Blogging the democratic revolution
Here are some articles about RosUkrEnergo, the middle-man company being used in the gas deal between Russia and the Ukraine, and the particularly shady way it’s involved. – RFE/RL goes into the history of the company and why it was created. Let’s just say it involved a certain ex-president of Ukraine, a certain current president…
Our favorite babe of politics has come out swinging in the settlement of the gas dispute between the Ukraine and Russia, and will be challenging the deal in court. The reason has little to do with the actual price negotiated, but much more to do with the single issue that she really stands out on:…
In a recent poll, Russian citizens picked superlatives for their politicians, naming among others who is the most honest, the smartest, and even who is the sexiest. As for the latter, ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the ironically named Liberal Democracy Party took the prize for the sexiest politician in the country. Just take a look…
The gas crisis that has shaken relations between the Ukraine, Russia, and the European Union is now over. The air is clearing, but whatever the politicians are saying now, the damage has been done. So the question begs: who came out on top of this? Or perhaps we should be asking who came out on…
It looks like more truth is coming out about the Russian government’s 1) disregard for the hostages and 2) its attempt to cover up the raid on the Beslan school that was under siege. While the Russian government maintains that it stormed the school after terrorists explosives went off, new evidence shows that this was…
I’m going to be starting a new feature here at Publius, where I take excerpts from books I’m reading or have read and post them along with some additional background or commentary. The first book we’ll be going over will be Kremlin Rising, a detailed look at Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union,…
The North Ossetian parliamentary investigation into the Beslan massacre is out, and guess who caused the fabled first explosion? Last week, the results of a North Ossetian parliamentary investigation into the terrorist attack in Beslan were made public. The report went largely unnoticed. The pro-government media shied away from a number of awkward conclusions, while…
Russia, for some reason allowed to be a part of the OSCE, is fighting tooth and nail to dismember the best election monitoring team in the world. Why? Because behind Russia’s supposed concerns that the monitors are politically motivated, it is actually worried that the unveiling of more phony elections in its backyard will spark…
Hey, why is only President Putin and his entourage of ass-kissers dancing? That’s because the first parliamentary elections in Chechnya since 1997 were held on Sunday, in what the dear leaders over in Moscow are hailing as the last legal step toward restoring the region. It’s all a flash-by cinematic sequence for those watching in…
Garry Kasparov, writing for Newsweek International, calls President Putin out on the misnomer that he is a true ally of the West in the war on terror, and even less so committed to building a democratic society. And he really nails it. The embattled George W. Bush isn’t going to pick a fight with Mr….
The State Duma, in all of its scary Soviet decor, has completed its first reading of a bill that seeks to essentially halt the abilities of NGOs operating in Russia. It will forbid foreign funding, force them to register with the government, and allow the authorities to monitor every last activity that these organizations undertake….
President Putin made some cabinet shuffles today. It’s looking interesting. MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin gave his defense minister the additional post of deputy prime minister Monday in a Cabinet shake-up he said was designed to bolster efforts to improve Russia’s military. At a cabinet meeting shown on television station NTV, Putin said the appointment…
Mark Steyn has a new killer essay at the Spectator about the collapse of Russia and the spread of Islamic fascism. It’s worth reading if only for the, er, fowl pun partway down page one (there’s one that’s actually funny further down, but I won’t ruin it for you). Excerpt: Moscow has reduced Grozny to…
Andy Young has a good post on Russia’s closed cities, in which over 2 million people are sealed off from the world.
A string of well-connected men are re-entering Russia’s political fray by directly entering as election candidates. These are household names, the men who made up and binded the country’s oligarchy during the ’90s. The big news today is that Mikhail Kasyanov, prime minister under Putin until 2004 and a man with big ties to the…
I’m in quite a bit of a mood for Russia at the moment after finishing Kremlin Rising. The book went into detail about Putin’s life and how he has consolidated power to the Kremlin since being elected, but it both started and ended with the massacre at Beslan School No 1. The authors themselves were…
Today’s Wall Street Journal has an in-depth essay today on the Babes of Politics theory, developed in depth here at Publius Pundit, at WILLisms and at Gateway Pundit. It’s excellent. Read it here.
In a continuing sequence of improved bilateral relations, Russia and China are staging first-ever joint military exercises over the next eight days. Andrew Young takes a look at all of the dimensions, both charitable and provocative. Here is his conclusion: Geopolitical considerations are also important to this exercise, although less important than the practical Russian…
Poor President Putin. According to Russia’s constitution, he won’t be able to run for the presidency again when his second term ends in 2008. Speculation is always rampant about whether or not he will run again, and just a week ago he was lamenting the fact that he cannot run again because the constitution does…
A writer at Kommersant thinks so, given the trend of events over the last half year or so, and he thinks Russia’s banning of ABC over its airing of an interview with Shamil Basayev is the freezing point. It is not surprising that Washington defended the TV company. The thing is that the Nightline program…
Andy “Now that’s what I call inflation!” Young has come across a few gems detailing the incredible rate that corruption and bribe payments are growing in Russia since just after Putin took the presidency. In fact, sincev2001, the average bribe has grown 10-fold. INDEM’s “Corruption in Russia: Dynamics and Perspectives” report claims the average bribe…
Last week I noted a leaked memo from the Kremlin discussing its fear of the collapse of the republic of Dagestan, located in the North Caucasus. In essense, their ultra repressive tactics against separatist Chechnya has led to an endless cycle of repression, which breeds extremism, which earns an even more repressive repsonse from Moscow….
The Russian youth group “Nashi,” created not all that long ago, has been pledged to by the Kremlin to be the heirs of the government. They are among the most energetic of Putin supporters, often reported to have resorted to violence when dealing with those of opposing views. A Kremlin spin doctor has promised to…
Eurasianet reports on a leaked memo (perhaps deliberately) that shows Russian policy makers worried about the situation in Dagestan, which has seen increased separatis sentiments and terrorist attacks of late. The increasing rebel attacks in Dagestan (see EDM, July 7) have finally forced Russian authorities to focus on the problems of the republic. Officials in…
Usually this wouldn’t be a story to me as I’m sure this happens at least a hundred million times a day somewhere in the world. But I’ve never heard of someone calling our president the equivalent of Hitler for supporting democracy movements. About 20 youths have gathered in front of the U.S. Consulate in St….