Category: Putin
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Russia’s push to a revanchalist future
Russia is going to set out its demands for a cessation to the hostilities in Ukraine in the coming week. The ideas, thoughts and arguments whether there is any workable argument that means Ukraine can accept an agreement is likely to be negated by the smattering of arguments coming from Washington. Whether Trump knows what…
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Is it time to get tougher with Russia….
With the end of Navalny, Russians seem to have lost the one voice that could be heard by millions who were either gasping at the audacity of his latest prank or just finding an understanding of what an extraordinary man he was. But Russia has never been short of these kind of characters until now,…
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Wagner in Africa
Wagner turned up in Africa in 2017, its remit was to train troops in Sudan in return for gold. The mercenaries who have fought for Wagner have to a degree been successful in spreading Russian influence and though there have been failures, there is a realisation that Russia’s Africa Corp will remain a significant player…
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Revisionists and war
It is just about the only time that arguments are defined biblically, but the start of extended wars has encapsulated not just Netanyahu but also Putin. The war in Gaza is one of biblical proportions according to the hard line cabinet that Netanyahu has gathered as a government. In many ways Putin has argued that…
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The movement away from the forever wars.
There is nothing quite like the spite of Putin, the end of Karabakh’s Armenian population is down to Armenia moving closer to the West. But the reasoning behind Putin’s negation of the Armenian population is down to larger concerns for the Russian government. The war in Ukraine has stripped the Russian military from much of…
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Putin is likely to retain power, “but”
There is a joke about time zones that ends with Putin complaining that he had commiserated with Prigozhin’s family before the plane had taken off. It is a great joke, which was told by the Prime Minister of Albania. But the element of truth is hard to miss, it is widely recognised that Prigozhin was…
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Putin’s mis-step
In the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin believed that the troops would be welcomed, because he believed that “Ukraine’s pro-Russian citizens had been driven underground and persecuted for their convictions.” The idea of liberator was central to the thinking of the Russian state, but the Ukrainians distinguished themselves, not just…
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Is Putin safe
There is not that much difference from totalitarianism than fascism. The autocratic state that Putin has created is just a mirage for its extreme arguments, but what Putin has done is provide his population with secure government after the chaos of the break up of the Soviet Union, but is this enough? Prigozhin’s rebellion last…
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Dissent
“We are lucky to have you,” were words said at the Atlantic Council by a Russian emigre to the United States. Ilya Yashin had just presented a report on Russian corruption, though the report was compiled six years ago, the very people that the report was aimed at, have managed to jail Ilya Yashin for…
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President Xi’s visit to Russia
China has argued in their twelve point peace plan that territorial integrity is paramount. They argue that the war should end and that the integrity of Ukraine should be respected under the United Nations recognition of its borders. Putin argues that the war will continue because he has now signed agreements with China for trade.…