Russia

June 30, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – June 30, 2009

TODAY: Georgia fuming about war games; US-Russia officials meet in advance of Obama trip; more US cargo to go throgh Russia to Afghanistan?; journalist dies of injuries sustained in an assault two months ago; casino closure imminent The military e...
June 29, 2009

More than just Khodorkovsky in prison

Today La Russophobe published an editorial about the legal plight of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, pointing out “It is not Mikhail Khdorokovsky who is in prison, but the Russian people themselves — and they are their own jailer.“ During ...
June 29, 2009

Germany’s Second Thoughts on Opel Sale to Magna

It was clear to many observers that the Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna was acting partly as a front company Trojan horse to help get Russian state interests deep into Germany’s industrial sector with the purchase of a majority stake ...
June 29, 2009

Putin Looks After Pork, Not Pipelines

Pavel K. Baev has a good article up about Vladimir Putin’s conspicuous absence from the Gazprom annual meeting earlier this month, when Alexei Miller had to give a long list of bad news, including an 85% dividend cut, a 35% cut in investment...
June 29, 2009

Thales Partners with Russia on Weapons

There’s an interesting post over at RCW’s Compass blog on the new memorandum of understanding signed between the French defense giant Thales and the Russian state arms exporter Rosonboronexport to jointly manufacture and sell arms to t...
June 29, 2009

A Question of Vocabulary

With President Obama visiting Russia very soon, the opposition is worried that pragmatism will be the focus, leaving the issues of rights and rule of law aside.  Some warn that U.S. officials shouldn’t fall into the trap of using the sa...
June 29, 2009

Constructive Amnesia

With all of Silvio Berlusconi’s torrid scandals in recent weeks, one may expect the colorful prime minister to hold some regrets and seek national reconciliation, while asking the country to put the past behind them.  Here’s a quo...
June 29, 2009

Making Georgian Porridge

The speculation that Russia could bomb Georgia shortly after the visit of Barack Obama seems to suggest a whole new definition of what it means to hit the “reset button.”  I don’t think it will happen.  From Associated ...
June 29, 2009

Video: Preparing for the U.S.-Russia Summit

I think we can safely assume that the media will be doing everything possible to weave a narrative of the “Obama-Medvedev” personal dynamic despite its lack of evidence during the upcoming summit next week.