Archive

October 11, 2010

Moscow Recalculates Relations with Beijing

MK Bhadrakumar has a good commentary published in The Hindu on the rapidly changing relationship between Russia and China: An influential Moscow commentator wrote: “For America, China is an obvious strategic rival … But growing economi...
October 11, 2010

Prokhorov Becomes Russia’s Sports Ambassador

Forget about the “trust building” of the U.S.-Russia reset.  Forget about Gov. Schwarzenegger’s investment roadshow, or other attempts to kick start a lovefest between the two countries.  Just go straight back to sports...
October 11, 2010

Energy Blast – Oct 11, 2010

The European Commission is trying to prevent Gazprom from signing a long-term natural gas accord with Poland due to fears over the limited possibilities for diversification in Europe if such a deal goes ahead. ‘Russia is using Pola...
October 11, 2010

Today in Russian Business – Oct 11, 2010

‘All key decisions‘ relating to the Russian economy are taken ‘personally‘ by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, says Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin in an interview with Euromoney.  Perhaps the magazine awarded its ‘...
October 11, 2010

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Oct 11, 2010

TODAY: United Russia wins regional elections; new Moscow mayoral candidates announced; sanctioned Moscow rally in support of anti-Kremlin coalition proceeds without arrests; Luzhkov to form opposition movement? Forest fire death statistics, hacker...
October 10, 2010

Bemused and Confused by the Reset

As a lawyer presently engaged on cases in Russia, the CIS, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere, I cannot understate the dramatic changes which we have seen occurring in many of these countries in terms of their foreign relations. Partiall...
October 8, 2010

How Russia Spurned its Biggest Foreign Direct Investor

The Russia Monitor has published an excellent, must read case study on the Ikea experience in Russia, revealing – pardon my ignorance – that the Swedish furniture retailer is the largest foreign direct investor in the whole country, sp...
October 8, 2010

Mr. Putin’s Neighborhood

Dr. Stefan Meister of DGAP has published a new three-page briefing memo analyzing the recent political disputes between Russia and Belarus, finding evidence for a shift in Moscow’s “alliance policy” through the use of economic le...
October 8, 2010

The Role of Corruption in the Power Vertical

Although Michael Bohm’s latest article in the Moscow Times is more about the missed opportunity during the firing of Yuri Luzhkov, he makes a very lucid point here about the role that corruption plays in the current power structure, and why ...
October 8, 2010

Energy Blast – Oct 8, 2010

Following complaints from the WWF that it could be negatively affecting grey whales in the Okhotsk Sea, environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor says that Rosneft’s Sakhalin project is not in violation of any environmental legislation.  D...