Archive for the ‘Russia’ Category

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. [...]

Posted on December 3, 2007 - by Venik

Western press on Russian elections

I guess sometimes the desire to criticize is just too overwhelming to resist. Western journalist covering the Russian elections resemble a herd of wildebeest crossing a river, falling prey to logic and common sense. An unstoppable desire to print something scathing, and brutal, and full of appearance of righteous indignation. It doesn’t matter if the [...]