Year: 2008

August 15, 2008

Why Attempts to Isolate Russia Won’t Work

President Bush seems quite confused as to how he can wield any influence whatsoever over Russian conduct in Georgia. His latest statements find him actually having to repeat his requests for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia, and even ...
August 15, 2008

The Return of Russian Hegemony

If you believe that John Bolton has never said or written something you didn’t vigorously disagree with, then you probably haven’t done enough research. However the razor-tongued former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations is now safe...
August 15, 2008

Recruiting Soldiers for the Cyberwar

Reports of the parallel cyberwar being conducted against Georgia alongside the military onslaught is not news. We saw indications that organized groups of hackers using DOS (denial of service) attacks – which have previously been linked to t...
August 15, 2008

Illarionov: Thirteen Conclusions about the War

Former Kremlin economist Andrei Illarionov writes about the war in this translation from Yezhednevny Zhurnal, courtesy of the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum. The Second Georgian War By Andrei Illarionov 1. The war against Georgia was a brilliant prov...
August 15, 2008

Energy Blast – Aug 15, 2008

A Moscow court has banned Robert Dudley, the TNK-BP joint venture’s chief executive, from working in Russia for two years. Dudley plans to continue managing the company from abroad. Some analysts maintain that the war is not about oil. New evidenc...
August 15, 2008

Today in Russian Business – Aug 15, 2008

A number of big Wall Street banks are reportedly becoming “increasingly nervous that Russia’s high-risk, high-reward environment is becoming too much about the risk.” US electronics chain Best Buy Co will begin expanding into Russia. Russian aircr...
August 15, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Aug 15, 2008

TODAY: War uproots 100,000; irregular add-ons to Russian army are “terrorizing”; aid workers having trouble accessing areas; Vitaly Churkin says Russia’s role in Gori was humanitarian; Rice to visit Tbilisi; US and Poland agree on missile shield; ...
August 14, 2008

Jonathan Sanders: The Olympic Warlet

[One of the best things about running a blog is that friends and colleagues will often contact me to ask if I will publish an occasional guest contribution. The following comes from the respected veteran journalist, author, and academic Jonathan S...
August 14, 2008

Grigory Pasko: Watching the War from Moscow

For some – war, for some – mother is dear (Russian saying) Grigory Pasko, journalist This sure was a strange war. It was clear right from the start that nobody – besides several politicians – needed it. Several politicians – that would be Saakashv...