Latest Articles about Domestic/Social

Seeking Loyalty Amongst the Four Key Groups – The Tactics of Xi’s Domestic Politics
Recent calls for loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party, and particularly its top leadership, have brought renewed attention to this important internal messaging phenomenon. However, insistence on loyalty is not a new phenomenon in the People’s Republic of China, and historical context and examination of... MORE

Belarus: 19th Century Geopolitics Lives On
In January 2009, that is, during the previous (2008–2010) thaw between Belarus and the West, the International Monetary Fund set up a line of credit for Minsk worth $2.46 billion and then increased it to $3.56 billion precisely when (June 2009) Russia reneged on transmitting... MORE

Dagestani Authorities Are in Denial About Terrorist Attacks in the Republic
On February 15, a suicide bomber blew his car and himself up near the Jimikent police checkpoint, in Derbent district, in southern Dagestan. Initially, the news reports suggested that the attack killed two police officers and two civilians. Five other people were injured and several... MORE

Russia Is Giving up on Its Tragedies—and on Itself
President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating is regularly accepted as a proxy measure for the level of Russia’s internal cohesion. And his support remains on a sky-high plateau, where it has stood since the explosion of jingoism caused by the annexation of Crimea in March 2014... MORE

Will “Core of the Leadership” Xi Jinping Rule for 15 Years Or More?
In December 2015, Chinese President, Communist Party Secretary and Central Military Commission Chairman Xi Jinping took on the additional title of “Core of the Leadership” (“领导核心”). This is just one of several recent signs indicating that a Maoist-style personality cult is being built around the... MORE

Kadyrov at Loggerheads With Chechen Diaspora in Europe
Ramzan Kadyrov has repeatedly voiced discontent with the actions of Chechens who reside in Europe. During the first years of his rule in Chechnya, he managed to convince many of the former leaders of Ichkeria to switch sides and move back to Grozny. This guaranteed... MORE

Circassian Repatriates From Turkey Call for Resumed Russian-Turkish Cooperation
With Russian-Turkish tensions spiraling downward, many Circassian immigrants of Turkish origin in the North Caucasus have renounced their Turkish citizenship in favor of Russian citizenship. Circassian immigrants from Turkey in Kabardino-Balkaria signed a statement calling on the Turkish authorities to resume cooperation with Russia. Reciting... MORE

Moscow’s Desire to Micro-Manage the North Caucasus Causing Multiple Inefficiencies
On February 19, the governor of North Ossetia–Alania, Tamerlan Aguzarov, suddenly died at a Moscow hospital from complications of pneumonia. The 52-year-old governor was in office for a little more than eight months and, according to some reports, was fighting cancer. Aguzarov was also known... MORE

A Lost Year for Russia
It is the dubious ceasefire in Syria that keeps Russia in the focus of global media attention these days, as if the outcome of this catastrophic civil war actually depends upon Russian bombs falling here or there. President Vladimir Putin has not committed to anything... MORE

Opposition Report on Ramzan Kadyrov Breaks No New Ground
The Russian opposition promised to deliver a groundbreaking report on Chechnya by Ilya Yashin, the deputy chairman of the Svoboda-Parnas party, long before February 23. On February 7, Yashin surprised the Chechen authorities after he asserted that he had visited the republic’s capital and published... MORE