Carnegie Moscow Center
The Petersburg Dialogue was set up to bring together a cross section of Russian society and encourage the country's transition to democracy. It hasn't worked that way.
An increasing number of German politicians from the main political parties are questioning Berlin's special relationship with Russia under President Vladimir V. Putin.
The recent regional elections have shown that rather than making the political system more open and competitive, the Kremlin has found new ways to outmaneuver the opposition while maintaining its hold on power.
Through the recent parliamentary elections and pending peaceful transfer of power, Georgia has made several important strides toward establishing democracy and rule of law.
As the traditional Russian system predicated on personalized power heads toward its end, the United States can either continue to support the current system or it can recognize the transience of this system and thus help Russian society cope with the changes to come.
On the eve of regional elections, the authorities have responded to protesters' demands for a more competitive and transparent political process by employing ever more sophisticated tricks to retain their hold on power.
The Kremlin assesses the U.S. presidential candidates by one criterion: which will help it pursue its own domestic agenda. Moscow could be happy with both a second Obama term and a first Romney one.
Modern Russia has exploited its Asia-Pacific advantages rather poorly, if at all. The country must find a pathway to a dynamic future and make a pivot from West to East—where the greatest geopolitical challenge is rising.
Conditional and tentative peace between Russia and other European countries is being replaced by much more durable relationships which eschew war as an instrument of policy among the countries concerned.
The APEC agenda focuses on trade and investment liberalization, business facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation—all things that are top priorities for Russia, if it seeks to develop its Asia-Pacific territory and increase its presence in the region.