We could've guessed from the letter he signed earlier this year that the Czech luminary/dissident Vaclav Havel was not done talking about the authoritarian drift in Russia.  The Telegraph reports on his speech before a rally commemorating the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution:The 73-year-old who played a pivotal role in freeing his country from communist rule in 1989, said that the Russian government had mastered the art of manipulating its population while maintaining democratic façade."The era of dictatorships and totalitarian systems has not ended at all," he said."It may have ended in a traditional form as we know it from the 20th century, but new, far more sophisticated ways of controlling society are ...

President Medvedev proclaimed in his recent Der Spiegel interview that there is little difference between the rights record of Russia and that of its European counterparts: 'Our values are the same as yours. I don't see any major differences in terms of freedom and human rights, especially in comparison to the new EU member states'. Kati Marton and Nina Ognianova of the Committee to Protect Journalists and authors of the "Anatomy of Injustice" report would beg to differ (and doubtless they wouldn't be the only ones.)  In an op-ed in the New York Times, they explain why it is crucial that international diplomacy redoubles pressure on Russia to stop the killing of journalists with impunity, following the lead, they say, of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "It's time to stop treating Russia as ...

Mikhael Gorbachev has penned an article in the New York Times reflecting on how the period since the fall of the Berlin Wall (the 20th anniversary of which will be celebrated on Friday) has not necessarily heralded a less distrustful approach to Russia.  He cites the open letter to  to Barack Obama by Vaclav Havel and other European luminaries in September, counseling the US President to take a firm stand on Russia, and the OSCE resolution equating Stalinism and Nazism as moves demonstrating that latent russophobia is still hampering unity in Europe.To my regret, the events took a different course. This has stalled the emergence of a new Europe. Instead of the old dividing lines, new ones have ...

TODAY: Chief of staff denies decisions on Kaliningrad plan; Churkin criticizes US 'cold war attitude'; arms reduction talks not progressing as smoothly as they may appear.  Israel maintains choice in Iran; Russia suggests onus on NATO to improve ties; ship plans for Abkhaz waters.  Moscow court rejects appeal for Vasily Aleksanyan; 'anti-Soviet' restaurant feels Mitvol's wrath.Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has said that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates's insistence that the decision on missile defense was not about Russia reveals 'a rather difficult negotiating partner, a partner who is loaded in many ways by a Cold War mentality'.  The Chief of Russia's general Staff has stated that no decision has yet been made on plans to deploy ...

I very much enjoyed this book review by Gerard DeGroot published in Sunday's Washington Post on Michael Meyer's new book on the fall of the Berlin Wall.  It never fails to impress me how much our ideas about this recent period in history continue to inform (or more aptly, misinform) our understanding of contemporary politics and relations with Russia and the states of the former Soviet Union.  Apparently Michael Meyer's book pokes some holes in the traditional hero myths, and points to the accidental and chaotic nature of how all these world-changing events spun out of control.  Very interesting and thoughtful stuff here.The events themselves were played out by a cast of thousands in Budapest, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw and Bucharest. There was no script; this was an improvisational drama conceived by Camus, with help from Kafka and Molière. The Soviet Union came ...

Ever since Barack Obama's first relatively friendly state visit to Moscow, Washington and the Kremlin have engaged in a showdown of gestures over the elephant in the room:  the legitimacy of Russia's claim to a privileged sphere of influences.  Directly after meeting with Obama, Prime Minister Putin did some male bonding with a large motorcycle gang, before sending them off toward Crimea, Ukraine under the RF flag.  Medvedev proceeded directly from the G8 in Italy to visit South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but not before threatening to place Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad.  As for Washington, today VP Joseph Biden landed in Kiev, Ukraine, and will travel onward to visit some friends in Georgia.  These gestures on behalf of both sides say just as much as any summit speech.  On a related note, yesterday the Washington Post ran an editorial responding ...

Vaclav Havel, Lech Walesa, and a long list of other former leaders of Eastern European states have penned an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama expressing their fears over what kinds of sacrifices to their sovereignty might come along with Washington's effort to improve relations with Russia.  Full text of the letter below from Gazeta Wyborcza, news coverage from Associated Press and Reuters.

An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from Central and Eastern Europe

by Valdas Adamkus, Martin Butora, Emil Constantinescu, Pavol Demes, Lubos Dobrovsky, Matyas Eorsi, Istvan Gyarmati, Vaclav Havel, Rastislav Kacer, Sandra Kalniete, Karel Schwarzenberg, Michal Kovac, Ivan Krastev, Alexander Kwasniewski, Mart Laar, Kadri Liik, Janos Martonyi. Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Adam Rotfeld, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Alexandr Vondra, Lech Walesa.

We have written this letter because, as Central and Eastern European (CEE) intellectuals and former policymakers,

...

TODAY: SCO wraps up in blaze of activity; Medvedev calls BRIC 'historic event'; no decision from US on defense system; German MPs agree Khodorkovsky trial is trial for Russian justice; Vaclev Havel speaks out against RussiaFor detailed step-by-step coverage of the SCO summit, see Ria-Novosti.  The countries endorsed the re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov calling his visit to Russia 'symbolic'.  Yulia Latynina comments on long-standing collusion between Russia and Iran:  'Iran spends so much money on Russia that supporters of the Islamic revolution work in the Russian Embassy in Tehran'.   The summit also saw: the signing of a declaration affirming a multipolar world, castigation of North Korea, promises to help Afghanistan and ...