Pepe Escobar — An historical journey into Crimea

Historical backgrounder on Crimea.

Asia Times
An historical journey into Crimea

Pepe Escobar

Matfey Shaheen — Vladimir Putin “I slept with a SHOTGUN beside my bed”

The 1990’s were among the four worst periods in Russian history, which collectively were:

• The Mongol Invasion of 1240 — Including all the events that went with it, the fall of Kiev, the sundering of Ukraine and Belarus from the territory of modern Russia, their partition into Lithuanian Rus’, and later Rzeczpospolita (Poland-Lithuania).
• The Time of Troubles 1598-1613
• The Bolshevik Revolution (1917) and events that followed
• the 1990s (which happened in the 1990’s believe it or not)

Russia Feed
Vladimir Putin “I slept with a SHOTGUN beside my bed”
Matfey Shaheen

Stephen F. Cohen — The Unheralded Putin—Russia’s Official Anti-Stalinist No. 1

Professor Cohen puts to bed the charge that Vladimir Putin is a Stalinist, a crypto-Stalinist, or is trying to rehabilitate Stalin. 

 I would compare the Russian attitudes — there is a wide range of it — to American attitudes and now raging controversies about people formerly regarded as American heroes over their connection with slavery. This is epitomized in the demand to remove stature of Confederate heroes and it is also reflected in the controversy over slave ownership by the founding fathers, including the iconic presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. 

Then there is the controversy over Native American genocide and American heroes that led it or condoned it. President Andrew Jackson stands out but he was not alone.

And not to forget, the US is the only country to have used nuclear weapons.

People that live in glass houses should not throw stones.

The Nation

The Unheralded Putin—Russia’s Official Anti-Stalinist No. 1

Stephen F. Cohen | Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies, History, and Politics at New York University and Princeton University

John Helmer — Beggared for Choice – the History of Russia’s 1917 Revolutions as Guide to What Happens Next

Short review of Stephen Smith's Russia in Revolution, An Empire in Crisis, 1890-1928.

Conclusion.

Since the new war against Russia began in 2014, it has been the foreign plan that if enough pain is inflicted on the Russian people economically, especially their businessmen, they will rebel against their leaders in the Kremlin. Combined with economic warfare and fighting on the Syrian and Ukrainian fronts, the plan also calls for a home-front campaign against the corruption of Russian capitalism, its cronies in the Kremlin, and the party of thieves and swindlers which dominates the State Duma. Smith’s history demonstrates why this is bound to fail.

In time, the irony will be obvious that a century of US Government schemes for regime change in Russia have come to nought, except in one place today – that’s in Washington, DC, where a revolt against the sitting president, not seen since the American civil war, is under way. Until the American war against Russia collapses for domestic American reasons, all the war does is to make Russian regime change less likely. The unequal price Russians are paying for this war will continue growing, but the history lesson is that Putin is bound to grow stronger unless he makes Tsar Nicholas or Kerensky-sized mistakes.

Dances with Bears
Beggared for Choice – the History of Russia’s 1917 Revolutions as Guide to What Happens Next
John Helmer

The Saker — Searching for Russia

Good backgrounder on Russia that debunks much of the Western hype.

The Unz Review
Searching for Russia

The Saker

See also

Antidote to Western wishful thinking about Russian protests as an indication of imminent political change owing to "unrest."

Irrussianality

Not So Rebellious Youth

Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

Adam Garrie — The West has always sought Russia’s destruction

In spite of any wishful thinking that a united front could be forged against a merciless Islamic terrorist enemy which threatens civilisations of the east and west equally, the opposite is happening. The West is using the conflicts in Syria and beyond to do what they have always tried to do to a strong and sovereign Russia; destroy it. Here are just a few examples from modern history.…

Backgrounder.

Garrie only deals here with the modern history. The assaults on Russia predate that by centuries, e.g, by the Teutonic knights who were defeated by Prince Alexander Nevsky in the famous battle on the ice, April 5, 1242, brilliantly depicted by Sergei Eisenstein in the film, Alexander Nevsky (1938). Russia was also invaded from the east by Mongols and south by the Turks

The Duran
The West has always sought Russia’s destruction

Adam Garrie, modern history teacher at King's College, London

RoSsiBaRBeRa — Grandmaster Putin (Grandiose multi-step operation lasting 16 years)

Backgrounder on Russia.

The Vineyard of the Saker
Grandmaster Putin (Grandiose multi-step operation lasting 16 years)
RoSsiBaRBeRa
Translated by Eugenia

ht Kevin Fathi

Mihail Hazin — Putin’s System Is Beginning to Change

Must-read for anyone interested in an in-depth analysis of international relations and Russian politics. It is also a backgrounder on the continuity of Russian history and its likely future direction based on path dependence. It's longish but that's what a detailed summary involves.

SouthFront
Putin’s System Is Beginning to Change
Mihail Hazin

Appeared in Bulgarian at A-specto, translated by Valentina Tzoneva exclusively for SouthFront

Christopher Caldwell — Why Vladimir Putin’s People Love Him

Must read. Deep backgrounder.

The Federalist
Why Vladimir Putin’s People Love Him

Christopher Caldwell

This essay first appeared in the Winter 2015-16 Claremont Review of Books.

Sergey Lavrov — Russia’s Foreign Policy: Historical Background

Backgrounder.

International relations have entered a very difficult period, and Russia once again finds itself at the crossroads of key trends that determine the vector of future global development.

Many different opinions have been expressed in this connection including the fear that we have a distorted view of the international situation and Russia’s international standing. I perceive this as an echo of the eternal dispute between pro-Western liberals and the advocates of Russia’s unique path. There are also those, both in Russia and outside of it, who believe that Russia is doomed to drag behind, trying to catch up with the West and forced to bend to other players’ rules, and hence will be unable to claim its rightful place in international affairs. I’d like to use this opportunity to express some of my views and to back them with examples from history and historical parallels.…

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
Sergey Lavrov’s article "Russia’s Foreign Policy: Historical Background" 

for "Russia in Global Affairs" magazine, March 3, 2016

Patrick Smith interviews Ray McGovern — A veteran CIA agent spills the goods on the Deep State and our foreign policy nightmares

You prolly want to read this. Some bombshells.

Salon
“Intelligent people know that the empire is on the downhill”: A veteran CIA agent spills the goods on the Deep State and our foreign policy nightmares

Patrick Smith, Salon’s foreign affairs columnist and former foreign correspondent or the International Herald Tribune and The New Yorker, interviews Ray McGovern, twenty-seven year CIA veteran turned dissident.

Stanislav Mishin — NATO Is Marching Towards Russia, and They Have No Idea What Awaits Them

WARNING!!!!! DANGER AHEAD!!!!!

The problems with modern, and in truth historical, Western politicos is that these guys are absolute fools with no understanding of the Russian psyche and are sure to be the cause of WW3, be it intentional or accidental. They are projecting their psyche onto Russians.

Russia Insider
NATO Is Marching Towards Russia, and They Have No Idea What Awaits Them
Stanislav Mishin

This article originally appeared at Mat Rodina

Paul Robinson — Against Russia by Ivan Ilyin, Putin’s Philosopher

By far the most popular blog post that I have so far written was Putin’s Philosopher, about Ivan Ilyin. Some readers asked for more on the same subject, so here is a translation of an essay he wrote in 1948 entitled ‘Against Russia’. My aim is not to endorse what Ilyin writes, merely to illustrate a mode of thinking which probably resonates strongly among some Russians today. The translation is mine.

Against Russia by Ivan Ilyin, 1948.….

Irrusssianality — Russia, the West, and the world
Against Russia

Paul Robinson | Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa