Why did I decide to blog about Russia in English?

I decided to blog about Russia in English from today, even though, after struggling with my first foreign language for more than 20 years, I am still not totally comfortable with English. Actually, other than my ever-lasting dissertation in English on corporate property rights conflicts in Russia, I have been writing and publishing commentaries in Chinese on Russian politics and economy for a while. Unfortunately, it is still quite a different thing to write down my thoughts in English.

I decided to blog on Russia in English for three reasons. To further practice my written English; to push myself harder to write down and organize my random thoughts about Russia, politics and economy, culture and social changes in general; to reach a potentially larger audience interested in contemporary Russia, and by doing so, to engage in a far more active and interesting space of exchange and debate on Russia. (I have to admit the counterpart in Chinese is really limited and rather disappointing.) The focus of the blog is on contemporary Russia, but I will comment on other countries too, hopefully, with a reasonable comparative and theoretical perspective.

I had kept a journal for almost 16 years, but gave up after I started my graduate studies in US a few years ago. I only hope that this blog would last as long as my journal had. While I used to keep that journal just for myself, this blog is meant for all of those who are interested in the "Rules of the (Russian) Game".