The events that exploded to the surface in that small microcosm of Russian society reflect the country’s situation on the ethnic, professional and psychological plane. Kondopoga may blaze a trail into the abyss for all of us, as the road of interethnic tensions will only lead to Russia’s collapse, to a finale where it will lose its leading positions in global geopolitics.
In Chechnya we are witnessing a rather painful failure of the strategy of substituting effectual technologies and PR simulations for a real meaningful policy – something that has become a trademark of part of the President’s team. But real stability is different from its virtual representation.
The events that exploded to the surface in that small microcosm of Russian society reflect the country’s situation on the ethnic, professional and psychological plane. Kondopoga may blaze a trail into the abyss for all of us, as the road of interethnic tensions will only lead to Russia’s collapse, to a finale where it will lose its leading positions in global geopolitics.
In Chechnya we are witnessing a rather painful failure of the strategy of substituting effectual technologies and PR simulations for a real meaningful policy – something that has become a trademark of part of the President’s team. But real stability is different from its virtual representation.
When the Baltic countries entered NATO and the European Union a couple of years ago, many thought it was the end of the centuries-old "red line." Euro-Atlantic organizations had crossed into the former Russian and Soviet empires.
In September 2004, the Russian city of Novgorod hosted an international conference entitled Russia at the Turn of the Century: Hopes and Reality. Its organizers were the RIA Novosti news agency, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Russia in Global Affairs, and The Moscow Times.