I submit that the Russia watching community has no shortage of opinionated blogs, mercenary “information projects,” and warring factions of “CIA jackals” and “Kremlin bots.” What it greatly lacks, however, is a neutral, well-moderated meeting ground where a diversity of voices could engage in free and vigorous debates about all aspects of Russian politics, economics, and history.
In other words, it needs a forum, and as nobody else seems willing, I am happy to step step up to the plate with The Russia Debate.
Getting a forum going isn’t the easiest thing in the world, so just in case the excitement of political debate and settling in virgin online territory isn’t enough for you, anybody who makes at least one post at The Russian Debate throughout the rest of this month will be placed in a random drawing for the following prizes:
- A $25 Amazon gift certificate.
- Five separate vouchers for a free copy – in print or digital – of my upcoming book THE DARK LORD OF THE KREMLIN (scheduled for publication this October).
So, go ahead, check it out, create an account, and start populating the boards with your arguments and ideas. There are already ongoing active discussions about the Israeli strike on Syria and the May 6th rally. Looking forwards to seeing you there!
Thanks for calling it to our attention; I’ll check it out (despite my declining interest in Russian politics & current affairs). “well-moderated meeting ground” – that’s important; bad or slack moderation has destroyed many a well-intentioned group. Good luck with it.
Thanks, Scowspi.
Re-“declining interest”… I suspect you’re not the only one. One of my biggest concerns is that I might have missed the train with this forum. 2013 just isn’t what 2007 used to be. But we’ll hope and see…
Yeah, and it’s good to see you have a variety of sub-forums for topics other than current events. But where might one go for a discussion of e.g. contemporary Russian-language literature, or things of that nature? To the “society” board? Or would you set up a separate board for cultural stuff?
Lomonosov’s Library.
It’s currently minimized because of the small user base and I don’t want to assail people with too many empty forums (but you can expand it and start posting). Once more people join up, I’ll expand all the categories.
Здравствуйте! Вы случайно не знаете, почему я не могу попасть на Ваш блог уже более недели? Он вообще не загружается. Спасибо.
Евгения.
07.05.2013, 00:00, “Da Russophile” : > AK posted: “I submit that the Russia watching community has no shortage of opinionated blogs, mercenary “information projects,” and warring factions of “CIA jackals” and “Kremlin bots.” What it greatly lacks, however, is a neutral, well-moderated meeting ground where” > >
Не знаю, извините.
Good idea. I’ll check it out!
Thanks, Mark! Looking forwards to seeing you there.
I’ve signed up, and posted a few messages. Let’s get the ball rolling!
Greetings. May I join the forum? The problem is that I won’t use it often and maybe occasionally. I will be concentrating on polishing my knowledge of Russian.
Yes, certainly. In fact the majority of people who register at forums only end up posting there a couple of times or so. Maybe you’ll surprise to the upside? Join away! 🙂