This week Eric welcomes to the show Boris Kagarlitsky: Marxist theoretician, sociologist, political dissident, and chief editor of the Russian-language online journal Rabkor.ru (The Worker). Boris provides his analysis of the current political landscape in Russia including the recent upsurge in protests around pension reform and other economic and social issues. He also explains how Russia in 2019 is not like the Soviet Union but Mexico in the 1970s; how Putin’s Russia is free but not democratic; and how there may be an opening for left politics in Russian political life as Putin’s popularity and control begin to slip. The second half of the show features a discussion of Ukraine’s recent election, how Russian propaganda around Ukraine is both accurate and also distorts the reality of the country, and how the contradictions at the heart of Ukraine remain at the heart of the conflict in the East. You’ll find this level of analysis on Russia, Ukraine and many other issues nowhere else but CounterPunch!

Music: Max Romeo – “Socialism Is Love”

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