Ilyumzhinov: The Chessboard Diplomat
Illyumzhinov’s rule of Kalmykia, a primarily Buddhist Republic on the shores of the Caspian Sea, was characterised by a string of bizarre escapades including an alien abduction in 1997 and the campaign slogan ‘a wealthy President is a safeguard against corruption’.
By Maxim Edwards | Notebook, Opinion, The Foreign Desk | Wednesday, 25 July 2012 at 1:00 am
Stalinobusy – Buses of victory
Public transport woes hit the streets of over forty cities in the former Soviet Union once again as contention of double-decker proportions rears its heads in the shape of Stalinobusy – buses bearing the face of the Great Marshal himself.
By Maxim Edwards | Notebook | Monday, 7 May 2012 at 4:00 am
The world’s largest Koran – an open book?
After decades of repression, Islam in Tatarstan, like its newly printed Holy Book, is big, back, and unapologetic in showing it
By Maxim Edwards | Notebook | Friday, 13 April 2012 at 4:00 am
United Russia, dividing Russians
Putin’s United Russia cannot have become more divisive since December’s Parliamentary elections, which reminded the Kremlin in the rudest possible terms that Russia is indeed a Federation. Uniting Russia, whether Russia wants it or not, heavy-handed centralisation was the name of the game until the extent of the party’s dependence on country’s Republics – its autonomous, non-Russian regions – was revealed.
By Maxim Edwards | Notebook, Opinion, The Foreign Desk | Sunday, 4 March 2012 at 7:18 pm
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