OCTOBER 2006

From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 10/20/2006 11:06 AM
Friday, October 20, 2006

EU United On Energy Issues Before Talks With Russia

Finland -- General view of a building where is the EU Tripartite Social Summit being held, Lahti, 20Oct2006
The venue of the summit, in the Finnish town of Lahti
(official site)
BRUSSELS, October 20, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- European Union leaders have affirmed their unity ahead of talks on energy relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit currently in the Finnish town of Lahti.





Before the summit, many observers predicted that divisions within the European Union would allow Putin to play member states against one another.

However, Finland's Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, speaking for the EU's current presidency, said there had been no discord among EU leaders.

"On energy issues, with Russia, we aim to build a close and legally binding partnership based on mutually balanced long-term benefits," Vanhanen said. "It's in the [European] Union's interest to persuade Russia to commit more strongly to the principles which have already been defined ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 10/20/2006 1:05 PM
Friday, October 20, 2006

Georgia: Ministers Expect Strong EU Message To Russia

Georgia -- 4 Russians and 1 Georgian citizens were accused in espionage for Russia, 29Sep2006
Russia-Georgia tensions increased after the arrest of four Russian officers
(TV screen shot)
WASHINGTON, October 20, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- After the arrest of four Russian intelligence officers last month, tensions in Russian-Georgian relations show no signs of letting up. Currently in Washington, Georgian lawmakers Giga Bokeria and Nika Rurua spoke to RFE/RL correspondent Heather Maher about the EU's recent criticism of Russia, Moscow's continued economic sanctions against Georgia, and the independence claims of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia.





RFE/RL: Were you satisfied with the final statement issued at the foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg on October 17?

Bokeria: Of course we're glad that after some delay there was a clear reaction on behalf of the European Union. We think that it shouldn't be the end of the reaction, I think it's important that there's a follow-up to ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 10/22/2006 1:32 PM
American Taxpayers Finance Disgusting Pro-Kremlin Radio Liberty
Publication time: Today at 21:41 Djokhar time
Radio Liberty became an instrument of dirty Russian propaganda.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Russian Service managers have expressed hope that the Kremlin will allow them to report and broadcast in Russia despite the Putin's' crackdown on local independent media and international broadcasters.

RFE/RL Moscow bureau chief, Elena Glushkova, said in an on-air Radio Liberty discussion earlier this week that her optimism is based on her belief in the common sense of the current Russian leadership. Maria Klain, Radio Liberty Russian Service director at the RFE/RL home office in Prague, also expressed confidence that Radio Liberty's future in Russia looks good. RFE/RL's broadcasts to Russia and other countries in the region are funded by the U.S. Congress through the independent bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).

These comments by Radio Liberty managers surprised and offended pro-democracy activists in Russia.

A most likely explanation is that RFE/RL managers do not ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 10/22/2006 1:36 PM
Vodka Leads To State Of Emergency In Russian Town
Publication time: Today at 07:34 Djokhar time

A state of emergency was declared Friday, October 20, 2006,  in the Russian town of Pskov after six deaths and more than 150 hospitalizations due to vodka drinking over the past month, reflecting nationwide  drinking that has soared this week.

Pskov mayor Khoronen also charged the local health committee with renovating, as soon as possible, the town hospital's trauma ward.

But in Russia the troubles with bad booze only begin in Pskov, located 600 kilometers from Moscow in the country's westernmost corner, near the Estonian border.

In the last few days alone, similar 'epidemics' of vodka hepatitis have killed 48 in five other Russian cities, spanning the entire massive country.

In Belgorod, near Ukraine, four people died Friday, bringing the death count in the latest bout of  alcohol-related poisoning to 43. In Irkutsk, on the shores of Siberia's Lake Baikal, six died this week. Another 220 are ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 10/22/2006 1:43 PM
Putin Like 1950s' Communist Boss, US Journalist Confirms
Publication time: 21 October 2006, 16:24

Putin is acting more like a Communist boss of the 1950s and '60s than the leader of an emerging democracy in his handling of the national energy industry, according to CNBC reporter Steve Liesman.

Interviewed after the Tuesday program he moderated here, Liesman said Putin, a former KGB supervisor, has dictated that the bandit state of Russia carry out one of the most indifferent, hostile policies to western oilmen in the world. "There will be a decline in the growth rate, but the price of oil allows them to have that indifference and hostility," he said.

Former Moscow bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, the economics reporter was unfamiliar with Russia's recent threats to rescind Royal Dutch Shell Oil Co.'s permits for the Sakhalin Project or its stand-off with Europe over natural gas supplies early this year, the West Texas Web site reported.

KC

http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/10/21/6063.shtml