Carnegie Moscow Center
According to this year’s Transatlantic Trends survey, majority opinions toward Russia on both sides of the Atlantic have turned from favorable to unfavorable, while Russian opinions of the West was generally favorable.
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.
Some forecasting models predict that incumbent U.S. President Barack Obama has a good chance of winning the November 2012 presidential election, while other methods predict his defeat.
Russia has been in a post-empire state for the last 20 years. There is no way back to an empire now—Russia has passed the point of no return in this respect.
Relations between the West and Russia are still shifting as the West has yet to adjust to the post-Soviet reality and Russia has not settled on its relationship with the rest of the world.
Two issues—military reform and interethnic relations in the Russian Federation—seem to have grabbed the most public attention since the Soviet collapse. They have had a big impact on Russia’s public and political life over the last twenty years, and affect the foundations for the country’s future development.
Told in eight parts, Eight Pieces of Empire follows the USSR’s disintegration and its aftermath through two decades of the author’s own reporting from the region.
Corruption remains a serious hindrance to increased trade and investment between the United States and Russia, and the two countries must work together to build strong institutions, develop better business practices, and enforce compliance.
Twenty years after the end of the Soviet Union, Moscow should drop the notion of creating an exclusive power center in the post-Soviet space.
The Carnegie Endowment hosted a special taping of the Charlie Rose Show, on the situation twenty years after the end of the Soviet Union.