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By Roland Oliphant, Russia Profile
December 4, 2008
Cirque du Soleil, probably the world’s premier circus company, has announced plans to establish a permanent presence in Russia, and despite the unfavorable economic situation, the organizers are nothing less than evangelical about their chances of success. But Russia’s own venerable circuses have mixed feelings about the arrival of such a powerful competitor.
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By Sergei Balashov, Russia Profile
December 3, 2008
The Russian stock index continued its freefall this week. The hastily deteriorating conditions evoked a strong reaction from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who called the situation in the stock market ugly. Overdependence on foreign stock markets, the lack of strong domestic investors, and the insufficiency of existing financial institutions were said to be behind the decline in the Russian Trading System. But although all of these factors certainly play a part in the aggravating conditions, they are hardly the main force that is driving the Russian economy down.
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By Roland Oliphant, Russia Profile
December 2, 2008
Chief Kremlin ideologist and First Deputy Chief of Staff Vladislav Surkov made a rare foray into the limelight on Friday to call for decisive moves to defend the middle class from the on-coming economic crisis. This suggests that the government is slowly beginning to wake up to the gravity of the crisis and the potential implications for its popularity, which has been built on appeals to the middle class’ concerns about “continuity” and “stability.”
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By Dmitry Babich, Russia Profile
December 2, 2008
The meeting of the foreign ministers of 27 NATO countries in Brussels is set to become a significant event, as the United States is poised to being denied its way for the first time in the alliance’s nearly 60-year-long history. In the last few days, both Russian and foreign media outlets quoted numerous unnamed sources from the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, saying that President George Bush’s original suggestion of taking Ukraine and Georgia into NATO bypassing the Membership Action Plan would not be accepted at the summit meeting.
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By Sergei Balashov, Russia Profile
December 1, 2008
If you’ve already booked your tickets to Moscow, researching your destination online and reading the latest newspaper reports from Russia would be a bad idea—they might make you want to reconsider. Russia’s capital city has been drawing a lot of criticism in mass media outlets both at home and abroad as one of the least favorable places to visit, whether for tourism or for business. The city authorities recognize that some of these accusations are true, but at the same time shift the blame to the media itself for deliberately painting the city in dark hues.
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Comment by Alexander Arkhangelsky, Special to RIA Novosti
December 1, 2008
It has now happened, there is terror in Mumbai. The event broaches a number of urgent questions: who’s hiding behind the terrorists; is it true that Al Qaeda is involved in this; will the Pakistani-Indian conflict detonate… But we’re going to talk about something else, something secondary from the political point of view, but essential in its symbolism.
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Introduced by Vladimir Frolov, Russia Profile
November 28, 2008
Moscow is having the last laugh in the international war of words over Russia’s brief war with Georgia last August. Back then, Russia, while quickly routing the Georgian military, squarely lost the propaganda battle with Mikheil Saakashvili, who managed, with the help of Western PR consultants and his impressive English skills, to convince the international public that Georgia was a blameless victim of blatant and unprovoked Russian aggression, meant to destroy Georgia’s democracy. It now appears that Saakashvili’s side of the story is being challenged by the very Western media he so successfully exploited to rally Western support for his regime.
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By Roland Oliphant, Russia Profile
November 27, 2008
Russian Art Week, London’s bi-annual auctioning bonanza of everything Russian from paintings and icons to antiquarian books, Fabergé jewelry and cavalry sabers, drew to a close on Thursday. From the auction houses who hosted it there was an almost audible sigh of relief; despite the harsh economic climate they escaped the collapse some doomsayers had predicted. In some cases sales well exceeded their estimates, and Sotheby’s even posted an increase on its 2007 sales of Russian Art. But other results were far more mixed, and as a litmus test of wealthy Russian’s willingness to open their wallets, the end result is not quite optimistic.
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By Sergei Balashov, Russia Profile
November 26, 2008
By 2020, Russia will grow into a global financial center and become one of the top five of the fastest growing nations, all the while becoming a better place to live. Or at least that’s the ambitious plan laid out in the social economic development concept signed off by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin this week. The latest long-term strategy has been in the works for two years and drew criticism from various experts, who argued that too much got left out. Now that the concept has turned into Russia’s development plan for the next decade, questions still linger as to how exactly these bold plans will be turned into reality.
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NATO puts Russia ties ahead of Georgia, Ukraine – Russian envoy
Relations with Russia are currently more important for NATO than membership for Georgia and Ukraine, Russia's envoy to the 26-member alliance Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview with Kommersant on Wednesday.
NATO foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to gradually resume contacts with Moscow, suspended after Russia's armed conflict with Georgia in August, but the alliance failed to reach an agreement on whether to allow Tbilisi and Kiev into the Membership Action Plan (MAP).
"They [NATO] know Ukraine and Georgia are not going anywhere, while matters with Russia need to be settled right now," Rogozin told the business daily.
"Of course, they cannot show that they have surrendered to pressure from Moscow, so they will make some fine statements and promises to Ukraine and Georgia, and perhaps, outline their Atlantic future, but no crucial decisions will be made," Rogozin added.
Rogozin said none of the NATO members were happy about future membership to the alliance for Ukraine, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, or Georgia following its conflict with Russia.
"Europe can see what is happening to Ukraine's economy - companies will start closing soon, and the country will go bust. Europe cannot afford to prop up Ukraine," the Russian envoy said.
Rogozin added: "They will not invite these bankrupt scandalous regimes to join NATO...more so as important partnerships with Russia are at stake."
He said that NATO was interested in a number of joint operations with Russia, including preventing pirate attacks off Somalia and transiting essential goods through Afghanistan for NATO forces.
Source: RIA Novosti
New & Updated from Resources Section
Yunus-bek YEVKUROV
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bne, December 3, 2008
Ben Aris in London, December 1, 2008
Nikolay Podguzov of Renaissance Capital, November 28, 2008
Erste Group, November 26, 2008
James Mason in Kyiv, November 24, 2008
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Paul Goble, December 4, 2008
RFE/RL, December 4, 2008
Transcript, December 4, 2008
RIA Novosti, December 4, 2008
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Inevitably Awful
By Roland Oliphant
Shortly after his reelection in 1996, Boris Yeltsin chaired a meeting where he complained about the new Russia’s lack of ideology. “Every epoch had its ideology,” he said. “Now we don’t have one, and that’s bad.” More...
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