Month: May 2007

May 28, 2007

Seeking Respect

Today an FT editor breaks down the main arguments currently driving the bitter divide between Russian and the West in the attached op/ed: Murder and oppression will not earn Russia respect By Stefan Wagstyl The killer of Alexander Litvinenko, the ...
May 27, 2007

Irwin Stelzer: Stop the Energy Weapon

From Irwin Stelzer in today’s Times: Putin’s goal is not the mere profit maximisation that guides decision-making in market economies. It is to gain influence over the foreign policies of European countries and, to a lesser extent, America. ...
May 27, 2007

Niall Ferguson: Russia’s Worrying Backlash

Historian Niall Ferguson, author of the excellent books “Empire,” “Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire,” and most recently “The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West,&...
May 25, 2007

Grigory Pasko: The Party Card

Party Card for an Armored Train from the Past By Grigory Pasko, journalist When I was 13, or maybe 14, I remember standing on a stage and reciting Alexander Bezymensky’s poem “The Party Card” [Partbilet]. This was no ordinary poem, but a thriller ...
May 25, 2007

U.S. Official Testifies on Russia Before Helsinki Commission

Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, testified today before the Helsinki Committee in Washington, remarking that although the United States wants to build positive relations with Russia, it would hold the c...
May 25, 2007

Extradition and Russia, Part II

On Wednesday, I published a brief opinion on Russia’s claim that their constitution prohibits the extradition of any Russian citizen – a claim that came forward from the Prosecutor General’s office in response to Britain’s ...
May 25, 2007

RA on Khodorkovsky in the Hamburger Abendblatt

Attached is a translation of an interview with Robert Amsterdam published in the German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt. A scan of the clip can be downloaded here. Justice: The Lawyer for Former Yukos Head Jailed in Siberia Makes Accusations agains...
May 24, 2007

On Orders from Moscow

Imagine my dismay when I picked up the International Herald Tribune today, only to read the following headline on front cover: Europe’s Energy Giants Call for Business as Usual with Russia Yes, it seems that with particularly bad timing, Eni...
May 24, 2007

Derek Brower: Vienna Calling

Austria’s OMV is the latest to fall for Gazprom’s charms By Derek Brower YESTERDAY’S agreement between Austria’s OMV and Gazprom has left the EU’s strategy another few feet closer to the shredder. The memorandum of understanding, signed during a v...
May 24, 2007

Chronicles of Persecution in Samara

From “For Human Rights,” a Russian NGO led by civil society hero Lev Ponomarev, we offer the attached translation of a newsletter which chronicles the episodes of persecution of protesters and dissidents during the EU-Russia Summit in ...