Putin’s New Iron Curtain

Freedom and democracy are both impossible if we do not take responsibility for the other

Let us recognize that freedom and democracy are both impossible if we do not take responsibility for the other. This is the call of ethics. It is required to imagine another future, to free the world from arrogant barbarism, to break out of the world in which we now find ...
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Putin’s New Iron Curtain

Russia’s Creative Class Heads for the Exits

“I left, because life in Russia is turning into survival”

Ukrainians are not the only ones fleeing their homeland because of the war. Thousands of Russians are also trying to flee – though it becomes harder every day for them to do so because of internal crackdowns and foreign flight restrictions. Since invading Ukraine, Russia has been almost entirely isolated from ...
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Russia’s Creative Class Heads for the Exits

The Politics of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Peter J. Hoffman, Nina Krushcheva, Jessica Pisano, and Everita Silina discuss the conflict and its consequences

This conversation between Peter J. Hoffman, Nina Krushcheva, Jessica Pisano, and Everita Silina was organized by The New School’s Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs, with an eye towards bringing light to different angles and perspectives on this conflict. It occurred on March 1, 2022, and has been ...
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The Politics of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Skip Putin. Talk to Russians

An appeal from Russian civil society

The Russian army under Vladimir Putin’s command is waging a brutal war against independent Ukraine. The Ukrainian army’s resistance is brave and strong. The worldwide support for the Ukrainian cause is unprecedented. But there’s one more thing to do. Skip Putin. Talk to Russians. Russians are still hesitant about protesting against this malicious ...
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Skip Putin. Talk to Russians

Performances of Democracy

An excerpt from Jessica Pisano’s Staging Democracy

This book is about performances of democratic politics in Russia and Ukraine: why people take part in such performances, how they are related to economic change, and how they affect the meanings that attach to political participation. ...

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Performances of Democracy

A Letter to the Western Left From Kyiv

Critique of liberal internationalism cannot add up to support for the ‘spheres of interest’ doctrine

A large part of the western Left, focused on NATO and the USA, failed to see Russian aggression. Of course, the war on terror needs to be brought into the discussion – but critique of liberal internationalism cannot add up to support for the ‘spheres of interest’ doctrine....

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A Letter to the Western Left From Kyiv

Not about NATO

To frame NATO as a security threat to Russia caters to Kremlin propaganda

On Monday 21 Feb, on the eighth anniversary of the victory of the Euromaidan, Russian president Vladimir Putin effectively declared war on Ukraine. To justify this recklessness, he gave an hour-long pseudo-historical rant that portrayed Ukraine as an artificial state that owes its existence to Russia. He also accused the ...
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Not about NATO