Month: September 2009

September 10, 2009

Obama Has His Own New and Old Europe

The New York Times is carrying a story on a new poll from Transatlantic Trends, which shows a split in support for Barack Obama between West and East Europe (some people are missing his predecessor’s more aggressive stance toward Russia). Du...
September 10, 2009

Competing Conspiracy Theories

So when Scott Anderson wrote his investigative article for GQ on the alleged government frame up and subsequent cover up of the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings, we were taken back to all the gritty details from Alexander Litvinenko’s book, Mi...
September 10, 2009

Energy Blast – September 10, 2009

RFE/RL examines the viability of Hugo Chavez’ gas OPEC idea – which, it suggests, will face obstacles in the form of pipeline infrastructure and the manifold differences between the oil and gas markets.  According to Bloomberg, th...
September 10, 2009

Today in Russian Business – September 10, 2009

Although some parties may be pleading its case, a Nomura analyst says that Russia will not need to fall back on a second ruble devaluation, Bloomberg reports.  Central Bank Chairman Sergey Ignatiev has suggested that policy makers may decreas...
September 10, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – September 10, 2009

TODAY: Chavez in town for oil and arms; transatlantic trend report reveals East/West Europe divisions on Obama policy in Russia; journalist critical of dam rescue operation beaten; Gulag Archipelago to hit reading list; Georgia says boycott Sochi ...
September 9, 2009

Rudloff the Rude Boy

Last night I read these comments made by the Western banker Hans-Jörg Rudloff, the Chairman of Barclay’s Capital and a board member of Rosneft.  Most of the day, at least when I wasn’t fixing my crashing computer, I was digging ar...
September 9, 2009

The Gulag Syllabus

Right, so here goes a weird one.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s book The Gulag Archipelago will be made required reading for school children: According to the state-run news agency RIA Novosti, the Education Ministry on Wednesday ordered tha...
September 9, 2009

Belarus Protests Arrival of Russian Troops

Very intriguing news brief from Reuters, as the cops in Minsk find themselves stamping out anti-Russia protests: Thousands of Russian soldiers have started to arrive in Belarus for joint exercises that will continue until Sept. 29. Riot police mov...
September 9, 2009

Crimes Against Reality

In Robert Amsterdam’s latest article on Huffington Post, he argues that we should stop asking for fair trials in political cases if it is clear that they are impossible in a given country. So it is against this backdrop that we are expecting...
September 9, 2009

Energy Blast – September 9, 2009

Russia’s refusal to upgrade gas contracts with Ukraine jeopardizes gas transit to Europe, says Bogdan Sokolovsky, the representative of the Ukrainian president on international aspects of energy security.  The Ukrainian economics minist...