Putin’s Plot to Get Texas to Secede
Casey Michel, Politico Magazine
In the latest episode of the Russian state wooing marginalized groups around the world, secessionists in the Lone Star State have been getting encouragement from Moscow. Unsurprisingly, the Kremlin is not interested in Texas gaining independence for the sake of freedom.
Beyond Propaganda
Peter Pomerantsev, Foreign Policy
What do Venezuela, China, Turkey, Syria and Russia all have in common? All these hybrid regimes face the 21st-century challenge of controlling a population that is more connected to the rest of the world than ever before. Instead of fighting the inevitable, these regimes have found ways to use global trends to serve themselves.
The Man Who Predicted Putin
Cathy Young, The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast sat down with Vladimir Voinovich, a Russian satirist and author of Moscow 2042, which was written in the 1980s but eerily mirrors modern-day Russia under Putin. Can Voinovich predict the future of Russia again? And what will the year 2042 actually look like?
A Russian Coup
Maxim Trudolyubov, Politico Magazine EU
Russia finds itself in a precarious situation, caught between modernization pressures from the West and new reform efforts originating in the East. These issues resurfaced during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin called for an early presidential election, speculating that it could spur a reform agenda. Could such a radical move lead to real reform in Russia?
The Man Who Spoke Truth to Power
Sidney D. Drell, Jim Hoagland, and George P. Shultz, Foreign Affairs
Nuclear proliferation is an area in which scientific advancement meets the constraints of ethics and the vagaries of politics. Arms control has recently reemerged as a key issue in U.S.-Russia relations, and it is time to revisit how the two countries prevented all-out nuclear war and to remember the figures who helped bring them back from the brink, such as Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov.
This week's roundup was compiled by Seraphima Mixon, Liza Layer and Alexandra Moon.
