Archive for September, 2010
Posted on September 30, 2010 - by Venik
A disastrous move for chess | Daniel King
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has dragged chess into ill repute. He should not have been re-elected as president of the game’s world body This week Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, an eccentric Russian provincial governor, was re-elected as president of the international chess federation (Fide) after a bitter contest with the former world champion Anatoly Karpov that descended into allegations [...]
Posted on September 30, 2010 - by Venik
Why red is not brown in the Baltics | Dovid Katz
Unhappily, Timothy Snyder’s historical reassessment of the Nazi-Soviet pact coincides with Baltic ultra-nationalist agendas That a truly great historian of our times can, on very rare occasions, stumble into a meticulously laid trap is no more than to say that we are human and fallible. Or that water is wet. There are many points of [...]
Posted on September 29, 2010 - by Venik
Russian officials with alleged link to lawyer’s death face US ban
Congress considers Justice for Sergei Magnitsky act, named after hedge fund lawyer who died in a Russian jail Russian officials and other individuals allegedly involved in the death of a London hedge fund’s lawyer in Moscow face being banned from entering the US and conducting financial dealings there. Two congressmen today introduced the Justice for [...]
Posted on September 29, 2010 - by Venik
A dangerous Nazi-Soviet equivalence | Efraim Zuroff
Timothy Snyder’s emphasis on the Hitler-Stalin pact as the genesis of war blurs the moral responsibility that was Germany’s Timothy Snyder’s article stresses the significance of the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact of 23 August 1939 as the primary facilitator of the second world war, and therefore attributes major responsibility for the atrocities of the war to the [...]
Posted on September 29, 2010 - by Venik
Moscow’s sacked mayor faces possible criminal prosecution
Russia’s investigative committee examines two cases involving Yuri Luzhkov, who was fired by President Dmitry Medvedev Moscow’s sacked mayor Yuri Luzhkov is facing the possibility of criminal prosecution after federal investigators announced that they were examining allegations of corruption against him. A day after President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed Luzhkov from office, the investigators indicated that [...]
Posted on September 29, 2010 - by Venik
Russian officials with alleged link to lawyer’s death banned from US
Congress passes the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act, named after hedge fund lawyer who died in a Russian jail Russian officials and other individuals allegedly involved in the death of a London hedge fund’s lawyer in Moscow have been banned from entering the US and conducting financial dealings there. Congress today introduced the Justice for [...]
Posted on September 29, 2010 - by Venik
Yuri Luzhkov: last of Russia’s rebels? | Alexey Kovalev
The former mayor of Moscow had many critics. But, in standing up to President Medvedev, he at least partially redeemed himself I saw him once on that sweltering July afternoon when I went to see a rock festival and ended up covering a terrorist attack that killed 16 people and wounded around 50. He swooshed [...]
Posted on September 29, 2010 - by Venik
Chess world shocked as Karpov fails to capture top job
Accusations of foul play fly as unpopular Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is re-elected president of world body over former champion The international chess world descended into chaos and bitter accusations of cheating today with the controversial re-election of the president of the World Chess Federation, who defeated the former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov. Amid tumultuous scenesthat [...]
Posted on September 29, 2010 - by Venik
Moscow: Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s legacy
Critics of former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s claim his rebuilding programme ruined the city’s allure 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 September 28, 2010 - by Venik
Russian president fires Moscow mayor after weeks of feuding
Yuri Luzhkov’s 18-year rule ends after Kremlin campaign said he cared more about his bee collection than the city’s people One of the most captivating political soap operas in Russia has come to an abrupt end with the sacking of Moscow’s embattled mayor, Yuri Luzhkov. In the boldest move of his presidency so far Dmitry [...]
Posted on September 28, 2010 - by Venik
Luzhkov’s follies: how Moscow altered beyond recognition
In the Russian capital today, Dickensian lives are played out beneath a Disney-on-steroids skyline When I arrived in Moscow in 1992 I found a city blissfully unprepared for the future that awaited it. The paint was coming off the Stalin- and Khrushchev-era apartment blocks, and the roads and metro stops were renamed, so the sense of [...]
Posted on September 28, 2010 - by Venik
Beware friendship with Moscow | Simon Tisdall
William Hague may be keen to ‘reset’ relations, but under Putin and Medvedev Russia remains a land of murky deeds Tuesday’s dramatic toppling of long-time Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov was positively Shakespearean in character – a stage-managed political slaying of a seemingly untouchable party boss who presided over the capital “like some kind of Mongolian [...]
Posted on September 28, 2010 - by Venik
Video: Medvedev sacks Moscow mayor
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev dismisses Yuri Luzhkov citing ‘loss of confidence’ after weeks of feuding 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 September 28, 2010 - by Venik
Echoes from the killing fields of the east | Timothy Snyder
The second world war is often seen through western allies’ eyes. But the real geopolitics – and worst atrocities – scarred the east Editor’s note: Timothy Snyder’s work on the mass killings, both before and during the second world war, in eastern Europe – the territories first divided by treaty and then trampled by conquest [...]
