Carnegie Moscow Center
Moscow needs to play its hands wisely and avoid supporting the separatist movement in Ukraine, which could give Kyiv a pretext to send in troops to restore constitutional order.
Only the first stage of revolution in Ukraine is over. The serious challenge for Ukraine is how the common people will be involved in controlling the new power.
The defeat of the Ukrainian regime was a severe blow to Vladimir Putin personally. Any victory of Ukrainian revolution could act as an inspiration for the Russian people as well.
The protests in Ukraine are a warning to all post-Soviet authoritarian states that the same thing may occur at any time in their countries and are likely to serve as a pretext for the authorities in Russia and in Central Asia to tighten their control.
Neither the opposition leaders nor President Yanukovych know how how hard they can push back as they struggle to find a solution to rising tensions in Ukraine.
Putin’s Eurasian Union would be a set of political and economic structures, similar to the EU, that Russia would dominate. But this vision comes with a price; Ukraine’s economy is in trouble, just as Russia is suffering from low economic growth.
The influx of labor migrants is an economic necessity for Russia, which does not have enough native workforce. But the newness of this migration, coupled with a social distrust of authority, is causing problems.
The Chinese Dream, an idea floated by Chinese President Xi Jinping, has far-reaching implications for every part of society in China.
The main reason that Russia’s anti-gay laws have stirred up such strong emotions is the lack of open social discussion about the issue.
If the joint efforts of the United States and Russia in Syria are to succeed, they must attain a ceasefire between Bashar al-Assad’s armed forces and the opposition, and discover and destroy all chemical weapons in Syria.