Were the 2013 Moscow Elections falsified?

This about Politics, tagged , , , , , was written by for on September 10, 2013 .7 Comments

1. The CEC results Here they are. The turnout was 32%. Sergey Sobyanin – 51.37% Alexei Navalny – 27.24% Ivan Melnikov – 10.69% Sergey Mitrokhin – 3.51% Mikhail Degtyaryov – 2.86% Nikolai Levichev – 2.79% Invalid ballots – 1.53% 2. Pre-elections opinion polls: Navalny’s support – among those who indicated a clear preference for one candidate or another – rose from […]

The Russian Cross Becomes A Hexagon

This , about Demographics, tagged , , , , was written by for on January 30, 2013 .31 Comments

One of the standard memes about Russia’s demographic trajectory was the “Russian Cross.” While at the literal level it described the shape of the country’s birth rate and death rate trajectories, a major reason why it entered the discourse was surely because it also evoked the foreboding of the grave. But this period now appears […]

List Of Estimates On Fraud In Russia’s 2012 Presidential Elections

This about Politics, tagged , , , , was written by for on March 21, 2012 .1 Comment

This post is a follow-up to a similar one for the 2011 Duma elections. It contains an extensive list of blogger, pundit and “expert” opinions on the extent of fraud in the 2011 Duma elections. Interspersed among these opinions and analyses are results from federal opinion polls, election monitors, and other evidence. In general, it seems we can […]

Why Statistics Only Support 3%-6% Fraud

This about Politics, tagged , , , was written by for on March 21, 2012 .5 Comments

Remember Sergey Shpilkin? He is the mathematician, blogging as podmoskovnik, who estimated 16% fraud for the Duma elections (also the one whom the WSJ plagiarized off). He got this figure by assuming that in a fair election, the share of the vote for each candidate at each level of turnout had to be a constant factor. This […]

Why Golos’ Own Figures Support Only 3%-6% Fraud

This about Politics, tagged , , , , was written by for on March 6, 2012 .18 Comments

Since yesterday, the following image from an article by liberal journalist Evgenya Albats has been making the rounds on the Internet. It shows that whereas Putin’s official tally was 65%, independent observers put it close to or below the 50% marker that would necessitate a second round, such as Golos’ 51% and Citizen Observer’s 45%. Predictably, […]

List Of Estimates On Fraud In Russia’s 2011 Duma Elections

This about Politics, tagged , , , was written by for on December 27, 2011 .33 Comments

Despite Olga Kryshtanovskaya’s disapproval, I thought it would be interesting and useful to compile a comprehensive list of blogger, pundit and “expert” opinions on the extent of fraud in the 2011 Duma elections. Interspersed among these opinions and analyses are results from federal opinion polls and other evidence. In general, it seems we can identify three “theses” […]

Measuring Churov’s Beard: The Mathematics Of Russian Election Fraud

This about Politics, tagged , , , , , was written by for on December 26, 2011 .29 Comments

In the aftermath of the 2011 Duma elections, the Russian blogosphere was abuzz with allegations of electoral fraud. Many of these were anecdotal or purely rhetorical in nature; some were more concrete, but variegated or ambiguous. A prime example of these were opinion polls and exit polls, which variably supported and contradicted the Kremlin’s claims that fraud was […]

Russia Demographic Update VII

This about Futurism, tagged , , , was written by for on October 24, 2011 .63 Comments

It is now increasingly evident that Russia’s population has settled on a small but decidedly firm upwards growth trend. I have been vindicated. According to the latest data, in the first eight months of the year births fell by 1.4% (12.5/1000 to 12.3/1000) and deaths fell by 6.2% (from 14.6/1000 to 13.7/1000) relative to the […]

Russia Demographic Update VI

This about Demographics, tagged , , , was written by for on June 3, 2011 .16 Comments

As we’re now approaching mid-2011, I suppose its time to give my traditional update on Russia’s demography. So here’s the lay-down: 1. In February, I predicted a population decline of c. 50,000 in 2010 (after a 23,000 rise in 2009). This was due to the excess deaths of the Great Russian Heatwave of 2010, and […]

Simmered to the Edge of the World

This about Futurism, tagged , , , was written by for on May 31, 2010 .14 Comments

When denier ideologues make the transition to accepting the reality of anthropogenic global warming, one of the arguments they start to use tends to go something along the following lines: “Sure, the polar bears might get screwed over, but otherwise things will be just great. Crop yields will increase and northerners will get to have […]

Book Review: Donella Meadows et al. – Limits to Growth

This , about Futurism, tagged , , , , , was written by for , on February 16, 2010 .8 Comments

If I could recommend just one book to someone with a business-as-usual outlook, someone who believes human ingenuity and free markets will always bail us out of any resource scarcity or environmental problem, it would be Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update (henceforth LTG). After reading it, you may never look at the world in quite […]

10 Myths about Russia’s Demography

This , about Demographics, tagged , , , , , was written by for on December 7, 2009 .36 Comments

This post tries to debunk some popular, but misguided, views on demographic trends in today’s Russia. These consist of the perception that Russia is in a demographic “death spiral” that dooms it to national decline (Biden, Eberstadt, NIC, CIA, Stratfor, etc). Some extreme pessimists even predict that ethnic Russians – ravaged by AIDS, infertility and alcoholism […]