Author Archives: Robert Amsterdam

Nigeria’s Violence Hits Economy

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 17, 2013

From former Amb. John Campbell at the Council on Foreign Relations:  The incessant violence is starting to impact the Nigerian economy. While Lagos hustles along without regard to the bloodshed in other parts of the country, economic activity has dipped, as in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city. Enterprises with exposure in northern Nigeria are seeing [...]

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Behind Russia’s Spy Scandal

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 17, 2013

Prof. Mark Galeotti has a good one on the arrest and expulsion of alleged spy Ryan C. Fogle from Russia this past week. The FSB, Putin’s own former service and once one of the dominant forces within the “deep state” of the inner elite, has been quiet of late. The oprichniki of Alexander Bastrykin’s Investigative Committee (SK) [...]

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Cleaning Up the Russian Media

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 16, 2013
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Despite Russia’s changing media landscape and increasingly widespread use of social media, Vladimir Putin continues to rely on television and other state media outlets as one of his core pillars of influence.

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How Surkov Interrupted Putin’s Game

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 16, 2013

A great article on the resignation of Vladislav Surkov by Brian Whitmore at Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty’s blog, the Power Vertical. So is Surkov playing some deeper game here? Mikhail Rostovsky, chief political analyst for the daily “Moskovsky komsomolets,” thinks so. “Russia’s former chief puppet master has refused to play the role of the loser [...]

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Why We Will Miss Surkov

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 13, 2013

Charles Clover of the Financial Times has a very good piece on the resignation of Vladislav Surkov from the Kremlin. Despite being the creator of “sovereign democracy,” there are a number of reasons why we will miss his lighter touch. Things are going to get much, much rougher in Russia from here going forward. Mr [...]

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Digital Gitmo

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 7, 2013
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There is a prevailing attitude in Washington today that the rights of certain people and businesses can be suspended at their choosing. This weakens rule of law and creates huge risks for our future. Megaupload may be a well known victim, but it will not be the last.

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Megaupload: A Case Based on a Law That Doesn’t Exist

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 7, 2013

And here goes an excerpt of the coverage on The Next Web. The legal team supporting Kim Dotcom argue that Megaupload was used to share a “spectrum of content” including family photographs, academic coursework and files, including videos and music, that was purchased through legal means. It admits that some of these files including potentially [...]

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Prime Minister of New Zealand Misled by U.S. Government

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 7, 2013

Here goes some of the initial coverage of the Kim Dotcom white paper in the New Zealand Herald: Kim Dotcom has called for an investigation into the FBI case against Megaupload in a legal review which accuses Prime Minister John Key of being misled by the United States. The “White Paper” released by Mr Dotcom [...]

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The Kim Dotcom / Megaupload White Paper

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 7, 2013
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Today we are proud to announce the launch of the White Paper “Megaupload, the Copyright Lobby, and the Future of Digital Rights: The United States vs. You (and Kim Dotcom).

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ABC Report on the UN’s Cholera Cover Up in Zimbabwe

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 4, 2013

This week I had the pleasure of being interviewed for ABC Australia for a segment exploring the 2009 cholera crisis in Zimbabwe and the plight of my client, Georges Tadonki, who tried to blow the whistle but was severely punished by his superiors. We recently won a landmark case in the UN Dispute Tribunal, but [...]

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