Day: July 5, 2019

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

‘Regional Separatism Now Most Horrifying Threat for Moscow,’ Matveyev Says

Paul Goble

Staunton, July 1 – Over the last six months, Pavel Matveyev says, not only has the worst not happened but there are signs of real improvement in the mentality of Russians, many of whom are shifting from being merely residents of Russia who accept whatever is done to them to being citizens who demand a say in what the authorities do.

This process is still in its infancy, the Moscow commentator says; and the powers that be will certainly try to strangle it in its cradle. But no one can deny it is occurring and increasingly becoming something the authorities cannot fail to take note of. It may even explain why some of the worst things haven’t happened (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5D190E2400E12). Read more →

Friday, July 5, 2019

Decade of Relative Stability in North Caucasus Coming to an End, Neroznikova Says

Paul Goble

Staunton, July 3 – The decade of relative stability in the North Caucasus, a period during which the authorities were not able to resolve “the basic problem of the region,” the clash between Islamic fundamentalism and a corrupt and lawless civil power, is rapidly coming to an end, according to Yekaterina Neroznikova, a journalist who has long worked in the region.

She tells Sovershenno Sekretno commentator Anton Krivenyuk that there are likely to be leadership changes in Daghestan and Chechnya as well as more corruption scandals and that these things will only exacerbate the underlying problems of a region that remains divided into “ethnic quarters” (sovsekretno.ru/articles/kto-mozhet-rabotat-toporom-/). Read more →

Friday, July 5, 2019

Flags Increasingly Important Symbols of Protest against Moscow and for What It Stands, Luzin Says

Paul Goble

Staunton, July 3 – Politics begins, as Carl Schmitt reminds, when someone identifies those against which one is fighting, Pavel Luzin says; and in that process of definition, visual symbols, like the flags and banners protesters use, are critically important as a natural development of opposition to the Kremlin.

As one flag displaces another or a new flag enters the scene, the regionalist writer argues, this process will be “a tectonic shift” in the country and “a symbolic act of separation by citizens from the Russian powers that be and from Moscow as such which up to now has imposed its symbols on people” (region.expert/flags/). Read more →

Friday, July 5, 2019

Loss of Language May Not Mean Loss of Ethnic Identity, Vakhtin Says

Paul Goble

Staunton, July 3 – If a nation loses its traditional language and adopts another, that may or may not lead to a loss of ethnic identity, Nikolay Vakhtin, a specialist on the peoples of the Russian North who heads the Center for Social Research at St. Petersburg’s European University (nazaccent.ru/content/30255-ne-povod-zaciklivatsya.html).

Language is an important ethnic marker, but it is far from the only one, he says; and the loss of a traditional language may not be the end of the nation. Instead, it may give the nation additional bases for defending their identity because their interactions with other peoples will intensify, a situation that often gives rise to more intensely held national feelings. Read more →