Author Archives: blank-author

Bolstering and Blundering

By blank-author | Published: December 5, 2008

The synchronicity of events amid Russia’s economic cataclysm continues to amaze, and inform. On the same day the ruble was lowered, for the fourth time in a month, to offset the staggering decline in the price of Russian crude oil (now below $40 per barrel), Russia’s sole aircraft carrier accompanied several warships on a journey [...]

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Unifier or KGB Agent?

By blank-author | Published: December 5, 2008

Unifier or state puppet? KGB agent or architect (insofar as it is possible) of the modern Russian religious soul? With Patriarch Alexiy II, who died today, it was never entirely clear. The traditional narrative is that he oversaw the reawakening of the Russian Orthodox Church, after years of Communist subjugation. Quoted in the LA Times, [...]

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The Nuclear Garage Sale

By blank-author | Published: December 4, 2008

President Medvedev landed in India today, where he has pledged to assist the shaken state with counterterrorism measures following the devastating recent attacks in Mumbai. “We are ready for a full-fledged cooperation on all counterterrorism issues with India,” Medvedev said in an interview with Doordarshan, the Indian public broadcasting corporation. “We stand ready for cooperation [...]

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Threats and Siphons

By blank-author | Published: December 4, 2008

Ukraine has a more imminent problem than its unresolved NATO status: crippled by the global financial crisis, it faces a burgeoning gas dispute with Russia that hearkens back to 2006, when Russia temporarily cut exports to Ukraine, disrupting supply over much of Europe. (Much of Ukrainian’s gas supply is controversially subsidized by the Russian state, [...]

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The China Card

By blank-author | Published: December 4, 2008

Last week, China unceremoniously pulled out from an EU summit after French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed to meet with the Dalai Lama in Poland, a diplomatic blunder suggestive of the two regions’ increasingly distrustful relationship. The summit was to have clarified China and Europe’s fallout from the global financial crisis, and identified areas of common [...]

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Defining “Extremist”

By blank-author | Published: December 3, 2008

Marketwatch is reporting that scientist and firebrand Kremlin critic/author Andrei Piontkovsky faces trial in Russia December 5th for allegedly breaking Russia’s “extremist activities” law, which has been expanded recently to include “abasement of national dignity” and “slander of a public official.” Last year, a Russian judge ordered Piontkovsky’s book, Another Look into Putin’s Soul, sent [...]

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Petrobras Stays on Track

By blank-author | Published: December 3, 2008

Bloomberg reports that Brazilian oil production could top Russia’s by 2014, due in part to Petrobras’s massive offshore find earlier this year. The report comes amid a claim by Petrobras that it can develop the region and still turn a profit with oil prices below $50 a barrel, which must seem freakishly optimistic to the [...]

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Nothing New About Russia and NATO

By blank-author | Published: November 30, 2008

From Viktor Yushchenko’s new opinion piece in the International Herald Tribune: The position of the Russian Federation on NATO enlargement has been known for a long time and did not emerge yesterday. We remember the first and second waves of NATO enlargement in 1999 and 2004. Back then we also heard angry rhetoric and calls “not [...]

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Today in Russian Business – Nov 4, 2008

By blank-author | Published: November 4, 2008

Even with the auspicious news of Kazakh oil bypassing Russia on its way to American markets through a pipeline in Azerbaijan, there was good news: Russian oil production rose to its highest point in 2008 in October. Meanwhile, an abstract painting by the 20th century Russian artist Kazimir Malevich sold for $60 million at an [...]

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RA’s Russia Daily News Blast – Nov 4, 2008

By blank-author | Published: November 4, 2008

Fresh off his trip to Moscow to discuss improving business ties (especially in the oil and gas sectors), Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi made a pit stop in Belarus on Monday. He was in typical form, bashing the West and throwing out intriguing trade scenarios. “The world has become unipolar because violations of the balance of [...]

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