author

 
 

Meta

Andrey Borodaevskiy
For Andrey Borodaevskiy's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2015
Russia needs a strategy, not another fake plan
It is advisable for each country to have a sound and realistic economic and social development strategy. At this moment in history, Russia is going through more than one crisis, some of them imposed by the global economic situation and some obviously self-made. So, for this ailing society, a sound strategy is something truly indispensable.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2015
Russia's dissidents return
It is high time for Russians to be reminded of the ideals on which perstroika were based.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2015
On Fascism, Nazism, Bolshevism and 'Russism'
As Russia prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its victory over Hitler, it is increasingly coming under the grip of "Russism" — a hybrid form of Nazism.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2015
Too few workers in Russia and too many poor people
Independent of the current economic crisis, Russia's labor market has entered a deep, prolonged decline in its economically active population.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2015
Russia's social order today
In today's Russia, traditional forms of employment with stable wages and a more or less transparent system of social security have given way to shadow-market-style labor relations with badly documented part-time jobs and nontransparent methods of remuneration.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2014
Three 'geos' push the world but leave Russia in a cloud
All the colonial empires of the 20th century have given way to young nation-states and to a new kind of relations between a capital and its former colonies, yet official Russia goes on shedding tears about its disintegrated empire.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2014
Two-headed Russian eagle mulls moves at crossroads
The bicontinental nature of Russia is reflected in its national symbol, a double-headed eagle looking in two directions. That eagle finds itself in a precarious spot now that it must look around for as many non-Western partners and openings for business as possible.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2014
Confronting unending lies
Perhaps what is most amazing and regretful about the situation in Russia is the nearly complete absence of truth and objectivity in the mass media covering Ukrainian events.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2014
What to make of a president who'd rather crack the whip
President Vladimir Putin wants a strong sovereign and prosperous Russia, but he believes that Russians are incapable of deciding for themselves and need a shepherd with a whip — an almighty autocrat.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2014
Russian road to mediocrity
Only a few economists in Russia seem to stress the importance of understanding the impact of the current mass outflow of capital and the sharp deterioration of the situation in world commodity markets.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2013
Russia's economic model losing potential for growth
In the absence of genuine political reform in Russia, there will be no end to capital drain and no adequate stimuli for invigorating a massive influx of investment capital.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2013
Art of national self-appraisal
Legislative activity in Moscow has been on the rise of late as Russia's parliament issues one new law after another — many of them antidemocratic and anti-American.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2013
Cross-purpose BRICS scheme
The absence of developed cooperative ties and of commercial turnover growth within the BRICS grouping may only perpetuate existing structural differences.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2013
Russia's homophobic curse
With the general mood in Russia's populace favoring a ban on gay culture, homophobic mobsters of all colors feel cozy under an official umbrella.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2013
Anniversaries, talk shows showcase division in Russia
Opposition critics, left and right, of Russian President Vladimir Putin seem to be loud but toothless opportunists. In many cases, they are nostalgic for Josef Stalin.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2013
When freedom to make laws is license to restrict freedom
Since the presumably rigged elections of December 2011, Russia's Parliament/president machine has been stamping human-rights-restricting and authorities-power-enhancing laws one after another.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2013
Today's take on Stalingrad
In one of Moscow's central subway stations — Arbatskaya — the escalator leading up to the city exit ends in a spacious vestibule. On the front wall, a classic frame several meters high is covered with white plaster. It bears no image, and the white paint must be regularly renewed to avoid ugly cracks.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2013
A futile fight against nature
Let the "amateur" majority enjoy their "clean" sports, but is it fair that the most resolute athletes are robbed of the chance to perform at their best?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2013
Moscow's not-so-friendly environmental quirks
Moscow, they say, "wasn't built at one go" — in contrast to St. Petersburg, which emerged laid out, as if by magic, in strict conformity to Peter the Great's plan — and it has been growing chaotically for more than 800 years on seven gently sloping hills surrounding the river of the same name.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 23, 2012
Long wait for Putin's 'residential renaissance'
In Russia, as in many other countries, one main measure of living conditions is the number of "squares" — square meters — in a flat.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world