Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Popular political mythology usually thinks of Russia looking east and west, like the double-headed eagle of its state emblem. In reality, Russia has always treated the east and the west very differently.
The elections were a success, but they do not ensure that Iraqis can now agree on a constitutional formula that accommodates the demands of all groups and keeps the country together. Democracy as separation of powers, checks and balances, and protection of individual rights has not proven enough to avoid conflict in other deeply divided societies.
A semiauthoritarian present is
Today the war on corruption is undermining democracy, helping the wrong leaders get elected and distracting societies from facing urgent problems.
The "realist" argument for ignoring Putin's rollback of democratic practices in the name of national security interests can now only undermine Bush's credibility. Bush has made clear that he plans to promote liberty in every pocket of the world--surely including the largest country of all.
A discussion meeting with Nikolay Petrov, Scholar-in-Residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center, of Russia’s newest wave of social protests.