Opinion

Polly Jones argues that Evan Gershkovich’s prison memoir belongs to the tradition of Gulag writing and carries it forward. In her reading, he lived through captivity both as the American Evan and as the Russian Vanya, and that double perspective lets his book stand alongside the work of Solzhenitsyn and Ginzburg.

Barbashin looks at how the Shanghai Cooperation Organization went from being a handy but minor Eurasian forum for Moscow to a platform that matters to it. His framing, as the headline suggests, sets Russia’s hopes for the group against what the organization actually delivers. The short description available gives only this outline of his argument.

Vakhtang Partsvania argues that U.S. sanctions relief gives Russia breathing room. In his view, it also undermines the credibility of American sanctions threats against third countries and shows how limited the EU’s ability is to apply pressure on its own.

Alpert writes that Starlink went down on Ukraine’s front lines just as Washington was trying to turn Russian diesel into a political asset before the midterms. He argues the episode shows the risk for any country that lets a private company control its critical communications.

Anthony, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, argues that the Central Bank’s digital ruble would give the state new power over Russians’ own money. He says Russians deserve to know what they are being asked to opt into.

Writing before the vote, Cenusa argues that Moscow used disinformation and its energy leverage to try to keep Vučić in power and stop Serbia from becoming “another Hungary”.

Sallam asks whether Sisi’s promise to leave office is real or another ruse. Either way, he argues, the fine print of Sisi’s statements points to even greater military control over Egypt’s elections and political life.