Month: May 2010

May 26, 2010

Today in Russian Business – May 26, 2010

Russian stocks have taken their biggest beating since October as the euro zone crisis spreads.  President Medvedev is hard selling his idea for a Russian equivalent of Silicon Valley, wooing US venture funds with the idea that they would face...
May 26, 2010

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – May 26, 2010

TODAY: Opposition leaders petition the President; journalists fear for freedom of press; Lake Baikal paper mill angers locals; monument to Sakharov; Khodorkovsky on corruption.  Russia concerned about US Patriot deployment; Ukraine changes na...
May 25, 2010

Thailand and the Criminalization of Dissent

Over the past two months, Thailand’s Abhisit regime has opened fire with live ammunition on the Red Shirt pro-democracy demonstration in Bangkok, killing at least 88 of its own citizens and injuring more than 1,800, including foreign journal...
May 25, 2010

Statement from Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra

STATEMENT FROM DR THAKSIN SHINAWATRA “In 1976, university students held a pro-democracy demonstration in Bangkok. The junta in Thailand silenced them in a brutal crackdown. Dozens of university students were killed, hundreds were injured and...
May 25, 2010

Statement: The Mask Comes Off the Thai Junta

Below is my statement circulated to media in response to the announcement that the government of Thailand had issued a warrant for the former Prime Minister. LONDON, May 25, 8.00 AM (BST): Thailand’s Criminal Court a short time ago issued a ...
May 25, 2010

Energy Blast – May 25, 2010

Oil prices have fallen to below $70 a barrel, with markets spooked by the swelling debt crisis in Europe.  Iran is, according to the New York Times, clinging to the Turkey-Brazil fuel swap plan. Turkmenistan will reportedly commence building ...
May 25, 2010

Today in Russian Business – May 25, 2010

A government forecast suggests that Russia’s GDP is expected to grow 3-6% annually from 2011.  Vladimir Putin apparently believes that Russia’s economic decline will be overcome within the next three years.  The Federal Antim...
May 25, 2010

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – May 25, 2010

TODAY: Russia expected to bristle as Poland receives US battery, no reaction so far; EU to reassure Eastern partners; Georgia-Russia flights resume; US-Russia basketball rapprochement. Medvedev orders army modernization; Russia mulling over naval ...
May 24, 2010

Is Afghanistan Becoming Russia’s Mexico?

It is an imperfect analogy in many respects, such as population, immigration, development, and Islamic extremism just to name a few, but the growing problem the Russian Federation is facing from the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the massive growt...
May 24, 2010

Missiles and Loopholes

For the past couple of days, the conservative media has really sinking its teeth into the latest draft U.N. resolution on Iran sanctions, which apparently contains a loophole allowing for the sale of S-300 missiles by Moscow to Tehran.  The W...