Russia
Why did Balakirev's beautiful, inventive works go out of fashion?
Anyone who invited the Russian composer Mily Balakirev to dinner had to be jolly careful about the fish they served.…
Our Belarusian blind spot
I’d always rather liked the Finns, until I came across the conductor Dalia Stasevska. When I asked my mother what…
Portrait of the week: BBC drops songs, museum drops Sloane, and KFC and John Lewis drop slogans
Home Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, made pupils wear face-coverings in school corridors. It didn’t take long for…
Portrait of the week: Employment falls, exam failures and a roundabout rigmarole
Home In fine weather with calm seas, 565 migrants in four days crossed the Channel in small craft. French officials…
Putin plans to make the West destroy itself
How Putin plans to make the West destroy itself
Portrait of the week: Vaccine hopes, the Russia report and a knighthood for Captain Tom
Home A coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, tested on 1,077 people, was found to induce antibodies and…
Putin plans to make the West destroy itself
There’s only one person who’ll be genuinely pleased with the UK Intelligence and Security Committee’s Russia report, finally revealed on…
These Russian cyber-attacks are a wake up call for the UK
Days before the release of the becalmed Intelligence & Security Committee (ISC) report on Russian political interference, we suddenly started…
When is a democracy not a democracy?
Displaying the pristine neutrality that has made her such a popular figure, Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis apparently tweeted the following last…
Britain's Magnitsky sanctions will hit Putin where it hurts
It’s rare for a Government minister to make an announcement that is universally welcomed in the House of Commons. But…
Imperialism is far from over, but gathering force in disguise
From ancient times, empires have risen and fallen, driven by war, territorial acquisition, trade, plunder, religion, ideology, technology, culture and…
Can Putin survive the coronavirus stress test?
Coronavirus is a double whammy for his regime
Covid-19 is testing Putin's regime
Vladimir Putin is observing the old adage that you should never let a good crisis go to waste. With the…
The Russia probe was mishandled worse than anyone could have imagined
It’s been over three years since the FBI first launched its investigation into an alleged conspiracy between the 2016 Trump…
An extraordinary tale: BBC2’s The Countess and the Russian Billionaire reviewed
There can’t be many programmes that bring to mind quotations from both Henry Kissinger and Boney M., but BBC2’s The…
Corona confusion is being ruthlessly weaponised
Few words have as great a hold on the contemporary imagination as ‘disinformation.’ Few words are as ubiquitous in contemporary…
Crude tactics: Russia and Saudi Arabia are at war over oil prices
Russia and Saudi Arabia have chosen this moment to go to war over oil prices
Portrait of the week: Prince Harry leaves, Jess Phillips drops out and Trump goes on trial
Home The Duke of Sussex left England to join his wife, Meghan, in Canada. This followed an agreement that stripped…
The hunt is on for Putin’s successor
Putin does like to spring a surprise. The first hour or so of his state of the nation address yesterday…
I’ll take Russian democracy over ours
Staraya Russa. About two thirds of the way from Moscow to St Petersburg, in the historic Novgorod Oblast, once the…
Tsar quality: the charm of Tbilisi
‘These regions are not under the control of the central government,’ reads a warning on a map of Georgia in…
The age of invective
A healthy democracy requires free speech and free assembly, tolerance for different views, and peaceful transfers of power among contending parties. It requires…
How will history judge Brexit?
How will future generations revisit the Brexit years? Through what glass will we be seen? This spring and, I suspect,…
Robert Mueller pursued every avenue to dispel the collusion myth
If the report released Thursday proved anything, it was that Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors had an extremely…
Barr investigates the investigators
‘OBAMA TAPPED MY PHONES!’ When President Trump blared out this accusation in a series of tweets in March 2017, the White…
