Posted by Sean on June 26, 2006
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
Posted by Sean on June 26, 2006
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
