Russia Blog

Russia Blog presents up-to-date news, facts and commentary on the state of events in Russia and the former Soviet Union. The blog is managed by Yuri Mamchur, Director of Discovery Institute's Real Russia Project, a member of MBA class 2011 at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, and a composer in his spare time.

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Assessing the Russia's Winter Olympic Team's Performance

Mar 1, 2010 12:10am

In honor of a great gold medal game, a photo taken right after the USA tied Canada near the end of regulation time in a thriller won by Canada. English language mass media has had a plethora of articles......

The War on "cheap" Vodka

Feb 24, 2010 10:59am

Today, National Public Radio has a piece on President Medvedev’s plans to curb Russian consumption of vodka. If NPR’s source is to be believed, czar Peter the Great fostered a culture where people were actually encouraged to drink more to......

Trade in “Bush Legs” for Jackson-Vanik

Feb 17, 2010 12:05am

Back in 1974 Senator Henry (Scoop) Jackson and Representative Charles Vanik introduced an amendment to a trade law with the purpose of punishing the Soviet Union and other communist countries for the denial of emigration rights to their citizens. At......

Stakes are High for the Russian Men's Olympic Ice Hockey Team

Feb 16, 2010 12:10am

Russian ice hockey player Alexei Morozov was flag bearer for his country at the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics As the home team, Canada's Olympians have an extra perk to do well in Vancouver. Canada is particularly......

Bering Strait Crossing – Why We Should Do It

Feb 15, 2010 12:04am

Click on the images to view the enlarged versions There has been much strident rhetoric in recent years regarding a Bering Strait Crossing and Intercontinental Railway System. I first proposed such a system in 1995 for several reasons. At......

Improving Russia's Image and Russo-Ukrainian Relations

Feb 9, 2010 12:01am

Russia's dynamic duo performing this past January 1, on Russian TV station Channel One Options and Opposing Views Russia's expatriate population is the subject of Alexei Bayer's recent article in The Moscow Times. He ends the article with a......

Orange Carnival is Over. Time to Pay the Bills.

Jan 29, 2010 1:38pm

The 2004 poster reads "Yushchenko - the People's President." In Jan 18, 2010 Ukrainian presidential elections Mr. Yushchenko received only 6 percent of the vote. On the one hand the stunning defeat of Viktor Yushchenko, and by extension of......

How Many Polish “Patriots” Does It Take to Screw Up US – Russia Relations?

Jan 27, 2010 12:22am

Patriot missiles Americans are great fans of Polish jokes; there is a whole website boasting hundreds of them: www.polishjoke.com. Arguably the best known is the one about changing a bulb procedure (it takes at least four Poles to do......

Ten Myths about Russia’s Demography

Jan 19, 2010 1:20am

By Anatoly Karlin This publication tries to debunk some popular, but misguided, views on demographic trends in today's Russia. These consist of the perception that Russia is in a demographic "death spiral" that dooms it to national decline (Biden, Eberstadt,......

US-Russia Bilateral Governmental Commissions: Where Are You?

Jan 18, 2010 8:22pm

Those who feel like gloating over the difficulties America is experiencing fail to understand that many of U.S. problems are shared by the rest of the world. Therefore, it is in Russia’s interests to take a dignified high road......

Ukraine: Five Years On

Jan 15, 2010 12:22pm

From left to right: Yushchenko, Timoshenko, and Yanukovych Five years have gone by as one day. Only yesterday, it seems, we saw jubilant crowds in Kiev celebrating the victory of democracy in Ukraine. Small wonder, too – the pro-Western......

Russia in 2009

Jan 12, 2010 1:21am

In Russia, presidential New Year’s address to the nation is traditionally aired each December 31, five minutes before midnight. Watch Dmitry Medvedev's address from December 31, 2009. For Russia, 2009 was a pretty difficult year on the domestic front.......

Happy New Year!

Jan 11, 2010 10:33pm

Russia Blog’s editors wish you the belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We hope the year 2010 will bring you success and significant personal and professional accomplishments. We’re back to work, and, as usual, look forward to bringing......

"Clunkers" Mentality in Putin's Plans

Jan 8, 2010 6:36pm

Barack Obama is not the only leader trusting in government "stimulus" to revive an economy. Prime Minister Putin has outlined his program, including a "Cash for Clunkers" program to boost sales of Russian automobiles. Apparently, no one in the Kremlin......

Another Attempt at Temperance in Russia

Jan 1, 2010 10:16pm

The alcoholism problem is Russia is really the vodka problem--it's too inexpensive. Accordingly, President Medvedev intends to raise the price up to a minimum of three dollars a bottle, still a very low price by American standards.......