Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Follow Carnegie
- Search
- Global Resources
Global Centers
Languages
Despite the popular narrative, US-Russian relations are generally good. They have undergone and are undergoing dramatic changes, but the relationship is maturing from an overly romantic partnership to a more pragmatic one. Most people speak of this change to a more “selective partnership” as a tragedy, but in reality, it is a natural evolution.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization lacks the power to effectively combat Central Asia's security threats, and the organization's economic mission remains ill-defined as Russia and China jockey for dominance in Central Asia's energy market.
In Russia the state has been tightening control over media ever since president Putin came to power. National television was by far the most important target, but rather than harassing journalists and editors, the Kremlin opted for controlling the owners - a method that has proved to be fairly effective in furthering the Kremlin needs.
In four key regions—East Asia, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and Latin America—a combination of factors has created a new, fluid alliance that could potentially oppose the U.S. and other democracies. In all four regions, countries that have flirted with democracy since 1989 have begun to turn their backs on it. And, in all four regions, authoritarian regimes have a new weapon: oil.
Alexei Arbatov, Vladimir Dvorkin discussed their new book on the nuclear relations of Russia and the US.
Trying to understand what is really going on in the Kremlin is like peeling an onion : layer by layer by layer with the only certitude that the process will bring you to tears. Kremlin politics can be described as “democracy within one fortress”; it is almost a completely nontransparent ruthless struggle where the stakes are high for the participants as well as those outside the Kremlin walls.
A monthly update of Carnegie content on Russia and Eurasia.
If there is one lesson the Kremlin has learned -- or had confirmed for itself -- since Beslan, it is that by maintaining tight control over political life and major media coverage, it can efficiently minimize the political fallout from just about any event, even a tragedy as huge as Beslan.
Stay connected to the Global Think Tank with Carnegie's smartphone app for Android and iOS devices
