TODAY: EU-Russia summit ‘one of the best we’ve had’; WTO bid to happen as soon as possible; Prosecutor General investigating lawyer Magnitsky’s death; Solidarity says it has evidence against officers; Putin raises eyebrows as sudden new head of Geographical Society; Yanukovich and Moscow; moratorium on capital punishment extended.
Discussions have taken place at the EU-Russia summit on Russia’s WTO bid, although Medvedev’s insistence that it should join as quickly as possible was confused somewhat by Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko’s suggestion that it make its application in a customs union with Belarus or Kazakhstan. ‘Whatever way is faster, we will take it,‘ Medvedev said. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called the 24th EU-Russia summit ‘one of the best meetings we have had‘. The Prosecutor General’s Office has begun investigating the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center over the death of Sergei Magnitsky. RFE/RL have published excerpts from a letter that Magnitsky wrote from prison, documenting unhygienic prison conditions and repeatedly-denied access to medical treatment. Vedomosti called his death ‘medieval‘. Members of the Solidarity opposition movement have released a photograph of what they say is a high-level police memo ordering officers to disrupt a series of lawful protests. Who are the ‘hooded men‘ upping legal one-man opposition protests to an unacceptable gathering of three?
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is the new head of the Russian Geographical Society’s board of trustees, and his appointment coincides with newly curbed rights for its regional branches. Existing members are ‘ruffled‘ – does this sudden interest relate to the Society’s ‘extensive property holdings’, or is it just a bid for more credibility? Quoted from a New York Times piece on the upcoming Ukrainian elections: ‘[...] however disappointed western Ukrainians are in the Orange leadership, they will be roused by the desire to vote against Mr. Yanukovich, if only because Moscow backs him.‘ ‘Modern Russia [...] has not made any attempt to come to terms with Holodomor, as with many other aspects of Stalin’s legacy,‘ writes James Marson.
Capital punishment remains present in Russia’s Constitutional Code, but its court ruled to extend the moratorium on the death penalty which has been in place since 1996.
PHOTO: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev watches Russia play against Slovenia in their World Cup qualifying playoff second leg soccer match in Maribor, Slovenia, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Vladimir Rodionov, Presidential Press Service)
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Putin IS a geopolitician as he knews the true meanings of the vocabulary of this science .When he talked of a ” geopolitical catastrophe ” is was not a regret of the SU as a regime but underwriting the fact taht today millions of Russians are living outside the borders of the Russian Federation .( Remember the Treaty of Versailles and the ” nation builders ” who drew the frontiers of Yougoslavaia , Czlavia and Poland ……..)Medevedv IS also a geopolitician when he talks of reshaping the time zones covering Russia .I guess thaht few people have made the good deductions on how it will reshape the center-periphery relations .When Medevedev or Putin are talking of ” rewriting history ” they encopass the field of ” representation ” ( of a people of its past and so of its present ” weltanschaaung ” ) which is considered by some geopoliticians as very important .For a country like Russia it’s a blessing that their politiacl leaders are litterate in geography , geopolitics and even history .