China’s Mandate from Heaven

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: May 30, 2008

Earlier this week I blogged a little bit about the tremendous changes currently being experienced in China as an indirect result of the tragic Sichaun earthquake, and the credibility crisis of 21st century authoritarian capitalist states. Picking up where we left off, this week has brought more and more surprising and historically unprecedented news from […]

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Different Visions of Cooperation

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

Just when we thought that things were proceeding along harmoniously for the EU to hammer down a cooperation agreement with Moscow, along comes Sweden and Poland. Here’s an interesting review from the Economist: “Other countries are moving to counter what they see as Germany’s overly Russia-friendly policies. Poland and Sweden this week launched their own […]

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Grigory Pasko: Looking a gift horse in the mouth, Part 7

By Grigory Pasko | Published:

[See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6 of this series.] Nord Stream, Scandinavian Style …and Blackmail, Russian Style Part 7 Grigory Pasko, journalist Если Вы хотите прочитать оригинал данной статьи на русском языке, нажмите сюда. The newspaper «Die Zeit» reported not that long ago that the Baltic “pipeline […]

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BP Continues its Fight in Russia

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

Last time we checked in on the messy state of affairs with TNK-BP, the company was in serious turmoil, with a straight-talking CEO about to get the boot, and arch-silovik Igor Sechin set on preventing any state intervention in the dispute. It finally seemed clear that the dispute was between BP and their local Russian […]

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Putin Does Not Have Perpetual Power

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

For as often as she references Russian history in her hasty new article, “The Once and Future President,” Professor Irina Filatova seems wont to forget its lessons. According to her logic, because Putin has “has done everything to strengthen his personal power and to organise institutions to serve it, not the other way round,” that […]

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Working with Russia on Nuclear Proliferation

By James Kimer | Published:

There is an op/ed by Sen. Richard Lugar and former Sen. Sam Nunn in today’s New York Times calling upon Congress to pass a cooperation agreement with Russia on nuclear weapons. Help Russia Help Us By Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn IN a campaign speech this week, John McCain cited the “special responsibility” of the […]

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Energy Blast – May 30, 2008

By Citizen M | Published:

The Interior Ministry is accusing a top executive, who was partly responsible for the creation of oil venture TNK-BP in 2003, of evading nearly $1 billion in taxes. Russian shareholders in TNK-BP failed to show up for a board meeting in Cyprus this week. During his visit to France, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he […]

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Today in Russian Business – May 30, 2008

By Citizen M | Published:

State nanotechnology corporation, Rosnanotech, will not have Vladimir Putin’s ally Mikhail Kovalchuk as its head, after his application to join the Russian Academy of Sciences was controversially rejected. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said the government would support a proposed deal between billionaires Vladimir Potanin and Alisher Usmanov aimed at creating a global mining […]

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RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – May 30, 2008

By Citizen M | Published:

TODAY: Kremlin posts letters on corruption message; Putin fêted in France, hopes to conclude EU-Russia talks this year, dismisses human rights concerns; prestigious Russian newspaper could be evicted from its offices. “In the latest sign the Kremlin is focusing its message on the issue of corruption, its web site has posted excerpts from letters written […]

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Video: Amnesty International’s 2008 Report

By James Kimer | Published: May 29, 2008

Leading human rights NGO Amnesty International has released its 2008 report, which naturally focuses most heavily on Guantanamo Bay, but also has some tough criticism for Russia. Read it all here.

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