Year: 2008

September 25, 2008

Energy Blast – Sept 25, 2008

Azerbaijan is sticking to plans to reduce oil exports to the EU and increase shipments to Russia and Iran, as the South Caucasus country – home to another Russia-influenced frozen conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh – seeks to spread risk; Th...
September 25, 2008

Today in Russian Business – Sept 25, 2008

Russia’s ally Kazakhstan has pulled out of business deals worth billions of dollars in Georgia, a state official said today; Aerospace and transport technology firm Bombardier has stalled talks to acquire a stake in Russian railway engineeri...
September 25, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Sept 25, 2008

TODAY – Russia’s foreign minister says the country has not become isolated since its war with Georgia; Medvedev to modernise its armed forces, says Russia not be affected by the financial crisis; OPEC head Chakib Kheli says Russia is w...
September 24, 2008

McCain’s Top Russia Adviser Says Palin Will Just Listen

Sen. John McCain’s nominee for Vice President Sarah Palin has really turned the Russia foreign policy thing into a meaty issue with claims of expertise given her governorship of Alaska – though probably not in the way that will foster ...
September 24, 2008

The War on Georgian Nationalism

The Wall Street Journal has a report today about how the Russian military incursion into Georgia in August set out to do more than just annex territories, but also damage the Georgian sense of national identity and pride. For a country which seems...
September 24, 2008

Energy Blast – Sept 24, 2008

The Kommersant has featured an interview with former director of the International Energy Agency Claude Mandil, who believes Nabucco can only be implemented with Russia, and not against it, but that the war in Georgia has “somewhat clouded r...
September 24, 2008

Today in Russian Business – Sept 24, 2008

OAO Gazprom climbed in Moscow trading after a newspaper said the state-run company has implemented plans to pay back 230 billion rubles ($9.2 billion) of debt by the end of the year. Gazprom, whose debt bill exceeds $50 billion, “has not suf...
September 24, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Sept 24, 2008

TODAY: Russia’s permanent mission at NATO headquarters today stressed to cease slowing the work of the Russia-NATO council; Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will sign an array of political and financial agreements and discuss the possibility...
September 24, 2008

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Medvedev is against conflict with West

Moscow is abuzz over a very interesting piece that appeared on Friday in Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The paper reported that the Kremlin does not intend to escalate the current state of confrontation with the West in general and the United States in part...
September 23, 2008

Chavez: The Chinese Are “Soldiers of Peace”

Holy cow – you’ve got imagine that any government who lands a deal with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has got to cringe a little bit with the hyperbolic statements he tends to make afterward. This one comes from the Wall Street Jour...