Monthly Archives: October 2007

I don’t have time to write extensively on Putin’s historic trip to Iran.  Plus there are many others who are more versed in Russian-Iranian relations and the geopolitical significance of Putin’s trip.  So with that in mind and a dissertation chapter deadline hanging over my head, I offer Juan Cole’s take on it.  His post is significant because it provides the entire text of Putin’s and Admadinejad’s joint statement.  I also recommend Farideh Farhi’s post on the Informed Comment Global Affairs Blog for what the Russian visit means for Tehran.

It’s clear that if there were any diplomatic victories achieved in the meeting, they were all Iran’s.  With Putin backing the Islamic nation’s assertions that its nuclear program is “peaceful” basically confirmed that if Washington is looking for partners to put the hard squeeze on Iran, Russia isn’t one of them.

For Russia, the trip is a reaffirmation that Russia will seek ..read more

By Ger Clancy , the Irishman

On the road from Sheremetyevo-2 to Moscow, a strange-looking monument sits awkwardly among the advertising hoardings and petrol stations. A huge lump of concrete with enormous spikes protruding, the anti-tank ‘Yozh’ (hedgehog) marks the closest the Germans got to Moscow in December 1941. It’s a symbol of not only how near the Wehrmacht got to the capital, it’s also a reminder that plenty of foreigners have come here with lofty plans of domination and got brutally sent back to where they came from, tail between legs.

Last night the England football team became the latest member of that grouping. And for one of the few times since its birth, the Russian Sbornaya was dishing out the punishment to a major football power.

The omens were bad for England right from the outset. Before kick off at least five of their supporters had been injured in ..read more

Number 144. That’s what Reporters sans frontieres ranks Russia in its new annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index. According to RSF, the index is complied from questionnaires sent to 15 freedom of expression organizations and a network of 130 correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists, and human rights activists around the world. The index ranks 169 nations.

Russia’s ranking is surely nothing to be proud of, especially considering Russia’s indexed neighbors. The five states ranked above Russia are Azerbaijan (139), Sudan (140), Singapore (141), Afghanistan (142), and Yemen (143). The five states Russia looks down on are Tunisia (145), Egypt (146), Rwanda (147), Saudi Arabia (148), and Zimbabwe (149). As a whole, being sandwiched between these ten states makes Russia the rotten meat in a moldy press freedom sandwich.

As for why Russia ranked so low, RSF said this: “Russia is not progressing. Anna Politkovskaya’s murder in October 2006, ..read more

This just came from the Associated Press via CNN.  Today, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said of Russia:

“In any country, if you don’t have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development,” Rice told reporters after meeting with human-rights activists.

“I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I have told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about the independence of the electronic media and there are, I think, questions about the strength of the Duma,” said Rice, referring to the Russian parliament.

While certainly true, I can’t help wonder that while Rice denounces the Kremlin’s power, she can’t help be a little jealous of Putin.  Especially considering that the American Executive has moved in the same direction over the last decade and a half.   Keep glaring into that ..read more

Today I’m guest blogging over at Why Democracy?.  My post “Mirror, mirror upon the wall . . .” is now up for all to read.

It took a week longer than was predicted.  But few doubted that it was only a matter of time.  Prime Minister Zubkov finally made it official: Vasilii Yakemenko will head the Kremlin’s Youth Committee as expected.  Now Yakemenko has the real capital to affect youth politics in Russia–a budget that is estimated to be $160 million rubles.  In fact, getting a handle on this money appears to be Yakemenko’s first assigned task.  “Vasilii’s first step in the position of leader will be the dog-eat-dog fervor in the struggle for departmental resources,” a source told Kommersant.  The Commission’s potential budget not only comes from what the Russian government has allocated for youth, but also from the Ministry of Culture and the State Sport Agency; not to mention monies allocated for youth in regional budgets.

Yakemenko is a pure post-Soviet vydvizhenets bureaucrat.    Born in 1971 to a helicopter designer and translator, Yakemenko experienced ..read more