Month: November 2009

November 9, 2009

Lessons of the fall of the Berlin Wall for the modern day

“History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” – Mark Twain David Satter, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and visiting scholar at SAIS, has done an amazing thing to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin ...
November 9, 2009

Medvedev Defends Putin’s Presidency Ideas

Here’s a quick extract from President Medvedev’s interview with Der Spiegel, (the whole of which can be read here) where he discusses Putin’s eyebrow-raising comments about how power is allotted in Russia: SPIEGEL: Putin’s ...
November 9, 2009

Gorby Nostalgia

Today and indeed for the past week the press has been awash with articles reflecting on the fall of the Berlin Wall, from the issue of who got the ball rolling, how Eastern Europe and Russia have fared post-Soviet collapse, the question of nostalg...
November 9, 2009

Video: Policeman’s Appeal To Putin

Here is the Youtube post by disillusioned police officer Alexei Dymovskiy urging the Prime Minister to address the issue of endemic corruption in law enforcement.   
November 9, 2009

RusAl Hits Out At Journalists

Apparently Oleg Deripaska does not hold the belief that bad publicity is better than no publicity.  After Vedomosti published an article on October 26 claiming that the company had debts of just under $6 billion for last year, journalists at ...
November 9, 2009

Energy Blast – Nov 9, 2009

The plan drawn up by the UN to regulate Iran’s uranium development seems to be hitting obstacles: according to the Observer, a senior UN official has rejected a proposal to send uranium abroad for enrichment.  Apparently President Medve...
November 9, 2009

Today in Russian Business – Nov 9, 2009

At the G20 finance summit in St Andrews, the problem of unemployment was raised as well as ‘uneven growth’; Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has said that ‘exit strategies’ will have to be considered.  Kudrin app...
November 9, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Nov 9, 2009

TODAY: Policeman loses job after flagging up police corruption on Youtube address to Putin; Rusal harassing the press?; personal grudge alleged motive for Markelov murder; Moscow rights groups could lose premises.  Berlin wall collapse annive...
November 6, 2009

Igor Yurgens Speech : Transcript

Today, an important Russian business leader is giving a speech that we have obtained an advanced copy of and that we are happy to provide to our readers. Transcript is accessible at the following link: 2009Nov06.Igor.Yurgens.Elliott-Lecture.pdf