Archive

June 26, 2008

McCain’s League of Democracies

I think Sen. John McCain’s (or perhaps more accurately, resurgent neocon Robert Kagan’s) proposal for a “league of democracies” is both unrealistic and very interesting. It’s unrealistic in that I don’t really b...
June 26, 2008

Russia’s Last Victory Hurrah . . .

…at least for a while. As I am posting this video, the final minutes are ticking away in the Euro 2008 semi-final match between Russia and Spain, which looked much more like a replay of the stinging defeat suffered by Guus Hiddink’s sq...
June 26, 2008

Medvedev as the Second Coming of Gorbachev

Back in May Andreas Umland published an article entitled “Gorbachev Number Two: Dmitry Medvedev,” which put forward a rare argument for the potential future of Russia’s new president playing a Gorbachev-like role as a reformer. H...
June 26, 2008

Birthday Wishes

The following is a translation from Russian of an Interfax article about Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s 45th birthday today. Chitan supporters of Khodorkovsky prepare to congratulate him with 45 years Chita. 25 June. INTERFAX-SIBIERA Supporters of e...
June 26, 2008

Khodorkovsky May Appeal for Parole

This one comes from the Associated Press – more info available at the mbktrial.com website. Lawyer says Khodorkovsky may appeal for early release after presidential change in Russia The Associated Press MOSCOW: A lawyer for the jailed founde...
June 26, 2008

Russia’s Sports Nationalism in the EURO 2008

It’s an exciting day for Russian sports fans as the national selection takes on Spain for the semi-final of the Euro Cup. The historic achievements of the squad, led by famous Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, have riveted the public, and certainly ...
June 26, 2008

Energy Blast – June 26, 2008

One Russian report says Russian shareholders will attend an annual general meeting of TNK-BP today, despite speculation that they could boycott the meeting, or that the venture’s Russian directors would be pulled. Viktor Vekselberg says the ventur...
June 26, 2008

Today in Russian Business – June 26, 2008

Severstal entered a merger agreement with US producer Esmark after boosting its takeover offer by 13% to $775 million. Russia’s iron reserves, the largest in Europe, promise “a long future for iron mining”. Rosoboronexport’s military-technic...
June 26, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – June 26, 2008

TODAY: Merkel says Germany is concerned over Abkhazia; Kremlin won’t budge on frozen conflicts; EU-Russia summit begins today; Khodorkovsky’s birthday to be marked by protests; anti-corruption plans submitted to Medvedev; Human Rights Watch focus ...