Staunton, VA, July 29, 2016 - The flood of news stories from a country as large, diverse and strange as the Russian Federation often appears to be is far too large for anyone to keep up with. But there needs to be a way to mark those which can’t be discussed in detail but which are too indicative of broader developments to ignore.
Consequently, Windows on Eurasia presents a selection of 13 of these other and typically neglected stories at the end of each week. This is the 42nd such compilation. It is only suggestive and far from complete – indeed, once again, one could have put out such a listing every day -- but perhaps one or more of these stories will prove of broader interest.
5.
Have a Russian Grammar Question? Dagestan Opens a Help Hotline. Officials in Dagestan have now
set up a special telephone hotline for those who have a question about Russian grammar or usage, an indication of the extent to which Russian language knowledge has deteriorated over the last two decades.
8.
Moscow Now Working with Tehran to Block Transcaspian Pipeline Project. Turkish media outlets are reporting that Russia is now close to achieving its plans to prevent Central Asian countries from shipping their oil and gas westward via the Caucasus. Moscow reportedly is closely coordinating its opposition
with a newly supportive Tehran.
9. More Russians Trust Kadyrov than Do Patriarch Kirill. While neither the Chechen leader nor the Orthodox patriarch is trusted by more than a few percent of Russians, residents of that country now say they trust Ramzan Kadyrov rather than Patriarch Kirill.
10.
Another Stalin-Era Pattern Returns: Ordinary Prisoners Now Put Over Political Ones. In Soviet times, as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and others noted, the communist government viewed ordinary criminals as “socially close” and allowed them to exercise virtually unrestrained violence against “political” criminals who were deemed beyond the pale. That hierarchy
has now returned in some prisons. Memorial
has released the names of 40,000 Stalin-era executioners.
12.
Gun Prices in Moscow Rise in Response to Demand. Ever more Muscovites want guns for protection or other reasons, and this has led to dramatic price increases in stores in the Russian capital,
according to the URA.ru news agency.
13.
Doping Scandal Seen Leading Russian Athletes to Move Abroad. Most observers are focusing on the immediate consequences of bans on Russian athletes because of Moscow’s state-organized scheme to avoid detection for their use of drugs. But they should be focusing on the longer term impact and that is this: ever more Russian athletes are likely to leave the country and even take the citizenship of another in order to compete
without the cloud of Moscow’s criminality hanging over them.
And six more from countries near Russia:
19.
Estonian Paper Issued in US Now Compiled in Tallinn. Estonia has had a good week: Freedom House declared that it has made more progress toward democracy than the other former Soviet republics or occupied Baltic states. But its commitment to the use of the Internet has not only contributed to that but means that
an Estonian newspaper that is issued in the US is now put together in Tallinn.