Window On Eurasia: Moscow’s Failings Transforming FSU From A ‘Post-Soviet’ To A ‘Post-Russian Space,’ Paper Says
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posted by eagle on June, 2009 as Imperialism
Paul Goble
Vienna, June 16 – Moscow’s failure to provide an attractive model for the former Soviet republics or to consider their distinct interests and its aggressive behavior toward many of them are transforming the Post-Soviet space into a “post-Russian” one, in which Russia will not be able to count a single state there as its reliable ally, according to a leading Moscow newspaper.
In a lead article published yesterday, the editors of “Gazeta” argue that “Russia is entering the stage of the final loss of influence in the post-Soviet space” because it has failed to take the interests of the other countries into account or offer them “attractive” economic and political projects (www.gazeta.ru/comments/2009/06/15_e_3210751.shtml).
What makes this editorial so intriguing is that it comes at a time when many Russian officials and commentators close to ...
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Moldova.org: Moscow Gave Far More Medals In Chechen War Than In Afghanistan
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posted by eagle on as Imperialism
Moscow Gave Far More Medals in Chechen War than in AfghanistanJune 15, 2009
By Paul Goble
The Russian defense ministry has named 322 of its soldiers a Hero of the Russian Federation for their actions in the two Chechen campaigns, nearly four times as many Heroes of the Soviet Union (85) that its Soviet predecessor handed out in Afghanistan, a product of the intensity of the Chechen war and of awards inflation in post-Soviet times. According to an article in the current issue of “Sovershenno Sekretno,” the Russian defense ministry presented 559 soldiers and officers with the title Hero of the Russian Federation between 1992 and the end of 2008. Of these, 322 were awarded to participants in the army’s role in Chechnya (www.sovsekretno.ru/magazines/article/2214). In addition to those in the military receiving this distinction, personnel from the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Ministry of Emergency Situations also were named Heroes of the ...
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FINROSFORUM: Lukashenka To Russians: “There Will Be Another Chechnya For You Here”
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posted by eagle on as Imperialism
 In Europe, we have one emerging international crisis which hasn’t so far got the media coverage it deserves. The tendency of Russia to use raw material supplies (oil and gas) as a political weapon is a well-known and documented phenomenon in Ukraine and the Baltic states. Now the former “big brother” is using financial blackmailing also against Belarus, where the autocratic dictator Lukashenka isn’t following his master’s voice carefully enough.
In the following three articles from the Belarusian Human Rights defenders’ web site Charter 97, which is a publication having admirable journalistic qualities.
The first article is an excerpt from the official organ of Lukashenka’s administration, “Sovetskaya Belorussiya”, in which Lukashenka describes his views on the conflict and his fear that Russia is creating another Chechnya in Belarus. The second article includes some analysis of the cost of Russia ... >> full
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RFE/RL: Former Official Says Moscow Punishing Ethnic Republics
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posted by eagle on as Imperialism
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June 10, 2009Former Official Says Moscow Punishing Ethnic Republics
KAZAN, Tatarstan -- A former regional official says the Russian Constitutional Court's directive this week to 11 of its "ethnic republics" ordering them to eliminate all references in their constitutions to "sovereignty" is an attempt to punish those entities, which enjoy greater autonomy from Moscow, RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service reports.
Rafail Khakimov, the director of Kazan's History Institute, served as political adviser to Tatarstan's President Mintimer Shaimiev and took part in talks on Tatarstan's status within Russia in the early 1990s.
He told RFE/RL that despite an attempt during Vladimir Putin's presidency to centralize the government, some ethnic republics are still resisting Moscow's policy to curb the federative nature of Russia and are fighting for more autonomy and trying to preserve their languages and cultures.
Khakimov said this annoys Moscow and that there has been "growing pressure on the [Tatar] language" and allowing an "ethno-regional component" ... >> full
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Window On Eurasia: Internet A Last Line Of Defense For Non-Russian Rights, Tatar Activist Says
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posted by eagle on as Imperialism
Paul Goble
Vienna, June 12 – A Tatar activist recently given an 18-month suspended sentence for articles protesting Moscow’s Russification policies, says that the Internet activists may have kept him out of jail and, given the government’s increasing pressure on other media, they are often a last line of defense for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in that country.
In an interview given to an independent Tatar journalist, Rafis Kashapov, a leader of the All-Tatar Social Center (VTOTs), explained that he has simply tried through his articles to attract the attention of society and the government to problems others have said less about (www.rupor.info/analitika/2009/06/09/lidera-oppozicii-v-tatarstane-osudili-k-lisheniju-/).
Among the issues he has raised are “the policy of Russification of national minorities, the restriction of the rights of Muslims, the deportation of peoples, fascism, corruption, drug abuse, alcoholism, ...
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