Month: July 2010

July 20, 2010

Will Lack of Consensus Stop START?

Following the US Senate talks today on the New START treaty, the level of inter- as well as intra-party polarization on the proposed pact becomes ever more apparent. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle argues that a failure to ratify the treaty w...
July 20, 2010

Russia’s Foreign Policy Top Ten

Writing in the Moscow Times, Fyodor Lukyanov lists the ten key events that, in his opinion, had the biggest impact on Russia’s foreign policy over the last 12 months. Interestingly, the recent regime overthrow in Kyrgyzstan and Russia’...
July 20, 2010

Crackdown on Pillow Fighting in Belarus

I’m coming to this story a bit late but can’t resist posting it here. Last week police in Minsk arrested 50 people for taking part in a public pillow fight, according to this AP report (sadly, this is not a joke): On Thursday, club-wie...
July 20, 2010

Energy Blast – July 20, 2010

TNK-BP, infamous for its often fraught shareholder dealings, has created a Council for Interaction with suppliers and contractors to regulate its activities and create forums for dialogue.  Russia’s industrial safety watchdog has drawn ...
July 20, 2010

Today in Russian Business – July 20, 2010

The Grain Union has dropped its forecast for this year’s crop even further, due to concerns about the effects of the current drought.  If it passes, a new bill to ease licensing restrictions for companies could be a boon to the economy ...
July 20, 2010

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – July 20, 2010

TODAY: City Hall’s education department could face fraud charges; Foreign Ministry defends Fedotov appointment; Medvedev on state media; Yabloko opposes Romanov memorials, Other Russia proposes new capital; heat wave causing power shortages;...
July 20, 2010

How to Spend Your Corruption Windfall

I’ve been getting a real kick out of this “Russian Untouchables” video series put out by Sergei Magnitsky’s legal team – not so much on the facts of the case, which most people around here are already familiar with, b...
July 20, 2010

US Lawyer Vows to Expose Those Behind Magnitsky Death

Here’s an excerpt from the latest press release from the Browder camp, continuing to ask inconvenient questions about the death of Sergei Magnitsky: Jamison Firestone, an American lawyer, has pledged to carry on the fight with Russian corrup...
July 19, 2010

Russians Don’t Trust Police

Some interesting statistics in the Moscow Times: 82 percent of Russians say police officers are ready to break the law, according to a state-run polling agency. And 32 percent say officers regularly commit crimes. Funnily enough, the Interior Mini...
July 19, 2010

Space Race 2.0

In his unrelenting push to shape Russia into the global superpower the Soviet Union once was, Putin plans a massive investment in the space industry. The Russian PM announced today Moscow would spend $810 million to kick off the construction of th...