Crimea 2014: the West’s ‘terrible mistake’. Was it the first? War in Ukraine, two years after 2022
A hoarding opposite the Russian embassy in Berlin, February 2023 © James Rodgers This latest post is an article I wrote for a special issue of Baltic Rim Economies, published in February 2024 to mark the second anniversary of the escalation of Russia’s war on Ukraine. You can read...
Defying Putin: Remembering Navalny, and my Gift from Ukraine
Flowers laid in memory of the Russian opposition politician, Boris Nemtsov, at the site of his murder near the Kremlin in 2015. Photograph from March 2019 © James Rodgers THE DEATH IN PRISON THIS WEEK of Alexei Navalny, the highest profile critic of Vladimir Putin, has reminded the world...
Tucker Carlson and Putin: A New Chapter in the Kremlin’s History with western media
This post brings together some of my media commentary on Carlson’s interview with Putin, which was posted on Carlson’s website on 8th February 2023 ‘THE ANSWER WE GOT SHOCKED US,’ Tucker Carlson told viewers of his interview with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. He was explaining his astonishment at...
The Soviet capital choked with grief: Witnessing Lenin’s funeral, Moscow 1924
On January 26th, 1924, the New York Times published Walter Duranty’s report of Lenin’s funeral, as well as an obituary of the late Soviet revolutionary leader. This post is a brief extract from my book, Assignment Moscow: Reporting on Russia from Lenin to Putin, on day the young Soviet...
Gaza, Israel, Peace and War in the Middle East
Over the Christmas and New Year holiday, I took the opportunity to reflect on the war in Gaza. Based on my experience of being there as a correspondent from 2002-2004, and on my subsequent research and writing, this new post is the result of that reflection. EVEN WHEN I...
Belgrade Away Day: Football, History, Politics and War
The scoreboard before Red Star Belgrade vs Manchester City, Belgrade, Serbia, 13 December 2023 A LIFELONG DEVOTION TOOK ME TO BELGRADE. Not a devotion to Belgrade itself, or a strong desire to visit it ahead of cities I had never seen. My work as a writer or lecturer would...
GAZA: evacuation, and memories of 1948
A car passes ruined buildings and Israeli fortifications near Khan Younis, August 2002 © James Rodgers From 2002 to 2004, I was the BBC’s correspondent in Gaza: at the time, the only international journalist based in the territory. This post is an extract from my book ‘No Road Home:...
MOSCOW, OCTOBER 1993: when tank shells settled Russia’s political crisis
This was the worst political violence in Moscow since Russia's revolutionary year of 1917, and was much more than an aftershock of the political earthquake that had brought down Soviet power. ...
At Henley Literary Festival, Friday 6 October
On Friday 6 October, I will be appearing at Henley Literary Festival, in conversation with Keir Giles about our books on Russia. Keir is the author of Russia’s War on Everybody, published, like my own Assignment Moscow: Reporting on Russia from Lenin to Putin, by Bloomsbury. We will be...
New podcast: Israel, Palestine, and the Oslo Accords
Graffiti on part of the barrier between Israel and the West Bank, June 2014. Photo © James Rodgers This week, my City, University of London colleague Professor Amnon Aran and I have released the first episode of our three part podcast series, Inside the Oslo Accords. We are making...