• OPINION

  Putin lacks the clout to cut isles deal with Abe

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 24/01/2019

  » The window of opportunity for Russia and Japan to officially end World War II with a peace treaty narrowed again after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Moscow on Tuesday failed to end in a breakthrough. There's still time for Mr Abe to secure his legacy, but a lot depends on President Vladimir Putin's increasingly shaky domestic standing.

• OPINION

  The year of the woeful world leaders

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 28/12/2018

  » The dictionaries have decided on their 2018 words of the year. Oxford picked "toxic". Merriam-Webster went for "justice". Collins chose "single-use". However, I'd zero in on "misgovernment". Surely, 2018 saw a number of countries misruled by the worst crop of world leaders in recent memory.

• OPINION

  Secretive Russian billionaire vents to US conservatives

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 13/03/2018

  » It's not every day that a Russian billionaire submits a op-ed piece to the Daily Caller, the conservative US website. When the billionaire in question is as media-shy as Oleg Deripaska, something extraordinary is going on. As the unfortunate recipient of an oversized role in the "Trump-Russia" scandal, he has had enough and is not quite sure how to defend himself.

• OPINION

  Putin struggles to keep wars separate

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 16/02/2018

  » Late on Feb 7 and early on Feb 8, US forces in Syria likely killed the greatest number of Russians since the end of the Cold War -- more than 200 soldiers. There will, however, be no international repercussions, nor will any of the Russians get posthumous medals like Roman Filipov, the fighter pilot who was shot down over Syria earlier this year and resisted capture until he was forced to blow himself up with a hand grenade.

• OPINION

  Russia has no reason to undermine Qatar

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 09/06/2017

  » The ubiquitous "Russian hackers" are now accused of providing the spark for a diplomatic fire between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. While the facts in the case remain in the shadows, it's hard to understand why it would be in Russia's interest to undermine Qatar.

• OPINION

  A new Russia policy requires Exxon CEO's skills

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 14/12/2016

  » If Donald Trump chooses Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, it will be proof that his administration will take a new approach to US policy toward Russia, as he hinted during the campaign. The dismay about that shift in the expert and intelligence community may be a good sign: The same experts and spies have led the Obama administration into a series of missteps that have embarrassed the US and helped advance President Vladimir Putin's agenda.

• OPINION

  Merkel, Juncker fight the dreamers

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 08/07/2016

  » It is increasingly clear that the European Union (EU) is about to waste the crisis brought on by the UK's withdrawal vote. The leaders of the nation states have no stomach for any meaningful reform of EU institutions, the bureaucrats in Brussels are forced to take a back seat, and federalist dreamers are unceremoniously shunted aside.

• OPINION

  World-class experts in atonement

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 07/06/2016

  » The German parliament's recognition of the 1915 genocide of Armenians in Turkey has predictably angered the Turkish government, which has even recalled its ambassador from Berlin. But more importantly, it raised the question of what constitutes sufficient atonement for the past sins of entire nations.

• OPINION

  Don't trust Putin's troop pullback

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 16/03/2016

  » President Vladimir Putin's unexpected announcement that Russian troops would pull back from Syria shouldn't be taken at face value: he's made similar announcements in the past to show Western negotiating partners how constructive he can be. He always has a hidden agenda.

• OPINION

  Pope's historic meeting ends up benefitting Putin

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 15/02/2016

  » Russia's state-owned media covered the first-ever meeting between Pope Francis and Kirill, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, as a historic event. The official news agency, Tass, even ran a real-time blow-by-blow account. The meeting's value wasn't in any ecclesiastical breakthrough: The Pope, probably inadvertently, played a part in a Kremlin propaganda gambit.

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