Carnegie Moscow Center
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.
After abandoning the Soviet Union, Russia prolonged and reproduced the same basic system, but without communism. In comparison, Ukraine is on the positive side of the process of taking shape as a state and a nation.
A true de-Stalinization process in Russia will require no less than a reinvention of Russian nationhood based on a rejection of the traditional concept of the state, an end to the political and historical immunity of the secret police, and the emergence of a concept of "we, the people."
Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader responsible for the deaths of millions, still commands worryingly high levels of admiration in some post-Soviet countries.
In Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s most populous country, Islam has been an ever-present factor in the lives of its people and a contentious force for political officials trying to build a secular government.
The study of the Soviet drive toward collectivization in Kazakhstan and the resulting famine comes with a particular set of challenges.
2012 is an election year for both Russia and the United States. Presidential elections have already taken place in Russia, and they will be held in the United States in November. It remains to be seen how these political changes might affect Russian-American relations.
The Russian empire is over, but the belief that Russia is finished as a serious global player might be premature. Today, Russia’s goals include modernizing, creating a nation-state, and finding the country’s new role in the world.
Today, Russia is peripheral to many of the major conflicts in the world. While this gives Moscow an opportunity to take care of its own affairs, Russia also needs to define and fulfill its new international role.
Women in modern Russia still face a number of challenges, but Russian women and their Soviet counterparts have always been rather independent and active.