Window On Eurasia: Georgians, Russians Divided On What They Have In Common
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posted by eagle on February, 2009 as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Vienna, February 25 – Despite the Russian invasion of Georgia last summer, more than a third of Russians and more than half of Georgians say that the cultures of their two nations are close or very close, attitudes that might serve as the foundation for the development of relations in the future.
But if Russians and Georgians agree on the closeness of their cultures, they disagree on the basis for it, with Russians far more likely to talk about their shared history while Georgians overwhelmingly point to their common Orthodox faith, according to polls conducted by Russian and Georgian survey firms. And those differences are likely to prove more influential (www.romir.ru/news/res_results/536.html).
In reporting the results, ROMIR’s analysts said that “today Russian-Georgian relations are being subjected to a test that may be the most serious in history,” but they added that ROMIR and the Georgian Opinion Research Business ... >> full
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Window On Eurasia: Georgians, Russians Divided On What They Have In Common
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Vienna, February 25 – Despite the Russian invasion of Georgia last summer, more than a third of Russians and more than half of Georgians say that the cultures of their two nations are close or very close, attitudes that might serve as the foundation for the development of relations in the future.
But if Russians and Georgians agree on the closeness of their cultures, they disagree on the basis for it, with Russians far more likely to talk about their shared history while Georgians overwhelmingly point to their common Orthodox faith, according to polls conducted by Russian and Georgian survey firms. And those differences are likely to prove more influential (www.romir.ru/news/res_results/536.html).
In reporting the results, ROMIR’s analysts said that “today Russian-Georgian relations are being subjected to a test that may be the most serious in history,” but they added that ROMIR and the Georgian Opinion Research Business ... >> full
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JRL: Chattier Medvedev Could Be Testing Path To 'Real Power'
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
RFE/RL
February 23, 2009
Chattier Medvedev Could Be Testing Path To 'Real Power'
By Chloe Arnold
Copyright (c) 2009. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036
www.rferl.org/content/Chattier_Medvedev_Testing_Path_Real_Power/1497700.html
MOSCOW -- Sitting back in a comfortable leather armchair, a cup of tea perched on the table in front of him, Dmitry Medvedev reassures the nation that it has little to fear from the current economic crisis.
The television show, filmed in a room lined with expensive-looking artwork and leatherbound books, gives the impression that Medvedev is speaking from his own sitting room. It has echoes of the "fireside chats" used so effectively by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the height of the Great Depression.
"We have accumulated substantial reserves over the past five to seven years exactly in order to be able to use them in case the financial and economic situation got worse," Medvedev intones. "We are making changes to our ... >> full
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Window On Eurasia: Retired Russian Officers Denounce Regime, Call For Creation Of Self-Defense Forces
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Vienna, February 23 – In a move that may prove nothing more than a publicity stunt but one that could turn out to be the start of a far more dangerous trend, more than 500 retired Russian officers met in Moscow on Saturday to denounce the regime for “wrecking” and to call for the organization of independent forces to defend the country.
Such forces, of course, could be used to advance the corporate interests of the officer corps or the Communist Party, all the more so because the meeting which styled itself the All-Russian Officer Assembly, issued an appeal to officers on active duty and indicated by its language its close ties to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF).
On Saturday, 565 delegates, representing “veterans organizations” from all branches of the Russian armed forces, along with “invited guests from the republics of the near ... >> full
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Window On Eurasia: Was Start Of The Georgian War Linked To Russian Defense Reorganization?
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Vienna, February 23 – Georgia may not have known in advance, but Tbilisi could hardly have chosen a better time to send its forces into South Ossetia last August given that Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov began to reorganize Russia’s military on August 8 without waiting for the Duma to approve a new military doctrine, according to a Moscow defense expert.
In an expanded version of an article he published in “Sovetskaya Rossiya” last week, Anatoly Tsyganok, who heads the Moscow Center for Military Forecasting, pointed out that the “Serdyukov’s ‘reforms’ precisely corresponded” with the launch of Georgia’s military operation (www.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=1942).
“It is difficult to say whether they knew in Tbilisi that in fulfilling the strictest orders of Mr. Serdyukov,” Tsyganok writes, “the Main Operational Administration and the Main Mobilization Administration on the morning of August 8th began to shift their property into the headquarters of ... >> full
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