Gilbert Doctorow

The fierce conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh is not what it seems.  Least of all is this a civilizational struggle between barbaric Muslim Azeris and victimized Christian Armenians.  That is how it is being portrayed in the United States, in France and in other Western countries where there are substantial Armenian émigré communities which are and … Continue reading “Nagorno-Karabakh and Unrelenting, Mounting US/EU Pressure on the Kremlin”

This past weekend, Russian state television on two major channels devoted substantial news segments of their week in review programs to the ongoing game of chicken that the U.S. is carrying on in the air and on the seas at Russia’s borders: on the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Barents and Okhotsk seas in … Continue reading “Provocative US Air and Sea Maneuvers at Russia’s Borders”

On Friday, 18 September, professor Steve Cohen passed away in New York City and we, the "dissident" community of Americans standing for peace with Russia – and for peace with the world at large – lost a towering intellectual and skillful defender of our cause who enjoyed an audience of millions by his weekly broadcasts … Continue reading “Stephen F. Cohen: In Memoriam”

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” These words of sage commentary from the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York State were overturned half a decade ago when we entered the world of “fake news” and facts became irrelevant to public discourse. Since then American political elites … Continue reading “Novichok and Nonsense: From a Post-Factual to a Post-Logic World”

In the past couple of weeks the mass demonstrations protesting the obviously falsified Belarus presidential elections became featured news reporting in Western media, edging out coverage of the Coronavirus pandemic and of street disorders in the USA following yet another shooting of some unarmed black man by white police. In this context, I was invited … Continue reading “Belarus: Why the Ongoing Political Unrest Is Unlike Maidan”

I was delighted with the wide distribution given to my last essay on the ‘Tereshkova Amendment’ to the Russian Constitution which, when the reform of the Basic Law is approved by nationwide referendum, as widely anticipated, will set the presidential terms served up to now by Vladimir Putin back to zero so that he may … Continue reading “Putin and Other ‘Irreplaceable People’”

Tuesday evening, 21 January, the composition of Russia’s new cabinet was announced to the nation and the world. Russian state television was caught as unawares as any of us in the broad public when the names of the departing ministers, the names and biographical details of arriving ministers and the few changes in reporting lines … Continue reading “Making Sense of Russia’s New Cabinet”

January 15, 2020 will be remembered as the start of the transition to a new political configuration in Russia that Vladimir Putin will leave behind when his term in office ends four years hence. The prospective changes were announced in the last third of Putin’s 75-minute annual Address to the Federal Assembly, Russia’s bicameral legislature. … Continue reading “Vladimir Putin Prepares His Succession”

The notion of “fake news” has entered our vocabulary as a pejorative term for dissemination of bogus information, usually by social media, sometimes by traditional print and electronic channels which happen to hold positions contradicting the tenets of our conventional wisdom, i.e., liberal democracy. The term has been applied to Russian state owned media such … Continue reading “Western Media Coverage of Russia as an Exercise in Propaganda”

In the days immediately following Donald Trump’s announcement on 13 October that he had ordered the withdrawal of the contingent of approximately 1,500 U.S. special forces stationed in the Kurdish controlled territory of northeast Syria bordering on Turkey, I understood that this momentous decision deserved close analysis and comment. However, I held back, because the … Continue reading “Donald Trump’s Withdrawal of US Forces From Syria”