Month: December 2009

December 14, 2009

Putin’s Russia Worse than Soviet Union for Dissidents

Bloomberg has some interesting quotes from Oleg Orlov, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, and Sergei Kovalyov on the sidelines of a conference commemorating the 20th anniversary of Andrei Sakharov’s death.  Some of today’s human rights activists...
December 14, 2009

Energy Blast – Dec 14, 2009

‘Mounting skepticism and deadlocked negotiations have culminated in an announcement that the Copenhagen Climate Conference will not result in a comprehensive global climate deal,’ Mikhail Gorbachev writes in the Moscow Times. &nbs...
December 14, 2009

Today in Russian Business – Dec 14, 2009

Investors are demanding higher premiums for state-run company debt such as those of Russia’s Gazprom, over fears that yield spreads could widen further as a result of deteriorating public finances.  The FT writes on the monogorod –...
December 14, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Dec 14, 2009

TODAY: Medvedev fires prison officials connected with Sergei Magnitsky’s death; imposters cash in on Perm investigations; Medvedev’s European-Atlantic security body, NATO, what does failed missile test say about Russia’s defense ...
December 12, 2009

Chávez Holds a Hostage following Cedeño Release

As we published in our posting yesterday, there have been several arbitrary, senseless arrests in Venezuela following the judicial order which released Eligio Cedeño on his own recognizance. Most of the press has focused on the detention of Judge ...
December 11, 2009

In the Cedeño Case, Justice is a Crime

Yesterday around noon, when we heard reports that the political prisoner Eligio Cedeño, a client whom I represent, had finally been released on parole from his unlawful detention after almost three full years of imprisonment without conviction of ...
December 11, 2009

The Magnitsky Cover Up

Here goes a comment reported in the Wall Street Journal on the firing of 20 top prison officials: The sackings fall short, however, of the broader inquiry into alleged police and judicial corruption that Mr. Magnitsky’s former colleagues hav...
December 11, 2009

Video: Russia Gives Norway a Free Fireworks Show

Did I find this wonderful quote myself?  No way!  From The Atlantic via The Weekly Standard via the Associated Press.  I’m full of link love today. Photographs and amateur video footage of the bluish-white in the Norwegian ski...
December 11, 2009

Medvedev Sacks 20 Prison Officials after Magnitsky Death

Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer for Hermitage Capital Management who was tortured and murdered through medical blackmail while held in prison, never convicted of a crime.  He was not given the medicines and treatment he needed to live b...