RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Oct. 19, 2007

By Citizen M | Published: October 19, 2007

A member of Russia’s Interior Ministry Forces watches President Vladimir Putin speak during a live question-and-answer session aired on television in a electronic store in Grozny, the capital of the Caucasus region of Chechnya, October 18, 2007. (Said Tsarnayev/Reuters) President Vladimir Putin used a live three-hour call-in session, in which he answered questions from the […]

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Video: Putin’s Warning to the United States

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: October 18, 2007

Here is a Reuters news clip of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iran, and his message to the United States.

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The New Russian Union

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

If Kosovar independence is recognized, could Serbia ditch its efforts to join the EU and look to Russia? From the Economist: Marko Jaksic, a member of Serbia’s Kosovo negotiating team, helps to run northern Kosovo. He is a deputy leader of the party of Vojislav Kostunica, Serbia’s prime minister. If America and many European Union […]

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“Thank God Russia is not Iraq”

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

Here are some disturbing developments. The president of Russia has indirectly suggested that the United States could potentially be interested in invading the country to capture control of its energy, and for this reason, the federation needs to add more nuclear weapons to its arsenal. From Reuters: He also promised new nuclear weapons as part […]

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Putin Compares Himself to FDR, Again

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

Today during Russia’s version of “Aló Presidente” (a live broadcast call-in show where regular Russian citizens ask the president questions), Vladimir Putin compared himself to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It isn’t the first time he has done it.

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Russia and Iran: An Eventual Clash of Interests

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

Here’s a startling picture: Today President Vladimir Putin demanded that the Americans name a pullout date from Iraq, while at the same time President George Bush is fighting to cling to his “political relevance” against a Democrat Congress. What a bizarre world. Perhaps this is an exaggeration of recent changes, but we should give credit […]

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The Return of Bukovsky

By James Kimer | Published:

After 15 years abroad, the Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky has returned to Russia to formerly declare his bid for the presidency. Bukovsky, who spent many years in labor camps and psychiatric institutions, played an instrumental role in alerting the wider world to the Soviet practice of forcing political dissidents to undergo mental health internment, and […]

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RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Oct. 18, 2007

By Citizen M | Published:

More than a million Russians have applied to quiz Putin in a live question-and-answer session on Thursday that he holds annually to show he is in touch with the nation, the organizers said. (Caren Firouz/Reuters) President Vladimir Putin today begins his live-air question and answer session with the Russian public, but must ensure that his […]

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Khristenko on Estonian “Rudeness” and Nord Stream

By James Kimer | Published: October 17, 2007

From the FT story “Russia attacks Estonia over pipeline survey” Russia yesterday accused Estonia, its small Baltic Sea neighbour, of “rudeness” and violation of a United Nations maritime convention by refusing permission for a seabed survey linked to the construction of a gas pipeline from Russia to western Europe. “To use such tools, as the […]

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WSJ: The Putin Touch

By James Kimer | Published:

From the Wall Street Journal: The Putin Touch October 17, 2007; Page A18 Vladimir Putin paid Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a visit yesterday, the first Russian leader to hit Tehran since Joseph Stalin in 1943. But let’s not get too carried away by the comparison. More telling was the contrast, in both substance and atmospherics, between the […]

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