Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category
Posted on October 17, 2008 - by Venik
On the State of Our Bernanked Economy
Yesterday Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the US economy faces a “significant threat”. Dr. Bernanke was not optimistic, not optimistic at all: “Stabilization of the financial markets is a critical first step, but even if they stabilize as we hope they will, broader economic recovery will not happen right away…” This “even if” [...]
Posted on October 14, 2008 - by Venik
Standard & Poor’s Role in the Credit Crash
Russia’s Interfax news agency published a short article by Sergei Vybornov, president of the ALROSA corporation, touching on the subject of S&P’s responsibility for the global lending industry crisis. ALROSA is Russia’s largest diamond mining company handling a quarter of the world’s natural diamond production. Sergei Vybornov – a diplomat in the past – is [...]
Posted on October 3, 2008 - by Venik
Pirates, Tanks and Conspiracy Theories
An Israeli-owned cargo ship, sailing under Belize flag with Russian and Ukrainian crew, carrying to Kenya Soviet-made main battle tanks for the army of Sudan is being boarded by Somalian pirates; the ship is surrounded by US Navy cruiser and destroyer, as well as by two Royal Navy frigates, as the Russian Navy dispatches its [...]
Posted on September 29, 2008 - by Venik
Why Bailout Will Not Work
People who believe that America’s economic problems will be cured by the “cash-for-trash” bailout bill right now stuck in the Congress are in for a huge disappointment. There is little doubt that the size of this bailout will grow well beyond the initial $700 billion and in the end all this money will help very [...]
Posted on September 22, 2008 - by Venik
The Joint Strike Fighter Dilemma
As Australia is considering buying a hundred Lockheed-Martin/Boeing F-35A fighter-bombers for USD 83 million a piece, reports have emerged that the much-advertised stealth aircraft was comprehensively defeated by Sukhoi Su-35 in August 2008 during classified computer-simulated war games in Hawaii conducted by the USAF with participation from other NATO members. While Pentagon and Lockheed-Martin officials [...]
Posted on September 20, 2008 - by Venik
The Day Capitalism Died
On December 26, 1991, the Supreme Soviet – USSR’s highest governmental body – recognized the collapse of the Soviet Union and dissolved itself. Some in the West viewed this day as the official date of their “victory” in the Cold War. By the same token, some Russians view September 18, 2008 as their, if not [...]
Posted on September 18, 2008 - by Venik
The War in Georgia: Who Said What
The difficulties Russia encounters dealing with Saakashvili’s propaganda machine are caused primarily by the West’s desire to believe the Georgian side of the story. Why does the West want to believe Saakashvili? Probably because the alternative to believing Georgian propaganda is to admit that for the past five years the West has been propping up [...]
Posted on September 17, 2008 - by Venik
The West Distances Itself from Saakashvili
The visit of Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (from here forward known as Hoop for the sake of brevity) and twenty six NATO representatives to Georgia was largely uneventful. As before, NATO gave Saakashvili no plans, schedules, or guarantees. Georgian president’s appeals to accelerate NATO membership program for his country fell largely on deaf ears. However, [...]
Posted on September 14, 2008 - by Venik
Georgian Opposition on the Rise
During the Valdai Club meeting, Medvedev revealed to the gathered journalists and academics that Saakashvili is a drug addict. This actually makes perfect sense and explains Georgian president’s notorious mood swings, his tie-chewing habits, and his occasional extremely pale, sweaty appearance. I wonder if Saakashvili shared any of the good stuff with Miliband… Following the [...]
Posted on September 12, 2008 - by Venik
Good Things about Palin
If back in 2000 you told me that getting Junior into the White House would help Russia’s economic and political recovery, I would have asked you to stop smoking crack. Bush and Cheney were aggressively anti-Russian in their election campaign. They criticized Clinton for being soft on Russia in view of Moscow’s military campaign in [...]
