From the New York Times One day last fall, a police officer here put on his uniform and sat on a drab tan couch before a video camera. In a halting monotone, he recorded two video appeals to Vladimir V. Putin, 13 minutes in all. He was a nobody cop from a nowhere city, but [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Russia’
Stimulus Packages From Around the World
Since all our countries (sans Germany) are offering stimulus packages these days, I thought I would see how they stack up against each other. The American one is by far the biggesest while Iceland’s economy took the hardest hit. Many economists believe a lot of the figures being announced involved a mixture of truly new [...]
The panic that is gripping Russia
Here is an interesting view of the economic crisis in Russia in the IHT Who spent us into this crisis? That’s the secret question among Russia’s rulers. They don’t believe in chance, or predictability, or conscience. They do believe in plots. Against Russia. The Orange Revolution was a plot, and the Rose Revolution. And behind [...]
Trans Siberia Railroad
For those of you who have wanted to take a trans-Siberean train trip, here are some great photos of what is perhaps the ultimate road trip.
Geopolitical Peak Oil
The New York Times on how the energy giants are being squeezed out of an already tight market. Part of the reason is political. From the Caspian Sea to South America, Western oil companies are being squeezed out of resource-rich provinces. They are being forced to renegotiate contracts on less-favorable terms and are fighting losing [...]
Not so “Trustworthy”
Maureen Dowd is taking George W. Bush’s foreign policy to task. President Bush and his Russian “expert” Condi have played it completely wrong with Russia from the start. W. saw a “trustworthy” soul in a razor-eyed K.G.B. agent who has never been a good guy for a single hour. Now the Bush crowd, which can [...]
Georgia
One of the things I can’t figure out over Georgia’s conflict with Russia (actually it more like Georgia getting whupped by Russia) is what were they thinking? How many countries out there let alone a Putin led Russia would allow a country to try to sieze by force a territory that they have claimed for [...]
