Latest from Stuart Williams
‘Seventeen Moments of Spring’: the USSR’s Brilliant but Troubling TV Epic
Stierlitz’s mission is a moral crusade — to stop a deal between the West and Nazi Germany “za spinoi” (behind the back) of Moscow. This idea has immense resonance in modern Russia, where Putin repeatedly claims Russia has been stabbed in the back by the West without consultation, notably over NATO’s eastward expansion.
The Uneasy Alliance Between Putin and Erdogan
The alliance has proved remarkably enduring, and rarely have Russia and Turkey enjoyed such a stretch of fruitful cooperation. But so much hinges on the personal relationship between Putin and Erdoğan. Not even they can change the brittle nature of a relationship between two powers that have been rivals for centuries.
Turkey’s Chase for the ‘Red Apple’
The Red Apple is a symbol of a vision and quest for modern Turkey — to wield influence and hegemony that extends well beyond its borders into Muslim-majority lands that were formerly ruled by the Ottomans in the Balkans, Middle East, and the Caucasus.