Archive for June, 2008

Posted on June 28, 2008 - by Venik

The Makings of a Successful Foreign Policy

I just finished reading Jim Hoagland’s “Enough Rope for Russia” in the Washington Post. From time to time the mouthpiece of Republican neocons publishes nonsense about Russia and this piece by Hoagland is a particularly entertaining example. Hoagland mentions Russia’s intention to form a cartel of natural gas-exporting nations, similar to the OPEC. He also [...]

Posted on June 23, 2008 - by Venik

BBC’s Obsession with Zimbabwe

For the past several months almost every edition of the daily BBC World News opened with a lengthy report on the situation in Zimbabwe. It is really amazing how BBC manages to fill nearly ten minutes of its broadcast with information about a country where it doesn’t have a single journalist. BBC’s questionable journalistic standards [...]

Posted on June 14, 2008 - by Venik

Bush-Sarkozy News Conference

On the stage they looked like two brothers – American Bush and the French Bush. Bush looked tired and annoyed: same old questions from the journalists and the same old answers from Bush’s policy advisers that he memorized and could regurgitate almost without mistakes. Sarkozy, on the other hand, was clearly feeling napoleonic that day. [...]

Posted on June 9, 2008 - by Venik

Russia as Global Economy Leader

Russia’s International Economic Forum this year netted a rather impressive collection of  the world’s top energy executives. Chairmen and CEOs of BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Total, Schlumberger and Dow Chemical flew to Russia’s former imperial capital of St. Petersburg to listen to the country’s new president, as well as to keep [...]