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Russian Military Game Of Thrones – Analysis

Reshuffling of the Russian High Command and the Syria Failure Russia was prepared for a two-week special operation—a larger version of the 2014 invasion of Crimea that stunned the Western strategic community. Vladimir Putin, relying on Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov’s hybrid warfare tactics, expected to achieve …

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Prigozhin Goes Into Exile But Leaves Behind A Can Of Worms – OpEd

On Monday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation for the second time with the intention to bring the curtain down on the coup attempt by Wagner “founder” Yevgeny Prigozhin on June 23-24. It was quintessentially a self-congratulatory speech — well-deserved, perhaps. The speech had four principal elements. First, …

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Russia’s Periphery Takes Note of Putin’s Sudden Weakness

In Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Wagner rebellion has exposed Russia’s fragility. The New York Times called it Russia’s “36-hour rebellion,” as if the weekend’s shattering events could be confined to a day and a half. Even if Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called off his group’s march on …

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No Return for Yevgeny Prigozhin—or Russia

The regime is driven by ideas of supremacy and messianism, nationalism and imperialism. In this respect, there is no difference between Putin and his inner circle and Prigozhin.A version of this article first appeared in Russian in the New Times. “Treason doth never prosper, what’s the reason? For if it …

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Geography, Bureaucracy, And National Security: The Legacies Of The Cold War And Post-Cold War Periods – Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant global upheaval, particularly in the form of fragmented supply chains. This was followed by the Taliban’s success in Afghanistan in August 2021, Russia’s intensification of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and China’s announcement in 2023 that the world is experiencing a geopolitical …

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