Winter is Coming

Abstract

The Update to the IMEMO report was entitled "The Autumn of Our Discontent." It's a cute title, it really is-but what follows autumn? The latest Russia and the World assessment from IMEMO at once looks for grounds for optimism in some of the more unusual places-not least, Austria-but at the same time accurately reflects a realistic acceptance, widely held in Russia, that the best case scenario for the immediate future is more of the same, and that a true geopolitical winter, a further chilling of relations between Russia and the West, is entirely plausible.