Welcome to Irrussianality! This blog focuses on two subjects: the relationship between Russia and the West; and the apparently irrational decision making processes which dominate much of international relations (IR). The two are, of course, connected: relations between Russia and the West are marred by prejudice, misunderstanding, and misperceptions. I hope through this blog to contribute in some small way to rational foreign policy.
I am a professor at the University of Ottawa. I write about Russian and Soviet history, military history, and military ethics. Links to my books are available in the ‘Books’ menu.
Paul Robinson
IRRUSSIANALITY 
Putin`s propaganda of the Canadian professor.
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Since when a different opinion has become propaganda? Could it be possible to admit that some perm readers have fallen into a propaganda trap themselves?
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Some people are simply incapable of having an well-informed unbiased discussion with others apparently due to lack of intellectual abilities.
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You may be a propaganda of a Red Herring – Russophobia
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LOL….you wish you had a tenth his wisdom. The man is brilliant and his writings superb.
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I bet that’s about all you can spew.
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@PermReader Another one of Uncle Sam’s lackey posting on a blog.
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Nonsense. Back to square 0.
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Well put, Mr PermReader (is that really your name?). I wish I had your way with words. Tell me, do you have some automatic keystroke for “Putin’s propaganda” or do you have to type it out by hand hundreds of times a day?
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Is there actually a blog here or is it the OP-ED from the Spectator?
I would like to see something about the parallels between the non Great Russian Slavs and Jews who fled Nicholas 1 and the potato famine. Both seem to have controlled the narrative in the British colonies ever since (inc USA as such). Geopolitics is rubbish. G Bush Senior was right. Votes aren’t rubbish.
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The House of Lords report on EU, Russia and Ukraine
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/eu—foreign-affairs-defence-and-development-policy-sub-committee-c/news/eu-russia-report-publication/
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Nice to read some reasonable analysis of things Russian without the background assumptions of the Western Media.
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Agreed!
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Hello, Paul. I’ve actually been lurking around your blog for a while but it struck me that I hadn’t yet directly expressed my gratitude for your analyses of Russia. As a person still finding her way in Russian Area studies, I am deeply appreciative of your ability to cover Russia in a largely objective manner.
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thank you for this blog, to which I was referred by the blog “Naked Capitalism.” I’m just an ordinary US citizen of no importance; however, I’ve known the media discussion of the Russian Federation was biased and inaccurate (though I don’t seem to be able to tell more affluent/
credentialed friends why this is so – they believe CNN). And maybe it’s because I’ve watched interviews on RT (horrors!) of journalists whose views the US major media won’t allow to be broadcast.
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Welcome, Cynthia. I hope that we see you again here.
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Forgive me for jumping in, Paul, but I wasn’t sure how to write you with my (off-topical) question: after skewering some of the more delightfully outlandish articles lately, I wonder if you’d consider publishing your comments on a new book by a polished and typically coy New Yorker writer, Between Two Fires, and especially the chapter “Hell on Earth” about Elizabeth Glinka, a much-loved Russian-American doctor who saved children’s lives during the bombing of Donetsk and Lugansk, thereby, as the author is convinced, “legitimizing” Putin’s autocratic regime (caring for them with Putin’s support in a war that he himself is responsible for sustaining and, worse still, allowing Putin cynically to appear concerned), thus becoming a collaborator. Ultimately, the book argues, political considerations prevail over morality, even for a medical doctor saving children’s lives in a time of war. [If you want to take your reply offline, Paul, my email address is g.g.glinka@gmail.com and my ‘phone number is +7 (985) 920-89-93.].
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Hi Gleb,
I’m thinking of reviewing that book, but I have a few others to read first.
Paul
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In the US most Millennials and baby boomers suffer from PTSD. Post tramatic Soviet disorder. you could add Putin traumatic Soviet disorder? .
On one hand I’m joking yet in fact I think there’s a lot of truth in people’s reaction and it’s such an easy meme to distract people
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I follow this blog with interest. Along the lines of a saner understanding of Russia, have you read Return to Moscow? The author is Tony Kevin, a former Aus diplomat comparing Cold War and contemporary visits to the country – with plenty of interesting divertimenti along the way. https://www.amazon.ca/Return-Moscow-Tony-Kevin/dp/1742589294?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1742589294
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Welcome, Justin, and thanks to the link to the Kevin book, of which I was not aware. Looks interesting.
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I thought you should be aware of this article on Ukraine and Russia. It never mentions the National Endowment for Democracy, nor Victoria Nuland and it seems to me that not doing so is profoundly dishonest.
https://lithub.com/russia-is-winning-the-information-war/
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Since you’ve written before about Dugin, I would love to get your take on this article in Salon: “Did Alexandar Dugin, alias “Putin’s Brain, shape the 2018 election?” https://www.salon.com/2018/05/05/did-philosopher-alexander-dugin-aka-putins-brain-shape-the-2016-election/
The theory is that Dugin’s literary recommendations on how Fussia should reassert itself against wedtern “liberalism” was the intellectual basis of the Russian “disinformation” campaign to weaken the West by “undermining our institutions.” This is one of the more sophisticated articles on the topic of “undermining” that I have seen. Usually they are much cruder. Interestingly, though the basic conclusion is the same. The last line of the article is, “If a true progressive believes in the notion of “progress,” then she would sooner defend the status quo than align with political forces that hope to restore some forgotten “golden age.” Yep, gotta stick with the status quo.
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Thanks for the link. Interesting article. It gives a fairly good account of Dugin’s beliefs, but as usual exaggerates his influence, in my opinion. A lot of the stuff about Russia’s distinctiveness, the desire for a multipolar world, etc derives from Russia’s basic geopolitical position as well as from other philosophical sources. In a survey of Russian international relations scholars, the most influential Russian thinkers in terms of IR theory were listed as Nikolai Danilevsky, Konstantin Leontyev, and Alexander Panarin – not Dugin. And anyway, the article constructs a bit of a strawman argument, since, as far as I known, hardly anyone is suggesting aligning with Dugin.
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Hi Paul,
next time you’re there, maybe you could interview Boris Kagarlitsky. I’ve been watching a lot of him on youtube, and now reading this: https://www.litmir.me/br/?b=556582 .
A bit too ideological (to my taste) at times, but very interesting and well-written still. And the guy displays amazing erudition in this field.
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Good idea. Kargalitsky’s politics are not mine, but he’d certainly be an interesting person to talk to.
As it happens I’m off to Moscow tonight, but a very short trip so no spare time for such a thing this time
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“Kargalitsky’s politics are not mine”
Well, it seems to me that your style and attitude are close to Stephen Cohen’s, and that guy wrote a whole book about Bukharin. Kagarlitsky’s politics appears to be similar, so it’s okay.
Oh, and if you find yourself in Kiev: Dmitry Djangirov, definitely.
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Having finished his book, I get the impression that Kargalitsky’s politics are, in fact, similar to yours. He’s actually a mere left liberal, talking about ‘democracy’, ‘human rights’, and ‘freedom’. Sounds vaguely sympathetic to Yavlinsky. Too clever to be radical. I’m disappointed, frankly.
He claims repeatedly that ‘socialism’ and ‘democracy’ are the same thing. Well, in real life we have Switzerland, the country that’s most certainly ‘democratic’, and yet exhibits no evidence of ‘socialism’ (marxist sense) whatsoever. Go figure…
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Paul,
This is a late contribution to your “About” section of the blog, but it is the only place where I can send you a general thank-you for the effort you put into your posts.
I have been reading them for about a year now and I think they are both insightful and challenging. In some cases, you echo my own beliefs: in others, I am forced to look again at my conclusions. In all cases, they are a very valuable contribution to a discussion on Russia that is sadly lacking in this country (Canada) and also in the US. I suspect that until we replace the Ukrainian who is our foreign minister with someone more rational, your blog will continue to be one of the few bright spots in the public realm.
Thank you !!!
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Thank you, Attentive reader, for your kind comments. They are much appreciated. Paul
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where is it possible to fine the correct statistic on for example number of killed persons in Dombas conflict divided on Ukrainian military personal and civilians on one side and the same on rebelled side? All news talking about aprox. 10000 people but this figures do not show a thing for understanding who is more responsible? Same about Iraq: How many people were killed during Sadam ruling and after USA toke controll over the country?
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Alexei Moukhine, I, too, would very much like to know any possible, credible information on Dombas, perhaps this was April of 2014? I’m sorry I don’t know with certainty and it is extremely difficult to get even hints at truth regarding this here in the United States.
I abandoned watching mainstream news networks of any kind in USA around 2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina disaster of September 2005 when I knew with certainty I would never again find anything remotely resembling truth.
I found an independent journalist who had 2014 Civil War videos, as he called them, door-to-door in Ukraine in 2014. He had a YouTube channel but it has been “disappeared” and I can’t find this man. I saw terrible video and if it was fake, they did a very very very good job.
Being Polish and Ukrainian is not ideal for one who is American born & raised with nothing but lies since we are old enough to walk & go to school.
Thank you for any possible information/suggestions/recommendations you might be able to provide me.
Danielle
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Perhaps you are thinking about Patrick Lancaster
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Do you consider the Wolfowitz security doctrine, drafted under Clinton, to be irrelevant to ‘Russophobia’?
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Good evening, Professor Robinson, hello from a woodstove-lit home south of Moscow 🙂
I’m very glad to have come across your blog and look forward to reading more of what you have written.
All my best,
Eva
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Thanks, Eva. Good to hear from you.
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I just happened to come across this extremely interesting and refreshing blog by Professor Robinson .For years now I have been frustrated with the obvious bias found in the Canadian and mainstream western media and many western so called analysts about Russia and her foreign policy .What has been missing is a more nuanced approach on the causes and effects of the Ukraine crisis of 2014 ,the Navalny opposition movement etc.Finally a Canadian based academic who is not afraid to clearly and logically express his analysis outside the mainstream status quo..Bravo!!
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Dear Michael, Many thanks for your kind comments. Paul
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Paul,
aujourd’hui le 9 juin 2021, j’ai transféré par courriel à près de 20 chaines média et gouvernements., ton ouvrage paru dans RT .
Bravo et merci .
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Merci, Richard!
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i would love to see the kind of protests happening in ottawa start happening all over belarus and russia
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