Lefteast
(translated from Russian by Emma Clair Foley) Everyone understands that the coming year will see Russia immersed in an economic crisis, one which will almost inevitably entail a social and political crisis. It was already over a year ago that Vladimir Putin, while taking part in his favorite genre of television, “direct association with the people,” […]
This statement was made by OpenLeft Collective-Russia and Sosyalist Demokrasi İçin Yeniyol-Turkey in December 2015. source: InternationalViewpoint.Org After the aircraft SU-24 Russian fighter was shot down by a Turkish Armed Forces missile on November 24, on account to the fact that it violated Turkey’s air space, it can be certainly said that the relations between the […]
Note from LeftEast editors: The original OpenLeft.ru editorial on the main tendencies in Russia in 2015 has been translated by Sean Guillory on Sean’s Russia Blog . The system Putin built wants to appear unchanging: it is based on “stability”, that is, the illusion that there is no alternative to its policies and authority. Analysts’ numerous apocalyptic prophecies signalling […]
Despite its anti-neoliberal character, Sergei Glazyev’s proposed economic reforms are in the interests of elites and not the population. Sergei Glazyev, the Russian economist and adviser to Putin, is increasingly in the news. He often speaks of “urgent measures” to help overcome the crisis, jump start economic growth and propel a technological leap forward. Liberals […]
On our trip to Moscow in June 2015, we met with Ilya Budraitskis, who spoke to us about the crisis facing Russia today and its effects on art and culture. Budraitskis’ argument is presented here alongside drawings by Sveta Shuvaeva, whom we also met while in Moscow. These works were made over the last two years […]
Ilya Budraitskis: It has been several days since the start of the Russian military operation in Syria and the goals and strategy of this operation are still unclear. The explanation coming from Russian officials is unclear. On one hand they put an anti-ISIS agenda as the main reason of the operation, and on the other […]
Note from the LeftEast editors: On October 1 the former finance minister of Greece Yanis Varofakis gave his keynote speech at the 6th Moscow Biennale. Ilya Budraitskis briefly interviewed him for their website. This is a reprint of the interview from the Moscow Biennale’s website. Earlier you spoke about the window of opportunity to change […]
Note from the LeftEast editors: this article written by the editors of the Russian socialist website OpenLeft.Ru was posted in an English translation by Nick Evans at RS21.Org.Uk. A whole range of evidence [also here] indicates that Russia is activating its military aid for the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad up to the point of direct involvement of Russian troops […]
“I’m obliged, unfortunately, to note that the word ‘hypocrite’ has been and will continue to be a fixture within the diplomatic lexicon,” Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced recently, while talking about Russia’s divergence from the West on the situation in Syria. It is hard to argue with the […]
Today’s economic crisis has affected all spheres of life in Russian society. The processes we witness in economics, politics, and ideology look like constant escalation of unreason. The unending sequence of media scandals obscures the reality of mass poverty, growing unemployment and the unannounced but already palpable austerity policies of the state. We see the […]