Archive for June, 2006
Surkov’s "Sovereign" and "Managed" Democracy
By Sean at 30 June, 2006, 7:45 pm
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 [...]
Read More >>Chechnya as Potemkin Village
By Sean at 30 June, 2006, 3:09 am
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 [...]
Read More >>G-8 Round One: Condi Rice vs. Sergei Lavrov
By Sean at 29 June, 2006, 11:43 pm
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.
Read More >>Moscow’s Rise Not Without Costs
By Sean at 26 June, 2006, 9:14 pm
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 [...]
Read More >>NY Rep Calls for Criminal Charges against the NY Times
By Sean at 26 June, 2006, 1:47 am
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 [...]
Read More >>Russian Diplomats Executed in Iraq
By Sean at 25 June, 2006, 4:37 pm
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 [...]
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