Russia's muscle-flexing is dangerous posturing
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posted by zaina19 on August, 2007 as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 8/30/2007 3:46 AM Russia's muscle-flexing is dangerous posturing Leader Sunday August 19, 2007 The Observer The diplomatic atmosphere between Britain and Russia has been getting sharply chillier since Moscow refused to extradite the man Scotland Yard accuses of the murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko. There were tit-for-tat embassy expulsions. Now the BBC World Service has had its licence to broadcast in Moscow revoked. But this is a sideshow in a broader story of Russia's growing suspicion of the West and a tendency towards neo-Soviet grandstanding. President Vladimir Putin last week said that, in response to 'strategic threats by other military powers', Russian long-range bombers would resume their Cold War routine of flights around the world. Russian jets have also started testing Nato defences, 'buzzing' targets near US and UK bases. Russia is particularly peeved about US plans to deploy an anti-missile defence shield, supported by facilities in former Eastern Bloc countries. Moscow does not believe Washington's claim that the shield is meant to ward off future ... >> full
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Another Putin opponent may have fled to London
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 8/31/2007 12:36 AM Another Putin opponent may have fled to London Publication time: 30 August 2007, 12:14 Relations between Russia and Britain were facing fresh turbulence yesterday after a billionaire oligarch wanted by the Kremlin for tax evasion was reported to have escaped to London. Mikhail Gutseriyev - the former head of one of Russia's largest private oil firms - disappeared from Russia last week. On Tuesday a court in Moscow issued a warrant for his arrest. Last month Mr Gutseriyev stepped down from his oil company, RussNeft, citing "unprecedented bullying" by Vladimir Putin's government. Mr Gutseriyev - whose personal fortune is estimated at bn - accused the Kremlin of "illegally" forcing him out of business using trumped-up tax claims. Yesterday Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that Mr Gutseriyev had fled to London, apparently taking his billions with him. Quoting "unofficial sources", the paper said he had slipped past Russian investigators and gone to the UK. Mr Gutseriyev's whereabouts was unclear last night. But the case ... >> full
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Russia: Reading, Writing...And Religion?
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 8/31/2007 1:04 AM Friday, July 27, 2007 Russia: Reading, Writing...And Religion? Russia -- Students at a Moscow school, 19May2006 In four regions, instruction in Orthodox Christianity will be mandatory (file photo) (TASS) July 27, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Russia is deep in the summer doldrums. But it's only a month until children return to school, and in some cases, to a new subject: "The Foundations of Orthodox Culture." "I want to know about God," says Lyuda, a 6-year-old girl living in Kirov Oblast. "It's interesting for me." "If someone has an interest, it should be allowed as an elective course," says 17-year-old Lera, another Kirov resident. "Otherwise, I don't think it's an important subject. It's more unnecessary work." In Belgorod, Kaluga, Bryansk, and Smolensk oblasts, high-school instruction in Russian Orthodoxy has become mandatory. In more than 10 other regions, it will be offered as an optional course. Religious Resurrection It's a development that highlights the growing influence of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has come out from under 70 years of ... >> full
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To fight terror, enlist Muslims
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
To fight terror, enlist Muslims By: Omer Farooq The Pioneer Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007 Saturday's outrage in Hyderabad shows Government has failed to fight back terrorists and bust terror modules. A far better option would be to enlist the support of moderate Muslims to weed out those playing a dangerous game against the nation Just when rain-washed Hyderabad was getting ready for a festive season - especially the thousands of marriages that were scheduled for last Sunday, an auspicious day - it turned out to be a Black Saturday. The twin bomb blasts at two crowded public places during the evening rush hour have shattered the city's calm with 43 people dead and as many injured. The only saving grace was the timely detection of a third bomb; had it not been found and defused, it would have led to more bloodshed. This was the second major bomb blast in the city in the last 100 days. On May 18, a massive Friday congregation at the historic Mecca Masjid near ... >> full
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 8/31/2007 9:07 AM EDITORIALS : Politicized Prosecutor — The Boston Globe Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 Americans anxious about what can happen when prosecutors are subject to political manipulation need only consider the announcement Monday by Russia’s chief prosecutor that 10 suspects have been arrested for the murder last October of the independent journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of Kremlin abuses in Chechnya. After meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, chief prosecutor Yuri Chaika told the press the murder was masterminded by a Chechen crime boss. The detainees included police officers and a lieutenant colonel of the FSB, the successor to the KGB. Politkovskaya’s colleagues at the independent paper Novaya Gazeta, who had been pursuing their own investigation of the contract killing, said the arrests were credible. But they intimated that the prosecutor’s allegations about the motive and the ultimate responsibility for the murder might lack a factual basis. They were being circumspect. The prosecutor’s conspiracy theory was a transparently political piece of ... >> full
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