Kirill Rogov

Nov 14, 2024 | theideasletter.org | Kirill Rogov

In the worldview of today’s political elite in Russia—Putin and his inner circle—”anti-Westernism” and “anti-Americanism” are closely related but not identical concepts. To see this, look at the way in which “the West” is used in political and public language in Russia. Close examination reveals that there are, in fact, two Wests, each very different from the other. The first West threatens Russia, retards its development, imposes its will on other countries.

Apr 8, 2024 | eurozine.com | Igor Torbakov |Kirill Rogov

When intellectuals and politicians start talking obsessively about their country’s great ‘originality’, ‘special path’ and a ‘unique mission in the world’, it’s a sure sign they’re facing mounting problems in forging a modern democratic polity, civic nation and respectable international identity. Contemporary Russia is a case in point.

Feb 19, 2024 | eurozine.com | Kirill Rogov

1. Today, to talk about the future of Russia is like talking about life after death. Russia is in the midst of catastrophe, and horror grips us when we think of what Russia has already done, or what our compatriots have done in Ukraine in Russia’s name. I have two pictures saved on my Facebook page which I always see when I open it. One shows a very young woman feeding her approximately one-year-old daughter from a bottle.

Jan 15, 2024 | worldcrunch.com | Spencer Hooker |Kirill Rogov

-Essay-PARIS — Walking the same streets that Martin Luther King Jr. walked 57 years earlier — chanting “Black Lives Matter” like MLK sang “We Shall Overcome” — American history felt like it was moving both fast and slow. For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here. It was 2021, and we were still reeling from the January 6th insurrection just a couple of weeks earlier at the Capitol in Washington.

Dec 1, 2023 | almendron.com | Kirill Rogov

In recent weeks pessimism about the war in Ukraine has gripped Western media and opinion-makers. The Ukrainian counter-offensive over the summer and autumn yielded disillusionment. Leaks suggest that Western officials have broached the subject of possible peace talks with Russia with Ukrainian counterparts. Trumpian Republicans are blocking American military assistance to Ukraine. That a stalemate on the battlefield would feed pessimism is not surprising.