Archive

August 10, 2010

Energy Blast – Aug 10, 2010

Fires threatening the Snezhinsk nuclear research center, which started last Friday, have been extinguished, as new fears arise over the Mayak nuclear-waste plant in Ozersk.  Rosneft has paid Yukos Capital $400 million in overdue debt, after t...
August 10, 2010

Today in Russian Business – Aug 10, 2010

RIA Novosti reports that short-term losses due to wildfires could be as much as $15 billion (or 1% of this year’s GDP), and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin estimates that Russia’s grain harvest this year could be as much as 38% smaller t...
August 10, 2010

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

TODAY: Moscow mortality rates double; Kremlin pledges funds for Emergency Situations Ministry; heatwave in line with climate change expectations, says UN; Khimki forest case used by police to pressure journalists; Georgia makes official complaint ...
August 10, 2010

Officials: Reset Good for Georgia

In a commentary published on Foreign Policy Monday, Brian Whitmore argues that Georgia has benefited from Obama’s reset with Russia and is relatively safe now from the threat of another invasion. This is interesting in light of how Medvedev ...
August 9, 2010

Heat Wave Conspiracy Theories

The insufferably high temperatures affecting Moscow over the past number of weeks seem to defy explanation.  According to reports, the Russian capital has now gone through at least 26 days in a row of temperatures exceeding 86 degrees Fahrenh...
August 9, 2010

START Incites Accusations

Another possible hurdle for the New START treaty: The Russian Foreign Ministry is accusing the US of breaching weapons treaties over the last ten years in a report publicised on Saturday. The US rejects the claims. Apparently, the report is a reac...
August 9, 2010

Iran Sanctions Create Opportunities for Russia and China

This insightful piece published on Bloomberg today takes a look at the unintentional (but surely somewhat predictable) effect of the sanctions recently imposed on Iran: new business opportunities for Russia and China. Experts quoted in the article...
August 9, 2010

Audio: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Moscow

Julia Ioffe speaks with National Public Radio on the problematic smog and air pollution circumstances which have hit Moscow as a result of nearby peat bog fires and a record breaking heat wave.
August 9, 2010

Video: Ten Years after the Kursk

Below are some interesting clips and archival footage from the latest documentary by Journeyman Pictures about the sinking of the Kursk submarine.  The tenth anniversary of this tragedy is on Thursday.
August 9, 2010

Energy Blast – Aug 9, 2010

The Guardian is running a piece on the environmental hazards caused by burning peat, whether unintentionally or for agricultural clearing: ‘burning a ton of peat releases more CO2 into the atmosphere than a ton of coal‘.  The Hous...