1) My greatfull thanks to you personally for the deep insights you chronicle regarding Russia’s global political interactions. It is at a level that my main news providers (Guardian + NYT + The Times + Podcasts (BBC / Telegraph) + Twitter) never seem to get near.
2) New substack subscribers need to hear 1) but make their own minds up. Browsing Professor Greene’s KCL staff page is a good start to establish his impressive pedigree: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/samuel-greene
Thank you for your insights and for sharing these resources. It's tragic to hear Trenin's conclusions that his country should continue to fight the West, be aggressive with former Soviet states, and feel proud to be a rogue state. This is what I find so sad about Russia---that despite its human resources and natural resources, it plays bully and barbarian instead of investing in its people and future. I will never understand this "philosophy" despite having studied its history a bit and going there a few times.
Thank you for highlighting the impressive Bessudnov piece. Though it in no way discredits his finding, it's worth noting that using Mediazona (https://zona.media/article/2022/10/24/wedding-season) estimates of conscription rates across regions that per capita income and ethnic composition are not at all good predictors. What comes through as a really strong predictor (when controlling for per capita income and population share that is Russian) is the share of the population employed in the state sector. Plausibly, a larger state sector reduces the cost to the state of mobilizing.
You know, prof, I have to say that yours is the only newsletter I really look forward at reading every week. The curation but also the insights you offer can’t be found anywhere else. The playlist is a big plus, too ;-)
The paper on Telegram is excellent. Thanks for referring it.
2 things
1) My greatfull thanks to you personally for the deep insights you chronicle regarding Russia’s global political interactions. It is at a level that my main news providers (Guardian + NYT + The Times + Podcasts (BBC / Telegraph) + Twitter) never seem to get near.
2) New substack subscribers need to hear 1) but make their own minds up. Browsing Professor Greene’s KCL staff page is a good start to establish his impressive pedigree: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/samuel-greene
Dear Sam, thank you for this fascinating roundup.
Trenin's text is a heartbreaker (on so many levels).
I am thankful, in particular, thankful for the academic papers you referred.
Both a treat.
Thank you for your insights and for sharing these resources. It's tragic to hear Trenin's conclusions that his country should continue to fight the West, be aggressive with former Soviet states, and feel proud to be a rogue state. This is what I find so sad about Russia---that despite its human resources and natural resources, it plays bully and barbarian instead of investing in its people and future. I will never understand this "philosophy" despite having studied its history a bit and going there a few times.
Thank you for your posts here .. very thought provoklng.
Thank you for highlighting the impressive Bessudnov piece. Though it in no way discredits his finding, it's worth noting that using Mediazona (https://zona.media/article/2022/10/24/wedding-season) estimates of conscription rates across regions that per capita income and ethnic composition are not at all good predictors. What comes through as a really strong predictor (when controlling for per capita income and population share that is Russian) is the share of the population employed in the state sector. Plausibly, a larger state sector reduces the cost to the state of mobilizing.
You know, prof, I have to say that yours is the only newsletter I really look forward at reading every week. The curation but also the insights you offer can’t be found anywhere else. The playlist is a big plus, too ;-)
The paper on Telegram is excellent. Thanks for referring it.