Results matching “"stephen blank"”

Stephen Blank has an interesting new article on Forbes in which he assesses the economic damage being caused by Russia's inability to effectively reduce legal nihilism and corruption, both of which are dragging on the country's attempt to recover from the crisis.  Sticking out like a sore thumb is of course the second trial of Mikhail Khdorkovsky, which will be in full session during the first state visit of President Barack Obama.  Blank describes the Khodorkovsky trial as a "palpable judicial farce," and if President Dmitry Medvedev is unable to take action to solve the situation it will "confirm the widespread belief that he is merely a tool of his predecessor, a placeholder until Putin resumes the presidency."

When he was a candidate to lead Russia, Dmitry Medvedev denounced the country's "legal nihilism." Now, as president, he has often spoken in favor of judicial independence. Yet one year after his inauguration, with President Obama set to pay a state visit on Monday, Russia remains engulfed by a tidal wave of corruption, hamstrung by a politicized justice system that is chasing away the enduring foreign investment and economic stability that Russia so desperately needs.

Washington DC think tank Heritage Foundation has released a new report today containing "realistic policy proposals" for the administration of Barack Obama to address relations with Russia and strategy in Eurasia.  The report is edited by Ariel Cohen, and features chapters contributed by authors such as Janusz Bugajski, Svante Cornell, Stephen Blank, and Marshall Goldman.  Recommended reading - I hope to post some of my own comments this weekend.  Below is the conclusion from the executive summary:

The Obama Administration is trying to push the "reset" button on U.S. relations with Moscow. Yet in foreign affairs, haste is the enemy of wisdom.

According to The New York Times, in February 2009, President Obama sent a secret, hand-delivered letter to President Dmitry Medvedev. The letter reportedly suggested that, if Russia cooperated with the United States in pre­venting Iran from developing long-range nuclear-missile capabilities, the need for a new missile defense system in Europe would be eliminated--a quid pro quo that President Obama has denied. The letter proposed a "united front" to achieve this goal.[2]

TODAY: Tanks on Red Square, Ban Ki-Moon visits Russia, big business pleads before Medvedev, China buying less weapons from Russia, castration for pedophiles, and the seven-year presidential term.

The May 9th Victory Day parade in Moscow once again features parades of tanks and other displays of military might reminiscent of Soviet times - which poses extraordinary damage to the cobblestones of the UNESCO-protected Red Square. This year the tanks and vehicles will be fitted with rubber soles to ease the damage. Reuters writes that "The decision to revive the tradition is regarded by some observers as a sign the Kremlin is flexing its military muscles." Others are more skeptical: "This is a military in crisis; there's no other way to describe it," said Stephen Blank, a security expert at the U.S. Army War College. "And it's a crisis 17 years in the making."

This question was posed by Russia Profile to Ethan S. Burger, Eric Kraus, Ira Straus, Andrei Tsygankov, and Stephen Blank. The latter is the only one to really question some of the fundamental assumptions about Russia's resurgence: "The deliberate stoking of nationalist, chauvinistic rhetoric warning of enemies at the gates, generated for domestic purposes, is now exacting its cost."

It's a pretty good question: why on earth would Russia seek to ban, limit or otherwise obstruct international election monitors if the incumbent party were expected to win a landslide election anyways? Is this just a stubborn demonstration of sovereignty, or is the Kremlin actually afraid that the carefully managed election could be compromised and that the “referendum on Putin’s Plan” might actually fail? Russia Profile asks Stephen Blank, Ethan S. Burger, Eugene Kolesnikov, and Andrei Seregin what they think of that question. We all know what kind of outfit Russia Profile is (just take a look at the Lugovoi banner ads for government-sponsored Russia Today), but I include Burger's response below for those interested.