Worlds Apart
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Erik Jones, director of European and Eurasian studies at Johns Hopkins University on European unity in the Skripal case
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‘We could have a nuclear war by accident’ Professor Gerhard Mangott of the University of Innsbruck analyses Moscow-EU relations
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‘Fidel trusted me’: Jon Alpert, American filmmaker on Cuba documentary he filmed for 45 years
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‘The US is disregarding its allies’ – Jarrett Blanc, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for Intl Peace on US pull-out from Iran deal
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‘The Americans are parents, but we say: We’re off to college’ – The Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs
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‘Who is going to take care of Jerusalem? Us or Hamas?’ An interview with Dore Gold, Israeli diplomat
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‘The US trade policy is a mess’ - Brahma Chellaney from the Center for Policy Research
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‘The US is using racket diplomacy to promote their interests’ – former French foreign trade minister
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‘Italy is a perfect storm for populism in Europe’ - Paolo Magri, director of the Italian Institute for International Political Studies
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‘You need Russia if you want peace in the Middle East’ – ex-Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel
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British media personality Katie Hopkins on Putin, London’s mayor and multiculturalism
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Propaganda exercise or attempt at democracy? – Vyatka State University assistant professor Samantha Lomb on Stalin’s constitution
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‘Iran is the main destabiliser in the region’ – Israel’s ex-Deputy FM Daniel Ayalon
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‘Migration is necessary’ – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
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‘Sport is what brings people together’ – Russian hockey legend Viacheslav Fetisov
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Columbia University Professor of Economics Arvind Panagariya on US trade war
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‘Football connects people’ – Legendary Croatian footballer Davor Suker
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‘Views about women’s rights are changing in Afghanistan’ – Afghan MP Fawzia Koofi
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Internet of Things Council founder: Internet of the future, benefits and challenges
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Meir Javedanfar: America abandoning the Iran deal was, ‘a wrong move’
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'The United States is on the declining part of the life cycle curve" – Ichak Adizes, author and management consultant
Propaganda exercise or attempt at democracy? – Vyatka State University assistant professor Samantha Lomb on Stalin’s constitution
Did Joseph Stalin really seek to democratise society with the 1936 Constitution? Or was it merely a propaganda ruse? American academic Samantha Lomb from the University of Pittsburgh now works as an assistant professor in the Russian city of Kirov, and she explains her thoughts about Stalin’s constitution.
“Constitution and Stalin seemed like two things that shouldn’t go together, so I wanted to see what it was about, how serious a project this was or whether it was just a propaganda exercise as it has been described or whether there was something more substantive to it,” said Lomb, who moved to Russia to do research six years ago.
Stalin, she says, saw the document as “a whip in the hands of the people to deal with incompetent local officials,” for Moscow lacked the infrastructure and workforce to govern and monitor every region of the country. While other drafters wanted to include more “ideological things,” Stalin took a more “practical” approach and removed such clauses.
To find out more tune in for the full interview.