Here is the second video from our exclusive interview
series with Dr. Nina Khrushcheva, in which she shares some of her views on the
second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Stay tuned for more later this week.
Thanks to the creative mind of the writer Rudyard Kipling ,once upon a time there lived the python Kaa. Somewhere in the jungles this was. Kaa was large and frightful. He could hypnotize the Bandar-log monkeys with just his
Reports are in that Viktor Yanukovych has won 48.95% of the presidential vote, to Yulia Tymoshenko's 45.48%. Here's some of what's being said in the Western media about the result.
The Guardian says: '[U]nfortunately for those who like happy endings, the wrong person won.' Mary Dejevsky writing in The Independent, on the other hand, applauds what looks like progress: 'In this election there was no high-profile electioneering by Russia or by the United States. Nor did any new gas dispute with Russia rear its head [...] this was an election between Ukrainians, not cold-war proxies, campaigning on Ukrainian issues.' The New York Times suggests that the elections, hailed by EU monitors as an 'impressive display' of democracy, are a threat to the 'Kremlin blueprint'.
Despite the EU monitors' conclusion of a fair result, Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc plans to contest the results in court. The Economist praises her result: '[...] given the desperate state of the Ukrainian economy which is fast running out of money to pay public wages and pensions, Ms Tymoshenko did better than might have been expected.' State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov, meanwhile, says it's too soon to congratulate Yanukovych on a win. 'I remember that in the runoff five years ago Yanukovych had better results than now, so I think it would be right to put off the question of congratulations until the inauguration,' he said.
Not much of a surprise, given last week's allegations that the spat was nothing but a puppet show, that United Russia and A Just Russia have buried the hatchet. But what you may find surprising is this little soundbite from Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin on the political orientation of the former:
"On the whole, United Russia is still a left-center party, not a right-center party, as was planned when it was created," said Kudrin, who is also a deputy prime minister. "And only, I repeat, thanks to certain work by the government, and by Putin personally, have we been able to maintain that balance."
Aren't center-left ideologies usually progressive and democratically-oriented? Just wondering...
Viktor Yanukovych will need to attend to Ukraine's gas situation, says the Moscow Times, and 'tweak a long-term gas deal signed by Tymoshenko and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in 2009 that made gas for Ukraine one of the most expensive in Europe and thus added pressure to Ukraine's strained finances'. Bloomberg says Yanukovych could offer Gazprom a stake in a new Ukrainian pipeline operator. The gas giant is currently exploring offshore hydrocarbon fields in Sri Lanka. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has declared a national emergency in the electricity sector as drought dries up hydroelectric dams. 'Some opposition sectors are determined to blame the government that it hasn't rained in more than a year.' All eyes are on Iran as it notifies a UN nuclear watchdog that it will begin producing higher-grade enriched uranium.
Two former senior officials at the Federal Property Agency have been arrested on suspicion of extortion. France's Budget Ministry says that the highest and most interesting bid for a plot of land next to the Eiffel Tower came from the Kremlin, who plans to build a church and a cultural center there - but a group representing French holders of czarist bonds says it will sue Russia over the sale, apparently in a bid to reclaim its century-old debt. Foreign exchange booths are disappearing in Russia ahead of new regulations that would force them to move into banks. Authorities are wrangling over the future of Pushkin Square, which has been nominated for a transportation and development rehaul, to the dismay of critics. Gazprombank sources have shot down reports of a forthcoming London IPO. There goes the 'innovation' buzzword again...this time from presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich.
TODAY: What next for Kaliningrad? Lawyers accuse telecoms companies of treating dissent as extremism; US defense secretary criticizes sale of French warship to Russia; Medvedev refreshes regional leadership; Berezovsky case being heard in London; Browder v Markelov v Browder; IOC president warns Russia.
The Moscow Times looks at the factors contributing to the massive Kaliningrad protests last month, and examines the Kremlin's possibilities now for response - at very least, the article suggests, it should remove governor Georgy Boos, but must be wary of 'set[ting] up such a precedent'. The Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights has seized on the news that telecoms company Beeline blocks access to opposition websites, calling it evidence of a growing trend in Russia 'to persecute dissident activism as extremism'. French defense officials have announced that the country will sell at least one advanced warship to Russia, and potentially three more, in what will be the first, 'symbolic' arms deal between Russia and a NATO member. The US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, expressed concern about the deal, but his French counterpart warned against a 'double discourse' over Russia, which is supposedly viewed by the US as a partner.
The UK press have a reputation for baiting Russia somewhat - perhaps a reflection of less-than-healthy diplomatic relations in recent years. Today, the Telegraph has published a bizarre article by one James Corum, a specialist in military history, who apparently sees Russia as a threat to the West and warns that it could turn to 'open confrontation' in the near future. The suggestion seems pretty farfetched, especially given the recent news that the Bush administration had considered launching a strike on Russia to halt the Georgian war in 2008. All the same, Corum's Tsarist metaphor for the mindset of the current Russian government and commentary on use of the phrase 'sphere of influence' is interesting...Russian foreign policy is based on a truly weird combination of nostalgia for the old Soviet Union and the imperialism of the Tsarist Empire. Russian politicians and academics use the term "sphere of influence" in the late 19th-century sense of the ruler's right to control the external and domestic policies of neighbouring states. One of the strangest aspects of the new Russian ideology is the revival of the old Tsarist symbols to include the double-headed Romanov Eagle - complete with crown-- displayed on official buildings and in the Russian parliament.
Read the piece here.
[Though the following post has nothing to do with Russia, I had been receiving some questions so I am making this information available to those interested. --Thanks, RA]
As announced in a press release dated 9 December 2009, my law firm, Amsterdam & Peroff, has been retained by RPG Industries to defend its fundamental rights and interests in the Czech Republic. The case, which already had a political dimension given the intervention attempt on behalf of a member of government, has taken on a much larger meaning in national politics as this week we announced at a press conference the introduction of a historic complaint before the Constitutional Court regarding the separation of powers and other basic guarantees.
It is my argument that certain members of the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) are acting in violation of the constitution to carry out a classic populist tactic right before an election - promising voters an intervention against private property to purchase their support. Nevertheless, in legal terms, their claim is groundless.
Here Streetwise Professor recounts his fortunate opportunity to meet up with the Russian youth activist Oleg Kozlovsky during his speaking tour of the United States (Kozlovsky had been stranded in St. Louis by the snowstorms on the East Coast). Turns out the professor named his blog after a song by this fellow on the right.We had a wide-ranging conversation about all sorts of matters, from Putin, to the controversy over his passport, to energy, to Europe and energy, to Kaliningrad, to the effects of the economic crisis, to the militia and OMON, to the military and the effects of the reforms, to Khodorkovsky. After a while, he smiled and said that he didn't want to sound so negative, so I suggested that we talk about politics and economics in the US instead-which ended with me apologizing for negativity.
I then took Oleg on a brief tour of some of the sites in St. Louis, notably Forest Park. Hopefully he's now boarding his flight back home.
All in all, an enjoyable morning. One amusing moment came when he asked me about how my blog came to be named "Streetwise Professor." I told him that it derived from a combination of (a) the fact that "the Street" refers to the financial markets that I had originally intended to blog about exclusively, (b) the fact that I'm a professor, and (c) my punk rock inclinations. He smiled and said that he liked the title because it makes him think of street protests.
Gazprom has confirmed that it will delay the Shtokman gas field by three years to 2016 due to a slump in demand. Rosneft is boasting a 2.5% year increase in proven reserves. Britain points out that Iran's plans to make higher-grade nuclear reactor fuel would break five United Nations Security Council Resolutions; Russia is calling for care in the imposition of any sanctions on Iran so that they are 'limited to non-proliferation only', and is urging Iran to address international concerns about its nuclear program. TNK-BP should become more streamlined and efficient, and focus more on growth inside Russia, using the former structure of BP as a model, according to its next head, Maxim Barsky. Shell says it underestimated how quickly the mood on banking salaries was affecting opinion on executive salaries last year.
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