JANUARY 2006

From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 1/19/2006 4:04 AM

      
[13.11.2005]
Erich Schmidt-Eenboom: „The downfall of Putin’s main domestic enemy has been a success of German foreign intelligence“

Erich Schmidt Eenboom is a well-known journalist and a recognized secret service expert for Europe, North America and the middle east. He is an author of numerous books to the topic, among them, “the Federal Intelligence Service Schnueffler without nose" (1993), “the Schattenkrieger. Klaus Kinkel and the Federal Intelligence Service" (1995) and  “Undercover. The Federal Intelligence Service and the German journalists" (1998), Also he is head of research institute for peace policy - Forschungsinstitut f?r Friendenspolitik (<ST1><ST1>Upper Bavaria).

He makes comments to Irina Borogan / Agentura.Ru / on very specific attitudes between the Russian and German secret services which have developed during Putin's presidential board:

- What’s your opinion about last spy scandal in <ST1><ST1><ST1><ST1>Hamburg when Alexandre Kuzmin representative of Russian consulate had to go home?  It is true, that chief of BfV personnaly visited chief of ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 1/20/2006 2:11 AM
North Caucasus: The AIDS Taboo

19-Jan-06

Ignorance and prejudice are fuelling an HIV and AIDS crisis in the region.

By Amina Visaeva in Grozny and Rinat Turabov in Derbent (CRS No. 323, 19-Jan-06)
Infection with HIV and the spread of AIDS in the North Caucasus is such a taboo that professionals fear the rising number of cases is just the tip of an iceberg.

In Chechnya, official statistics published in December show the number of HIV-positive cases had reached 560. This included 57 married couples, as well as 14 minors. The total number of women infected was 97.

Fifteen deaths from AIDS were recorded in Chechnya last year.

However, as doctors at Chechnya’s Centre for Preventing and Combating AIDS point out, this data is based on studies conducted among only 17 per cent of the population. That means the rest of the iceberg remains invisible and its size can only be guessed at. Experts at the centre estimate the real number of HIV-positive people ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 1/20/2006 2:48 AM

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Merkel shows break from Schroeder's ways

By DAVID MCHUGH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

BERLIN -- New German Chancellor Angela Merkel's flurry of trips underlines her break with predecessor Gerhard Schroeder's backslapping, personalized diplomacy, showing a more balanced approach that doesn't softpedal sore points.

Merkel returned to Berlin from Moscow to good reviews Tuesday in the German and European press.

One key element many noted was her effort to restore balance in the relationship with Russia and the United States. That meant not downplaying human rights with Moscow and getting ties back on track with Washington without ignoring European dismay over the treatment of terror suspects.

Merkel's meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday and with President Bush last week showed she was willing to raise disagreements even while emphasizing the need for a strong relationship.

In Moscow, she expressed Germany's concerns about the conflict in Chechnya and an apparent crackdown on non-governmental organizations - a switch from Schroeder, who downplayed such ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 1/20/2006 3:48 AM
20-January-2006
Youth movements playing increasingly important role in Russian politics
Political youth movements are playing an increasingly active role in Russia, compensating for the lack of a strong opposition in mainstream politics, an article by Pavel Dulman says in the newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The youth movements of political parties are increasingly drawing attention to themselves by frequently staging dramatic protests. Non-party youth movements are also growing in prominence and many see a Russian equivalent of the Georgian and Ukrainian revolutionary youth movements emerging from this sector. The creation of the pro-Putin youth movement Nashi, which has by far the greatest membership of all these groups, seems to be a response to this development. However, the author believes, the authorities' intention to use Nashi's sheer strength in numbers to demoralize other youth movements has backfired and it has in fact acted as a catalyst for increased cooperation between such groups.

The Russian party system is insufficiently developed - the president ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 1/21/2006 9:12 AM
From Monsters and Critics.com

Europe Features
Merkel`s new foreign policy
By Stefan Nicola
Jan 19, 2006, 19:00 GMT

KEHL AM RHEIN, Germany (UPI) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel`s debut on the international political scene has taken many by surprise.

Since she took office, Merkel, 51, has made trips to Paris, Brussels, London, Warsaw, Washington and Moscow, and the German media eagerly awaited her to stumble or fall, at least rhetorically. The shoes of her media-savvy predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, seemed too big to fill. Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany and tended to appear dull when facing a camera, was long believed to be incapable of standing up to the likes of Tony Blair, George Bush and Vladimir Putin.

However, since her election in November, she has voiced her concern over the situation in Chechnya with Putin, critiqued Guantanamo prison base in the White House, successfully dealt with two hostage crises and -- after just a few weeks in office -- helped broker ...
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