Month: November 2009

November 10, 2009

Russian inroads to Latin America continue…

The Spanish newswire EFE is carrying a small story about how Russia has become the second-largest destination for exports from Uruguay after Brazil. From the Russia side of things, this will likely remain below the radar, but it is worth noting fr...
November 10, 2009

Pasko: Dvorishchi ain’t no Cape Town

The last week of October was a tense time for the bureaucrats at Minprirody, Russia’s Ministry for the Protection of the Environment and Natural Resources, and naturally for Minister Yuri Petrovich Trutnev. He went all the way to Cape Town, ...
November 10, 2009

Pipeline Pact

This in from the Wall Street Journal on the somewhat disturbing, political dimensions of Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline.  Approved just last week by Finland and Sweden after ecological concerns were overcome, the project is now ready to ...
November 10, 2009

Heavy-Duty Recycling

War as a means of securing energy resources is a familiar narrative.  Peace as a means of securing energy resources is rather less typical . . . The New York Times today has a wonderfully ironic story on how decommissioned Soviet weapons are ...
November 10, 2009

Time To Stop Making Excuses

President Medvedev proclaimed in his recent Der Spiegel interview that there is little difference between the rights record of Russia and that of its European counterparts: ‘Our values are the same as yours. I don’t see any major diffe...
November 10, 2009

Energy Blast – Nov 10, 2009

The US is apparently willing to give Iran more time to decide whether it will accept the UN’s recent proposal on uranium enrichment abroad.  Bad news for Gazprom – the company’s profits fell by 48% in the first six months of...
November 10, 2009

Today in Russian Business – Nov 10, 2009

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has pledged not to fire workers from near-insolvent Avtovaz, but to create new subsidiaries employing up to 15,000 people.  Auto sales declined by 51% in the first 10 months of 2009, compared with the...
November 10, 2009

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

TODAY: Youtube policeman faces slander investigation; Omsk students threatened with expulsion; Committee to Protect Journalists urge global attention to threats against media in Russia. Merkel thanks Gorbachev; Medvedev approves new military bill;...