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The Power Vertical

The Power Vertical is a blog and podcast for Russia wonks and Kremlin watchers by Brian Whitmore. It covers emerging and developing trends in Russian politics, shining a spotlight on the high-stakes power struggles, machinations, and clashing interests that shape Kremlin policy today.

Host and Eurasia Center Senior Fellow Brian Whitmore invites guest experts to deliver their insights and analysis in this weekly podcast. The Atlantic Council and the Charles T. McDowell Center for Global Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington co-sponsor this production.

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The Eurasia Center’s mission is to enhance transatlantic cooperation in promoting stability, democratic values and prosperity in Eurasia, from Eastern Europe and Turkey in the West to the Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia in the East.

Content

New Atlanticist

Apr 4, 2012

Obama Must Reset Relations with Russia Along Economic Lines

By Fran Burwell and Svante Cornell

As Vladimir Putin prepares for his May inauguration and return to the Russian presidency, the United States must design a new relationship with this often difficult leader and his country. The “Russian Reset” of President Obama’s first term sought to overcome the strain in relations of recent years in order to achieve some specific foreign […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Mar 28, 2012

America’s Number One Geostrategic Threat?

By James Joyner

Yesterday, likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney declared Russia “without question, our No. 1 geopolitical foe.”

Iran Korea

New Atlanticist

Mar 23, 2012

Is the World Moving Towards Chaos and Anarchy?

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

What happens when foreign think tank heavyweights get together at the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations to talk about the United States and the state of the world?

China Russia

New Atlanticist

Mar 20, 2012

The End of Putinism? Not So Fast

By Benjamin Bilski and Joanna Buckley

A great deal of the Western press coverage of Vladimir Putin’s re-election was optimistically devoted to proclaiming the end of Putin(ism) due to swelling protests, the rising middle class, demographic decline, and stagnation in Russia’s high-cash, low-growth, oil-dependent economy. Nonetheless, it is not a given that Putinism will recede to make way for greater democratization.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Mar 6, 2012

As Caucasus Emirate Reconfigures, Moscow Maintains Siloviki-Centric Policy

By Thomas Liles

On February 3, Doku Umarov, leader of the Chechnya-based Islamist separatist movement known as the Caucasus Emirate, ordered Islamist fighters active in the region and elsewhere in Russia to cease attacks on civilians, a significant departure in policy for a movement that has always used terrorism as a core tactic.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Mar 5, 2012

Russian Elections: US and Europe Must Rethink the ‘Reset’

By Kurt Volker

As Vladimir Putin is set to return to the presidency after Russian elections March 4, the US and Europe must rethink the “reset” policy that has guided their approach to Moscow for the past several years. Russia is experiencing the most dynamic period of political activity it has seen since the time of Boris Yeltsin. […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Mar 5, 2012

Putin’s Return and NATO-Russia Relations: Back to the Future

By Jakub Kulhanek

Shocking no one, Vladimir Putin will return to the Russian presidency following Sunday’s election. While it remains to be seen how the people who already took to the streets after the Duma elections respond to his return to the Kremlin, there is little doubt that Russia is entering uncharted waters of domestic uncertainty and possible […]

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Mar 5, 2012

Big Weekend for the Big Brothers

By Julian Lindley-French

This has been a big weekend for the big brothers. Vladimir Putin somehow managed to get himself ‘re-elected’ as Russian president. (He should next time try to become EU President as the system is by and large the same.)

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Mar 1, 2012

Ukraine, Like Russia, Is Becoming a ‘Virtual Mafia State’

By Taras Kuzio

Yuriy Lutsenko, former Interior Minister in two governments led by Yulia Tymoshenko, was sentenced this week to four years imprisonment and given a three years ban from public office.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Feb 29, 2012

Putin Has Already Won. What Will He Do Now?

By Dean Jackson

Vladimir Putin has already won next week’s presidential election. He is the only viable candidate in a field of Kremlin approved have-beens and sell-outs; considerable administrative resources have been marshaled to secure his first-round victory; and he retains popularity measurably greater than that of his affiliated party. His actions following this long-expected victory will signal […]

Elections Politics & Diplomacy

Experts