Monthly Archives: June 2006

The deputy head of Putin’s administration, Vladislav Surkov gave a rare press conference this week. His comments touched on energy geopolitics and Russian democracy. The latter topic has generated the most press as critics have tried to ascertain the meaning of Surkov’s use of “sovereign democracy” versus “managed democracy”. For the latter he gave this definition: “By managed democracy we understand political and economic regimes imposed by centres of global influence – and I am not going to mention specific countries – by force and deception.” Of course Russia doesn’t try to install “managed democracies” on its borders. Yeah, right. In this sense, Russia does what every power currently does. It uses the rhetoric of democracy as a tool of geopolitical maneuvering.

Take Surkov’s democratic rhetoric as an example. His definition of “managed democracy” is a direct reference to ..read more

Anne Neistat, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, has written a must read in the new issue of the London Review of Books on her recent visit to Grozny. She notes that amazement was her first impression of the capital’s main drag, Prospekt Pobedy (Victory Avenue). The streets were clean. Buildings were painted. The blown out windows were all replaced. It looked as if the war torn city was finally getting back on its feet. However, amazement turned to disappointment as Neistat took a closer look. The reconstruction was nothing but a fa?ade. A n urban Potemkin village. A historical symbol that is fitting for the whole region. “Only when I got closer,” she writes, “did it become clear that these buildings were uninhabitable. There was nothing behind the painted fa?ades: no roofs or floors, no internal walls, just piles of ..read more

U.S. Secretary of State Condi Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov give a press conference. The Moscow Times is already reporting on the meeting. Reuters reports a testy exchange over Iraq. The G-8 looks like its going to be fun.

Today’s news is buzzing with reports of Moscow becoming the most expensive city in the world. According to a survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Moscow has topped Tokyo as the world’s costliest city. Many news reports have noted the obvious irony that the former capital of Communism is now the capital of capitalist expenditure. Few articles give much analysis as to why Moscow has surged so quickly and to such heights except for London’s Independent. In an article in today’s addition, it seems that Moscow’s rise has not come without cost.

Prices for flats have more than doubled in the past year and the average cost per square metre is about ?2,700 and rising by the day. A modest city centre flat is now hard to find for less than ?190,000, a big price when you consider that the ..read more

Perhaps I should change the focus of this blog to “Did we Americans learn anything from the Soviet Union?” since the actions of State and Congressional representatives keep pulling me away from Russia. Today’s outrage is a call by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) for the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute the NY Times with criminal charges for publishing stories about the Bush Administration’s secret financial monitoring program. The LA Times published a similar story. Vice President Dick Cheney blasted the papers on Friday for revealing the program. Apparently Cheney and King believe that the press should do their bidding. Sadly the press did for the first four years of the Bush Administration. Now it’s finally pushing back. Well, at least a little bit. Here is what King said according to Editor and Publisher:

Rep. Peter King blasted the newspaper’s decision last week ..read more

This came over the Reuters newswire about an hour ago:

Video shows Russian hostages killed Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:28 PM BST DUBAI (Reuters) – An Iraqi al Qaeda-led group said on Sunday it had killed four Russian embassy staff it had taken hostage, according to a statement posted on the Internet. The statement said the posting included footage of the “execution”. The group had demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from Chechnya and release all Muslim prisoners. The Web posting showed video footage of the killing of two men it said were Russian hostages and the beheaded body of a third man. It showed two militants beheading one of the men and the shooting of a second, after showing four men speaking in Russian in video statements dated June 13, 2006. In Moscow, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman could not immediately confirm the report of the deaths. The four embassy staff were kidnapped and a fifth was ..read more