A brief history of Russia's wars, both internal and external, gives context for the current situation in Ukraine and Crimea. 

On how to understand rising tensions with Russia and its divisive president.

One week after the bombings in Boston and I still feel the urge to write about this so much.

You may know that a Russian Court has sentenced Russian poets Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Santsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova to two more months in prison. Amnesty International has declared them prisoners of conscience.

Thanks to my friend Tom Luddy, the Director of the Telluride Film Festival, I had a pleasant surprise waiting for me in my mailbox on Sunday afternoon, “A Bitter Taste of Freedom” (2011), a cinematic biographical tribute to and about Anna Politkovskaya.