At last, Russia has a homegrown star to match Borat. Peter Nalitch’s cheesy pop video “Gitar” has taken the newly launched youtube.ru by storm, notching up more than 350,000 views already. Seriously...
Archive - November 2007
Rothschild Faberge egg tipped to sell for record price
Got a few sparepennies burning a hole in your pocket? Then you might want to head on down to London auction house Christie’s next Wednesday – as a part of Russian Art Week, they’re holding an auction...
Russia through to Euro 2008 after England hopes crushed by Croatia
Well, well. After Russia slipped up in Israel, we all thought it was over. Surely there was no way England could slip up in their last game against Croatia, no hope left for a demoralised Russia. After all, England were...
Does Putin really want a 2-party Duma?
With just a couple of weeks to go until Russia’s parliamentary elections on 2nd December, it’s looking increasingly as though United Russia are set for a massive victory. However, depressingly, only two of...
Totally un-corrupt Israel crush Russia
Israel beat Russia 2-1 on Saturday, a result which leaves Russia’s hopes of qualifying for football’s Euro 2008 hanging by a slender thread and proves comprehensively that Israel are the most honest team in...
Book Review: The New Cold War by Mark MacKinnon
Review by Michael Averko The thought of a re-ignited Cold War can send a chill down some people’s spines. “The New Cold War” (Carroll & Graf, New York, 2007) is about a different kind of Cold War...
Wannabe Russian spy arrested in Britain
There are a few, relatively low key stories in the British papers today about the ‘capture’ of a Russian spy in England, but it’s a bit of an odd story. Peter Hill, the 23 year old ex Territorial Army...
How the nimble Russian bear pushes around the EU’s lumbering herd of elephants
Russia is brilliantly playing divide and conquer with European Union nations, argues a new paper from the European Council on Foreign Relations. In “A Power Audit of EU – Russia Relations“, authors...
Japanese vote Putin world’s fifth sexiest politician
Now, I know Vladimir Putin has a certain… mystique. But I must confess, I’d never thought of Russia’s President as particularly sexy. But, apparently, Putin’s good looks send the Japanese weak at...
Russian bloggers expose Gravikol 21 pharmaceutical scam targeting pensioners
Russian bloggers unite to stop a pharmaceutical scam, and make 21 million phone calls in the process.