ICYMI: The scandal du jour in Russia right now is the “Medics’ Ball”, held yesterday, in which 400 black-tied doctors, nurses, pharmacists and others got together for some high-society chic — with no social distancing or masks (though a vaccine and/or a PCR test were de rigueur).
Most commentators are understandably indignant: what message are these doctors sending, when Russia’s suffering a large-scale third wave, and as many as 2/3 of citizens refuse to get vaccinated? (Including as many as 1/3 of doctors!)
But just to take this up a notch on the Edgar Allen Poe Scale (a little known standard measure of macabreness), take a look at the invite: “Restoring class traditions”. («Сословие» more properly translates as “estate”, in the French aristocratic sense, but class is clearer, IMO.)
Russian sociologists, including Simon Kordonsky and Ella Paneyakh (inter alia) have been writing about the increasing rise of “estates” for years now, but more in an implied sense. It’s really rare — and still quite shocking — to see people claim the mantle like this.
Ok, I’m going to go away and think about this for a while. (@russophiliac @MaxTrudo, did you see this?)

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More from @samagreene

21 Jun
The Russian government has just declared @BardCollege an undesirable organization. Anyone - teacher or student - who has any dealings with Bard is now subject to criminal prosecution in Russia. Frankly, I’m at a loss for words.
Bard has been foundational in the development of liberal arts education in Russia - and by liberal, I mean pedagogically, not politically. Its collaborations with St Petersburg State Uni have operated under the aegis of no less a figure than Alexei Kudrin.
In other words, this isn’t a small deal. This is a very, very big deal, and it will cause every western university that has any partnerships with Russia to step back and think.
Read 6 tweets
20 May
There's a lot of hyperventilating in my feed right now -- mostly from US, UK and EU neocons, but also from various others in CEE -- about the implications of the Blinken/Lavrov meeting in Reykjavik. Everyone needs to calm down.

/1
We don't have a report from DC yet (at least not that I can find), but it's noteworthy that State are treating this meeting as an afterthought in Blinken's Denmark/Iceland/Greenland tour. state.gov/secretary-trav…

/2
Contrast that to the treatment by the Russian MFA, where the meeting is the top news item. Moscow is playing this for political looks and preening in the spotlight; Washington is nonplussed.
mid.ru/ru/foreign_pol…

/3
Read 12 tweets
17 May
Вот и поговорили: разговор об "авторитарном гражданстве" на @EchoMskNews с @albats, Денисом Волковым и @MicheleBerdy.

moscowonthames.wordpress.com/2021/05/17/%d0…
Обсуждение пошло по следам недавней лекции в @CEUSGhent:
moscowonthames.wordpress.com/2021/05/10/wha…
Но отмечу один очень важный момент: я не говорю (и никогда бы не говорил!) ни об “авторитарных гражданах”, ни об “авторитарном человеке”. Наоборот, я пытаюсь осмыслить “гражданство” в авторитарном контексте. Получилось ли осмыслить – судите сами!
Read 4 tweets
30 Apr
A thread, in which I admit a mistake of analysis.

TL;DR: I didn't think the Kremlin would go all in on repression as quickly and as deeply as it has.

/1


moscowonthames.wordpress.com/2021/04/30/no-…
There’s an adage in political science that you shouldn’t predict the future if you’re likely to live long enough to see it. It’s a good maxim, and while I generally try not to break it, I sometimes fail.

/2
One of those times was back in November 2018, when I looked at the challenges facing Vladimir Putin, the options on his menu, and tried to predict what he’d do. Looking back, I was right about most things, but wrong about one. I wish I hadn’t been.

iiss.org/blogs/analysis…

/3
Read 22 tweets
30 Apr
It's too early to know for sure, but the formal reason for Pavlov's arrest seems to revolve around this: navalny.com/p/6486/

/1
In that post, Navalny's team presents an overview of the materials they were allowed to see relating to the accusations of extremism against Navalny's organizations. To remind, that trial -- in which Pavlov represents the team -- is being held behind closed doors.

/2
Among the revelations was the news that the authorities were preparing a case against @navalny, @leonidvolkov and @ioannZH, essentially accusing them of running not a political organization, but an illegal sect.

vtimes.io/2021/04/29/sk-…

/3
Read 5 tweets
22 Apr
And so, #Russia de-escalates: First at home, and then in Ukraine.

(A quick thread. TL;DR: None of this is over just yet.)

/1
The most recent and very welcome piece of news is Shoigu's announcement that Russian troops will be pulling back from the Ukrainian border. It is very good to know that a full-scale invasion of #Ukraine is apparently not in the offing.

kyivpost.com/ukraine-politi…
/2
There will be a lot of mostly pointless arguing over why this happened. Some will claim that Russia never intended to invade. Others will claim that deterrence worked. Only Putin knows, and he isn't talking.

/3
Read 13 tweets

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