Archive

September 13, 2010

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – September 13, 2010

TODAY: Microsoft allegedly colludes in police raids on human rights groups, says New York Times; pressure mounting on Luzhkov as TV campaign points to corruption and negligence; protesters detained at City Hall demonstration. Medvedev defends Russ...
September 12, 2010

Grigory Pasko: Blood and Oil

Half an hour before the start of the latest court day in the Khamovnichesky Court the public was discussing Putin’s words about Khodorkovsky, attributed to him by the Polish journalist Adam Michnik. I shall remind readers that, in the words ...
September 12, 2010

Medvedev’s Five Shades of Ambiguity

As promised, here’s more from the recent Yaroslavl Forum. On Friday, Russia’s titular head of state revealed his definition of “democracy” to the assembled political scientists. Even after carefully reading our exclusive tr...
September 10, 2010

Who Me, Democrat?

This Yaroslavl Forum thing is really turning into a clown conference, with comments like this: “I categorically do not agree with those who claim that there is no democracy in Russia, that it is ruled by authoritarian tradition,” Medve...
September 10, 2010

Put Some Pressure on Thailand

From my latest on Huffington Post: It has been particularly heartening to see Germany’s decision to halt the sale of of military equipment – in the specific instance, engines that power Ukrainian-made armored personnel carriers –...
September 10, 2010

Get Your Own Fire Bucket

Just a bit of reasonable stridency from the Guardian’s editorial page: In an off-the-record briefing to a visiting group of foreign academics and journalists this week, a senior official of the Russian government spoke in tones verging on co...
September 10, 2010

Energy Blast – Sept 10, 2010

An article in the Kyiv Post criticizes the news that Russian-state-owned TVEL (an arm of Rosatom) has won a ‘competitive evaluation‘ against Westinghouse to build Ukraine’s first nuclear fuel source, suggesting that the move will...
September 10, 2010

Today in Russian Business – Sept 10, 2010

Attendees are applauding the openness of Yaroslavl’s two-day forum on ‘The Modern State‘, which has already heard outspoken criticisms from opposition leaders, including a call from Yabloko for Dmitry Medvedev to fight the rule o...
September 10, 2010

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Sept 10, 2010

TODAY: Vladikavkaz death toll reaches 17, three suspects arrested; wildfires continue to spread in Altai and Novosibirsk, latter region gets new leader; alternative Khimki route ‘too expensive’; smoking and AIDS; modernization is about...
September 9, 2010

Video: Terror Strikes Vladikavkaz

France24 speaks with journalist Andrew Osborn on the latest terror bombing in North Ossetia which claimed the lives of 15 Russian civilians, coming on the same day as the important Muslim holiday of Eid, concluding Ramadan.