Posts tagged as:

US-Russia relations

The Arctic: Thinning on Top

January 11, 2009

Remember when a robotic submarine planted the Russian flag on the North Pole as a part of Russia’s efforts to claim a chunk of the Arctic? Well, the diplomatic wrangles over who owns what in the Arctic circle are still going on.
If you ever wondered exactly what the arguments were all [...]

Read the full article →

Top Russian General: ‘Not Russia’s job to defend world from evil Americans’

November 20, 2007

Americans might well be evil, says Yuri Baluyevsky, Russia’s top General, but it ain’t Russia’s job to save the world!
“Today, there is no need to be afraid of the Russian Armed Forces. However, I do not believe that the Russian military is obliged to defend the world from the evil Americans”.
Probably just as well. [...]

Read the full article →

Bill Maher interviews Garry Kasparov

October 22, 2007

Here’s a fascinating Youtube video clip of former chess champion come Presidential hopeful Garry Kasparov being interview by Bill Maher, a US political satirist.

Kasparov panders to the crowd a bit (it’s a satire show, after all, so fair play to him), but there’s some interesting stuff in there – notably his explanation of [...]

Read the full article →

Where Putin leads, the world follows

October 18, 2007

At a White House press briefing this morning, President Bush revealed his plans to follow Russian President Vladimir Putin’s example, and extend his autocratic rule of the United States of America:
Reporter: Mr. President, following up on Vladimir Putin for a moment, he said recently that next year, when he has to step down according to [...]

Read the full article →

How to handle President Putin

October 16, 2007

George Bush and Condoleezza Rice have been sharing with the press their views on how to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Bush, it must be said, seems to have a very clear vision. Condoleezza Rice, on the other hand, got herself into a terrible tangle trying to explain to journalists whether or not Putin’s plans [...]

Read the full article →

How to build a bridge across the Bering Strait

September 12, 2007

A few months ago, news broke (yet again) that Russia planned to build a tunnel under the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska. Well, it looks like a tunnel isn’t the only option on the drawing board. 
Engineers are also considering how they could build a bridge across the Bering Strait.  Or, to be more precise, [...]

Read the full article →

Reagan, the Duracell bunny

September 10, 2007

Evercell. The battery that powered Reagan past four Soviet leaders – Brezhnev, Chernenko, Andropov, and Gorbachev.

I miss Spitting Image. The world needs more satirical puppets.
Does anyone recall seeing the Russian Spitting Image clone? Was it any good?

Read the full article →

When it comes to planting flags, Russia has previous

August 13, 2007

Actually, that’s a slightly misleading title.  Pretty much every country in the world has planted its flag somewhere to stake its claim to some piece of land or other.  But the Russians of old – well, they had a slightly different approach…
Professor Basil Dmytryshyn, in a letter to the Wall Street Joural, writes:
[In] June 21, [...]

Read the full article →

Russian Tu-95 bombers intercepted over Guam

August 10, 2007

Wow – Russia really is starting to strut its military stuff on the world stage again.
Two Tu-95 bombers flew to the US island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean, paying a surprise visit to the US military base there. Shocked US pilots on the base were forced to scramble to intercept the Russian bombers.
The [...]

Read the full article →

Discussion: A New Cold War?

July 30, 2007

“A New Cold War” is the latest International Affairs Forum debate. 
“With talk of a new Cold War, and Russian President Vladimir Putin floating the possibility of aiming nuclear weapons at targets in Europe, how serious do you think the deterioration in relations is between Russia and the West? How should Western governments respond?” 
Among the commenters [...]

Read the full article →

Henry Kissinger in talks with Putin

July 24, 2007

Last week Henry Kissinger led a delegation of US political big-hitters on an extremely low-profile mission to Russia. Kissinger and his team met with Vladimir Putin and an equally matched Russian delegation – led by former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov - to discuss some of the more pressing issues in US-Russia relations.
Make no mistake about it – this [...]

Read the full article →

Russian Foreign Minister pulls Foreign Affairs article

July 22, 2007

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has decided to pull an article from the next issue of the US-published Foreign Affairs journal.
“As a result of the excruciating and sluggish exchanges with the editors, the likes of which could only be found in diplomatic history, it was decided to give up trying to place Sergey Lavrov’s article [...]

Read the full article →

Russian court orders Visa to process payments to Allofmp3.com

July 20, 2007

In an interesting ruling, a Russian court has ordered Visa to process payments to Internet Audit, the owners of Allofmp3.com.  This presents something of a problem for Visa, as Allofmp3.com has been declared illegal by another Russian court and shut down.
According to Internet Audit, the court ruled in their favour because:
“the decision on whether copyright has [...]

Read the full article →

Britain’s other diplomatic spat

July 17, 2007

As well as getting itself embroiled in a diplomatic spat with the Russian government over the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi and the expulsion of four Russian diplomats, the British government is on the verge of a major diplomatic row with the United States.  The Guardian reports:
A potential diplomatic collision with the US is looming over the [...]

Read the full article →

CNN takes fake $100 bill story, and runs with it

July 13, 2007

Remember the story I posted a couple of weeks ago, about a member of Putin’s advance party to Kennebunkport trying to buy whisky with a fake $100 bill?
Well, it’s hit the mainstream – big time. A (rather deranged, it must be said) CNN presenter, has decided that the money came right from the top:
“I [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries