Archive for August, 2009
Posted on August 31, 2009 - by Venik
Chocolates were a smuggler’s best friend
Political funding doesn’t get more glamorous than this: the newly-released MI5 files reveal that diamonds and pearls looted by the Bolsheviks from Tsar Nicholas II were hidden in hollowed-out chocolate creams and smuggled into Britain to fund a revolutionary communist newspaper. A top secret file on Francis Meynell, a director of the Daily Herald, reveals [...]
Posted on August 31, 2009 - by Venik
The Afghan 8os are back | Jonathan Steele
Nato’s failing mission is increasingly coming to resemble the Soviets’ disastrous campaign It is deja vu on a huge and bloody scale. General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan, is about to advise his president that “the Afghan people are undergoing a crisis of confidence because the war against the Taliban has not made [...]
Posted on August 31, 2009 - by Venik
Millions more Russians shunted into poverty
• Huge rise in number living on less than £110 a month• Decade of relative wealth under Putin wiped out The stark social cost of Russia’s economic crisis was exposed today when new statistics revealed a 30% increase in the number of people living in poverty. According to Russia’s state committee on statistics, the figure [...]
Posted on August 30, 2009 - by Venik
The war? Nothing to do with Stalin, says Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev
It is a debate that has raged in European capitals ahead of the 70th anniversary on Tuesday of the beginning of the second world war on 1 September 1939. Who, apart from Hitler, was actually responsible for starting it? This summer the Baltic states have blamed Hitler and Stalin equally. Russia, meanwhile, is fingering Poland. [...]
Posted on August 30, 2009 - by Venik
Obituary | Russian writer | Sergei Mikhalkhov
Russian writer and poet known for his three versions of the national anthem Sergei Mikhalkov, who has died aged 96, was a Soviet children’s author, poet and writer of satirical fables. He is best known for writing three different versions of the Soviet and Russian national anthems to suit the diverse tastes of Josef Stalin, [...]
Posted on August 29, 2009 - by Venik
Why Russians don’t Like Money? (or Why Kremlin doesn’t Want Good PR?)
Entrance to an IKEA store in Rostov, Russia. As economy is sliding down, and even the construction of the Moscow City is up in the air, one would think that Russians, and Kremlin especially, would want as much foreign investment as possible. It is well-known that Russians have had highest levels of disposable income comparing [...]
Posted on August 27, 2009 - by Venik
UK Coal launches buy British campaign
Imports make no sense when local supplies are available, says Jon Lloyd of UK Coal UK Coal launched a buy British campaign today to tackle Britain’s energy dependence on Russia and the carbon footprint associated with those supplies. Jon Lloyd, the chief executive, said coal would continue to play a major part in a wider [...]
Posted on August 27, 2009 - by Venik
Russia deploys anti-missile defence unit near North Korea
Kremlin sites system capable of shooting down ballistic missiles in far east to counter nuclear threat posed by Pyongyang tests Russia has placed an anti-missile defence system close to its border with North Korea, in an apparent sign of growing alarm in Moscow at Pyongyang’s nuclear programme. Russia’s chief of army staff, General Nikolai Makarov, [...]
Posted on August 27, 2009 - by Venik
Natural Allies: NATO, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Collective Security Treaty Organization
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, left, listens to Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko as he visits the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant in southern Siberia on Friday, Aug. 21, 2009. (AP/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin) Watch BBC video on the power plant explosion Chechen terrorists have claimed responsibility for blowing up the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant, Russia’s largest, [...]
Posted on August 26, 2009 - by Venik
Manchester invasion: ”
Dr Chris Perkins describes a 1974 map that reveals how the Soviet Union planned to invade Manchester Original article Share on bebo Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share via MySpace share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post
Posted on August 25, 2009 - by Venik
The rise of the new Obamas
Must all black politicians be hailed as Obamas, asks Labour candidate Chuka Umunna Joaquim Crima, who is standing in local elections in October, has been described as the Russian Obama. So must all black politicians the world over be hailed as Obamas? Chuka Umunna, Labour’s candidate in Streatham, South London, knows the feeling . . [...]
Posted on August 25, 2009 - by Venik
Tank tracks to Trafford: how USSR planned to invade Manchester
As Edward Heath wrestled with the oil crisis and three-day week more than 40 years ago, Soviet spies were mapping the UK 1974 was a terrible year for Manchester, with United relegated to the second division for the first time in four decades and power cuts forced by the three-day week declared by Edward Heath’s [...]
Posted on August 25, 2009 - by Venik
Four policemen killed in Chechnya suicide bombing
Return of terror tactic in Russia’s North Caucasus a response to extra-judicial killings and disappearances, say experts Russia was today facing up to the revival of suicide bombing as a militant tactic in the rebellious North Caucasus after an attack in which four policemen were killed and two others injured in Chechnya. The bomber blew [...]
Posted on August 25, 2009 - by Venik
South Korean satellite launch misses target
Scientists investigate cause of malfunction after satellite carried by South Korea’s first rocket veers off course South Korea’s latest attempt to enter the Asian space race suffered a setback today when a satellite carried by the country’s first rocket veered off course. South Korean space officials said an initial investigation showed the satellite had failed [...]
