The breaking news this morning is that Turkmenistan’s oddball dictator / President Saparmurat Niyazov died of a heart attack late last night. The news was announced on state television, over the image of a Turkmen...
Archive - 2006
AndyGoogle struggles in Russian internet market
Despite being founded by a Russian, Google is only the eighth largets search engine in Russia: Leading the pack was Yandex, a privately held Russian search engine that was visited by 64 percent of Internet users; Mail...
Demonstrations in Moscow
This weekend saw three major demonstrations in Moscow. An anti-Putin dissenters march, which drew about 2,000 demonstrators, including Garry Kasparov. The were outnumbered four to one by 8,000 police, who earned their...
Belarus-Russia relations sour over gas deal
It looks as if relations between Belarus and Russia are becoming increasingly strained, as reports come through that no agreement has been reached on the future of gas prices. Although there has been no official...
Don’t Mess with Russia
The best cover I’ve seen from the Economist since their depiction of Kim Jong-Il as the Rocket Man. Given the lack of hard evidence available to Russia watchers, their conclusion couldn’t be more accurate:...
Two post-Soviet elections
It’s been a busy weekend for post-Soviet election watchers with not one, but two elections taking place – a referendum on a new constitution in Nagorno-Karabakh, and a Presidential election in Transdniester...
Hospital fire kills 45 women
Yet another massive fire in Russia, and yet again dozens of people are killed because of the Russian fascination for restricting entry and exit to buildings. The latest victims: 45 women in a drug rehabilition hospital...
Ukraine, two years on
The quite excellent Europhobia has also had a re-launch of sorts in the past few weeks. He’s shifted his focus back to broader European issues, resulting in posts like this second-and-a-bit anniversary of the...
Gaidar poisoned by enemies of Russia
In a report that will surprise many, former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar has concluded that he was poisoned by enemies of Russia: Most likely […] some obvious or hidden adversaries of the Russian...