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A Conversation With Vladimir Kara-Murza at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)

Details: 15 October 2015

On October 9, Vladimir Kara-Murza, coordinator for the Open Russia movement, joined Leon Aron, AEI’s director of Russian Studies, to discuss concerns about the direction of the Kremlin’s foreign and domestic policy agendas.

Details: Media Must-Reads

Russia’s Military Revival, Tensions With Turkey, and Putin’s Fake Good News

10–16 October 2015

Details: 16 October 2015

This week, Steven Lee Meyers and Eric Schmitt of The New York Times report that U.S. military experts are impressed by the capabilities displayed by Russian forces in Syria. Also, Leonid Bershidsky of Bloomberg View exposes the lie behind Putin’s assessment of the Russian economy.

Details: Opinions

Timur Kuran: 'An Atmosphere of Repression Leads to Preference Falsification Among Opinion Leaders'

Details: 14 October 2015; Denis Volkov

The phenomenon of Vladimir Putin’s sky-high approval rating (over 80 percent) is widely discussed by social scientists. One argument holds that this number is inaccurate and that pollsters are at fault. Levada Center sociologist Denis Volkov spoke to Timur Kuran, a prominent social thinker and a professor of economics and political science at Duke University, about the concept of “preference falsification,” which helps explain the high approval ratings attained by leaders of repressive regimes.

Details: Media Must-Reads

Cold War Mistakes, Putin’s Next Conquest, and Nostalgia for the 90s

3 – 9 October 2015

Details: 09 October 2015

This week, David W. Lesch writes in Foreign Policy that Russia risks repeating mistakes made by the Soviet Union when it meddled in Syria in the 1950s. Also, Peter Pomerantsev writes in Politico about a digital flashmob in which liberal Russians waxed nostalgic about the transformative 1990s.

Details: World

Crisis in Emerging Markets: Why Is India Outperforming Russia?

Details: 08 October 2015; Ezekiel Pfeifer

International investors have been largely bullish on the Indian economy this year, even as its BRIC counterparts have struggled amid a drop in commodity prices. Why is the country of 1.25 billion people doing better than Russia? In part two of a three-part series, IMR analyst Ezekiel Pfeifer compares Russia to India, which is growing apace but has a long way to go to become a developed nation.

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