When Russia threatens to outdo the United States on public diplomacy in a place like Poland, something is seriously amiss in the way the State Department and the White House is conducting the relationship with one of the United States’ most loyal allies. Unfortunately, this is exactly what may happen …
Answer: they both want to punish Colombia. Venezuela’s authoritarian, anti-American President Chavez claims Colombia threatens his national security, runs around too much with the “Empire,” [the U.S.], and will one day provoke a war with Venezuela. For these reasons, he aims to punish Colombia by cutting off trade and undermining …
Under the excuse of fighting the economic crisis, the Russian government is stepping up regulation that could severely restrict business growth. Ostensibly to stem the tide of rising prices, the government has initiated a dramatic cap on grocery retail chains. The bill submitted to the State Duma bans chains with …
Moscow’s recent diplomatic demarches manifest the Kremlin’s drive to solidify its positions ahead of meeting with President Obama. Therefore, the Kremlin is trying to give the appearance of concessions on the issues that have long been a matter of concern for the American side. For example, on President Medvedev’s order, …
The past week saw an extraordinary event in the Russian economy. Prime Minister Putin and other Cabinet Ministers made a surprise visit to one of Moscow’s supermarkets and personally regulated the price rates. Putin discovered that the trade margin on an array of foodstuffs in Perekryostok supermarket is significantly higher …
The past week saw an unprecedented number of President Dmitry Medvedev’s public acts towards civil society institutions. He was interviewed by the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, met with representatives of civil rights NGOs and had a protracted televised talk on NTV channel deemed the most liberal of the government-run television …
MOSCOW – The past week’s developments gave lots of food for conjecture and speculations among Kremlinologists both within Russia and beyond. The regime – President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin – sent out an array of signals that could be interpreted as both the attempts at somewhat liberalizing …
The Russian government is aggressively exploiting the current economic downturn to step up its grip over the economy and actually nationalize most of the lucrative industries. The past week saw new examples of this trend. President Dmitry Medvedev endorsed a new business bailout fund to provide direct financial assistance to …
MOSCOW — Premier Vladimir Putin’s three-hour-plus interaction with the Russian populace showed that the prime minister rather than President Dmitry Medvedev remains in charge of the national leadership. Putin answered questions dealing with the issues both falling directly within his purview as head of the Russian Cabinet and those concerning …
