Here are options for responding to Russia’s media strategy
(WP) As the world’s attention again turns to whether the U.S. and Russia can cooperate, this time in Syria, it is important to be aware of the different impediments that stand in…
Posts by tag
Orttung
86 posts
Two Guys Discussing Russia: Does the Russian Opposition Have a Political Future?
(Video Series) (Special Guest!) Russian politics is increasingly unpredictable. In order to help clarify the issues, Robert Orttung and Sufian Zhemukhov, on their talk show “Two Guys Discussing Russia over Pastries,” invited Regina Smyth,…
Orttung: Pressure on Ukrainian government only way to fight corruption
(Foreign Policy) Valentina Stoikova is no revolutionary — yet she now finds herself on the front lines of change in her home country of Ukraine. A 57-year-old former aeronautics factory…
Orttung: Russia’s current goal is to undermine as much of the Western world order as possible
(POLITICO) In trying to create a likeness of Soviet power, Vladimir Putin is doing one thing demonstrably better than the Kremlin masters of old: propaganda. During the Cold War Soviet…
Why Has Putin Spared Ekho Moskvy?
(The Moscow Times) (Co-authored with S. Zhemukhov) Why hasn't President Vladimir Putin shut down Ekho Moskvy, often described as the "last bastion of free media in Russia?" And more importantly, will he do it? The riddle…
Orttung: Crimean corruption and mismanagement out of control
(Bloomberg) President Vladimir Putin likened Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea to a family welcoming home a long-lost relative. Now the family is showing signs of strain. Russia’s federal security service,…
Report: Nations in Transit 2015: Russia
(Freedom House) President Vladimir Putin’s decisions in 2014 to seize Crimea, invade eastern Ukraine, and deepen political repression at home can all be attributed, at least in part, to his…
Why Autocrats Love FIFA
(Moscow Times) (Co-authored with C. Walker) President Vladimir Putin's impassioned defense of FIFA and its once-defiant leader is a reminder of the strong link between autocrats and high-level international sports. Since the FIFA story broke, the Kremlin…
How to understand the post-Soviet ‘war of lapels’
(Monkey Cage/WP) (Co-authored with Sean Roberts) A “War of Lapels” is raging as many people in the post-Soviet space must make political choices about what to wear on their jackets on…
How Russia Today is Using YouTube
(The Monkey Cage/WP) (By Robert Orttung, Elizabeth Nelson and Anthony Livshen) When Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim founded YouTube in an office over a California pizza shop in 2005,…