It is irresponsible to fan the flames of partition as Ethan Burger does in his openDemocracy article ”Could partition solve Ukraine’s problem?” Neither the facts nor opinion polls support such wild speculation, says Adrian Karatnycky
Insurgents strike polling stations as Iraq votes for its new government. Turkey withdraws its ambassador to the US in the wake of a House committee vote condemning the Armenian genocide. The British PM defends the Iraq war. Clashes erupt at the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. All this and more, in to
In the first of his regular monthly reports for odRussia, Alexei Levinson of Russia’s prestigious Levada Centre offers a round-up of Russian public opinion at the start of 2010. Even when the economic crisis lead people to judge their government, he notes, approval of Prime Minister Putin remained
Viktor Yushchenko has left his successor a ticking time bomb. His name is Stepan Bandera. Should Yanukovych strip him of the official status of hero, which he has been accorded?
In 2004, some local journalists in Oryol founded an independent newspaper ‘for those who want the truth’. Although it sold well, members of staff were subject to threats, bribes, attacks and arson. Still, it lasted four years.
With the Amur tiger population facing extinction, organisations from Russia and abroad have been working to save them. They don’t always agree as to how this should be done. Then there are the politics, Mumin Shakirov observes. Perhaps the Year of the Tiger will be auspicious for the Amur big cats
Israel’s attempt to rally support for energy sanctions against Iran look like failing, for good reason. They would be likely to work to the detriment of the West’s and Israel’s goals.
Russia’s drugs problem has reached crisis point in Orenburg Region. It borders on Central Asia and is used as a transit point. Government measures against trafficking and addiction are hampered by lack of money and official attitudes
Our conscript Tolya continues his study of violence in his airborne division of the Russian army
Russian-Ukrainian ties may have deteriorated during Yushchenko’s presidency, but his successor Yanukovych is determined to redress that balance. It is crucial that Ukrainians continue to feel they are a sovereign nation, maintains Valery Kalnysh.
IKEA, which has publicly railed against corruption in Russia, has itself been caught paying bribes there. Could President Medvedev's anti-corruption campaign really turn Russia into a place where foreigners can do business, wonders Jesse Heath?
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Chekhov’s birth, his English biographer Rosamund Bartlett celebrates the writer’s last days in Yalta, and leads the campaign to restore his house
