Da Russophile

Da Russophile was one of the Anglosphere's most popular Russia blogs during its years of active operation from 2008 to 2014. Its main author, Anatoly Karlin, aimed to deconstruct Western myths about Russia through a focus on Russian language sources, verifiable facts, statistics, and opinion polls, and the application of a judicious comparative perspective. With the rise of many other media outlets offering a Russian perspective on global affairs, I made made the decision to archive this blog in October 2014. You may access a comprehensive list of its best posts at The Best of Da Russophile.

Annals of Resurgent Russia – It’s the Economy (in 2007), Stupid!

This about Economy, tagged , was written by for on January 14, 2008 .No Comments

Twice a year the World Bank files a Russian Economy Report. The last one was in November 2007. Let’s look at its first chapter – “Recent Economic Developments”. It does what it says, i.e., condenses Russia’s economic situation in 2007 into a few pages of dense text, stats and charts. First comes the summary: RUSSIAN […]

News 13 Jan

This about Geopolitics, tagged , , , was written by for on January 13, 2008 .No Comments

Rally against Georgia poll result Thousands of opposition supporters have taken to the streets in Georgia in protest at what they say were rigged presidential elections last weekend. Those gathered in the capital, Tbilisi, are demanding a second round of voting. Pro-Western leader Mikhail Saakashvili polled 53%, narrowly averting a run-off against his nearest rival, […]

Mailbag: Back from a Russian Century?

This about Futurism, tagged , , , was written by for on January 13, 2008 .No Comments

Four days and 50 reader views into our baby blog’s existence, we have been priveleged to receive a number of letters to our darussophileATyandexDOTru address. All of them deal with our Towards a New Russian Century? core article (which is, in addition, the most popular item on this blog by far – possibly because colleen […]

News 11 Jan

This about Politics, tagged , , , , was written by for on January 11, 2008 .3 Comments

Net capital inflow into Russia hit $82.3 bln in 2007 MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti) – Net capital inflow into Russia reached a record $82.3 billion in 2007, almost double the previous year’s figure, the Central Bank announced on Friday. In 2006 the figure was $42 billion. In the last three months of 2007, net […]

Towards a New Russian Century?

This about Futurism, tagged , , , , was written by for on January 11, 2008 .9 Comments

EDIT 11/27/08: Since writing this, I have come to realize that peak oil is real and will play a major role in any future scenario, and far sooner than the other three themes I highlight here. The twentieth century was, above all, a Russian century. Granted, Germany was the most important challenger Great Power in […]

News 10 Jan

This about Politics, tagged , , , , was written by for on January 10, 2008 .No Comments

Russian moves to ban tobacco advertising MOSCOW, January 10 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian government has decided to completely ban tobacco advertizing, by signing up to a World Health Organization anti-smoking convention. In its first session of the year, the government approved a draft law on joining the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), […]

Annals of Western Hypocrisy – Georgia Presidential Elections 2008

This about Politics, tagged , , , was written by for on January 9, 2008 .8 Comments

Saakashvili wins Georgian elections in first round (January 6th) TBILISI, Georgia: Georgia’s American-allied president won re-election over the weekend and avoided a runoff election in this small former Soviet state by a margin of 1 percent of the vote, according to official results released Sunday. … The main opposition candidate, Levan Gachechiladze, did not concede […]

Reading Russia Right

This about Politics, tagged , , , was written by for on January 9, 2008 .No Comments

At present, all we see is chaos, struggle, economic collapse, ethnic disintegration – just as the observers of 1918 did. How could they have foreseen then that a decade or so later the USSR would have begun to produce chemicals, aircraft, trucks, tanks, and machine tools and be growing faster than any other industrialized society? […]

Welcome to Da Russophile

This about Blogging, tagged , was written by for on January 9, 2008 .1 Comment

Da Russophile offers original analysis in our Core Articles and Editorials, records Russia-related News from an eclectic mix of media outlets with commentary and throws in some Flotsam and Jetsam (funny photos, videos or other light relief). This is a response to what we see as the consistent and almost systematic defamation of Russia in […]