After living in Russia for one year and visiting again prior to my trip this summer, I thought that I would be very prepared for my experiences in St. Petersburg and Sochi. To my surprise, neither city was anything like Moscow or the lovely village of Beloomut, on the outskirts of Moscow.

Dr. Virgina Martin’s lecture about Kazakh nomadic political culture over the first ten years of Russian rule in the Middle Horde Kazakh Steppe was held in Thompson 317 at 1:30pm today.

Dr Martin presented her recent research which explores local political views and practices of service, loyalty and governance as she works to challenge the standard outdated nationalist and statist historiographies on resistance and bureaucratization of the Kazakhs during this period.

After Vladimir Putin’s fiery Valdai Club speech in Sochi on October 21st, it has become clear that 2014 will be a watershed year for the Russian Federation and Russia-watchers everywhere. From Euromaidan to the Olympics, from the Crimean Crisis to the support of separatists in the Donbass region, Westerners have been attempting to answer one simple question:

What is motivating Putin?

Changing perception from “win-lose” to “win-win” in legal cases goes beyond lawyering. It is a physiological process and it requires intensive training for mediators. I believe that popularization of mediation as a mechanism of alternative dispute resolution is a step forward for the country. However, the concept of mediation is used in various contexts within Georgia.

Storytelling festivals are a fascinating phenomenon. Festivals and circles aimed at adults, first appearing in Western Europe and the United States in the early 1970s, have now become an established practice worldwide. In the United States, for example, the storytelling revival movement dates back to the Jonesborough Storytelling Festival in Tennessee, established in 1973. Among the post-communist countries, Slovenia shows an interest in not only studying collections of its native folktales, but in reviving traditional storytelling as an oral performance art aimed at adults.

By Indra Ekmanis Don’t cry “wolf” unless you want him to hear you and eat your sheep, Lauri Õunapuu warned students in a deep and imposing voice during his visit to UW Tuesday. Õunapuu, an Estonian musician, plays traditional folk instruments in a heavy metal band, Metsatöll – the ancient Estonian word for what you

After two six-hour layovers in Los Angeles and Istanbul, two trips through American security, three in-flight films, and four terrible hours of sleep, I was about to fulfill my life-long goal of traveling to Russia.

By Indra Ekmanis In a celebration of family and new contributions to the field of Baltic studies, UW Baltic scholars and interested community members gathered at the Seattle Latvian Center Sept. 28 to honor Prof. Emeritus Gundars Ķeniņš-King and his recently published book, Nation-building in the Baltic States: Transforming Governance, Social Welfare, and Security in

On April 23, 2014 a Seattle based troupe of self-producing actors their director and a production manager flew to Tashkent, Uzbekistan to present their production of Chekhov’s The Seagull at the renowned Ilkhom Theatre of Mark Weil.

Agnia Grigas, energy security expert and political risk analyst, discussed the impact of Russian energy monopolies in Europe during her visit to Seattle.