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Article: The Real Crisis In Putin's Russia; A combustible synergy of terrorism, poverty, ethnic tensions, pervasive crime, corruption and radical Islam has left Moscow reeling.
- Article from:
- Newsweek International
- Article date:
- March 14, 2005
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Byline: Rajan Menon and Peter Reddaway (Menon is a professor at Lehigh University and a fellow at the New America Foundation. Reddaway teaches at George Washington University.)
What's the main problem in Russia today? Most people have a ready answer: President Vladimir Putin's strangulation of democracy. Yes, but there's a bigger one. That's whether Russia is stable enough to hold together.
Few Russia watchers would suggest the country is on the verge of disintegration. Yet it could be. Certainly, its present boundaries are likely to be altered. The epicenter for change is the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus, consisting of seven ethnic republics ...