Putin and Prigozhin avert bloodshed, but their feud is not over /24 hours that shook Russia

Andrew Roth The extraordinary events of the past 48 hours – Prigozhin’s armed mutiny, Putin’s call for “brutal” reprisals, an 11th-hour peace deal – might appear to have resolved themselves. The leader of the Wagner mercenary group has halted his armed mutiny and march on the Russian capital, apparently in exchange for an amnesty and… Read More Putin and Prigozhin avert bloodshed, but their feud is not over /24 hours that shook Russia

Militant capitalism, bad infinity, and the longing for total revolution

Dilip Simeon NB: This work-in-progress paper was my contribution to a conference hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Bergen, Norway. The conference( May 31-June 2, 2023) was titled 200 Years of Socialism: Revisiting the Old Dilemmas: First Annual Global Research Programme on Inequality Lecture Abstract: The Bolshevik confiscation of the… Read More Militant capitalism, bad infinity, and the longing for total revolution

Putin: from victory to victory until the final catastrophe!

“Past greatness and weep narrating it”. This verse by Solomos perfectly condenses and captures the feeling left – by enemies and friends alike – by this year’s 9 May parade in Moscow’s Red Square before Mr Putin and other members of his regime. Why? Because what distinguished this year’s parade was its desperate poverty compared… Read More Putin: from victory to victory until the final catastrophe!

What happens when leaders disregard the truth? Putin and Trump are about to find out

Peter Pomerantsev The powerful were meant to be afraid of the truth. Journalists were meant to “hold truth to power”. Evidence was meant to destroy wrongdoers as sunlight does a vampire. Find the evidence, the logic went, and the powerful could be shamed and brought to justice. Historically, the powerful would try to censor and… Read More What happens when leaders disregard the truth? Putin and Trump are about to find out

Anthropology of war

Since Euromaidan and the first Russian invasion in 2014, Ukrainian filmmakers have been prolifically recording the impact of war on society. The result is an immensely powerful and varied body of work across genres and styles. A survey. Barbara Wurm ‘What power does art have in wartime?’ asks the poster for Iryna Tsilyk’s multiple award-winning… Read More Anthropology of war

How teachers are resisting the Kremlin’s war propaganda in Russian schools

Nationalistic propaganda in Russia has intensified noticeably since the invasion of Ukraine last year, and the country’s 17.7 million schoolchildren have not been spared. Vera Akhalaya That said, it’s impossible for the Kremlin to control every teacher – and some are risking prison and their careers to tell their students about the realities of the… Read More How teachers are resisting the Kremlin’s war propaganda in Russian schools

The courage of Vladimir Kara-Murza

“What is history for? … It makes us brave!” ADAM TOOZE I’ll never forget this response by my distinguished colleague Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith to one of the “theory and practice” questions with which we used to torture Cambridge undergraduates back in the 1990s and early 2000s. Riley-Smith’s answer resonated with me, precisely for its profound, almost archaic… Read More The courage of Vladimir Kara-Murza