Recent quotes:

Lunchtime Must-Read: Boris Nemtsov: A Final Interview - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

“I have no doubt that the struggle for the revival of Russians will be tough… …People see what this crazy politics led to, they see widespread corruption, they have firsthand experience with the inadequacy of the state. But they still believe in the leader because for the past several years, the leader was doing one thing very well: He was brainwashing the Russians. He implanted them with a virus of inferiority complex towards the West, the belief that the only thing we can do to amaze the world is use force, violence and aggression
#Russia #Strategy #Boris-Nemtsov - equitablegrowth.org

Afternoon Must-Read: Yuriy Gorodnichenko , Gérard Roland and Edward W. Walker: Putin’s European Fifth Column - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

It is not just the macroeconomic health of the European Union that is at stake in the European Union’s failure to find a way to reflate and rebalance its economies. The political destiny of what Muscovy calls its “near abroad”–what happens in those former union republics of the Soviet Union with capitals different from Moscow–hinges on the European Union being a success and being seen to be a success. And perhaps the political destiny of Muscovy hinges on this as well… Yuriy Gorodnichenko, Gérard Roland, and Edward Walker: Putin’s European Fifth Column: “There can be no doubting [Vladimir Putin’s] awareness of the role that European ideals… …and the possibility of EU membership–has played in motivating the struggle in Ukraine and constraining his actions. The popular desire to join Europe’s community of democratic states was a key force behind the collapse of right-wing dictatorships in Greece, Spain, and Portugal in the 1970s. It also played a critical role in the collapse of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And it certainly contributed to the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych–a key Putin ally–in 2014. Indeed, the existence of a European model continues to guide and encourage those pursuing transparent, democratic governance in many post-communist countries…
#Grand-Strategy #Ukraine #Russia #Yuriy-Gorodnichenko #European-Union - equitablegrowth.org