Month: June 2009

June 17, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – June 17, 2009

TODAY: SCO wraps up in blaze of activity; Medvedev calls BRIC ‘historic event’; no decision from US on defense system; German MPs agree Khodorkovsky trial is trial for Russian justice; Vaclev Havel speaks out against Russia For detaile...
June 17, 2009

Wood for Welfare

With joblessness at a nine-year high and unemployment benefits capped at less than 5,000 rubles, the Kremlin are searching for cashless ways of curbing potential social unrest stemming from the continuing fallout from the financial crisis.  T...
June 16, 2009

German MPs See Russian Justice on Trial in Khodorkovsky Case

Reuters is reporting on the passage of a parliamentary motion from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party (the CDU), as well as coalition partners in the SPD, which states that the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky will be observed from Berlin as a cr...
June 16, 2009

BRIC to become BIC?

This week Russia is hosting the first summit of BRIC nations in Yekaterinburg, which is the third summit in a row in under a week – all of which do not include any participation of North American or Western European countries.  It appea...
June 16, 2009

Undermining Liberalism

Some more shots are exchanged over the realism vs. liberalism issue.  From Paul Goble’s Window on Eurasia: In an essay posted on Grani.ru today, Irina Pavlova points out that “the post-Soviet powers that be have done everything to...
June 16, 2009

Extreme Convenience at Yamal

Some comments on Gazprom’s announcements of spending cuts and delays in developing the Yamal field from the Wall Street Journal: “A year-and-a-half ago we were worrying about whether Gazprom would get Bovanenkovo done in time” to...
June 16, 2009

Putin and Medvedev Clash over Expropriations

From Ariel Cohen’s contribution to the New York Times: Furthermore, Medvedev and Kudrin would like to see Russia join the O.E.C.D. Herein lies the rub: Russia today doesn’t fit the organization’s criteria for property rights, tra...
June 16, 2009

Building Bricks

Russia is busy hosting this week: the city of Yekaterinburg will be both the first destination for newly re-elected Iranian President Ahmadinejad, and the site of the first meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Preside...