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May 07, 2024
 

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THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 23, 2001
Moscow exiles a mogul with good taste
The Kremlin wins one: President Vladimir Putin's bitter critic, Media-Most media empire, is dead. Its assets have been transferred to pro-Kremlin stockholders, its journalists have been fired or silenced and its owner, Vladimir Gusinsky, is hiding abroad.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 7, 2001
The U-2 affair all over again
Spy-plane pilot is one of the few professions we should strongly discourage our sons from developing an interest in. Rich in experience, critically important and thrillingly challenging, it is, nevertheless, a career charged with personal and collective disaster. Along with the ongoing anxieties of parents and spouses, there are potential complications for one's nation as a whole and even, occasionally, for world politics.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 26, 2001
Russians living 'la vida loca'
This semester I am teaching a Dostoevsky course. Implausible plots, stumbling dialogues, everybody in love with everybody, romantic triangles overlap like mating frogs, passions mount, money changes hands and is thrown into the fire -- the normal Dostoevsky stuff.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 8, 2001
Putin plays a bad hand well
"I was deeply touched, when he smiled and looked at us with his blue eyes, my old sweet memories flooded back to me," a middle-aged Soviet-trained Vietnamese woman told the TV crew. The blue eyes in question belonged not to a movie star, but to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting Hanoi, and the sweet memories in all likelihood related not to some romantic experience of the past but to the decades of lavish aid, pumped by the Kremlin into Vietnam during Cold War years.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 11, 2001
Yeltsin and Reagan revisited
This year there were two sad anniversaries in the first week of February: two former political superstars, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Boris Yeltsin celebrated their birthdays in the shadow of severe health problems. Confined to hospital, they were unable to appreciate the cheering of fans and the fanfare of the mass media.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 28, 2001
A return to chillier times?
The Cold War is dead, long live the Cold War. Such seems to be the mood in the corridors of power in Moscow. Many Russians believe the inauguration of U.S. President George W. Bush may initiate a new period of tension between Washington and Moscow
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 13, 2001
Muscovites get all fired up
"Real Chechnya" -- this is how Muscovites sum up their experiences during the recent holiday season. Fortunately, except for routine scuffles ignited by the excessive consumption of alcohol, there was no fighting in the Russian capital.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 1, 2001
Much ado about nothing
In a fierce fit of free-market commercialism, ads in Moscow subway insist that the real new millennium will start today. With the economy weakened by crisis, revenues from the advent of Y2K were not as impressive as in the West, and now Russian boutiques, travel agencies and software stores are trying to make up for profits unclaimed 12 months earlier. Here we go: invitations to celebrate New Year with pyramids in Egypt, golden necklaces that will be remembered by grateful recipients until Doomsday, new software with which to log on to your computer in the new year.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 17, 2000
No place for tainted symbols
The Soviet Union is dead; long live the Soviet Union. This seems to be the current mood in the corridors of power in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has persuaded the Parliament to restore the Soviet anthem as Russia's national hymn and the czarist red banner, which was used in Soviet times as well, as the flag of the Russian armed forces. In a fit of nostalgia -- or servility, depending on one's point of view -- the Parliament voted 381 to 51 to support this historic initiative, thus returning communist paraphernalia to the limelight.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 2, 2000
The new American autism
George W. Bush, Al Gore or civil war? This is the question being asked now by alarmists, especially those with a taste for theatrical overstatement.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 18, 2000
Russia delights in U.S. electoral confusion
Delightful. This is how many Russians describe the postelection crisis in the United States. For 10 years, Russian elections have been a favorite target of the American media. Finally, Mother Russia is allowed to retaliate. The delicious irony of the moment is that two weeks earlier hardliners in the Russian Parliament dispatched a group of observers to the United States to check on the voting process there. Sick and tired of U.S. preaching and patronizing, Russian conservatives regarded that as a necessary but virtually hopeless propaganda counteroffensive. Ridiculed by the Russian press for their ambitious and seemingly silly enterprise, the conservatives did not suspect they would be present at the most problematic U.S. election in the last 100 years.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 2, 2000
Kim's diplomatic slam dunk
Good news from North Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il with a basketball autographed by Michael Jordan; the dictator treated the diplomat to a spectacular theatrical performance. Rejoice: Peace in East Asia is at hand.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Oct 7, 2000
And now, the green peril?
Today, the green banner of Islam inspires almost as much fear as the red Soviet flag did several decades ago. This fear is not entirely unjustified. Of course, it would be silly to label Muslim culture "aggressive" or "intolerant"; yet too many acts of aggression and intolerance have been conducted under the green banner in the last 50 years. Christian fundamentalism rarely, if ever, crosses national borders. Admittedly, people who oppose a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy do feel a certain solidarity with people of similar beliefs elsewhere in the world. They go to all sorts of international conventions; they try to influence the "global village" through the Internet; they distribute their flashy brochures worldwide. But it is unimaginable that a Christian fundamentalist group would form an army of its own, unleash civil war at home and then threaten to export warfare to foreign lands. Yet this is precisely what is happening with the Islamic Taliban movement. Having gained control over Afghanistan after a ferocious civil war and imposed the strictest fundamentalist regulations on its own people, the Taliban has begun exporting its model of militant Islamic statehood to neighboring countries.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Sep 24, 2000
From lady killer to whale protector
So Japanese fishermen are banned from U.S waters. Whales rejoice, environmentalists celebrate, Texas Gov. George W. Bush loses a point, U.S., President Bill Clinton drafts a chapter for his memoir called "After Monica: Whales!", I grieve.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Sep 9, 2000
Putin's obscure mind games
I know very little about judo. Actually, I know nothing about it at all. Yet I like the image of two people wearing cool outfits accentuated by stylish belts, circling the mat with stony faces, waiting for the right moment to jump at each other like two splendid bobcats. It is undoubtedly the sport of the bold. And of the smart. And, in my opinion, of the noble.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 24, 2000
Handling of Kursk fiasco belies Putin's promise of change
"Shameful and disgraceful" -- these are the words many Russians are using now to describe the attitude of their government toward the sunken nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea. Slow and incompetent rescue attempts, an inability to assess the scope and nature of the damage and, above all, a stubborn unwillingness to accept foreign assistance -- all these descriptions characterize the Kursk rescue attempt and reek of the worst days of the infamous Soviet regime.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 12, 2000
Bush makes Moscow nervous
The election year is disrupting the normally smooth, quiet summer in the United States. Newspapers replace Harry Potter books as beach reading, Republican and Democratic conventions dominate television, the two parties are finalizing platforms, the two candidates exchange mutual verbal abuse, voters watch and comment. Liberal-minded bookstores already display signs like "No more Texans," although Al Gore also gets his share of poster criticism.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 27, 2000
Wily Putin seduces the world
Josef Stalin hated international travel: He suspected somebody might attempt to kill him. Nikita Khrushchev loved it: He enjoyed shocking foreign hosts with his erratic behavior. Leonid Brezhnev was happy to travel to any country that would give him a new Mercedes as a state gift. Mikhail Gorbachev had no other option but to travel widely, because Raisa felt a constant urge to parade her new clothes in front of smart crowds. Boris Yeltsin did not know whether he liked to travel or not, because after the third shot of vodka all capitals looked the same to him.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 15, 2000
President Putin's 100 days
It is hard to say what counts as the beginning of Vladimir Putin's presidency. When Boris Yeltsin stepped down Dec. 31 and Putin assumed his regency over Russia? The presidential election in March, when he won a landslide victory? May, when he was inaugurated? It is probably best to pick some date in the middle; in any case, it is fair to say that Putin has already had his first 100 days.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 18, 2000
The end for Kim Jong Il?
My trip to North Korea 11 years ago was one of the most depressing times in my whole life. I have never seen a sadder country. It was not simply an issue of appalling poverty: In 1989, the shelves of stores in Moscow were also barren, and Beijing still sported a maze of miniature slums -- the notorious "hutongs" where foreigners inevitably got lost and slightly nauseated. The sadness of North Korea was of a different kind; it was the sadness of a people scared to breathe.
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.
Japan says Biden's description of nation as xenophobic is 'unfortunate'
The National Diet building in Tokyo
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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