Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
In his annual address, President Medvedev delivered a critical and shrewd assessment of Russia's state of affairs, but it remains to be seen whether fear of yielding political control will prevent the Kremlin from acting on Medvedev’s bold words.
While the U.S.-led NATO operations in Afghanistan have resulted in somewhat enhanced security capacity for Central Asian countries, their long-term security challenges seem to be increasing, given the current situation in Afghanistan and the growing instability of Pakistan.
President Obama’s trip to Asia will signal renewed U.S. commitment to this vitally important region. Perhaps the most important stop will be in China, where Obama will seek to ease lingering strategic distrust and discuss key issues of trade, climate change, and security.
Russian regions have been developing crises with economic, financial, social, and political facets. If not checked, some of these crises may grow to pose risks not only to the local area, but to the stability of the Russian government.
The Russian perception of Stalin and his crimes has more to do with the nature of Russian statehood than with the monstrous actions of the man himself.
A new system has been implemented for naming the candidate for a gubernatorial post in Russia; the fate of 10 percent of the governors hangs in the balance.
Municipal elections held in Russia on October 11 proved that most Russian voters seem to feel that elections have no direct bearing on their lives and that the authorities feel no impetus to institute change in the current Russian party system.
Post-Soviet Russia has witnessed an expansion of religious freedom and a change in the relationship between religious entities and the state. Religious movements that had all but disappeared under the Soviet regime have been experiencing a revival.
The current political system in Russia is a hybrid of democracy and authoritarianism, or an “overmanaged democracy,” where the elements of authoritarianism dominate democratic ones. The system seems stable on the surface, but is in fact very fragile.
Under Russian President Medvedev, the Kremlin’s efforts to develop and execute concrete solutions to Russia’s many challenges have been replaced by a constant stream of polemical sound bites and vague slogans.