Archive

February 27, 2008

Nothing Left to Say about Russia’s Dictatorship

Today the New York Times is running a rather unremarkable editorial on Russia, which seems to suggest that the newspaper has nothing left to say about this new authoritarian state. President Bush, and soon his successor, will have to come to terms...
February 27, 2008

Springtime for Putin on Russia Today

In Russia, all the world is green – at least that’s the impression you’re left with from watching the Kremlin mouthpiece news channel Russia Today. Founded in 2005 by state news agency RIA Novosti, the government funded 24-hour c...
February 27, 2008

Video: Clinton Struggles to Name Medvedev

A news report from Russia Today focuses on a debate last night between US Democratic Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, which strayed into the territory of the upcoming Russian presidential elections. The Russia Today report...
February 27, 2008

Russia Quietly Starts to Shift Its Oil Trade Into Rubles

The New York Times is reporting today on a curious development in Russian energy trading. The news is that Russia has been “quietly preparing” to switch its trading in Russian Ural Blend oil, its primary export, from the dollar to the ruble. Oil t...
February 27, 2008

Energy Blast, Feb. 27, 2008

Another gas row. Gazprom has, for the second time, threatened to cut fuel supplies to Ukraine, with a deadline of March 3, if an accord on the repayment of debt isn’t signed. The new conflict is reportedly due to delays with the original deb...
February 27, 2008

Today in Russian Business

Power to allow foreign investors to buy Russian companies will no longer belong to the Federal Security Service, but will be transferred to the prime minister, with the amendment to be approved by President Vladimir Putin – the next prime mi...
February 27, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Feb. 27, 2008

TODAY: Election run-up sparks various media debates on Dmitry Medvedev’s future and the legacy of Vladimir Putin. Russian authorities make special efforts to ensure strong voter turnout. Czech prime minister supports US missile defense radar. Hill...
February 26, 2008

What We Can Learn from the Kremlin’s Prisoners

Below is our exclusive translation of an important opinion article by Sonja Margolina published in the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. The original article can be found here and on our German blog. What We Can Learn from the Kremlin’s Prisoners ...
February 26, 2008

Goulash State Corporatism Revisited

Once again Hungary sides with Russia to the detriment of European energy security by backing a politically divisive pipeline. I wouldn’t be so sure that Gazprom doesn’t have some deals brewing with Austria to keep this positive tension...
February 26, 2008

The Economics of Assassination

An interesting article about the intrepid economist Ben Olken brings to mind many questions about how the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya fails or succeeds in changing Russia: Olken wonders whether economic devel­opment and the path to democra...