Civil Society Picks Up a Rare Win

Manana Aslamazyan does not cast a very threatening image. The Russian civil society organizer is intelligently calm, soft-spoken, and bears the distinctive eyewear of a schoolteacher, not your prototype of a dangerous social agitator. Perhaps for this reason so many of us were appalled by the Kremlin’s unfair persecution of Aslamazyan and her organization, the […]

Energy Blast – May 28, 2008

Rosneft and Gazprom have agreed on splitting offshore deposits, limiting foreign and private access. President Dmitry Medvedev officially left Gazprom’s board of directors this week, praising “our company’s” achievements. The company has increased pipeline supplies to Turkey by about 36%, following a disruption in flows from Iran. BP and a group of Russian billionaires publicly […]

Today in Russian Business – May 28, 2008

The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs says that the country needs new legislation if it is to become a leading producer of biofuels, as “they are currently taxed the same as vodka.” Polyus Gold said that Britain’s financial watchdog was investigating whether it broke regulations when its depositary receipts jumped last week. Russia-focused private […]

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – May 28, 2008

TODAY: Amnesty International appeals to Medvedev for a “sea-change”; NGO head smuggling case overturned, Prosecutor General promises to remedy the thousands of wrongful charges made each year; McCain vows to work more closely with Russia; Moscow continues to deny involvement with Georgia. Putin appointed prime minister of Russia-Belarus alliance. Amnesty International is calling on governments […]

Tyrants in the Gas Tank

Turns out that lefty activists dislike the new breed of state-owned energy firms just as much as the ancien regime of international oil companies. Joshua Kurlantzick, who has written some good stuff in the past, has a new one in Mother Jones entitled “Put a Tyrant in Your Tank,” including some really scary graphic arts. […]

The Unraveling of TNK-BP

It’s a big day in energy news for Russia, though understandably most reports are concentrating on Vladimir Putin’s efforts to use his new “Presidium” cabinet to push through with massive oil tax cuts in the order of $4 billion to boost production – a move that Alfa Bank believes could create a 20-30% upside for […]

Grigory Pasko: Heroes of a Mediocre Time

Heroes of a mediocre time By Grigory Pasko, journalist Если Вы хотите прочитать оригинал данной статьи на русском языке, нажмите сюда. A joke: The Russians have a saying – Какая держава – такие и победы. Which translates roughly as “What kind of country you have tells you what kind of victories you can expect from […]

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

Here’s a political cartoon by artist Alexey Merinov, with caption reading “You wanted a light at the end of the tunnel? You got it!” That says a lot about hope and disappointment in Russia today.

Video: The Russia-Georgia Spy Plane Dispute

Here is a news clip on the UN ruling over the Russia-Georgia Spy Plane dispute. More info here and here.

Pointing Fingers on High Oil Prices

In a column titled “Petro Populist Myopia,” Diane Francis of the Financial Post makes a good point about who should really receive the blame for the runaway prices increases of oil: Prices are soaring, in part, because oil is denominated in U.S. dollars and the dollar has declined, thanks to Washington’s overspending on wars, trade, […]