This is getting to be a bit repetitive… The head of a children’s charity was found shot dead in Chechnya today, a day after she and her husband were abducted by armed men. The bodies of Zarema Sadulayeva and Alik Dzhabrailov were found in the boot of a car in a suburb of the [...]
I guess when you are unemployed there really isn’t the need to go anywhere. Moscow’s chandelier-adorned metro, ranked as one of the world’s busiest, said passenger numbers had fallen by 7 percent in the first quarter of 2009 from the same period last year. The number of people travelling on the Stalin-era system has fallen [...]
So, today a bridge was blown up by the Taliban that is on the main supply route to Afghanistan. The Russians announced a multi-billion dollar aid package for Kyrgystan. Kyrgyzstan (moments later) announces that the US airbase supporting Afghan operations should be closed post-haste. Isn’t it just amazing the coincidences???
Moscow was apoplectic the other day when reports filtered in that a Russian soldier had been captured by Georgian forces inside South Ossetia. They demanded his immediate return claiming he was being held against his will. Geogian forces replied by displaying him at a local McDonalds eating a Big Mac. “I came to the Georgian [...]
Because Natural Gas just doesn’t seem to be a viable option, given that most of the supplies are locked up in Russia and Gazprom really likes to play politics. Nearly 50% of the Ukraine’s (excessive) power consumption comes from Natural Gas, and nearly 75% of those supplies are from Russia. Ukraine has quite a bit [...]
Following the Russian invasion of South Ossetia, US military officials headed over to Georgia to do a thorough review of the Georgian military. The report, leaked to the NY Times, paints a rather unflattering picture of the military in Georgia. Georgia’s armed forces, the report said, are highly centralized, prone to impulsive rather than deliberative [...]
Civil war could break out in the predominantly Muslim area of Ingushetia according to human rights groups have been witnessing an uptick in violence of late. Just last month a prominent critic of Moscow was shot dead in Injushetia and Muslim fighters who got their start in Chechnya are now growing bolder and bolder. We’ll [...]
That’s what you get for invading your neighbor. Regulators halted trading at midday (9am BST) on Russia’s main stock indices – the rouble-denominated Micex and the dollar-denominated RTS – following a similar suspension yesterday. Russia has been badly affected by the global financial crisis, and has suffered as stocks have sunk in Europe and Asia. [...]
Well, that’s what you could say after reading Debka today. Apparently Russian commandos raided Georgian airbases that were hosting Israeli spy drones, used to look at the nuclear facilities of Iran. This was the result of a secret agreement between Georgia and Israel to allow Georgian military facilities to be used in any attack on [...]
The USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the Sixth Fleet (and heavily laden with intelligence gathering gear) has arrived in the city of Poti, despite the presence of Russian forces at checkpoints outside the city. Humanitarian antennas The USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the US Sixth Fleet, is the latest of three vessels sent by the [...]
The New York Times is reporting that Georgian military officials are already planning for the next war, with a military shopping list that includes some higher technology weapons. Pentagon officials are reviewing the lists but have yet to make any decisions just yet. Defense officials in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, said that at a minimum [...]
You may remember a few years ago a Russian plane crashed because an air traffic controller in Switzerland issued some incorrect orders. You may also remember that a Russian father who lost his children in the crash travelled to the tower later and slashed to death the air traffic controller he found. Victor Kaloyev was [...]
All this Russia stuff means it is time to break out some 80s Cold War music. Two Tribes And some 99 Red Balloons
Growing up in the KGB you’d expect someone to be a bit paranoid. Hell growing up in Russia you’d be paranoid. But a good intelligence officer usually has the ability to separate fact from fiction, and take the propaganda with a grain of salt. That’s not the case with Vladimir Putin. Putin seems to live [...]
The original G7 group of industrialized nations, who have an eighth member who is sort of there by default, have called on Russia to pull back their forces from Georgia We, the Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom,condemn the action of our fellow G8 member. Russia’s [...]
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