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Michael McFaul reviews Inside Putin's Russia by Andrew Jack and Russian Crossroads: Toward the New Millenium by Yevgeiny Primakov.
Highly touted in both Washington and Moscow as a "strategic partnership" in 2001, the relationship has drifted and the gap between glowing rhetoric and thin substance has grown. When major policy differences emerge, as over war in Iraq in 2002-2003 and recently over Ukraine, all too easily the U.S.-Russian relationship spirals into "crisis," and the threat of a "new Cold War" looms.
The most direct way to break the grip of inefficient, self-serving interests on state power is through the election of new political players not beholden to the same interest groups that supported their predecessors. This is true regardless of political bent and is demonstrated by recent history in postcommunist Eastern Europe.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia has made "three enormous mistakes" in the last year that have underscored his obsession with complete political control.
Anatol Lieven reviews Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya's book, Putin's Russia.
A commission of leading international and Ukrainian experts has drafted a report providing over a hundred specific policy recommendations to the new president. The report urges the new administration to undertake a sweeping new wave of reform, with the aim of recasting relations between state and society, sustaining current high rates of growth, and broadening the reach of prosperity.