Archive

August 11, 2010

A History of Success

The FT beyondbrics blog takes a shot at a new proposal put forward by Russia’s economic development ministry to rebrand the country as an “international financial centre” … with a bit of a nod to the past. According to a co...
August 11, 2010

Laws Are Not Enough

Over at the The Power Vertical blog, RFE/RL’s Robert Coalson argues that new laws alone will do little to decrease police corruption in Russia. Here’s an excerpt: There has been a lot of ink spilled in recent weeks evaluating the propo...
August 11, 2010

Once the Smoke Clears

A ClimateWire piece published in the New York Times today speculates about the impact of Russia’s current natural disaster on the country’s future climate policies. Medvedev’s statements last week that Russia’s heatwave and...
August 11, 2010

Energy Blast – Aug 11, 2010

Environmentalist suggest that the effects of Russia’s wildfires could spread across the globe thanks to the phenomenon of brown clouds, amid fears that soot from the fires ‘may stoke global warming by hastening a thaw of Arctic ice....
August 11, 2010

Today in Russian Business – Aug 11, 2010

Consumers are ‘defenseless‘ against raised prices on heat-busting commodities including cold drinks, as the price of an air conditioner quadruples, and coffins and funerals become more expensive, says RFE/RL.  Meanwhile, the regio...
August 11, 2010

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

TODAY: Medvedev and Putin approval ratings suffer, public anger reflected in Russian press, US and Sweden issue travel warnings; plaintiff in Barkov lawsuit dies; Khimki protest broken up by police; hijacking exercise with the US completed; archit...
August 10, 2010

Another Take on the Reset

Here goes a counter-argument to Brian Whitmore’s Foreign Policy piece. While Whitmore sees the Russia reset policy as benefiting Georgia and other post-Soviet states, Ariel Cohen, writing in the Wall Street Journal today, warns that the rese...
August 10, 2010

Putin in the Cockpit

It’s certainly not the first time that Putin has staged a camera-friendly stunt to bolster his man-of-action image: Earlier today Putin flew up in a fire-fighting plane and took over the controls to drop water onto a raging forest fire below...
August 10, 2010

Why are Russia’s Fires Out of Control?

As more than 500 fires continue to burn throughout Russia, with little success of bringing the catastrophe under control, people are beginning to increasingly blame the state, citing government cuts in fire-protection resources and poor forestry m...
August 10, 2010

Ruble Takes a Hit

The heat and thick smoke cloaking Moscow are starting to have an effect on Russia’s currency, as traders flee the city, Bloomberg reports today. The ruble fell by 0.5% against the dollar over the last week. The nation’s worst heat wave...