Russia’s economic boom of recent years has placed it firmly back amongst the world’s most powerful nations and the nation goes to the polls on December 2 to elect the State Duma. The result appears almost inevitable-a landslide victory for the Putin-supported United Russia party and a continuation of the ‘Putin plan’. What does this mean for Russia and for the international community?
Mark Medish, vice president for studies, took part in a debate sponsored by Intelligence Squared U.S. to argue that Russia is not becoming the United States' enemy again.
This old debate ought to sound familiar, for we have been having it again over the surprising resilience of autocracy in China, Russia, Venezuela and elsewhere. It wasn't supposed to be this resilient.
With world demand for oil mounting and oil prices so high it’s very difficult to isolate Iran financially these days. Sanctions against Iran will have more impact in Moscow, Beijing, and European capitals than in Tehran.
When President Vladimir Putin was in Tehran last week, one image from the trip was indelible: Putin meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sat in the corner of the sofa. Putin apparently made an offer directly to the supreme leader about a way to move forward in the nuclear standoff. According to the proposal, the six parties negotiating with Iran would pause on seeking sanctions in the United Nations Security Council if Iran would pause on its enrichment program.
Edited by Ashley Tellis, with contributions by leading Asia specialists including Frederic Grare of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, this book, the seventh in NBR's strategic Asia series, examines the varied political transitions and internal changes occurring in pivotal Asian states and evaluates the impact on Asian foreign policymaking and strategy.
Judging by the visit of Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates to Moscow last week, the United States and Russia are in a race to dismantle the treaty system that has regulated their security relationship for decades. The Russian side eagerly reminded U.S. counterparts of their promise to cease implementing the Conventional Forces in Europe in early December if NATO did not proceed to ratify the adapted CFE Treaty.
With Vladimir Putin's announcement this week that he would head the pro-Kremlin United Russia party in December's parliamentary elections, Russia's new power configuration began to take shape. Ultimately, it will mean the extension of Putin's authority and a triumph of manipulative politics. But as they have demonstrated, the Russian people won't mind.
Public Luncheon at the Carnegie Endowment to celebrate 200 Years of U.S.-Russian Diplomatic Relations.
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This year marks an important anniversary. In 1807, the Russian Empire and the young American Republic agreed to establish diplomatic relations. Soon after, Russia's first envoy, Alexander Dashkov, arrived in Washington, and John Quincy Adams traveled to St. Petersburg. Since this modest beginning, our relations, at their best and worst, have borne out de Tocqueville's prophecy that America and Russia are "marked out by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe." Today, with the Cold War and immediate post-Soviet transition behind us, we face a new world in which an effective U.S.-Russian relationship is central to addressing many global challenges.

























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