TV hoax sparks panic in Georgia – UPI.com

Posted by Matt in March 15th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Off-Topic, Breaking News, Georgia, Georgians, Hoax, Images, News Report, Russian Fighter Jets, Russians, Saturday Evening, Sparks, tanks, Tbilisi, Tv Sets, Upi

Georgians turning on TV sets Saturday evening were greeted with what appeared to be a frightening breaking news report — state-owned Imedi TV said the Russians had invaded.
The report, introduced by a concerned-looking host, showed images of Russian fighter jets thundering over the border and tanks rolling toward Tbilisi. The host said Saakashvili had been [...]

Why Russia Wants Its Orthodox Churches Back – TIME

Posted by Matt in January 24th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Russia, Communism, Control, Czar Nicholas Ii, Decades, Grandeur, Mistrust, moscow, Opponents, Orthodox Cathedral, Orthodox Churches, Power Play, Russia, Russians, Soviet State, Symbols

Though not even two decades have passed since the Soviet state collapsed in 1991, the Orthodox Russians who came to France to flee communism say they’re starting to view Moscow with mistrust again. The reason: the recent move by Russia to take control of a dazzling Orthodox cathedral built in Nice during the reign of [...]

US nuclear arsenal a dangerous remnant – The Boston Globe

Posted by Matt in January 10th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Nuclear, 21st Century, Boston Globe, Caverns, Concrete Bunkers, Earth, Exquisite Landscape, Icbms, Men And Women, Military Officers, Missile Alert Facilities, Missile Launch, Northern Rockies, Nuclear Arsenal, Prisoners, Remnant, Russia, Russians, Targets, Young Men

AT MORE than a dozen “missile alert facilities’’ in caverns below the exquisite landscape of the northern Rockies, teams of young men and women spend 24-hour shifts in steel-and-concrete bunkers. They are highly disciplined military officers, but they are also prisoners to the past, condemned to carry out an earth-shattering mission that makes absolutely no [...]

Russia: Stuck in a Year of Events and Little Change – The Jamestown Foundation

Posted by Matt in January 4th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Russia, Approval Ratings, December 28, Democratic Freedoms, Dmitry Medvedev, Economic Crisis, Economic Reforms, Gazeta Ru, Human Rights, Jamestown, Jamestown Foundation, Levada, Opinion Polls, Present Day, Prime Minister, Reformers, Russians, Stalinism, Sudden Death, Vladimir Putin, Yegor Gaidar

Last year was for Russia both extraordinarily hard and very unlucky –but it saw strikingly little economic reforms and practically no political development. Opinion polls show that a significant majority of Russians (62 percent) consider it as worse than 2008, when the arrival of the economic crisis coincided with the war with Georgia, but the [...]

Social Unrest in Russia Due to the Financial Crisis

Posted by Matt in January 1st, 2010 | no comment

Published in Forecasts, Russia, Ban Ki Moon, Countries, Economic Situation, Electricity, Financial Crisis, Financial Reserves, Lay Offs, Lead, National Budget, Public Discontent, Public Panic, Russia, Russians, Six Months, Social Unrest, Un Secretary General, Unemployment, Unpaid Wages

UN Secretary?General Ban Ki?moon has warned that the financial crisis will lead to growing social unrest in countries across the world9. This is as true for Russia as it is for other countries.
Russians have become used to higher living standards, and the country’s worsening economic situation is beginning to see some public discontent, especially among [...]

Happy Birthday, Joe: Russia’s Rehabilitation of Stalin – TIME

Posted by Matt in December 22nd, 2009 | no comment

Published in Favorites, Russia, Anniversary, Happy Birthday, Leadership Qualities, Personal Attributes, Popularity, Purges, Regime, Respondents, Russia, Russians, Soviet Citizens, Stalin, Starvation, Summary Executions

What may be more surreal, however, is the resurgent popularity that Stalin is enjoying at the moment in Russia. Just in time for the 130th anniversary of his birth on Dec. 21, the state-run polling agency VTsIOM released a survey showing that despite the millions of Soviet citizens who fell victim to purges, starvation and [...]

Nuclear weapons: The modernization myth | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Posted by Matt in December 21st, 2009 | 2 comments

Published in Nuclear, Alliances, Big Mistake, Bottom Line, Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists, Chinese Leaders, Combat Readiness, Dangerous Period, Dangerous Trends, Decline, History Today, Joke, Kingston, Modernization, Myth, Next Five Years, Nuclear Arsenal, Nuclear Attack, Nuclear War, Nuclear Weapons, Ottoman Empire, Probability, Reif, Russians, Time Train, Underground Bunkers

Nice try Kingston Reif, but you are likely to get yourself killed and take the rest of us with you. Here are my thoughts:
1. It is not the that the U.S. is behind today, it is the trend that will put us close enough or within range in a few years. This trend includes the [...]

Don’t Hold Your Breath for a Modern Russia | The Moscow Times

Posted by Matt in December 8th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Russia, democracy, Innovations, Intention, kremlin, Long Time, Moscow Times, Political Modernization, Power Structure, Russia Moscow, Russian People, Russians, Time Don

In the end, Putin confirmed that everything in Russia will remain the same for a very long time. “Don’t hold your breath” should be the catchall answer to Russians expecting any kind of economic and political modernization or reform under Putin’s rule. Putin will return to the Kremlin in 2012 with the clear intention of [...]

Russia’s Putin – Mr. Fix-It | Foreign Policy

Posted by Matt in December 7th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Russia, Apartment, E Mail, Foreign Policy, Institutions, Million Questions, Odd, Pensioner, Problem Solver, Russia, Russian Prime Minister, Russian Public, Russians, Schtick, Spectacle, Text Message, Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin’s problem-solver schtick just shows how weak Russia’s institutions have become.
On Thursday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appeared in his eighth annual televised séance with the Russian public. More than 2 million questions poured in by phone, e-mail, or text message, and, for a record four hours, Putin fielded some 80 of them from [...]

Doku Umarov: The Man Behind Russia’s Deadly Train Blast – TIME

Posted by Matt in December 3rd, 2009 | no comment

Published in Russia, Terrorism, Attack On The Train, Caucasus Mountains, Central Russia, Chechen Resistance, Comrade In Arms, Deadly Train Blast, Doku Umarov, Express Train, Faces, Holy War, Intention, Islamist Group, moscow, Nationwide, Neva, Pledge, Radical Wing, Russians, St Petersburg, Targets

When Illyas Musayev heard that the Neva Express train had been bombed on Nov. 27, killing 26 well-to-do Russians and injuring about 100 others, the Chechen separatist was incredulous. He didn’t want to believe that his former comrade in arms Doku Umarov had kept the pledge he made in August to bring his holy war [...]