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By Gore Vidal
$10.80
by John W. Dean
$18
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AP Photo/ITAR-TASS, Presidential Press Service, Mikhail Klimentyev
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, awaiting a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, compared U.S. foreign policy to that of the Nazis in the 1930s. Meanwhile, Rice criticized Putin’s administration for centralizing too much power at the Kremlin.
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Amnesty International has accused China and Russia of violating a U.N. arms embargo against Sudan. The human rights organization says the weapons end up in Darfur, where they are used against civilians in the ongoing genocide. The two Security Council members deny any wrongdoing.
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AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel
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Russian President Vladimir Putin took a moment during his final parliamentary address to make it eminently clear that he disapproves of a U.S. plan to create a missile shield in Eastern Europe, vowing to put a hold on Russian compliance with a key European military treaty in retaliation.
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Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the country’s first elected president, was laid to rest in Moscow on Wednesday. Former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush joined other dignitaries for the state funeral at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the first such ceremony for a Russian leader to be held in a church in more than 100 years.
Posted on Apr 25, 2007
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AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichencko
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The Kremlin released word on Monday of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s death, apparently of heart failure. Yeltsin leaves behind a complex legacy. He was instrumental in Russia’s transformation from Soviet state to democracy, but, as Mikhail Gorbachev noted, Yeltsin also made some “serious errors.”
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates was dispatched to Russia on Monday to smooth over relations with Vladimir Putin, who is upset over U.S. plans to locate missile defense sites in Europe. Russia has repeatedly voiced its opposition to such plans, and Monday’s meeting between Gates and his counterpart was no exception.
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Over the objections of other members, the UK has brought the climate change debate to the U.N. Security Council. Russia, China and Pakistan said it was the wrong venue for the issue, but U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett pointed out that rising sea levels, mass migration and economic catastrophe would almost certainly impact global security.
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Russian riot police clashed with about 500 demonstrators Sunday in St. Petersburg. The situation escalated when the time the government had allowed for the rally expired but protesters continued to call for President Vladimir Putin to step down.
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Vladimir Putin’s regime, with the aid of 9,000 police officers, attempted to prevent a rally in Moscow by arresting opposition leader Garry Kasparov along with dozens of other protesters and even some journalists. The chess phenom has accused Putin of trampling on democracy.
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russiablog.org
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It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood suspense thriller, but exiled Russian multimillionaire Boris Berezovsky seems quite serious about his scheme to oust President Vladimir Putin’s Moscow government in a “violent overthrow.”
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Police say Ivan Safronov, a military correspondent for a major Russian newspaper, jumped out of a fifth-floor window. But the media and friends say it’s likelier that he was murdered because his reporting had embarrassed Vladimir Putin’s government. Thirteen Russian journalists were killed in 2006, making it the third-most-dangerous country to report from.
(h/t: Largest Minority)
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mda.mil
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For months, Tony Blair has been secretly lobbying the U.S. to locate a missile defense site in Britain. Poland and the Czech Republic are also in the running. The $90-billion “son of star wars” program has performed poorly in the past, and is still under development as it’s deployed.
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A series of explosions around the world has killed more than 120 people. A train bombing in northern India left at least 64 people dead, while three car bombs in Baghdad—the bloodiest violence since a security crackdown began—killed more than 60 and injured at least 131. A bomb also exploded at a McDonald’s in St. Petersburg, Russia, in an act of “hooliganism,” according to police. There was no indication that each nation’s violence was related to the explosions in the other countries.
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from news.bbc.co.uk
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The Russian president, normally a close ally of President Bush, used a security summit this week to lash out at American foreign policy, calling the U.S. “very dangerous.” Vladimir Putin added that the United States has “overstepped its borders” and is “nourishing” a nuclear arms race.
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hhill.org
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China has successfully completed a test of an anti-satellite weapon, alarming the United States and other nations, the White House said. Although the Bush administration is weary of a possible militarized space race, it has steadfastly opposed a ban on such tests in order to preserve U.S. “freedom of action in space.”
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The U.S. and North Korea may meet for a second and possibly even a third round of talks following a surprise meeting. The White House had steadfastly refused to give in to Pyongyang’s desire for direct discussions outside of the six-party talks, but the recent rendezvous between the two countries suggests there may be more flexibility in Washington these days.
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Truthdig Editor Robert Scheer sounds off on nuclear negligence, Kucinich’s candidacy, the Christmas blues and more.
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Truthdig Editor Robert Scheer sounds off on nuclear negligence, Kucinich’s candidacy, his personal relationship with Christmas and more.
Posted on Dec 13, 2006
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A former arms control expert in the Soviet Union argues that Bush, in his obsession with North Korea and Iran’s relatively minuscule nuclear threat, has effectively ignored the much more perilous threat of Russia’s 10,000-strong nuclear arsenal.
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channel4.com
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Alexander V. Litvinenko is dead after suffering an extensive illness he believed was caused by poisoning. A former KGB agent, Litvinenko had become critical of the Russian government. He began feeling ill after meeting in London with two Russians and an Italian security specialist.
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ticketsofrussia.com
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During a nationally broadcast town hall-style address, Russian President Vladimir Putin pitched a more open stance in dealing with North Korea: “You must never push one of the participants in talks into a corner.”
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un.int
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The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions against North Korea in light of its recent nuclear test. Though financial and military aid is restricted, the sanctions do not allow for military action, and skeptics question how effectively the rules will be enforced.
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novayagazeta.ru
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Anna Politkovskaya, a veteran Russian journalist and outspoken critic of the Putin administration, was found dead in her apartment building on Saturday, the victim of an apparent contract killing. Mikhail Gorbachev described the murder as “a blow to the entire democratic, independent press…. It is a grave crime against the country, against all of us.”
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By Robert Scheer — In the midst of a Middle Eastern crisis that threatens to destabilize the entire region and perhaps beyond, it was unnerving that what most seemed to interest President Bush at the G8 summit is that China is a long flight from western Russia.
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From bild.t-online.de
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At the G8 summit, President Bush gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel an unsolicited back massage, which an obviously uncomfortable Merkel quickly shrugged off. (h/t: Crooks and Liars)
Video
(much more after the jump…)
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Katrina Vanden Heuvel —
We need a new policy toward Russia—one that is neither triumphalist, Cold War-like, or ignorant of the fact that the pro-Western liberal groups in Russia are in fact supported by a tiny fraction of the Russian electorate.
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Russia’s leader answers mostly tough questions for three and a half hours without the aid of notes or alcohol—a new personal record. | story
Of interest: He doesn’t regard Hamas as a terrorist organization and won’t support cutting off its funding.
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Arctic Tundra ‘Will Turn to Forest’
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