Latest Articles about Middle East
RUSSIA HIT BY A WAVE OF PROTESTS AGAINST GOVERNMENT BENEFITS POLICY
January 13 marked the fourth consecutive day of protests against the replacement of Soviet-era social benefits with cash payments. Demonstrations took place in cities across Russia, including Moscow Oblast, Izhevsk (the capital of Udmurtia), Kursk, Samara, Penza, and Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, where several... MORE
WANTED: COMPETITIVE IDEOLOGY AND ATTRACTIVE SOCIAL MODEL TO HELP RUSSIA RETAIN ITS CRUMBLING SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
The Kremlin's recent foreign-policy failures, particularly its inglorious defeat in the "battle for Ukraine," appear to have sparked a review of Russia's policies towards its neighbors in the post-Soviet space. Aware that Moscow is losing the geopolitical competition in the Commonwealth of Independent States to... MORE
RUSSIA’S PACIFIC OIL PIPELINE SEEN AS DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
Russia has long heralded its "strategic energy partnership" with China, yet Moscow has recently approved the Japan-bound East Siberia-Pacific oil pipeline. Now Russia is struggling to offer Beijing a sufficient consolation prize. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that China' state oil company, CNPC,... MORE
RUSSIA: DEMOCRACY DISMANTLED
No serious observer can dispute the fact that Russia is no longer a "managed democracy"; it is a bureaucratic-authoritarian regime. On September 13, 2004, President Vladimir Putin announced that the leaders of Russia's regions would henceforth be appointed, not elected as they had been for... MORE
RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY EXPERTS DEBATE STRATEGY FOR 2005
As the year 2005 begins, Russia's foreign policy strategy appears to be at a fork in the road. Most experts agree that the country's principal strategic dilemma remains unresolved. On the one hand, Russia aspires to join the "Western world." On the other, it cherishes... MORE
WHAT IS WRONG WITH ANDREI ILLARIONOV?
Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly wanted to have the last word about the year 2004. First he shifted his "traditional" lengthy press conference to December 23, and then he confidently insisted that the country is on the right course whatever question a bothersome journalist would... MORE
RUSSIAN OIL THROUGH BTC PIPELINE: A POLITICAL SCHEME OR ECONOMIC STRATEGY?
Speaking at his quarterly press conference, David Woodward, President of BP-Azerbaijan, surprised attendees with the announcement that BTC Co. shareholders, together with the British-Russian oil company TNK-BP, were considering the possibility of transporting Russian oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (Zerkalo, December 22). The independent daily... MORE
RUSSIA AND CHINA: DO OIL AND WEAPONS MAKE A MARRIAGE?
Russo-Chinese relations in 2004 were not all sweetness and light. Moscow's destruction of Yukos and preference for a Japanese rather than a Chinese pipeline in Siberia put severe pressure on Chinese oil supplies, because Yukos was China's main Russian oil supplier and Chinese demand for... MORE
HERO OF RUSSIA…
On December 29, President Vladimir Putin conferred Russia's highest award, the Hero of the Russian Federation, on Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow Chechen government's first deputy prime minister and son of the late Chechen president. According to the corresponding presidential decree, the younger Kadyrov was awarded... MORE
…AND SERVICES TO THE FATHERLAND
President Putin on December 27 handed out awards to a variety of officials, artists and other VIPs, RIA Novosti reported. Among the recipients were Chechen President Alu Alkhanov, who received an Order of Bravery, and Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov, who received a 4th degree For... MORE