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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

Aug 27, 2009

Why Is Our Russia Policy So Foolish?

By Daniel Larison

The underlying problem is that the Cold War generation of U.S. Russian experts has been supplanted by the post-Cold War generation, now grown to maturity and authority.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Aug 19, 2009

Russia Upgrades Spying on NATO Countries

By Jorge Benitez

The Russian news service Interfax announced today that Moscow has expelled two Czech diplomats in an apparent tit-for-tat for yesterday’s reported expulsion of two Russian diplomats by the Czech Republic.

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Aug 10, 2009

Weak Russia, Dangerous Russia

By Donald Bandler and Jakub Kulhanek

The reaction from the American defense establishment to news that Russian submarines have been operating off the U.S. coast has been fairly nonchalant, bordering on smug. The submarine operation is widely seen as a rather feeble show of strength by the Russian military after a series of embarrassments over botched missile tests and undistinguished conduct […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Aug 3, 2009

Faulty Reset on START

By David Smith

When U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a Joint Understanding on July 6 on a treaty to follow the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), this first press of Obama’s reset button launched U.S. negotiators into a time warp to circa 1969 Cold War-style negotiations against an artificial deadline. The result […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Jul 31, 2009

Russia’s Energy Weapon Could Take Aim at USA

By Alexandros Petersen

Recently the European Commission urgently recommended that all European Union member-state governments begin filling natural-gas storage facilities in preparation for energy cutoffs from Russia. If Russia’s Kremlin-controlled energy monopoly Gazprom gets its way, such emergency measures may also become a reality in the United States.

Energy & Environment Russia

New Atlanticist

Jul 27, 2009

Smart Power Requires Smart Talk

By James Joyner

Michael Kinsley famously observed that, “A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.” Vice President Joe Biden’s recent comments about Russia are a classic example.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Jul 21, 2009

Who Really Runs Russia?

By James Joyner

Most of us in the West have presumed that Vladimir Putin is still running Russia, despite having stepped down as president and moving to the constitutionally-less-powerful premiership.  Apparently, most Russians think so, too.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Jul 15, 2009

Russia May Score Final Coup in Energy Battle

By Alexandros Petersen

The European Union is touting its deal with Turkey on Monday to realize the Nabucco natural gas pipeline project as a major coup in the quest for alternative energy routes that bypass Russia. The project’s major transit country, Turkey, may have been brought on board, but Ankara’s other energy interests in the Caucasus may still […]

Energy & Environment Russia

New Atlanticist

Jul 15, 2009

Three Wishes for Obama

By Harlan Ullman

Back from “resetting” relations with Russia and then conferring with the G8-plus before stopping over in Ghana, U.S. President Barack Obama continues a full court press on resolving concurrently the myriad of crises, dangers and issues facing the nation.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Jul 9, 2009

Why is Russia Afraid of a 300-Year-Old Ukrainian Hero?

By Adrian Karatnycky and Alexander Motyl

Lord Byron, Pushkin, and Victor Hugo wrote poems about him. Liszt composed a symphonic work in his honor, Tchaikovsky devoted an opera to him, and Gericault painted him tied naked to a horse. In centuries past he was a historical superstar — a poster child for the Romantic era.

Russia Ukraine

Experts