In Moscow's Shadows 127: When Napoleon was Nuked and Other Russian Conspiracy Theories
Was Moscow nuked in 1812? Have a thousand years of history been made up to conceal the power of the 'Russian Horde'? Was Lenin a mushroom? Are reptiloids trying to subvert Russia with Satanism? Of cou...
23 Dec 202355min
In Moscow's Shadows 126: Truth and Tedium in Putin's Marathon Town Hall and the Russian Press
I felt I ought to cover Putin's combined press conference and online town hall, but it was just so, so boring. And maybe that's the point: tedium weaponised as the new electoral strategy. But what els...
17 Dec 202345min
In Moscow's Shadows 125: Putin's Coming Back! And So's the Cold War?
So, surprise, surprise, Putin's standing for re-election. A few thoughts on how it was announced and the vibe around it, before I look at 'Preventing the Next War,' a report from DGAP, the German Coun...
10 Dec 202349min
In Moscow's Shadows 124: Putin's Performative Politics
There's a myth that authoritarian leaders don't have to worry about public politics: arguably they have to worry all the more. Spinning off from the recent bizarre criminalisation of the mythical 'int...
3 Dec 202353min
In Moscow's Shadows 123: Russia's 'Red-Brown' Leftists, and How I Became A Voice of the West
Has hell frozen over? Left Front leading light Leonid Razvozzhaev is backing the inclusion of ultra-nationalist Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin in unofficial 'people's primaries' for presidential opposition ca...
19 Nov 202355min
In Moscow's Shadows 122: Taking on Conventional Wisdom About Putin
After looking at a few recent news stories that caught my eye, on everything from the Ministry of Happiness to a surprisingly subversive economic plan, I look at four conventional wisdoms about Putin....
12 Nov 202342min
In Moscow's Shadows 121: Making Sense of Makhachkala
What can we learn from the ugly anti-Semitic riot at Makhachkala airport? Officially sanctioned, foreign-inspired subversion, a symptom of state failure or societal anti-Semitism? I don't think any of...
4 Nov 202351min
In Moscow's Shadows 120: Putin is Dead! (well, probably not)
In what sounds more like a scene from Armando Ianucci's Death of Stalin, an anonymous Telegram channel tells us Putin is dead, his body stuffed into deep freeze while Patrushev takes over. Credible? N...
29 Okt 202343min
