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1691. Megaton nuclear underground tests and catastrophic events on Novaya Zemlya

Author:
Johnny Skorve
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
During the first NUPI study of the Novaya Zemlya underground nuclear test site in 1991–92, much information was generated. This relates both to facilities and testing activities. One of the most important discoveries made was the enormous catastrophic rockslide caused by an underground test. In recent years, new information has become available also from Russian sources. Declassified US satellite imagery made it possible for NUPI to study in more detail the effects of the powerful underground nuclear tests on Novaya Zemlya. This report contains the most pivotal discoveries and findings during the three years of studying this arctic test site.
Topic:
Development, Nuclear Weapons, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Russia and United States

1692. Le vote confisqué en Russie Etude des élections régionales de 2007

Author:
Mikhaïl Sokolov
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Abstract:
Depuis les dernières élections législatives, en décembre 2003, le système électoral russe a été peu à peu transformé en profondeur. Cette transformation vise à permettre une manipulation calculée et centralisée du vote afin d'assurer l'élection des partisans du pouvoir poutinien et de l'élite proche du Kremlin.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
Russia

1693. La démocratisation en Géorgie à l'épreuve des élections

Author:
Salomé Zourabichvili
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Abstract:
A peine trois ans après la Révolution des Roses qui a porté au pouvoir en Géorgie le gouvernement libéral et pro-occidental du président Mikhaïl Saakachvili, la tenue des élections locales et municipales le 5 octobre 2006 soulève des questions importantes sur l'évolution du régime politique. Pourquoi consacrer une étude à une élection apparemment secondaire : un scrutin local dans un petit pays, qui plus est extérieur à l'Union européenne ? Pour la majorité des observateurs, certes assez distants de la réalité géorgienne, la situation politique ne soulève pas d'inquiétude particulière car la Géorgie bénéficie toujours de la bonne image bâtie sur le renversement pacifique du régime Chevardnadze en novembre 2003. En juin 2005, le président Bush a salué ce pays comme le « fleuron de la démocratie » ! Et, en effet, la Géorgie reste, avec l'Ukraine, en dépit des difficultés qui se font jour, un des îlots de démocratie dans l'espace post-soviétique.
Political Geography:
Russia and Georgia

1694. The Vagaries of the Presidential Succession

Author:
Leon Aron
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Russian president Vladimir Putin's term expires in March 2008. Despite the propaganda barrage designed to persuade everyone of an orderly change of government, the coming Russian presidential succession is far from a done deal. The stability and legitimacy that flow from democratic arrangements are compromised when these arrangements are weakened, as happened under Putin, ushering in uncertainty and risk.
Topic:
Corruption and Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia

1695. Was Liberty Really Bad for Russia? (Part I)

Author:
Leon Aron
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Criticizing preceding regimes is a popular pastime of Russian leaders. But in denouncing the “chaos of the 1990s,” the Vladimir Putin regime seems to have an additional purpose: to defame the idea of liberty itself. Part I of this two-part Russian Outlook examines the claim that the revolution was entirely responsible for Russia's economic woes in the 1990s. Part II will take issue with the assertion that the Yeltsin years brought nothing but “chaos.”
Topic:
Corruption, Democratization, and Politics
Political Geography:
Russia and Eastern Europe

1696. Was Liberty Really Bad for Russia? (Part II)

Author:
Leon Aron
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Part I of this Russian Outlook dealt with what might be called the errors of commission, or false attribution, in the “chaos-of-the-1990s” stereotype, which became a major theme of the Putin Kremlin's propaganda. The economic crisis of that era, mostly inherited from the decaying Soviet economy, was laid at the revolutionary regime's door. Yet the “chaos” legend also contains errors of omission, for, on closer inspection, there was a great deal in the 1990s besides the alleged “chaos.”
Topic:
Corruption, Democratization, and Politics
Political Geography:
Russia and Eastern Europe

1697. Glasnost at Twenty

Author:
Leon Aron
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
The twentieth anniversary of the beginning of the Russian revolution (1987–91) is a fitting occasion to assess the true scale and the impact of the national spiritual liberation known as glasnost, and to put it into a broader context of the history of ideas and their role in revolutions. Such an examination is doubly useful today, when a steady stream of Kremlin-sponsored propaganda seeks to distort and minimize what glasnost has wrought.
Topic:
Development, Government, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

1698. New Russia, New Ally: A Bilateral Security Agenda Beyond 2008

Author:
Greg Austin, Simon Saradzhyan, Daniel Bautista, and Jeff Procak
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
Russia and the US agree on many more security issues than cause dispute between them. Neither expects war or major conflict with the other as an act of deliberate policy. The two states agree they are not military enemies. They have no military strategic interests of a bilateral nature that are fundamentally antagonistic.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, and Asia

1699. US, Russia Need to Work Together, Opinion pieces

Author:
Jeff Procak
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
At month's end, Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., will lead a U.S.-Russia Inter parliamentary Group is one of the few open channels for a broad dialogue by the two countries on the state of the badly frayed relationship. The visit, therefore, on the heels of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent meetings in Moscow, presents an important opportunity for the United States and Russia to pull back from an emerging pattern of unnecessary and possibly dangerous disputation.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, and Asia

1700. US-Russia Constructive Agenda Roundtable

Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
On April 25, 2007, the EastWest Institute, together with the Kennan Institute, organized in Washington DC a two-hour roundtable discussion on the current state and outlook for US-Russia relations. The roundtable used President Putin's speech presented to the 43rd Conference on Security Policy in Munich on February 10, 2007 as a point of reference. The purpose of this gathering was to examine strategies and approaches to reverse the significant decline in Russian-American relations over the last several years. The seminar was attended by 20 prominent experts from the US and Russia, including foreign policy advisors, representatives of the academic, business, and NGO communities, and mass media. Topics discussed included the most important issues on the US Russia geostrategic agenda: arms control and nuclear nonproliferation, international energy, Russia's WTO accession, trade and economic cooperation, mutual perceptions and role of the media.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, and Asia