Video: The Mending of Ties
Here you can watch Barack talk Russia – courtesy of the BBC.
Russia
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...
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 ...
Dmitry Muratov Visits the Khodorkovsky Trial
Below is a translation from khodorkovsky.ru of the highly regarded journalist Dmitry Muratov’s experience visiting the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Earlier this year President Dmitry Medvedev granted an interview to Muratov and Novay...
Medvedev Speaks Honestly on Corruption
It would be hard for anyone to disagree with what the Russian president said today: “As regards the fight against corruption, it is clear that we are at the very start of this path. Nobody is feeling dizzy with success. There is actually no ...
The Dream of No Nukes
Amitai Etzioni of George Washington University has a post on TPM criticizing President Barack Obama’s “zero” nuclear weapons ambitions, pointing out the false assumption that whatever arrangement the U.S. and Russia work out, tha...
Eni’s Dispute with Gazprom over South Stream
Interesting that Berlusconi and Putin are signing the South Stream deal in Crimea – perhaps a little reminder of who’s boss. Eni, however, is a little surprised that after all they’ve done for Russia (including selling back...
An Elephant under the Doily
Writing at the New American, William F. Jasper is frustrated by everyone overlooking the fact that Russia and China have taken certain actions which actually exacerbated the nuclear proliferation problem. Yes, Iran and North Korea do pose some tho...
European Energy Policy Adrift
Ariel Cohen has a piece on Eurasian pipelines in today’s New York Times: Despite the recession, Russia is moving with the Blue Stream and South Stream projects across the Black Sea to Turkey and Bulgaria in order to keep market share. Gazpro...
Q&A on Russia and Iran in Venezuela
Had everything gone according to plan, the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would have spent the weekend visiting Brazil, Ecuador, and his close friends in Venezuela. However following a carefully worded warnin...
