Archive for the ‘Russia’ Category
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 [...]
Posted on May 19, 2008 - by Venik
Why Adrian Blomfield Hates Putin?
Adrian Blomfield – a reporter for the Telegraph tabloid – has a long history of passing his anti-Putin rants for serious journalistic work. I don’t know what the guy’s problem is with Putin but it seems to be personal. Maybe Putin didn’t answer Blomfield’s love letters or something. In his latest piece about the Kremlin’s [...]
Posted on April 4, 2008 - by Venik
Putin and NATO expansion
A little bit of history first. In 1948 the Treaty of Brussels was signed by the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom to protect themselves from unspecified evildoers (the Soviets). All parties involved clearly realized that the combined military might of post-war France and Luxembourg was probably not enough to counter hundreds of Soviet [...]
Posted on March 29, 2008 - by Venik
Russia and the US heading toward a confrontation
It seems that Russia and the US are moving toward some major headbutting in April. First, there’s the issue of Kosovo and the announcement by the US that it intends to provide weapons to the breakaway province. Russia opposes the move, saying that this would be a violation of the UN SC Resolution 1244 (which [...]
Posted on March 9, 2008 - by Venik
Finer Points of Russian Democracy
Many in the West are genuinely intrigued by Russia’s approach to democracy and capitalism. They honestly want to understand why the Russians seem to be at peace with their presidential election, where the government-backed candidate picked up nearly three-quarters of the votes; the Westerners want to know why the Russians so patiently tolerate their Byzantine [...]
Posted on February 23, 2008 - by Venik
Russia’s Threat of Military Intervention in Kosovo
As I predicted (see Russia’s Kosovo Options post on Feb. 15), Russia’s response to Kosovo’s declaration of independence is spilling outside the usual diplomatic channels. The latest BBC headline reads “Russia could use force in Kosovo”. Russia’s ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin told journalists that “Russia does not exclude the possibility of a military intervention [...]
Posted on February 22, 2008 - by Venik
Journalistic Standards in Russia
While the overall quality of reporting in the Russian media is gradually improving following a complete collapse of journalistic standards during the Yeltsin era, Russia’s online news agencies continue to consider accuracy optional and to take liberty with facts. One of the most common problems in Russian media – both printed and electronic – is [...]
Posted on February 20, 2008 - by Venik
Freedom of Information in Russia
I find it annoying when I hear some BBC reporter talk about “government-controlled” media in Russia (as if BBC wasn’t government controlled). Just as media in any other country, Russian media is regulated – not controlled – by the government. Quality of work of Russian journalists is another matter altogether, but this problem has nothing [...]
Posted on February 17, 2008 - by Venik
Space Arms Race is Coming
The US decided to shoot down its own old spy satellite before it crashes into Earth. The official reason: the satellite contains about a ton of toxic fuel. Very few take this explanation seriously. In the entire history of the space age not a single human being has been hurt by the falling man-made space [...]
Posted on February 15, 2008 - by Venik
Russia’s Kosovo Options
An interesting opinion about Russia’s options regarding the Kosovo situation was published by Reuters in their “Russia’s options limited for Kosovo retaliation” (Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:34am EST). Fyodr Lukyanov, editor of the respected journal Russia in Global Affairs, believe that Russia’s immediate response to the expected proclamation of independence by Kosovo will be limited [...]
Posted on January 27, 2008 - by Venik
Kasyanov barred from elections
Mikhail Kasyanov, Russia’s former Prime Minister and the leader of the PDU party, has been barred by the Central Election Commission (CEC) from participating in the presidential elections in March of 2008. According to Russian election legislation, an independent candidate like Kasyanov must collect two million signatures from supporters in order to participate in presidential [...]
Posted on January 16, 2008 - by Venik
British Council vs GIBDD (Russian traffic police)
Stephen Kinnock, the head of the British Council in Russia, was detained by police on suspicion of drunk driving. He was held for about an hour and then released with consular help. Work of the British Council in St. Petersburg has been temporarily suspended because the Council’s Russian staff is being “interviewed” by the FSB. [...]
Posted on December 12, 2007 - by Venik
The battle of the experts
Go to Google News and pick a few random articles about the latest events in Russia. Quickly look through each article and write down names of various Russian political analysts and experts quoted in the article. Also write down the names of the organizations these experts represent. You will end up with an interesting list [...]
Posted on December 10, 2007 - by Venik
Russia’s liberals: the identity crisis
I just stumbled upon a remarkably-balanced article about Russian politics: “In Russia, a democratic message blurred“, by Nikolai Petro, US State Department’s former special assistant for policy on the Soviet Union under George H. W. Bush. It is not every day that in an American newspaper one encounters an intelligent thought about Russia’s political life. [...]
