Oh, come on! Don’t tell me you thought blogging was a modern phenomenon. How foolish can you be? A Russian thought up the concept of blogging way back in 1837. Prince Vladimir Odoevsky, a science fiction writer...
Archive - 2005
AndyClosed cities from the inside
Last week I wrote about the disgraceful number of closed cities in Russia, another of those leftovers from an anarchic age that Russia remains addicted to, despite (or perhaps because of) the restrictions it places on...
Russian-Indian military exercise begins
Hot on the heels of Russia’s recent military exercise with China (see here for details) 1,600 Russian troops, 9 airplanes and 5 warships are taking part in a military exercise with India. The exercise, which will...
UNESCO may designate Lake Baikal as “in danger”
The Moscow Times reports that UNESCO are becoming so concerned about the environmental safety of Lake Baikal that they are considering putting the Lake, already a World Heritage site, on their “in danger”...
Closed cities and the Democratic Deficit
If you thought that the demise of the Soviet Union meant the demise of closed, or secret cities, then you’d be wrong. Today, it is thought that there are up to forty closed cities (also referred as ZATO’s...
Russian visas and the cost of business
Have you ever wondered why small-medium sized businesses don’t seem all that keen on investing in Russia? The same reason that smaller domestic businesses generally don’t flourish in Russia –...
Solider Nixon
What happens when you try to buy Russian literature in small town Queensland? So I asked the old half-deaf biddy in the second hand bookshop if she had any books by Solzhenitsyn. “Soldier Nixon, I don’t...
Putin once again muddies waters on his future
Vladimir Putin once again managed to throw Kremlin watchers into a tizz, by giving another cryptic answer to the question of what he intends to do in 2008 when his second term as President runs out. Asked if there...
Khodorkovsky roundup
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former Yukos boss and now full-time jailbird, has been pretty busy over the past couple of weeks. Yesterday saw the beginning of an appeal against his conviction for tax fraud and...
Russia demands OSCE reforms
OSCE delegates are considering a raft of Russian proposals to make the organisation ‘more effective.’ Russia effectively held a gun to the OSCE’s head a year ago, when it threatened to withold...