Stephen Kotkin is the director of the program in Russian and Eurasian studies at Princeton University, and while I was in attendance there, I was lucky enough to have Kotkin both as a professor and a thesis adviser. You won’t find a smarter guy at Princeton, and you’re not likely to find anywhere an expert who knows more about post-Soviet Russia. Kotkin is a frequent contributor to the New Republic, and, of the articles he has published there, one stands out in particular (sub.) for its deep insight into the nature of post-Soviet Russia and the ring of independent states that had emerged around it. Wrote Kotkin,

In any case, to say I was in awe of Kotkin as a student would be an understatement, so when Kotkin talks, I listen. A friend just forwarded me this link to a speech he gave last month in Philadelphia. Here are some excerpts: Kotkin on Russian politics: