is increasing its ties in Asia

Greece and Italy will have to leave the Euro

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:53:00 +0400

The EU is facing some tough decisions in the face of the eurozone crisis, but even forcing some countries out of the euro may not be enough to save the union

Following the course

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:43:00 +0400

The Russian leadership may no longer be excited about the WTO, but joining is the right thing to do