Year: 2008

October 17, 2008

Deripaska’s Mediterranean Foothold

The FT is running a report about Oleg Deripaska’s €48.5m investment in an aluminum smelting plant in Montenegro. Things are going so well over, and apparently the group is applying all the political pressure it can muster in order to secure ...
October 17, 2008

Putin’s Puppy Dog 2.0

From Reuters: Putin interrupted a meeting of officials who were discussing the virtues of the Russia’s new satellite global positioning system GLONASS to monitor cattle and wild animals. “Can I use it for my dog?,” he asked, acco...
October 17, 2008

Recognizing Russia’s Traditional Sensitivity

From an editorial on the breakdown of peace talks between Georgia and Russia in Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. The fact that Georgia triggered the military clash by sending troops to retake South Ossetia doesn’t justify Russia’s decision...
October 17, 2008

Energy Blast – Oct. 17, 2008

Rosneft, LUKoil, TNK-BP, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz are all under pressure from the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service to reduce domestic prices. TNK-BP is being hung out to dry by Gazprom, which has reneged on its agreement to buy 63% of the Kovy...
October 17, 2008

Today in Russian Business – Oct. 17, 2008

First, Russia’s energy companies successfully lobbied for a bailout, now it is the airline industry. Amid economic woes, Sibir Energy announced it was moving beyond oil into real estate and leisure. Dmitry Medvedev has told his cabinet that ...
October 16, 2008

In Singapore, an Uphill Battle for Justice and Basic Rights

Many readers of this blog are already familiar with the Singaporean pro-democracy activist and opposition politician Dr. Chee Soon Juan, who has published a number of essays on this blog. His organization’s tireless struggle to assert basic ...
October 16, 2008

Grigory Pasko: Rascism in Russia

About the national pride of the Great Russians… Grigory Pasko, journalist Если Вы хотите прочитать оригинал данной статьи на русском языке, нажмите сюда. I have already written an article with such a name in our blog. The previous time I was talki...
October 16, 2008

Andrey Novikov: “Who is this Anna Politkovskaya?”

[Editor’s note: Andrei Novikov is a Russian journalist, who at one point was subjected to involuntary psychiatric confinement after publishing articles critical of local government. His case first rose to international attention on this blog...
October 16, 2008

The Moskalenko Poisoning

Today the newspapers are filled with stories about the mercury poisoning of Karinna Moskalenko. This one from Tony Halpin at the Times of London has some good information: “The machinery of the state is probably now so angry with my activities, bu...