The Logic of Counterpoint

Marginalization in Globalization

Even the most controversial Chinese assessments concerning Russian diplomacy are of interest as they are formulated not from the Western point of view but from the position of China as a new rising power seeking to create its own specific national style in diplomacy.

Islam and Global Commons: The Gap between Principles and Practices

It is estimated that there are approximately 1.6 billion Muslims in the world today, who represent over 20% of the world’s population. No one is exempt from the vagaries of climate change, and Muslims have to accept their share of the responsibility.

The Frontline Is the Past

Variables and Constants

This issue differs from the previous ones, as our readers have probably noticed. The more chaotic the international situation is and the more absurd its manifestations are, the more in-depth and stricter approach is needed in order to figure everything out.

From Last to First?

As it aspires to join the elite world club of equal sovereigns, Russia cannot but notice an important fact that no such club actually exists. The simple reason is that the club’s membership is conditioned on mutual transparency and permeability of sovereignties and correlation of sovereign actions with the values understood as the red lines in what one says and does.

“Nothing Is Inevitable”

French cultural life of the 19th and the 20th centuries rested on the assumption that the revolution was still unfolding. The same is true, to a far greater extent, of the Russian Revolution.

Is Putin Losing Control of Russia's Conservative Nationalists?

What the Matilda Controversy Reveals About His Rule

Bringing Home the Message: “We Are Different!”

The Church may prove very helpful in conveying the image of the Russian people as possessing incredible internal stamina that helps them get through the harshest tests they arrange for themselves. This image is far more important than the image of a victor nation having a tremendous military potential.

Why Myanmar Has Inflamed the Russian Caucasus (Op-ed)

The surge of public protests should come as no surprise to Moscow

Wars in the Name of Islam: What Comes Next?

Is the Middle East turning into the area of total war? What will the Sunni and Shiite rivalry end in? How to defeat terrorism?

Myanmar, Russia’s Muslims, and a New Foreign Policy

Russian Muslims are protesting the situation in Myanmar. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is laying claim to a separate regional foreign policy based on the defense of Muslims abroad. It is a broader phenomenon than that and reflects the distinct identity of Russian Muslims and the failure to build a proper nationalities policy in Russia.

Orban’s vision of a new Europe will struggle to succeed

Hungarian PM is preoccupied with battling Brussels as country’s citizens lose faith.

Hindu Nationalism: A Reality Check for Liberalism and Globalisation

The election victories of Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party in India are in some respects the greatest moral and intellectual blow that Western liberalism has suffered in Eurasia since the end of the Cold War.

Between Empire and Nation State

Between the nation and the empire there lies the term ‘civilization.’ Russia will be doomed to build its identity on the archetypes of civilizational loneliness (an imperial feeling) as there is no system to build itself into to obtain guarantees of further existence.

West and East: Things to Discuss and Agreements to Forge

True, dialogue is unable to produce final solutions to global problems or achieve the triumph of world peace. But it is a mandatory condition for the coexistence of civilizations, cultures, peoples, and countries, of the West and the “Easts.”

Counter-Radicalization Policies in Central Asia: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

In 2011, four Central Asian states signed a Joint Plan of Action in Ashgabat pledging to work together to counter radicalization and terrorism in the region.

How Far Can the Islamic Threat Reach?

Despite its geographical remoteness from conflicts involving radical Islamists, the Russian Far East is not completely isolated from them. Preventing the growth of extremist threats in the Russian Far East and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole requires joint efforts of all states concerned.

Caught in the Web of Archaic Policies

The Syrian conflict has provided an example of the profound virtualization of politics (and even its power component) and of creating stable pre-engineered actors exclusively for the communication space. The “moderate opposition” is the most noteworthy one.

Russian Islam and the Situation in the Middle East

Islam is one of Russia’s four traditional religions – faiths with longstanding presence in the country. Unlike many European countries, where immigration contributes to the growth of the Muslim population, Russia’s Muslims are local people, long-established populations with ethnic traditions reaching centuries back.

The Limits to Russian Soft Power in Georgia

Russia’s use of soft power in Georgia has become an obligatory talking point in discussion of the two countries’ relations.

Does Islam Challenge the Legitimacy of Uzbekistan’s Government?

For more than twenty years, Uzbekistan has had no real political change and remains one of the most authoritarian countries in the world. How has President Islam Karimov held onto the reins of power for so long?

The Saudi Imperial Overreach?

The three pillars of Saudi power projection, namely Islam, oil, and the U.S. patronage, have grown considerably weaker in recent years. The era of checkbook diplomacy is truly over and Riyadh will have to invest more in diplomacy.

Fragile Central Asia

The assistance of great powers is a major resource in the struggle against the growing threat of radical Islamism in Central Asia. In this context special credit goes to Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization as the main mechanism for protecting the region against possible invasions from Afghanistan and potential ISIS expansion.

Central Asia: Secular Statehood Challenged by Radical Islam

Today post-Soviet Central Asian countries are facing problems caused by old security challenges and the emergence of completely new threats. These threats may influence the prospects of secular statehood in the region. This is a serious obstacle to modernization.

System-Wide Interests versus National Interest

By creating a mechanism for shaping its own system-wide interest, Russia would make the first major step towards renouncing the uncritical copying of Western forms. In this way, Russia could focus on substantive aspects of Western forms and, at the same time, create its own, in both foreign and domestic policies.

Strategic Depth in Syria – from the Beginning to Russian Intervention

In 2002, AKP government came to power, multidimensional and active foreign policy has been their vision. AKP government took politically and economically unstable country that’s why first years of AKP period, TFP was not active as they assumed. Ahmet Davuto?lu can be considered as an architect of new Turkish foreign policy under AKP period.

Despite airstrikes, is Russia still working toward political solution in Syria?

Russia appears to be considering various political resolutions to the Syrian crisis, possibly including one without Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

National Interest as a Cultural Issue

The state is a community that is brought into being not by a common faith or ethnic bonds, but by the unanimity of culture open to all manifestations of creative freedom and individual self-expression. The extent to which the citizens of a country and the government share this desire indicates their maturity as a nation.

Middle East Crisis: Foreign Interference and an Orgy of Extremism

The Middle East is one of the most turbulent regions in the world today, engulfed by a wave of conflict and violence that threatens international security.