On Sunday, Serbia will hold yet another snap election (no, that is not a mistake) for parliament — the National Assembly. For the first time in the past 15 years, the ruling party’s main opponents have become students and the dissatisfied people who joined them. Will they manage to defeat the well-coordinated party-state machine? And what can be expected — including by the many Russian emigrants — from this victory?

#AlexanderVucic #Analytics #Balkans #elections #EuropeanUnion #partii #protests #Serbia #studenty

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When we try to understand why Russia, after the turbulent democratization of the late 1980s and early 1990s, arrived where it is now, we usually look for the answer in politics: weak institutions, the 1993 Constitution, presidential power, oil, wars, the security services, Putin. All of that matters. But with this perspective, we miss something no less, and perhaps even more, significant — institutional inertia.

#Analytics #army #archaizationofsociety #ideology #institutionalreforms #KGBoftheUSSR #management #education #aftertheUSSR #Putin #Russia #specialservices #church #school #essay

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While the shock from Trump’s «diesel deal» with Putin and the American president’s statement that Ukraine needs a different president instead of Zelensky has not yet passed, I will try to explain from the standpoint of dispassionate economics why what happened is bad first and foremost for the United States itself.

#Analytics #VladimirZelensky #VladimirPutin #WarinUkraine #diesel #dollar #DonaldTrump #MunichAgreement #Russia #sanctions #USA #exportofpetroleumproducts

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«The authorities lie» has already become such a deeply rooted belief that only television can persuade people otherwise. The authorities themselves, however, quite readily confirm this opinion. This, of course, seriously hinders an objective assessment of reality at any level — from consumer behavior to the behavior of economic agents. But there is an even more important question: do the authorities lie to themselves?

#Analytics #budget #ValentinaMatvienko #WarinUkraine #state #RussianFinanceMinisterAntonSiluanov #aftertheUSSR #Russia #finance

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While ordinary Russians are being denied the opportunity to obtain visas to the EU, sanctions are being lifted from two emblematic figures of Putin’s Russia. The negative consequences of this decision are clear. But are there any positive ones? 

#AlisherUsmanov #Analytics #VladimirPutin #WarinUkraine #doublestandards #EuropeanUnion #compromises #Luxembourg #MikhailFridman #oligarchs #sanctions #France #elites

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Today, one can observe increasing activity of Russian special operations in Europe and expect it to intensify, since Ukrainian resistance relies primarily on European aid. The Kremlin is looking for ways to undermine this alliance no less than for military victories.

#Analytics #droneextermination #WarinUkraine #Germany #hybridwar #sabotage #europe #EuropeanUnion #KseniaFedorova #aftertheUSSR #propaganda #Putin #Russia #specialservices #ultraright #France

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U.S. President Donald Trump signed the law on «hellish sanctions» against Russia on Friday, September 18. The law also took effect on that date. But are these sanctions really so terrible? Or is this just another declaration of intent without an effective enforcement mechanism?

#Analytics #WarinUkraine #Putin #Russia #sanctions #USA #shadowfleet #Trump #finance

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On the morning of September 19, 2023, Azerbaijani troops launched an offensive against the remnants of Karabakh, where Armenians were still living. Over the next couple of weeks, almost all of them left for Armenia along the long serpentine road known as the Lachin Corridor. And like almost everything in the Karabakh conflict, this event got two names. «Ethnic cleansing», according to the Armenian side, and «voluntary resettlement», according to the Azerbaijani side. The spectacle of a hundred thousand people leaving their homes forever shocked many. But for outside audiences, the shock was short-lived. Azerbaijan managed to convince everyone so quickly that what was happening was normal and inevitable that the topic disappeared from the agenda. It was also in Russia’s interest to sweep everything under the rug so that no one would ask an awkward question. The only thing left now is to make sense of what happened and not allow propaganda myths to take root.

#Azerbaijan #Analytics #Armenia #ArmenianAzerbaijaniconflict #lifeinexile #personalexperience #NagornoKarabakh #aftertheUSSR #Russia #RubenVardanyan #ethnicconflicts

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The news about the memorandum in support of the rights of the peoples of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales to self-determination, signed by the leaders of the ruling national parties, caused an enthusiastic reaction in Russia. Pro-government media were filled with headlines like: «Britain is falling apart», «The breakup of Great Britain in 2026», and so on. Not surprisingly: in the understanding of the Russian authorities and many Russians, the departure of any regions from any country is «disintegration», «collapse», and generally «horror, horror, horror». In reality, there is no breakup of Britain yet, and none is expected in the near future. But there is still a serious topic for discussion.

#Analytics #UnitedKingdom #DonaldTrump #therightofnationstoselfdetermination #referendum #Russianpropaganda #NorthernIreland #separatism #Wales #Scotland

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Siberian farmers had barely recovered from the mass slaughter of livestock in the spring when slaughter teams appeared again. This time — in Irkutsk Oblast and Zabaykalsky Krai. Now they are seizing not only cows, but also pigs.

#Analytics #business #vaccination #veterinarycontrol #state #Livestock #lifeinRussia #animaldisease #Regions #Agriculture #scandal #Farmers #epizootic

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On the weekend, Russian news agencies enthusiastically reported the emergence of a new oil province in Russia. Rosneft head Igor Sechin even compared the commissioning of the Vostok Oil project in Taimyr with the discovery of West Siberian oil in Soviet times. Let’s find out whether this is true.

#VostokOil #Analytics #business #VladimirPutin #WesternSiberia #IgorSechin #oil #aftertheUSSR #Rosneft #sanctions #Taimyr #technology

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Soon after the AFU strikes on Ozon warehouses, it became known about Vladimir Putin’s decree on protecting infrastructure facilities. Its essence is simple: critical infrastructure facilities whose owners failed to ensure their security under conditions of external threats may be transferred to temporary state administration. The question of why business should perform the state’s duties does not even arise.

#Ozon #Analytics #droneattacks #business #Prigozhinsrebellion #VladimirPutin #WarinUkraine #state #retail #Russia #securityforces

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Last week, the Russian leader visited the Kuril Islands for the first time in the 26 years of his rule. This demonstrative trip sharply worsened Russian-Japanese relations. On the other hand, it was supposed to please the Chinese comrades

#Analytics #WarinUkraine #diplomacy #China #KurileIslands #aftertheUSSR #Russia #scandal #Taiwan #Japan

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Desperate pleas from Wildberries owners and sellers to the government are provoking a sluggish and chaotic response. And it seems the issue is not just a banal lack of money.

#Wildberries #Analytics #business #WarinUkraine #elections #state #capitalism #acrisis #mobilization #society #Putin #retail #Russia #elites

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Speaking in Kazan on August 6, 1990, the head of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, Boris Yeltsin, uttered the classic phrase: «Take as much sovereignty as you can swallow». Back then, at the end of Perestroika, the Supreme Soviets of all the union and autonomous republics of the USSR proclaimed their state sovereignty. And some later declared independence as well. But does anyone really think that this experience can be repeated today?

#Analytics #WarinUkraine #2026StateDumaelections #Empire #UnitedRussiaparty #politicalemigration #aftertheUSSR #Regions #Russia #tatarstan

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All mass migrations always have completely specific causes: war, mass famine, natural disasters, and the like. Is any of that happening in Morocco right now? Obviously, nothing.

#Analytics #EuropeanUnion #Spain #Morocco #migrants #Ceutamigrantcrisis #provocation

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At the beginning of July, historian Konstantin Pakhalyuk’s book «In Search of »Russian Antiquity«» was included in the longlist for the «Provetitel» prize. With the kind permission of the publisher Chișinău: The Historical Expertise, which republished the book after its de facto ban in Russia, we are publishing the chapter «State Memory Policy in the Conditions of the ‘Conservative Turn’ (2012 — early 2022)», which explains why cynical Russian politicians and bureaucrats needed events from long ago.

#Analytics #VladimirMedinsky #VladimirPutin #power #ideology #Study #Russianhistory #conservativeturn #rent #RussianMilitaryHistoricalSociety #SergeyNaryshkin

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In the tenth year of Emmanuel Macron’s rule, French society is deeply disappointed in him, and the political system is destabilized. Many voters now see voting for Marine Le Pen and her «National Rally» as the only way to express anger and distrust toward this system.

#Analytics #elections #JeanLucMélenchon #JordanBardella #MarineLePin #politicalcrisis #populism #rightandleft #France #EmmanuelMacron

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Measures that can protect European cities from extreme heat are well known to scientists, governments, and business alike. Many of them are already working successfully in individual countries and cities. But why do these solutions still remain the exception rather than the rule?

#Analytics #business #Globalwarming #state #europe #heat #catastrophe #Climate #Thescience #urbanism

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The escalation of mutual threats between Lukashenko and Zelensky has been steadily intensifying over the past three months. And it has not been only words: things are quite serious

#Analytics #Belarus #WarinUkraine #ArmedForcesofUkraine #Zelensky #acrisis #Lukashenko #Putin #Russia

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