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| Russian Global Position After 2008 |
Vlad Ivanenko
As Russia regained its power, inherent problems of conflicting interests and cultural incompatibility, which were temporarily hidden under the cover of Russia’s powerlessness, have come to the fore. The initial EU reaction to these new circumstances is to find ways to keep Russia at arm’s length, that is, to erect legal protective mechanisms along its eastern border. |
| Russia-EU Energy Dialog: Filling a Vacuum |
Vladimir Milov
The approach toward the Energy Charter reflects the psychological imperative that exists for a large part of the Russian elite, which refuses to bear responsibility for the fulfillment of international rules that it did not establish. Both the Charter and a broad range of political and economic issues concerning Russia’s relations with the outside world are today viewed from the "we don’t want to be bound by any unnecessary obligations" position. |
| About a "Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals" |
Yuri Dubinin
Khrushchev was enraged over Charles de Gaulle’s statement about a “Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals.” He has given instructions to urgently clear it up with the French what their president meant, expressing ideas like that. What if he is hatching plans to break up the Soviet Union? |
| The Tomorrow Is Now |
Hiski Haukkala
The current state of EU-Russia wrangling is alarming: recurring problems are detrimental as they distract the parties from the real business of developing a truly strategic partnership that would be to their mutual benefit. These problems – which are undeniably mounting – reveal the haggling at the tactical level and the absence of a truly strategic vision of a genuine partnership. |
| Funky Integration |
Olga Butorina
European integration is usually compared to a train moving toward a single destination that is known to all of its passengers. Today, however, there is a metaphor that more aptly describes European integration: a hypermarket with numerous shops, cafes, Internet outlets, beauty parlors, Laundromats, and multiplex cinemas. |
| From Process to Progress |
Svetlana Babayeva, Georgy Bovt
The ruling class has run into a perplexity it created on its own. On the one hand, there is governable life based on the apathy of some people and petty pragmatic readiness of others. On the other hand, the rulers have to retrieve the genuinely creative sections of society from dormancy. Governable life no longer satisfies the rulers themselves, while the unpredictability of awakening forces frightens them. |
| Russia and Europe: No Intermediaries Needed |
Leonid Polyakov
The state per se – no matter whether it is modern or post-modern – has the right to monopoly on power, for which Ivan Krastev criticizes Russia. And the European Union (like Russia) will not allow anyone to establish rules of their own on EU territory. |
| Russia as the "Other Europe" |
Ivan Krastev
The concept of ‘sovereign democracy’ succeeds in confronting the Kremlin’s two ideological enemies of choice: the liberal democracy of the West and the populist democracy admired by the rest. It pretends to reconcile Russia’s urgent need for Western-type modernization and Russia’s will to defend its independence from the West. The source of the Russia-EU crisis is in the logic of sovereign democracy more than that of competing interests. |
| Russia and China in the Mirror of U.S. Policies |
Igor Zevelev, Mikhail Troitskiy
Russia could learn from the Chinese the intricate overtones of public diplomacy, even though it recognizes its own difference as a political player. Beijing skillfully lifts its partners’ concerns over the growth of China’s economic and military capability, and persistently profiles itself as a friendly country that is trying to build a harmonious world. |
| Russia and the West: Where the Differences Lie |
Konstantin Kosachev
When Russia stands firm in upholding its interests, or shows evidence of its independence in conduct and thinking, it is treated in the West as a signal for ideological attacks. Conflict of values is a matter of propaganda, rather than ideological, civilizational or psychological realities. |
| Elections and Changes |
Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief
Russia has officially entered the hectic election period, and despite the political stability that has been reached in the country, the political campaign season has not become a routine matter. Thus, President Vladimir Putin is demonstrating a creative approach to the challenge and refuses to let the political elite relax. |
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