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Leonid Bershidsky
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2015
Putin would eat President Trump for lunch
Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't make deals with brash, showy businessmen like Donald Trump. He crushes them.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2015
Why Russia vetoed bid to set up MH17 tribunal
Like the U.S., Russia wants to retain the right to try its own war criminals under its own laws rather than hand them over to an international tribunal.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2015
Did Putin sell out Greece to Western leaders?
Did Vladimir Putin withdraw Russia's support for helping Greece exit the euro to score points with the West?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2015
Want the euro? Be more like the Germans
The lesson of the Greek crisis is that if you want to use an essentially German currency, you have to be a little German.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2015
Watch as Riyadh cozies up to the Russians
Saudi Arabia is building up ties with Russia, not least because it would like help in building 16 nuclear reactors.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2015
Greeks, Germans and these so-called deadlines
Some of what has gone wrong with the tedious bailout talks between Greece and its northern European creditors can probably be attributed to cultural differences.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2015
The Greeks have voted, now kick them out
Now that Greece has voted overwhelmingly against a compromise that would have allowed Europe to continue financing it, it must be forced out of the eurozone and perhaps the EU.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2015
RIP Land Rover Defender, the greatest car ever
Regulation and marketing-driven blandness, the enemies of everything original, have killed one of the world's last real cars.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2015
Pushed by sanctions, Russia pivots to China
The Russian government has become willing to contemplate deals with China that would have been unthinkable before the sanctions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2015
Germany should buy — and show — Hitler's art
The German government should exhibit Adolf Hitler's artwork publically to help people better undersand what happened to Germany in the 1930s and '40s.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2015
Vladimir Putin in his bubble
Given Russia's economic performance, much of Vladimir Putin's speech at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum was first-class stand-up comedy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2015
Tragedy should prompt a zoo rethink
The Tbilisi zoo tragedy should make governments reconsider the rules for keeping wild animals in captivity.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2015
Putin is no James Bond villain
Vladimir Putin is a rogue dictator, but that doesn't mean that he is intent on destroying the world with nuclear weapons unless it bends to his will.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2015
Poroshenko makes Putin look like a wimp
If Ukraine manages to pull out of the deepest crisis in its history and re-emerge as a functioning democratic country with a liberal economic model, it will do more to undermine Russians' passive support for Vladimir Putin than any Western pressure ever could.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2015
FIFA's shocking calls awakened a U.S. giant
American law enforcement is looking to dismantle the cozy old-boy hierarchy that Seth Blatter has learned to play since he joined FIFA in 1975.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2015
Effort to revive Soviet glory backfire on Putin
Failed attempts by Vladimir Putin to reclaim glory for Russia in areas where the Soviet Union once excelled may present a bigger threat to his regime than falling living standards.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2015
Putin tries to freeze Ukraine conflict
The latest proposals put forth by Ukraine's separatists are designed to be rejected by the government of Ukraine as a way to produce a permanent frozen conflict zone.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2015
Why self-driving cars will always need oversight
Self-driving cars are incapable of making moral decisions so they will always need human oversight.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2015
Why Putin treats fantasy as history
In the worldview of Russian President Vladimir Putin, winning matters more than truth.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2015
Putin needs neither war nor peace in Ukraine
It makes sense for Russian President Vladimir Putin to freeze the conflict in Ukraine, allowing his country's investment rebound to gain momentum while keeping Ukraine on the hook.

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