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May 08, 2024
 

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THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 2, 2002
West-blessed authoritarian
MOSCOW -- U.S. President George W. Bush visited Russia just as a new wave of terrorist attacks was expected in North America. This grim background toned down the euphoric atmosphere of the Bush-Putin summit. Yet two things definitely stood out during the visit: the signing of an important arms-reduction treaty and the acknowledgment of the new strategic partnership between Russia and the West. The latter appeared more significant than the former: After all, the nuclear warheads in question will be not destroyed but merely stockpiled, and Russia has coveted the status of being a Western ally since the days of Peter the Great.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
May 5, 2002
Adventurer's death touches Russia's soul
MOSCOW -- One does not have to be a pop singer or a movie actor to have loyal fans all over the globe. Occasionally even a scholar can become an international star, as the recently deceased Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl demonstrated. A remarkable thing about his popularity, however, was that Russia was one of the nations that loved him most.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 11, 2002
Russia's Mideast conundrum
MOSCOW -- The current crisis in the Middle East is a conundrum for Moscow. Russia's involvement in the area has traditionally been painful and controversial, heavily loaded with historical associations, cultural stereotypes and racial prejudice. Rarely did Russian diplomacy score a success there, while defeats have been numerous.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 24, 2002
Yankee chicken, go home!
"Down with President Bush's thighs!" says Moscow. "We've eaten enough of them and they're no good. We're not going to cook them again."
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 6, 2002
Bush's incendiary pulpit
MOSCOW -- It would be interesting to know who attended U.S. President George W. Bush's talk at Tsinghua University in Beijing on Feb. 22. Obviously planned as a mixture of calculated propaganda and heartfelt preaching, the talk targeted Chinese youth who hopefully will make China democratic, tolerant and prosperous.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 28, 2002
Salt Lake City Games spark Gold War
MOSCOW -- Moscow is furious, Russia indignant. President Vladimir Putin frowns, the Russian Parliament wails. The people would be burning American flags in the streets if they could get some. The hotheads are already talking about boycotting McDonald's and "The Lord of the Rings." The nation feels humiliated and longs for revenge. Russia has lost the Winter Olympics.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 10, 2002
TV sports trump freedom; public loses
MOSCOW -- There is no television broadcast in Russia anymore that is independent of the Russian government. Having applied the poisonous gas of legal niceties, the Kremlin has shut down the last stronghold of dissent, the vocal and opinionated TV-6. It was the coup de grace in Russian President Vladimir Putin's yearlong struggle against the alternative station. Now the Kremlin's interpretation of international and domestic events will go unchallenged.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 27, 2002
Film sours 30-year romance
MOSCOW -- The new international blockbuster film "The Lord of the Rings" has not hit Russian screens yet, but the first pirated videocassettes are already here, causing almost as much of a stir as a change in vodka prices and definitely much more than the recent news of the shutdown of independent television network TV-6.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 23, 2001
Putin leaves Russia wondering
MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be really excited about his new strategic partnership with Washington. For the sake of this still amorphous yet highly promising alliance, he has even decided to downplay his irritation about President George W. Bush's decision to withdraw from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty. Making a number of old-fashioned strategists in Moscow quite unhappy and another Eurasian giant, China, very angry, Putin expressed his firm belief in "the spirit of partnership and even alliance" with the United States or, more precisely, with its president.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 15, 2001
A sinister Afghan 'deja vu'
MOSCOW -- The last major stronghold of the Taliban, the city of Kandahar, has fallen, though Osama bin Laden is still hiding in the entrails of Tora Bora mountains. Russians are among the few nations for whom news about the surrender of Kandahar rings a special bell. The city still occupies a prominent, though sinister, place in modern Russian lore.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 24, 2001
Putin seizes the moment
Russian President Vladimir Putin is a very lucky man. Instead of running a Russian spy network in some sleepy Central European country, as his training and career once suggested he would, he skyrocketed to the top position in the Kremlin. There, inexperienced and vulnerable, he faced not the consolidated financial oligarchy of the new Russia, but a collection of disunited, bemused, wealthy individuals, whom he, to his own surprise, easily neutralized one by one.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 19, 2001
The greatest show on Earth?
There have been only three notable 20th-century leaders who were addicted to trains: Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Chinese leader Mao Zedong and North Korean founder Kim Il Sung. These venerable gentlemen would readily expose their tender flesh to the inconveniences of a long railway journey rather than suffer a short flight.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 29, 2001
Realpolitik outlook unites Putin and Bush
Why the honeymoon? This is a question an inquisitive person might ask when informed by the media that the second meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin had been a smashing success — like the first one a month ago. After a cold spring full of spy scandals, deportation of diplomats, mutual warnings and overall muscle flexing, an idyllic summer arrived. Putin and Bush are sworn friends, the White House promises to discuss the planned missile shield with Moscow, the Kremlin returns the favor by saying it has nothing to fear from the United States and both sides declare their aim to make big arms cuts.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 22, 2001
CCP is going nowhere fast
When the International Olympic Committee awarded Beijing the 2008 Summer Games, the decision was widely publicized as a move that would promote reforms in China, improve its human rights situation and eventually open China to the world. This is not unlike the rationale for awarding the 1980 Summer Games to Moscow.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 7, 2001
The pope as a nation breaker
If one wants to single out a decisive reason for the spectacular collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in 1985-1991, the variety of choices is staggering. The war in Afghanistan, the exhausting arms race, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the food shortages, Voice of America broadcasts, oil and gas prices -- and so on and so forth. Another possible answer is Pope John Paul II.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 19, 2001
Putin plays the smile game
The first summit of U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin was shaped by an indigenous American principle, "Keep smiling." Bush said he had looked the man in the eye and found him to be "very straightforward and trustworthy." Putin said he was looking forward to "a constructive dialogue." The talks, scheduled for half an hour, went on for 90 minutes.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 15, 2001
Bush and Putin square off
On Saturday, U.S. President George W. Bush is meeting his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Ljubljana, Slovenia in what will be the first Russo-American summit of the 21st century. The issue that will dominate the talks is clear: Bush's grandiose plan for national missile defense. Like chess champs preparing for a match, the two leaders are going through elaborate notes prepared by their aides, trying to figure out what the other's stance will be. But Putin has the advantage.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 9, 2001
Putin picks a new gas czar
Behold, Russia has got a new czar. No, the Romanovs did not rise from their graves. No, the Russian people did not invite a Romanov cousin, Prince Charles, to claim the throne of his Russian ancestors. No, the authoritarian Russian president, Vladimir Putin, did not crown himself Vladimir I. He just replaced the CEO of the biggest Russian company, Gazprom.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
May 27, 2001
Big money vs. big brother?
It was recently announced that U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold their first summit in mid-June. This is going to be a tense conference. The ghosts of the Cold War will arrive uninvited and bring a confrontational agenda with them. Both participants, having achieved a degree of notoriety, should be prepared for harsh treatment from the world's media.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
May 13, 2001
Don't take China so seriously
These days China is always in the news. If it's not the U.S. spy-plane incident, then it's Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympics or the Chinese Communist Party's human-rights record or Beijing's bullying of Taiwan. After decades of condescending reporting on China, the international media is finally starting to take China seriously -- sometimes a bit too seriously.
Tokuryū, a new crime menace in Japan, emerges from the shadows
The National Police Agency coined the term "tokuryū" to classify individuals involved in dark part time jobs and quasi-gangsters, using the words "tokumei" (anonymous) and "ryūdo" (fluid) to reflect their characteristics.
Is Modi’s party heading for a stunning election loss?
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign tactics have escalated, including anti-Muslim rhetoric and fearmongering, reflecting his ruling party's desperation.
Japan's labor crunch persists despite slight improvement
Over 300 companies went out of business in fiscal 2023 due to labor shortages, according to Teikoku Databank.
Excitement returns to tourist spots in Japan one year on
On May 2, the streets of Arashiyama, a well-known tourist destination in Kyoto, were filled with tourists, including many from abroad, ahead of the four-day weekend.
After blockbuster boxing victory, what next for ‘Monster’ Inoue?
Naoya Inoue celebrates his victory over Luis Nery in their IBF-WBA-WBC-WBO super bantamweight title boxing match at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
How a Japanese scientist is turning the climate crisis into music
A screencap of a performance of Hiroto Nagai's “String Quartet No. 1 ‘Polar Energy Budget’” by the PRT Quartet
Japan’s tween skateboarders get head start on preparations for 2028 Olympics
Ibuki Matsumoto competes at an event in Osaka on April 21.
Pentagon reveals drone types for Replicator program to counter China
A U.S. Naval Special Warfare Operator fires a Switchblade 300 loitering munition during training exercises in Fallon, Nevada, last July. The U.S. Defense Department plans to use small drones — known in the Pentagon as “all-domain attritable autonomous systems” — to help counter Chinese military systems and tactics.
As visitors surge, Japan seeks ways to make tourism eco-friendly
Much like other hot spots across Okinawa, Onna has diligently strived to captivate both domestic and international tourists, while at the same time grappling with the environmental strain induced by the influx of visitors.
Kishida talks up bolstered Latin American ties as China cements position
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds a news conference in Sao Paulo on Saturday.

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