Russia

January 22, 2010

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Jan 22, 2010

TODAY: Hammarberg counsels Medvedev on human rights; presidential forecast for 2012; Kremlin ‘undaunted’ by Polish missiles; Dejevsky on Politkovskaya; diplomatic row with Kiev; riot police and bulldozers evict mansion owners; figure s...
January 21, 2010

FSB Restricts Travel Rights of Prominent Russian Activist

We just received an email notice with a link over to the blog of Oleg Kozlovsky, a prominent and impressive youth leader in the opposition, who has announced that the FSB has refused to renew his passport.  The authorities have invented a tra...
January 21, 2010

Why Russia’s Ultra-Nationalists Are Against the Kremlin

You would think that if you were a white supremacist, neo-nazi, or another brand of ultra-nationalist, that Russia would be an exceptionally welcoming place to live.  The government regularly breaks up and arrests those who protest against yo...
January 21, 2010

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Jan 21, 2010

TODAY: Human Rights Watch annual report findings; Medvedev to meet with Council of Europe commissioner; helicopter poacher sworn in for second term; contradictory reports over whether Russia to boost its Baltic Fleet in response to US deployment o...
January 20, 2010

Grigory Pasko: How Rape Cases Are Investigated in Russia

At the end of last year, the leadership of Russia’s penitentiary system announced its intention to reform itself by the year 2020. Earlier the leadership of the MVD had also indicated that they were planning to implement reforms to their ope...
January 20, 2010

Death of an Unknown Journalist

Megan Stack at the Los Angeles Times has a good article today on the murder by police brutality of the journalist Konstantin Popov, whose death has revealed the tragic face of routine violence and impunity by members of the policy force.  Pop...
January 20, 2010

Coming Soon: Ski Chechnya!!!

Perhaps Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechnya feels bad about some recent misunderstandings, and wants to give something back to the Russian people.  Maybe he’s hoping that Medvedev and Putin come to visit him, instead of Sochi, to play their rein...
January 20, 2010

Our Man in Dagestan

So what is the worst job in the world right now?  Chinese judge?  Investor in Venezuela?  Coach of the Oakland Raiders? Those are all pretty bad gigs, but Dmitry Medvedev has just created something even worse:  a Kremlin envoy ...
January 20, 2010

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Jan 20, 2010

TODAY: Medvedev groups volatile regions into new district, appoints business-savvy head; announces demographic-boosting plans and sends new ambassador to Ukraine. Patriarch Kirill and Yulia Latynina weigh in on Haiti; police detain protesters marc...
January 19, 2010

The Language of Human Rights

Below is an excerpt from my latest article published in the Wall Street Journal.  I do not intend to draw comparisons between the vastly different international cases mentioned in the article, but rather compare the careful use of language by...