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Articles by Paul Goble
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1 2 3 4
Sochi Olympics Makes the Circassian Genocide an International Issue, Analysts Say
01 March 11
By Paul Goble
Moscow's drive to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi has transformed the question of the recognition of the Circassian genocide from a narrowly local issue into an international one by attracting the attention of intellectuals around the world, according to a Circassian scholar.
Why Aren't Russians in Revolt?
03 February 11
By Paul Goble
The spread of political protests in the Middle East and increasing problems inside Russia, including corruption, income gaps and official arbitrariness, have prompted ever more analysts to ask why Russians aren't going into the streets more often.
Khloponin Considers Cossacks for North Caucasus
04 November 10
By Paul Goble
Alexander Khloponin, the North Caucasus special envoy, has said his “first task” should be to rely on a Cossack revival to return ethnic Russians to the region. But Cossacks have a troubled history there.
Chechnya Is More Violent Than Reported
29 October 10
By Paul Goble
Ivan Sydoruk, the deputy prosecutor general of the North Caucasus Federal District, told federal senators that “a large portion of weapons are obtained by militants from the stores of military units.” His other comments raised equal alarm.
FSB's Bill Holds Hidden Dangers for Free Speech
21 October 10
By Paul Goble
Human rights activists have succeeded in eliminating a provision of a draft bill on state secrets that would have blocked the media from covering most counterterrorist operations. But a provision that places a veil of secrecy over the financing of such operations has the potential to do more harm.
State Readies for Street Clashes
14 October 10
By Paul Goble
Until recently, officials and politicians have downplayed the risk of massive street clashes and the state's preparation for them. But now, they have a counter-plan.
Resin Wants Hearings on Religious Construction
07 October 10
By Paul Goble
The acting mayor of the Russian capital has called for holding public hearings on all construction projects for churches, mosques and synagogues. That could threaten the status quo between Moscow's government and the Moscow Patriarchate.
Moscow Wants Emigrees Home, At Lower Cost
30 September 10
By Paul Goble
Moscow spent less than a quarter of the amount that it had budgeted to attract compatriots living overseas to come back to Russia, a slide that lessens the country's chances of getting Russians to return.
Group Proposes an 'Ethnic Russian' Republic
27 August 10
By Paul Goble
In a move that could be called either a provocation by Russian regionalists and a power grab by a federal district, a self-described civic group has proposed transforming the Central Federal District into an ethnic Russian republic. The draft law is revealing.
Dagestan Plans Anti-Terror Units, Worrying Locals
15 August 10
By Paul Goble
Anti-terrorist units in Chechnya have accrued a horrible human rights record. But officials in Dagestan say violence in their republic now is warranting anti-terrorist units there. They say their soldiers will be different. Some are skeptical.
GONGOs Are Returning in Force
06 August 10
By Paul Goble
GONGOs, or government-organized non-governmental organizations, are increasingly being used by Russian authorities to elbow aside genuine NGOs, a Russian journalist says.
Siberia's Status in Russia on Par With Russia's in the World
12 July 10
By Paul Goble
According to a leading economist, Siberia increasingly is to Russia what Russia is to the world: a supplier of raw materials that those who are consuming them take without much thought to what is happening at their source economically or ecologically.
School Closings Indicate 'Internal Decolonization' of Russia
06 July 10
By Paul Goble
A hunger strike by parents, teachers and graduates to protest the closure of five schools in the Ulyanovsk region has called attention to a broader, more frightening problem: the shutting down of schools with low enrollments in ever more villages.
Police No Longer Feel the Need to Deny Use of Torture
29 June 10
By Paul Goble
A recent article in the Russian edition of Newsweek notes that while some policemen have been charged with using torture, most of those suspected of doing so have escaped responsibility because of the interconnectedness of the police and investigators.
Terrorism Threats Cover Up Corruption in Sochi, Analysts Say
09 June 10
By Paul Goble
In the last several weeks, ever more evidence has come out that corruption is making the Sochi Olympics the most expensive in history, a charge that could have the effect of leading more people to question the appropriateness of holding the Games there.
Internet Can’t Compensate for Kremlin's Info Blockade, Analysts Say
19 May 10
By Paul Goble
Too few Russians currently go online for their news in order to compensate for Moscow deciding to throw an information blockade around events that it would like Russians to ignore. The maligned and ignored protests by miners near the devastated Raspadskaya mine are a prime example.
Russia's Roads Collapsing From More Traffic, Less Money
28 April 10
By Paul Goble
Even as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin again promises to complete a trans-Russia highway and as Moscow media report progress on several high-profile road projects near the capital, including paid highways, the country's road system in many parts of the country is near the point of collapse, officials say.
Could Kyrgyzstan Cease to Exist?
21 April 10
By Paul Goble
Deteriorating conditions in Kyrgyzstan and increasing evidence that the provisional government is not in control of the situation, especially in the wake of President Dmitry Medvedev’s observation that Bishkek must build a new state, are leading some to ask whether Kyrgyzstan as a country could cease to exist.
Reports Say Ethnic Violence Rising in Kyrgyzstan
14 April 10
By Paul Goble
The Russian embassy in Bishkek has sent a diplomatic note to the Kyrgyz foreign ministry saying Russian citizens and compatriots have complained in recent days about increasing interethnic tensions in Kyrgyzstan and pointing out that such tensions “not only contradict the interests of cooperation but create a negative image of the country.”
Russians Now Face-to-Face With Terrorism
07 April 10
By Paul Goble
The most important consequence of the terrorist attack in the Moscow metro is that Russians are facing up to the reality that terrorism is not something far away but close at hand, and that no one can provide them with the assurance that all attacks can and will be prevented.
Terrorism Ultimately Costs Citizens Their Freedom
01 April 10
By Paul Goble
A commentary in this week's Novaya Gazeta points out that Russian officials view terrorist acts as another reminder that they “are not in a position to fulfill their chief function" — the defense of their fellow citizens — and consequently are convinced that at the very least they should exploit the situation to retain their “own control over the country."
Kremlin Misreading Latest Round of Protests
24 March 10
By Paul Goble
In an editorial published this week in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the paper's editors write that unless Moscow understands the reality of the recent nationwide protests, Russia’s future will be anything but bright.
‘War of the Worlds’ Broadcast Highlights Pathologies of Georgian-Russian Relations
17 March 10
By Paul Goble
A hoax broadcast on Georgian television about a Russian invasion has sparked discussion about the dangers of such a TV show in the current environment and raised questions about who benefits from such actions.
Nation Forcibly Deported Under Brezhnev Now at Risk
10 March 10
By Paul Goble
The last survivors of a pre-Turkic civilization in Central Asia and the last nation to be forcibly deported by the Soviet government are now rapidly dying out after some of them have moved back to their traditional villages in highland Tajikistan, a Moscow journal reports.
'Russian Mafia' Abroad Now 300,000 Strong, Journal Says
02 March 10
By Paul Goble
A recent report in Versiya claims that up to 300,000 members of Russian criminal organizations have succeeded in pushing aside local groups and establishing their own “spheres of influence” throughout the world, from Australia to Mexico.
Moscow's Muslim Slums Now Breeding Grounds for Despair
24 February 10
By Paul Goble
Only 200 meters from the Garden Ring Road, the settlement of Chelobityevo houses some 3,000 Muslims from Central Asia whose misfortunes people in Moscow “either do not know or do not want to know,” according to a new report on the Islamnews.ru web site.
Nearly 80% of Draft-Age Russians Unhealthy, Sources Say
16 February 10
By Paul Goble
The share of the draft-age cohort whose health permits them to serve without restrictions has fallen from 94.7 percent in 1985 to 51 percent in 2009, a drop that may overstate the problem given the different standards employed but that Moscow now hopes to reverse by 10 percent by 2020.
Who Will Manage the 2 Million Shiites of Russia?
10 February 10
By Paul Goble
Russia’s three largest Muslim spiritual directorates are now actively discussing the possible formation of a single Muslim hierarchy, but neither they nor the Russian powers that be appear to be paying much attention to one group of Muslims there — the more than 2.1 million followers of Shiite Islam.
Moscow Fears Regional Officials Who Obey Law More Than Those Who Don’t, Russian Commentator Says
04 February 10
By Paul Goble
Protests like those in Kaliningrad and, even more, the response of Moscow to them seem likely to corrode still further the ties between the population of the Russian Federation and its rulers.
Internet Editions of Crimean Tatar Newspapers Disappearing
01 February 10
By Paul Goble
With many Crimean Tatar online news outlets closing down, minority nationalities are losing vital fora of debate and connections with their diaspora are at risk of loosening.
