Archive

May 14, 2009

EU Struggles for Coherence in the East

Stewart Fleming has an insightful piece on the EU’s attempts to embrace the east published in European Voice: Some years ago in Kiev, a Swedish diplomat remarked privately that the EU had been lucky when it embarked on its eastern enlargemen...
May 14, 2009

In Guatemala, Chronicle of a Murder Foretold

I was quite alarmed this past weekend to read about the murder of the Guatemalan lawyer Roberto Rosenberg, which to me recalled the brutal, mafia-like slaying of Russian lawyer Stanislav Markelov.  As someone who has worked on a politically v...
May 14, 2009

Energy Blast – May 14, 2009

‘Everything is murky in this part of Europe where Russia continues to expand its grip over the energy sector’: the New York Times looks at the shady dealings surrounding Emfesz.  After refusing to sign the EU-led Nabucco deal, the...
May 14, 2009

Today in Russian Business – May 14, 2009

The ruble has soared to a four-month high as oil reaches near $60 a barrel.  Is the rally of the Russian stock market on course for a correction?  Russia’s central bank has slashed its main interest rates for the second time in les...
May 14, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – May 14, 2009

TODAY: Energy war a real risk says Kremlin security report; Gorbachev complains Russia misunderstood on international scene; more talk of Putin comeback; Russia vetoes OSCE mission in Georgia; gay demonstrators risk violence at Saturday march A ne...
May 13, 2009

War, What is it Good For?

In what may be the understatement of the year, Mikhail Gorbachev complains that Europe misunderstands Russia: Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says Western portrayals of Russia as an aggressive, imperialist nation are “nonsense.”...
May 13, 2009

Emfesz and Europe’s Energy Security

The quote below from Judy Dempsey’s New York Times piece puts it rather lightly: “If the E.U. wants energy security then it should examine how trading companies supply gas to the member states,” said Tom Mayne, energy expert at G...
May 13, 2009

Russian Pessimism

Pessimism, it seems, is blind to partisan differences in Russia.  This is from an interesting column by Andrei Kortunov in the Moscow Times. It is interesting that Russia’s conservative “patriots” and the diametrically oppos...
May 13, 2009

Putin Approaches a Decade in Power

His contemporary Hugo Chavez in Venezuela has been doing the authoritarian-political prisoner thing for more than a decade, but Vladimir Putin is not too far behind.  With any luck, these fellows could emulate the successful grip on power of ...