Year: 2008

August 12, 2008

Biden on Georgia

From the Financial Times: Russia must stand down By Joseph Biden Despite Russia’s overwhelming advantage in size and firepower in its conflict with Georgia, the Kremlin may have the most to lose if the fighting there continues. It is too soon to k...
August 12, 2008

Russian Media Jingoism

Our favorite pro-government news outlet RBK Daily strikes again. Well known for their enthusiastic, yet often clumsy, support of the government propaganda line, this latest piece of jingoistic saber-rattling is reminiscent of the sort of stuff tha...
August 12, 2008

The Pipeline War

Is it about separatism? Protecting Russian passport holders? A brute expression of power? No, Russia’s invasion of Georgia is mostly about seizing control of the only energy conduit threatening their monopoly of supply from Central Asia to E...
August 12, 2008

Energy Blast – Aug 12, 2008

Oil prices have continued to fall as investor fears about economic damage resulting from the conflict in Georgia subside. Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia has given Russia “a perfect excuse to roll back US control of Azerbaijan’s oil ...
August 12, 2008

Today in Russian Business – Aug 12, 2008

Russian markets supposedly saw a small boost after President Dmitry Medvedev said that most of the fighting was over in South Ossetia. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin insists that events in South Ossetia will not influence Russia’s fiscal pos...
August 12, 2008

Washington Peruses a Menu of Reprisals Against Russia

The State Department must be feeling the onerous indecision of a diner at a vastly complicated sushi restaurant in considering its response to the war in Georgia – some options good, others terrible, and that one special item that could pois...
August 12, 2008

“Georgia is the Finland of Our Day”

This dates back to Sunday, but Zbigniew Brzezinski comments on the war here: Fundamentally at stake is what kind of role Russia will play in the new international system. Unfortunately, Putin is putting Russia on a course that is ominously similar...
August 12, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Aug 12, 2008

TODAY: Georgian troops leave Gori; Russian troops move deeper into Georgia; Saakashvili caught in air raid; both sides accuse each other of cyberwarfare. Bush says Moscow wants to overthrow Georgian government; Putin criticizes US interference; Eu...
August 12, 2008

Georgia as a Measurement of Power Lost

The weak American response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia has not been lost on anyone, and one article even quoted a refugee fleeing the conflict zone toward safety as commenting “If Bush had said something stronger, the Russians woul...
August 11, 2008

Russia’s War on Democracy

Instead of spending the weekend watching the Olympics and enjoying some summer downtime with my family (like I assume many of this blog’s readers were planning on doing), I found myself up to my neck in newspapers, on the phone, and glued to...