HavenWorks.com/world/russia !Search A-Z News by Date NewsStand

Russia News, Russian News, Russia capital: Moscow

CALENDAR

HavenWorks A-Z Accounting Art / Museums Books+ BusinessNews Censorship Comics / Links ComputerNews Consumer Dictionaries Directories Education Energy Entertainment Environment FIND Free-Speech Genealogy  Government.gov Guides Health Medical History Humor I.P. Intellectual Property Intelligence Labor Language Law / Legal >Law Enforcement Library Links Linux Maps Media Military Music & MP3s NET / WEB NEWS-STAND NoteWorthy Nuclear Opinion Parents People Politics Privacy Radio/ Online Reference Science & Tech Search/Engines >SpecialEngines Seniors Space Sports Terrorism Travel TV /Channels U.S. Vocabulary Weather Webcasting Women World	/ RUSSIA News: 20081217 Russia - Human - Rights - Politics - History "Rights activists denounce Russian treason bill: They say legislation backed by Putin is 'in the spirit of Stalin and Hitler'." ... "Rights activists Wednesday denounced new legislation backed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that would allow Russian authorities to label any government critic a traitor, calling it a chilling throwback to times of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin." ... "The bill, which is expected to become law, would expand the definition of treason to include damaging Russia's constitutional order, sovereignty or territorial integrity. That, activists said, would essentially let authorities interpret any act against the state as treason — a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison." ... ""It returns the Russian justice to the times of 1920-1950s," the activists, which included Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva and Civic Assistance director Svetlana Gannushkina, said in a joint statement." ... "Alexeyeva said a person who reports government abuses to an NGO — for example Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch — could be deemed to have harmed Russia's interests." ... "During Putin's eight-year presidency, the government has systematically rolled back Russia's post-Soviet political freedoms and that has shown no signs of stopping under Putin's successor and protege, Dmitry Medvedev." -AP via -MSNBC  20081105 Barack Obama - John McCain - Sarah Palin - Fashion - Money - Internet - Hacking - Federal - Investigation - 2008 Election - Technology - Politics - US - Russia - China "Hackers and Spending Sprees." ... "The computer systems of both the [2008 Election Presidential Candidates] Obama and McCain campaigns were victims of a sophisticated cyberattack by an unknown "foreign entity," prompting a federal investigation, NEWSWEEK reports today." ... "At the Obama headquarters in midsummer, technology experts detected what they initially thought was a computer virus—a case of "phishing," a form of hacking often employed to steal passwords or credit-card numbers. But by the next day, both the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised. A top McCain official confirmed to NEWSWEEK that the campaign's computer system had been hacked and that the FBI had become involved." ... "Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions—information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration. The Feds assured the Obama team that it had not been hacked by its political opponents. (Obama technical experts later speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese.)" ... "NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost." (1, 2) -Newsweek 20081020 John McCain - Illegal - Foreign - Money - Politics - Russia -  - Arizona - US - 2008 Election "McCain: Brother, Can You Spare A Ruble?" ... "... the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain campaign sought illegal contributions from the Russian ambassador to the United Nations." "The Russian Mission to the United Nations issued a bizarre statement to the UN press corps today stating simply, "We have received a letter from [Arizona] Senator John McCain requesting financial contribution to his Presidential campaign. In this connection we would like to reiterate that Russian officials, the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations or the Russian Government do not finance political activity in foreign countries."" "Intrigued, I called the Russian Mission and a press officer there directed me to this item on the Mission's website. It seems that the McCain-Palin campaign sent a generic fundraising letter to Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly I Churkin." "Accepting foreign money is, of course, against the law. The McCain campaign was, in effect, asking the Russian ambassador for an illegal campaign contribution." ... "Russian officials don't believe the McCain campaign was deliberately asking for an illegal donation." -By Steve Benen -WashingtonMonthly.com 20081015 Sarah Palin - Russia - Alaska - Energy - Markets - US - 2008 Election "Palin unaware of Russian energy meeting in Alaska." ... "The campaign of [Republican] vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said the Alaska governor was unaware of a visit by Russian energy officials to Anchorage [Alaska] on Monday." ... "Eight high-level officials from Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy conglomerate, traveled to Anchorage earlier this week to meet with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the chief executive of ConocoPhillips to discuss energy projects and the possibility of expanding into new markets." ... "But the campaign said the governor did not know that the Gazprom delegation was meeting with the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, who is a Palin appointee." -By Peter Hamby -CNN 20080918 Sarah Palin - Chuck Hagel - John McCain - Nebraska - Alaska - US- International - Russia - 2008 Election "[Republican Senator] Sen. Hagel doubts Palin's ready." ... "[Nebraska Republican Senator] Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is the nation's most prominent Republican officeholder to publicly question whether Sarah Palin has the experience to serve as president." ... ""She doesn't have any foreign policy credentials," Hagel said Wednesday in an interview. "You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything."" ... "Palin was elected governor of Alaska in 2006 and before that was the mayor of a small town." ... "The McCain campaign has cited the proximity of Alaska to Russia as evidence of her international experience." ... "Hagel scoffed at that notion." ... ""I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,'" he said. "That kind of thing is insulting to the American people."" ... ""I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States," Hagel said." -By Joseph Morton -World-Herald 20080915 John McCain - Sarah Palin - Federal - Money - Politics - Immigration - Religion - US - Alaska - Russia - Iraq - Military - 2008 Election "John McCain's Journey From Maverick to Liar." ... "When Jon Stewart asked [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain last year, "Are you going into crazy base world?" the celebrated maverick acknowledged, "I'm afraid so."" ... "McCain flip-flopped on the [Republican President] Bush tax cuts. He abandoned immigration reform. He reached out to Jerry Falwell and other religious conservatives." ... "It wasn't enough. And so, in a move that even one of his longtime advisers conceded (in a remark captured by an open microphone) was disturbingly "cynical," McCain gave the base [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin." ... "So far, the main "maverick" actions that McCain has promised as the next Republican president are to trim nonmilitary Democratic spending and continue the Iraq war. You can't get more conventional than that." ... "And even that message has been somewhat undermined by disclosures that Palin was a champion of those costly federal earmark projects she has lobbied for in Alaska—where, you know, you can see Russia." ... "At this point, McCain has taken the obvious way out—launching a series of distracting attacks on [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama, with slim regard for truth." ... "The ads have spurred a backlash, the consequences (or lack) of which may well decide the election." ... "For 18 months, Obama has wagered all his chips on the (quaint? idealistic? brilliant?) idea that the American people are tired of the same old sleazy and divisive politics. McCain has now chosen to bet against him." ... "And we are the cards." -By John Aloysius Farrell -usnews.com 20080813 John McCain - Randy Scheunemann - Money - Politics - Georgia - Russia - Military - Arizona - US - 2008 Election "While Aide Advised McCain, His Firm Lobbied for Georgia: Campaign Dismisses Timing of Phone Call, Contract." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's top foreign policy adviser prepped his boss for an April 17 phone call with the president of Georgia and then helped the presumptive Republican presidential nominee prepare a strong statement of support for the fledgling republic." ... "The day of the call, a lobbying firm partly owned by the adviser, Randy Scheunemann, signed a $200,000 contract to continue providing strategic advice to the Georgian government in Washington." ... "The McCain campaign said Georgia's lobbying contract with Orion Strategies had no bearing on the candidate's decision to speak with President Mikheil Saakashvili and did not influence his statement. "The Embassy of Georgia requested the call," said campaign spokesman Brian Rogers." ... "But ethics experts have raised concerns about former lobbyists for foreign governments providing advice to presidential candidates about those same countries. "The question is, who is the client? Is the adviser loyal to income from a foreign client, or is he loyal to the candidate he is working for now?" said James Thurber, a lobbying expert at American University. "It's dangerous if you're getting advice from people who are very close to countries on one side or another of a conflict."" ... "For months while McCain's presidential campaign was gearing up, Scheunemann held dual roles, advising the candidate on foreign policy while working as Georgia's lobbyist. Between Jan. 1, 2007, and May 15, 2008, the campaign paid Scheunemann nearly $70,000 to provide foreign policy advice. During the same period, the government of Georgia paid his firm $290,000 in lobbying fees." ... "Since 2004, Orion has collected $800,000 from the government of Georgia." -By Matthew Mosk and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum with contributions by Alice Crites -WashingtonPost John McCain - Randy Scheunemann - Politics - Georgia - Russia - Taiwan - Macedonia- Romania - Latvia - US - Law - 2008 Election "McCain adviser got money from Georgia." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's chief foreign policy adviser and his business partner lobbied the senator or his staff on 49 occasions in a 3 1/2-year span while being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the government of the former Soviet republic of Georgia." ... "The payments raise ethical questions about the intersection of Randy Scheunemann's personal financial interests and his advice to the Republican presidential candidate who is seizing on Russian aggression in Georgia as a campaign issue." ... ""Scheunemann's work as a lobbyist poses valid questions about McCain's judgment in choosing someone who — and whose firm — are paid to promote the interests of other nations," said New York University law professor Stephen Gillers. "So one must ask whether McCain is getting disinterested advice, at least when the issues concern those nations."" ... ""If McCain wants advice from someone whose private interests as a once and future lobbyist may affect the objectivity of the advice, that's his choice to make."" ... "Scheunemann's firm lobbied McCain's office on four bills and resolutions regarding Georgia, with McCain as a co-sponsor or supporter of all of them." ... "In addition to the 49 contacts with McCain or his staff regarding Georgia, Scheunemann's firm has lobbied the senator or his aides on at least 47 occasions since 2001 on behalf of the governments of Taiwan and Macedonia, which each paid Scheunemann and his partner Mike Mitchell over half a million dollars; Romania, which paid over $400,000; and Latvia, which paid nearly $250,000." -By Pete Yost -AP via -Yahoo Georgia - Russia - EU - Belgium - France - Military - History "Georgia Says Russian Troops Move Beyond Conflict Zone (Update2)." ... "Georgia accused Russia of sending troops beyond the South Ossetia [Republic of Georgia region] conflict zone in violation of a cease-fire. A Russian official denied the claim, saying the troops are eliminating Georgia's ability to renew attacks." ... "Georgian Security Council chief Kakha Lomaia said a column of Russian troops may be moving from the city of Gori [Republic of Georgia] toward the Uplistsikhe military base, which Georgian forces abandoned earlier in the conflict. The Russians are advancing ``well beyond the conflict zone,'' he said today." ... "The Russian troop movements come one day after Georgia and Russia agreed to a European Union-brokered peace plan to end five days of fighting. EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels [the capital of Belgium and the European Union] to push the peace deal forward. The 27-nation bloc may send military personnel to monitor the cease-fire, said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country brokered the accord." ... "Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russian tanks continue to operate within Georgia, destroying ``infrastructure,'' as Russia said it was responding to sporadic attacks by Georgian snipers while observing the terms of a cease-fire declared by [Russian] President Dmitry Medvedev." ... "Medvedev ordered a halt to the military campaign, which was sparked by fighting between Georgia and South Ossetia on Aug. 7. Saakashvili said Russia launched a ``well-planned invasion'' of Georgia the next day. Nogovitsyn said Georgia planned its incursion into South Ossetia in advance and expected to meet resistance only from Ossetian forces and the 588 Russian peacekeepers deployed in the region." ... "South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgian control in wars in the early 1990s and Russian forces have been stationed as peacekeepers in the regions under a Commonwealth of Independent States mandate. Most people living in both regions have Russian passports. Saakashvili yesterday said Georgia is quitting the CIS, a loose association of all former Soviet republics except the three Baltic states. " -By Henry Meyer and Lucian Kim -Bloomberg 20080714 John McCain - Czech Republic - Slovakia - History - Russia - Energy - Military - Phoenix - Arizona - US - 2008 Election - Politics "Note to McCain: Czechoslovakia doesn’t exist anymore." ... "This is almost certainly going to sound nitpicky, if not actually petty, but bear with me. It’s not unreasonable to note that [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain continues to make references to a country that doesn’t exist." ... "At a press conference in Phoenix [Arizona] today, for example, McCain referenced Czechoslovakia. Again." "“I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia. Apparently that is in reaction to the Czech’s agreement with us concerning missile defense, and again some of the Russian now announcement they are now retargeting new targets, something they abandoned at the end of the Cold War, is also a concern. So we see the tensions between Russia and their neighbors, as well as Russia and the United States are somewhat increasing.”" "On first blush, this sounds like more antagonistic rhetoric towards Russia — which McCain wants to kick out of the G8 — which isn’t especially helpful." ... "But more importantly, Russia can’t “reduce energy supplies to Czechoslovakia.” Czechoslovakia, of course, doesn’t exist. It split into two countries more than 15 years ago. McCain has actually been to the Czech Republic and Slovakia since they became independent countries, and he’s met with their leaders." ... "First, as Greg Sargent noted, McCain has made this same mistake more than once during the campaign. About three months ago, McCain vowed to “work closely with Czechoslovakia” on missile defense. Last fall, during a Republican debate, McCain said: “The first thing I would do is make sure that we have a missile defense system in place in Czechoslovakia and Poland, and I don’t care what his objections are to it.”" ... "Second, before Republicans condemn Dems for being picky on this, let’s not forget that in the 2000 campaign, when McCain also screwed up Czechoslovakia, it was none other than [Republican] George W. Bush who said it deserved to be a campaign issue: “A guy gets up and quizzes me [on world leaders] … but John McCain says something about the ‘ambassador to Czechoslovakia.’ Well, I know there is no Czechoslovakia [there’s a Czech Republic and a Slovakia], but yet it didn’t make the nightly national news." ... "But the raison d’etre of John McCain’s entire presidential campaign is the notion that he’s an expert on foreign policy, thanks to his decades of experience as a Washington insider. When the foreign policy expert keeps referencing a non-existent country, it’s not unreasonable to mention that maybe his expertise isn’t quite as impressive as his campaign and the political media establishment would like us to believe." ... "McCain, meanwhile, makes mistakes like this all the time, almost always with no media scrutiny at all.” -By Steve Benen -TheCarpetbaggerReport.com 20080613 John McCain - Rick Davis - Foreign - Money- Politician - Law - Ukraine - Russia - US - 2008 Election "Alleged Russia Ties Entangle McCain Campaign Manager." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's presidential campaign is blasting a New York Times report suggesting that the candidate may have known since 2005 that his campaign manager's [lobbying] firm worked for a Kremlin[citadel in Moscow, Russia's capital]-backed politician." ... "The McCain campaign is strongly denying the paper's reporting that in 2005, a White House National Security Council staffer called John McCain's Senate office to complain that Rick Davis' lobbying firm was "undercutting American policy on Ukraine" by representing a Kremlin-backed politician [Ukrainian politician Viktor Yanukovich]." ... "If the account of the NSC [National Security Council] staffer's call is true, it suggests McCain should have known about the work by Davis' business -- but installed him as campaign manager anyway." ... "The story also raises the possibility that Davis' firm may have violated the anti-espionage Foreign Agents Registration Act, by failing to register work for Yanukovich with the [United States] U.S. government." -By Justin Rood -ABCNEWS.com 20080612 John McCain - Rick Davis - Paul J Manafort Jr - Foreign - Money - Politicians - Russia - Ukraine - Military - Intelligence - Legislation - History - Germany - US - New York - 2008 Election "Lawmakers Seek to Close Foreign Lobbyist Loopholes." ... "Loopholes that lobbyists for foreign clients sometimes use to keep their activities under wraps would be closed under legislation that two Democratic senators are expected to offer on Thursday." ... "“The idea you could lobby an American citizen and that it would not be disclosed is really very troubling,” [New York Democratic Senator Charles] Mr. Schumer said in a telephone interview." ... "The issue of foreign lobbying has flared up in the current presidential campaign because of past dealings abroad by several former lobbyists working for Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee." ... "For instance, a lobbying firm owned by Rick Davis, the McCain campaign manager, has worked in recent years for a Ukraine politician, Viktor Yanukovich. Both Mr. McCain and the [Republican President] Bush administration supported the opponent of Mr. Yanukovich, who had close ties to Vladimir V. Putin, then the president of Russia and now prime minister." ... "During this time, however, Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, never registered as a lobbyist for Mr. Yanukovich even though Paul Manafort, Mr. Davis’s business partner, had met with the United States ambassador in Kiev [Ukraine's capital] on Mr. Yanukovich’s behalf." ... "In a related development, Mr. McCain may have first become aware of Davis Manafort’s activities in Ukraine as far back as 2005. At that time, a staff member at the National Security Council called Mr. McCain’s Senate office to complain that Mr. Davis’s lobbying firm was undercutting American foreign policy in Ukraine, said a person with direct knowledge of the phone call who spoke on condition of anonymity." ... "Such a call might mean that Mr. McCain has been long aware of Mr. Davis’s foreign clients." ... "The current law governing foreign lobbying, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, requires those representing a foreign government or foreign officials in the United States to inform the Department of Justice. The act does not cover meetings abroad with United States officials." ... "The law was enacted in the late 1930s in an effort to flush out Nazi propagandists working in the United States. As a result, several experts have said, the law is outdated and fails to reflect the current global nature of lobbying. " -By Barry Meier -NYTimes 20080525 John McCain - Rick Davis - Criminal - Government - Money - Politics - Foreign - Military - Satellite - Imagery - Technology - Israel - Ukraine - Russia - Switzerland - Arizona - US - 2008 Election - "Lobbying labyrinth in McCain camp." ... "Rick Davis, the manager of [Arizona Republican] Senator John McCain's [2008 Election] presidential campaign, is a typical Washington insider in many ways, having long worked as both a lobbyist and a political operative along the intersection of politics, policy and money." ... "Take Davis's involvement with one of his lesser-known lobbying clients, an Israeli company, Imagesat, which sells satellite imagery. Along with lobbying for it, Davis became a consultant to a private investment firm that had a financial stake in it. That connection opened the door for him to get in on the ground floor of other investments made by the firm, Pegasus Capital Advisors." ... "... Davis's business partner, Paul Manafort [of the Davis Manafort lobbying firm], has met with the United States ambassador in Ukrain    e, a time when he was advising Viktor Yanukovich, that country's onetime prime minister, a State Department official said. Yanukovich's party was opposed by both the [Republican President] Bush administration and McCain because it was closely tied to Vladimir Putin [Russia's former President]." ... "Davis Manafort received $120,000 from late 2004 to mid-2005 to lobby for Imagesat on both defense and domestic security issues. Davis and Christian Ferry, now McCain's deputy campaign manager, were the two lobbyists on the project, the records show." ... "Along with his work as a lobbyist, Davis at the time was also drawing a salary as the part-time president of the Reform Institute, a Washington group that McCain helped found to reduce "the influence of special interests" in politics and government." ... "In November 2005, Pegasus bought a stake in a company called Traxys, which trades in industrial metals." ... "In January 2006, just two months later, the subject of metals trading came up in association with a social meeting Davis helped arrange near Davos, Switzerland. At that meeting, first reported by The Washington Post, McCain met the Russian aluminum magnate, Oleg Deripaska, who has been barred from entering the United States apparently because of alleged criminal ties." (1, 2) -By Barry Meier with contributions by Kate Zernike and Andrew E. Kramer -NYTimes via -IHT.com  20080523 John McCain - Randy Scheunemann - Charlie Black - Money - Politics - Foreign - Russia - Macedonia - Republic of Georgia - Zaire is the Democratic Republic of the Congo - Military - Food- Indiana - Arizona - US - 2008 Election - Law - "Senior Aide's Lobbying Efforts Highlight Challenge for McCain." ... "For a decade, [lobbyist] Randy Scheunemann has been a campaign staffer to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain, an ideological ally in the fight to contain Russian power -- and a lobbyist seeking the Arizona senator's support for former Soviet states." ... "The lobbying group Mr. Scheunemann founded in 2001, Orion Strategies LLC [Limited Liability Company], has earned $2.6 million from clients for whom Mr. Scheunemann directly lobbied [Arizona Senator] Sen. McCain and his staff, Justice Department records show." ... "In March, as scrutiny intensified, Mr. Scheunemann, who is the campaign's top foreign-policy staffer, sent a letter to the Justice Department's office for foreign-client lobbying registrations saying he had stopped working for clients such as Macedonia and [the Republic of] Georgia. However, his company's contracts with those countries, worth a combined $240,000, appear still to be in effect. A spokeswoman for the Georgian Embassy in Washington said the country's contract with Orion is active. The Macedonian contract is listed as active in Justice Department records." ... "Charlie Black, a McCain campaign senior adviser, has represented foreign leaders accused of corruption and human-rights abuses, such as Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire [now the Democratic Republic of the Congo]. He ended his relationship with BKSH & Associates Worldwide this year. Outside advisers and fund-raisers for the campaign include Wayne Berman, a registered lobbyist for an Indiana food-packaging company that sells to the Department of Defense." -By Mary Jacoby -WSJ.com 20080519 Barack Obama - John McCain - 2008 Election - Montana - Illinois - US - Russia - Cuba - Iran - Military - Nuclear - History - "Obama Responds To McCain: "Strong" Presidents Aren't Afraid To Meet With Enemies." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama, in Montana, responded moments ago to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain's  ridicule of the Illinois Senator for saying that Iran is a minuscule threat compared to the former Soviet Union [now Russia]." ... "McCain said this revealed Obama's "inexperience and reckless judgment." Here's the key part of Obama's reply..." ""Here's the truth: the Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons, and Iran doesn't have a single one. But when the world was on the brink of nuclear holocaust, Kennedy talked to Khrushchev and he got those missiles out of Cuba. Why shouldn't we have the same courage and the confidence to talk to our enemies? That's what strong countries do, that's what strong presidents do, that's what I'll do when I'm president of the United States of America."" "Obama also said: "What are [Republicans] George Bush and John McCain afraid of"?" -By Greg Sargent -TPMElectionCentral.TalkingPointsMemo WATCH: "John McCain and Barack Obama Trade Blows on Foreign Policy." 20080517 Obama - McCain - Osama bin Laden - US - Iraq - Iran - Palestine - Israel - Russia - China - Foreign - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Politics - History - Illinois - 2008 Election - "Obama Strikes Back at Bush On Diplomacy." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama pushed back Friday against [Republican] President Bush's implicit criticism of his approach to foreign policy, condemning his administration for not capturing Osama bin Laden and blaming its Iraq war policy for strengthening and emboldening Iran." ... ""If [Republicans] George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting the United States of America, that is a debate that I'm happy to have anytime, anyplace, and that is a debate I will win because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for," the Democratic front-runner said." ... "At a news conference later Friday, Obama called it "disingenuous" to assert that he was not the clear target of the president's comments. Obama then used the exchange to link Bush's foreign policy record to McCain's stance toward the Middle East, and to outline the ways his own approach to the world's most vexing problems would differ from those of the current administration." ... "His list of grievances included a war fought on the premise of weapons of mass destruction that were never found, the failure to capture bin Laden and turning Iran into the "greatest beneficiary" of the Iraq war." ... "He said McCain will "need to answer" for a strengthened al-Qaeda leadership, Hamas's control of the Gaza Strip [Palestine], and Iran's ability to fund Hezbollah and pose "the greatest threat to America and Israel and the Middle East in a generation."" ... ""That's the Bush-McCain record on protecting this country," Obama said. "Those are the failed policies that John McCain wants to double down on."" ... "In a later appearance, Obama added that he is "puzzled" that the concept of meeting with controversial foreign leaders is a point of debate "when this has been the history of U.S. [United States] diplomacy until very recently."" ... "He pointed to [Democratic] President John F. Kennedy's meetings with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev when the United States and Russia were on the brink of nuclear war, and to [Republican] President Richard M. Nixon's meeting with China's Mao Zedong, "with the knowledge that Mao had exterminated millions of people." " -By Matthew Mosk with contributions by Perry Bacon Jr., Michael D. Shear and Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost Obama - McCain - Russia - China - Foreign - Military - Politics - History - Health-Care - Marketplace - Arizona - Illinois - Ore- US - 2008 Election - "Obama: Bush, McCain Should 'Explain Why They Have a Problem With JFK'." ... "ABC News Sunlen Miller reports: [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama went one step further today in his pushback against presumptive GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] presidential nominee [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain and [Republican] President Bush on appeasement, suggesting that both Republicans have a problem with presidents past who have engaged in direct diplomacy." ... ""If George Bush and John McCain have a problem with direct diplomacy, led by the president of the United States, then they can explain why they have a problem with [Democratic President] John F. Kennedy because that's what he did with [Soviet leader Nikita] Khrushchev, or [Republican President] Ronald Reagan, 'cause that's what he did with [Soviet leader Mikhail] Gorbachev, or [Republican President] Richard Nixon 'cause that's what they did with [Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung]," Obama said in Roseburg, Ore. [Oregon.] "That’s exactly the kind of diplomacy we need to keep us safe."" ... "Obama also blasted McCain's healthcare proposals during a town-hall meeting." ... ""Essentially his plan is we’re gonna dismantle the employer-based system and give everybody a tax break and then see if you can fend for yourself in the marketplace," Obama told the crowd. "He wants to give you the failed Bush health-care polices for another four years."" -ABCNEWS.com  20080508 Russia - "Russian parliament approves Putin as PM." ... "Russia's parliament has overwhelmingly voted to make Vladimir Putin the prime minister." ... "Putin's confirmation in the State Duma comes a day after he handed the presidency to his protege Dmitry Medvedev." -AP via -USATODAY  20080125 John McCain - Rick Davis - Russian - Crime - Money - Politics - Switzerland - Ukraine - Canada - Britain - Lawsuits - Ga - NH - Virginia - Arizona - 2008 Election - US - International - "Aide Helped Controversial Russian Meet McCain: Davis, Then a Lobbyist, Has Spurred Debate in Reform-Focused Campaign." ... "A top political adviser in [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator]  Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign helped arrange an introduction in 2006 between McCain and a Russian billionaire whose suspected links to anti-democratic and organized-crime figures are so controversial that the U.S. [United States] government revoked his visa." ... "Rick Davis, who is now McCain's campaign manager, helped set up the encounter between McCain and Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska in [World Economic Summit at Davos] Switzerland during an international economic conference. At the time, Davis was working for a lobbying firm and seeking to do business with the billionaire." ... "With a net worth of more than $13 billion, Deripaska is one of the richest men in Russia and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin." ... "When Deripaska met McCain, Davis was part of Davis Manafort, a lobbying firm that was being paid to provide political advice to pro-Russian and oligarch-funded candidates in Ukraine, according to interviews and news accounts." ... "Davis, who has been a political adviser to McCain on and off since 1999, was part of a lobbying firm that worked not only for Ukrainian politicians but also for telecommunications firms, a lottery services provider and freight companies." ... "Davis's firm provided political advice to a pro-Russian party in Ukraine during the parliamentary elections of 2006." ... "He [Oleg Deripaska] has been accused of shady business practices in lawsuits in the United States and Britain, and his multiple-entry U.S. visa was yanked by the State Department in the summer of 2006." ... "The first gathering that brought McCain and Deripaska together occurred in January 2006, when McCain was part of a congressional delegation trip. He and a small group of senators, including [Georgia Republican Senator] Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.[Republican-Georgia]) and [New Hampshire Republican Senator] John E. Sununu (R-N.H.[Republican-New Hampshire]), met for a drink near Davos, Switzerland, at an apartment where they were greeted by Davis and Deripaska. The group then went to a dinner at the ski chalet of Peter Munk, founder of Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold-mining company, based in Toronto [Canada]. Participants at the buffet dinner said Munk complimented his sometime business partner Deripaska during his brief remarks to the 40 or so guests." ... "Later that month, Deripaska wrote to Davis and his partner, GOP political consultant Paul J. Manafort, to thank them for arranging the meeting. "Thank you so much for setting up everything in Klosters so spectacularly," he wrote. "It was very interesting to meet Senators McCain, Chambliss and Sununu in such an intimate setting."" ... "The letter was sent to Davis at the Reform Institute, a Virginia-based nonprofit group that McCain helped start to promote many of his trademark reform efforts, including increasing the transparency of lobbying and campaign financing." ... "Davis was the institute's president from January 2003 until December 2005. During that time, he was also a registered lobbyist at Davis Manafort. The institute was located at the Davis Manafort offices until January 2006." ... "Seven months later, in August 2006, Davis was present again at a social gathering that was also attended by McCain and Deripaska, this time in Montenegro, another Eastern European country in which Davis's firm was working." (1, 2, 3) -By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and John Solomon with contributions by Peter Baker -WashingtonPost 20080117 UK - Russia - European Union - "U.K. Slams Russian `Cold War' Tactics, Shuts Offices (Correct)." ... "The U.K. [United Kingdom] accused Russia of ``reprehensible'' Cold War tactics that forced Britain's cultural promotion body to close its last two offices outside Moscow after ``blatant intimidation'' of staff." ... "Russia's actions are ``not worthy of a great country,'' U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband told Parliament in London [United Kingdom's capital] today. ``We saw similar actions during the Cold War, but frankly thought they had been put behind us.''" ... "The British Council shut its branches in St. [Saint] Petersburg [Russia] and Yekaterinburg [Russia], saying the Russian government had made it ``impossible'' for the U.K. cultural promotion body to operate." ... "The dispute inflamed tensions between Russia and the U.K., whose ties were already at a post-Cold War low since the 2006 murder in London of dissident ex-Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko. Russia also found itself at odds with the 27-nation European Union, which criticized the ``harassment'' of the British Council. " -By Henry Meyer and Sebastian Alison -Bloomberg  20071218 Iran - Russia - Fuel - Business - Construction - US - International - Military - Politics - "Russia starts nuclear fuel deliveries to Iran." ... "Iran passed a significant milestone in its quest for nuclear power status yesterday when it received a first delivery of enriched uranium from Russia, allowing for the completion of a long-delayed reactor at Bushehr [Iran]." ... "The head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, announced that 80 tonnes of fuel had been received, with further consignments expected in the next two months." ... "The delivery appeared to signal a weakening of the international coalition opposing Iranian nuclear ambitions which the US and its allies suspect are aimed at building an atomic bomb." ... "It also means Iran is just months away from having its first nuclear power station, after years of delays. The Russian contractors building the Bushehr plant, which will be used to generate electricity, say it could be operational within six months." -By Robert Tait -Guardian.co.uk 20071107 Russia - Lawmakers - Military - History - US - "Russian Lawmakers Vote to Suspend Arms Treaty (Update2)." ... "Russian lawmakers voted to suspend participation in a key Cold War arms treaty, seeking to raise pressure on the U.S. to compromise on its plans for a missile shield in Europe." ... "The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, today unanimously backed suspension of Russia's observance of the treaty, which limits the size of forces in Europe. The bill now goes to the upper house, the Federation Council, and then to President Vladimir Putin, who set the move in motion in July." ... "``Russia is threatening to withdraw from the treaty in response to the U.S. position on pressing ahead with the installation'' of the two missile defense bases, Masha Lipman, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said by telephone. The U.S. has tried to reach a compromise on the Treaty for Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, Lipman said, ``but Russia isn't in the mood to cut deals.''" ... "The treaty, signed in 1990, set limits on tanks, artillery and other conventional weapons in Europe." -By Patrick Henry and Henry Meyer -Bloomberg  20071012 Russia - US - Czech Republic - Poland - Military - Technology - Nuclear - "Russia urges US missile 'freeze': Russia has called on the US to "freeze" plans to employ missile defence facilities in eastern Europe." ... "After high-level talks in Moscow [Russia's capital], Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia saw the shield as a "potential threat" and wanted to "neutralise" it." ... "US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied any threat to Russia, saying she wanted both countries to work together." ... "Earlier, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin signalled he would not support American plans." ... "He urged Washington "not to force" a planned deployment - of a radar in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland - on Russia." ... "Mr Putin also threatened to abandon a key nuclear missile treaty which he said was outdated."" ... "President Putin said at the start of the talks that it would be difficult to remain part of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty unless it was expanded to include more countries than just the US and Russia." ... "The treaty, which limits US and Russian short and medium range missiles, was signed 20 years ago and led to the elimination of almost 3,000 Russian and American missiles." -BBC/News  20070910 Global - Climate - Science - Air - Water - US - Russia - Alaska - "Scientist Measures an Overlooked Greenhouse Gas." ... "Alaska scientist Katey Walter studies an aspect of climate change that has been largely overlooked: methane emissions." ... "Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, which means it is much more efficient at trapping heat. As a result, methane feeds into a loop of global warming." ... "Thawing Yields More Methane." ... "As global temperatures rise, permafrost thaws. Ponds and lakes form in the depressions left behind by melting chunks of ice in the ground. In the bottoms of ponds and lakes, bacteria feed on the carbon that previously had been frozen underground and burp it out as methane." ... "And because methane emissions from lakes haven't been carefully studied, scientists worry that projections for global warming could be far worse than currently estimated." ... "Walter, who teaches at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, says that methane is being released from lakes in the far north — Alaska, Siberia [Russia], elsewhere — at a far greater rate than anyone has estimated." -By Melissa Block with contributions by Art Silverman -NPR/News 20070818 Russia - Nuclear - Flight - History - United States - Iran - China - Global - Technology - "Russia resumes regular flights of strategic bombers: The missions, which had been discontinued in 1992, are seen as a signal to the West. The [Republican President Bush] White House downplays the action." ... "Russian President Vladimir V. Putin on Friday announced reinstatement of the Soviet-era practice of having nuclear bombers routinely make long-distance flights that bring them within striking distance of the United States and its allies." ... ""Today just after midnight, 14 strategic missile aircraft, with support and fuel planes, took off from seven airfields across Russia," Putin said in televised remarks. "Combat duty began in which a total of 20 planes are taking part. From today, combat duty of this kind will be carried out on a regular basis."" ... "Russian strategic bombers can carry nuclear cruise missiles with ranges of at least 1,800 miles." ... "Russians have been angered by U.S. plans to install an antimissile system in Eastern Europe. Washington says it is needed to defend Europe and North America, citing the possibility of missile attacks by Iran. Moscow [Russia's capital] has expressed fear that the move would be a step toward a global missile-defense system aimed at devaluing Russia's and China's nuclear deterrents, and that the system could be modified for offensive missiles that would be close to Russia's border." -By David Holley with contributions by Sergei L. Loiko, Bob Drogin, and Maura Reynolds -LAtimes	Russia Websites CIA World Factbook: "Russia." LOC.gov /rr /FRD /CS "Russia - A Country Study." "Travel-State.gov: "Consular Information Sheet."  "U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia." "Russia Country Information." "Background Note: Russia." -200111 USaid.gov "Russia." "Building Democracy in Russia." Russia Maps <Russia> in: <Bartleby.com> <Britannica.com> <Columbia> <Encyclopedia.com> <Infoplease.com> "Languages of Russia." -Ethnologue  UN NEWS Afghanistan News Australia News Burma News Canada News China News Colombia News Cuba News Djibouti News East Timor News France News Germany News India News Indonesia News Iraq News Iran News Israel News Italy News Ivory Coast News Japan News Jordan News Korea News:  _North & South Kuwait News Liberia News Libya News Mexico News Pakistan News Poland News Russia News Rwanda News Saudi Arabia News Senegal News Sierra Leone News Spain News Sudan News Sweden News Syria News Taiwan News Turkey News United Kingdom  _News UK News United States News Vietnam News Yemen News Zimbabwe News	Russia News Sources: Economist.com Guardian   Search Russia News: News Search <Russia> in: <AllTheWeb-[News]> <AltaVista-[News]> <Google-[News]> <MSN-[News]> <RocketNews> Specialty search: <Google's U.S. "Uncle Sam," .gov and .mil>  Search: <Russia News> in: <Google> <MSN> <Yahoo> Search: <Russian News> in: <Google> <MSN> <Yahoo> Russia Brought to you by the alphabet letter R R ;-)
..

20070817
• Russia - Georgia - Airplane - Politics - "Panel Hints at Russian Involvement in Fallen Missile in Georgia." ... "A panel of international military experts concluded in a report released Thursday that a missile found in a field in the Republic of Georgia last week fell from an airplane that flew from Russia into Georgia and then returned to Russia." ... "The discovery of the missile points to what would be the second firing of a Russian-made missile in Georgia this year. In March, a Russian-made, helicopter-launched missile exploded outside a Georgian government building in the Kodori Gorge, the only portion of the separatist region of Abkhazia that is under Georgian control." -By Andrew E. Kramer -NYTimes 

  ---

20070812
• Italy - Iraq- US - Russia - Secretive - Military - Money - Intelligence - Politics - "Italy probe unearths huge Iraq arms deal." ... "In a hidden corner of [Italy's capital] Rome's busy Fiumicino Airport, police dug quietly through a traveler's checked baggage, looking for smuggled drugs. What they found instead was a catalog of weapons, a clue to something bigger." ... "Their discovery led anti-Mafia investigators down a monthslong trail of telephone and e-mail intercepts, into the midst of a huge black-market transaction, as Iraqi and Italian partners haggled over shipping more than 100,000 Russian-made automatic weapons into the bloodbath of Iraq." ... "As the secretive, $40 million deal neared completion, Italian authorities moved in, making arrests and breaking it up. But key questions remain unanswered." ... "For one thing, The Associated Press has learned that Iraqi government officials were involved in the deal, apparently without the knowledge of the U.S. Baghdad command — a departure from the usual pattern of U.S.-overseen arms purchases." ... "Why these officials resorted to "black" channels and where the weapons were headed is unclear." ... "The purchase would merely have been the most spectacular example of how Iraq has become a magnet for arms traffickers and a place of vanishing weapons stockpiles and uncontrolled gun markets since the 2003 U.S. invasion and the onset of civil war." -By Charles J. Hanley and Ariel David -AP via -Yahoo 

  ---

20070803
• Canada - Russia - Denmark - Real Estate - Ocean - Oil - UN - Law - "Ottawa assails Moscow's Arctic ambition: 'You can't go around the world these days dropping a flag somewhere,' MacKay says. 'This isn't the 14th or 15th century'." ... "[Canada's] Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to defend his country's sovereignty over its northernmost territories yesterday after Moscow [Russia's capital] sent two submarines deep under the North Pole ice to plant a flag on the ocean floor." ... "The two deep-diving Mir mini-submarines were sent on their sub-Arctic expedition to bolster Russian claims to much of the area's oil and mineral wealth." ... "They dropped a titanium capsule containing the nation's flag on the bottom, symbolically claiming almost half of the planet's northern polar region for Moscow." ... "The Russians, meanwhile, are not the only ones eyeing the Arctic seabed." ... "The Danish government, which also has extensive Arctic claims because of its sovereignty over Greenland, scoffed at Russia's planting of the titanium flag capsule on the seabed." ... "Like Canada, Denmark is preparing its claim to the region around the pole under the UN Law of the Sea Convention." -By Gloria Galloway and Alan Freeman -GlobeAndMail 

  ---

20070715
• Russia - US - Politics - History - "Russia Suspends Arms Agreement Over U.S. Shield." ... "President Vladimir V. Putin, angered by American plans to deploy a missile shield in Eastern Europe, formally notified NATO governments on Saturday that Russia will suspend its obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, a key cold war-era arms limitation agreement." ... "The decision ratcheted up tensions over the missile shield plan, but also reflected a trend of rising anti-Americanism and deep suspicion toward the West here as Russia’s March presidential elections approach." ... "Russia’s suspension will take effect in 150 days, according to a copy of the president’s decree posted on a Kremlin Web site. That delay leaves open the possibility of further negotiation on the 1990 treaty, which resulted in a huge wave of disarmament along the former East-West divide in Europe." ... "Despite a Foreign Ministry statement that Russia would reject any limitations on redeploying heavy weaponry on its Western border, the Kremlin’s move is not expected to radically transform the security situation." (1, 2) -By Andrew E. Kramer and Thom Shanker with contributions by Judy Dempsey -NYTimes 

  ---

20070713
• Germany - China - Russia - Foreign - Military - Legislation - Telecommunications - Energy - Politics - "Germany in call to curb foreign buyers." ... "Pressure mounted on Thursday on Angela Merkel to enact legislation allowing the government to block investments by foreign state-controlled investors as senior conservative politicians warned the German chancellor about the risks facing Europe's largest economy." ... "Ms Merkel warned last week that large German companies could fall into the hands of foreign, and possibly hostile, states through investments by sovereign wealth funds and public-sector companies. Morgan Stanley puts the total assets of Chinese, Russian and Middle Eastern state-controlled funds at $2,500bn (£1,230bn, €1,813bn). By leveraging, these funds could finance acquisitions worth 10 times this [$25 TRILLION DOLLARS], the finance ministry has said." ... "Aides to Ms Merkel say she is concerned about a risk to national security if, say, parts of the country's energy infrastructure fell into the hands of investors guided by political rather than commercial imperatives." ... "According to several officials, Peer Steinbrück, finance minister, has come under pressure from his SPD's left wing to put selected sectors - from telecommunications and energy to banking - under special protection." ... "Left-wingers in the SPD also want the state to build blocking minorities in strategic companies by acquiring shares." -By Bertrand Benoit -FT.com

  ---

20070704
• Russia - US - Poland - Lithuania - Czech Republic - History - Maine - Politics - Nuclear - "Russians threaten to counter US shield." ... "Russia could site cruise missiles in Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania, if the US goes ahead with plans for a missile defence shield in central Europe, Russia’s first deputy prime minister warned on Wednesday." ... "The televised comments by Sergei Ivanov – a possible successor to President Vladimir Putin – came two days after Mr Putin proposed using a new radar station being built in southern Russia in place of a planned US radar in the Czech Republic. The proposal was made during informal talks with US [Republican] president George W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine." ... "Mr Putin warned last month that Moscow would once again target Europe with nuclear missiles if the US shield went ahead." ... "Formerly the German-speaking region of East Prussia, Kaliningrad became part of the Soviet Union after 1945. In the cold war it was a military base and closed to outsiders. After the break-up of the USSR in 1991, Kaliningrad became an enclave cut off from Russia." -By Neil Buckley in Moscow and Demetri Sevastopulo -FT.com

  ---

20070608
• United States - Russia - Azerbaijan - Poland - "Rice: US pursues own missile plan." ... "The United States will pursue its own plans to put a missile defense in Eastern Europe despite Russian suggestions to locate it outside the region, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Associated Press Friday." ... "Rice said Russian President Vladimir Putin's surprise offer to share a Soviet-era radar tracking station in Azerbaijan for the project had caught the Bush administration off guard, but that it was worth looking into even while missile defense negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic continue." -By Matthew Lee -AP via -Chron 

  ---

  
• Russia - Azerbaijan - US - "Nato wary on joint missile shield: Nato has reacted cautiously to a Russian offer to use a radar facility in Azerbaijan as part of a joint missile defence system with the US." ... "The alliance's secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, welcomed the proposal as a break with the "anachronistic" rhetoric between the two countries." ... "But he warned the system would probably be too close to the "rogue states" it is designed to defend against." ... "Russia's President Vladimir Putin made the offer at the G8 summit on Thursday." ... "Mr Putin presented his proposal to US President George W Bush as an alternative to US plans to deploy missile defences in Poland and the Czech Republic." -BBC/News 

  ---

  
• Russia - Azerbaijan - US - Poland - Iran - Nuclear - Military - "Putin surprises US with missile suggestion." ... "Vladimir Putin sprang a diplomatic surprise yesterday in his dispute with America over the siting of a US missile defence system in Europe, suggesting instead that it could be placed in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan." ... "The Russian leader, who raised the prospect of a new cold war with the west in his hawkish speech on the eve of the summit, claimed he had already secured the agreement of the Azerbaijani government to the proposal." ... "The US proposal for a missile defence system, including interceptor and radar, sited in the former Warsaw pact countries of Poland and the Czech Republic, has prompted fury in Moscow [Russia's capital]. Mr Putin has threatened to train his nuclear arsenal on Europe as a reprisal, as well as withdraw from arms control treaties." ... "But yesterday Mr Putin said he would drop his objections to Mr Bush's plan if the interceptors and radar were in the former Soviet republic. He argued that a system based in Azerbaijan would be more effective in combating missiles aimed at Europe and the US by so-called rogue states such as Iran." - By Patrick Wintour -Guardian.co.uk

  ---

20070607
• Russia - US - Azerbaijan - Military - Technology - "Putin's offer catches Bush off guard." ... "Mr Putin explained he had proposed the use of a former Soviet radar base in Azerbaijan as an alternative to the controversial missile defence facilities the US is planning to build in central Europe." ... "The offer raised the prospect of unprecedented military co-operation between the US and Russia and provided a potential solution to their bitter dispute over missile defence." ... "Three days earlier in Prague [Czech Republic capital], Mr Bush had invited Russia to "participate" in the US missile defence programme, as part of efforts to reassure Moscow [Russia's capital] that its ballistic missile arsenal was not the target of the technology." ... "But it is almost certain that outsourcing a crucial part of the US missile defence system to a former Soviet state was not what Mr Bush had in mind." -By Andrew Ward in Heiligendamm and Neil Buckley -FT.com via -MSNBC 

  ---

20070529
• US - Russia - Nuclear - Technology - "Russia tests new rocket to beat missile defenses." ... "Russia successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday featuring multiple warheads designed to overcome missile defense systems, the defense Ministry said." ... ""The RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile will strengthen the military potential of Russia's strategic rocket forces to overcome anti-missile defense systems and thereby strengthen the potential nuclear deterrent of Russia's strategic nuclear forces," the Strategic Missile Forces command said in a statement." ... "Russian military experts said the new missile launch formed part of a "highly effective response" promised by President Vladimir Putin to a missile defense shield which Washington aims to build in Europe to detect and shoot down hostile missiles." ... "The new RS-24 missile can be armed with up to 10 different warheads and is intended to replace Russia's earlier generation intercontinental missiles such as the RS-18 and RS-20." (1, 2, 3) -By Michael Stott -Reuters 

  ---

20070414
• Russia - Government - Police - Law - People - Journalists - Politics - "Russian Police Arrest Kasparov, Opposition Protesters (Update1)." ... "Russian police arrested opposition leader and former world chess champion Gary Kasparov today along with more than 100 supporters and several journalists at an unsanctioned protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow [Russia]." ... "Thousands of riot police swarmed streets around central Moscow's Pushkin Square, the historical focus of democracy protests, after the city's authorities pledged the same display of police force that greeted the last protest in the capital, in December." ... "Kasparov, who leads a loose coalition of opposition groups called The Other Russia, was arrested minutes after the rally was to begin, said his spokeswoman, Natalya Morar. The Other Russia hopes to field candidates in the nation's parliamentary elections in December and presidential election next March." ... "``We demand free elections, not imitations or farces,'' Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister who has turned against the Putin government, said in a brief speech at Turgenev Square, an alternative site that was sanctioned for the rally." ... "Opposition leaders charge that Putin is forcing Russia into a controlled system where the two main parties will both be supporters of the Kremlin -- United Russia and Fair Russia.-By James Brooke and Henry Meyer -Bloomberg 

  ---

20061018
• US - Russia - Weldon - Family - Government - Money - Law - Energy - Politics- Pennsylvania - "Weldon's Ties to Serbian Businessman Part of Probe." ... "Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade were surprised three years ago to be invited to a luncheon in honor of visiting Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa. [Republican-Pennsylvania]), hosted by Bogoljub Karic, a wealthy Serbian businessman who had been barred from visiting or trading with the United States because of his close ties to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic." ... "Weldon "was visiting solely because of Karic," whom he was trying to get off the U.S. blacklist, a former senior embassy official familiar with the visit concluded. "It seemed odd" at the time, because Karic had no obvious tie to Weldon's district outside Philadelphia [Pennsylvania], and Weldon should have known the embassy was shunning contacts with him, the official said." ... "What the embassy apparently did not know is that the Karic family that year signed a contract with Weldon's daughter, Karen, and a business partner that called for monthly payments of $20,000 for "management, government and public relations," according to a copy of the March 2003 contract. In all, the family paid Karen Weldon's firm $133,858 that year for efforts she undertook to set up a foundation for it." ... "Curt Weldon's visit and that deal are under investigation by the FBI, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the probe. His efforts to assist clients of his daughter's consulting firm in their dealings with the federal government are the focus of that probe, according to sources familiar with it." ... "Besides looking at Weldon's Karic connection, the FBI is examining the lawmaker's contacts with a Russian-managed oil and gas company, Itera International Energy Corp., the sources said." (1, 2) -By R. Jeffrey Smith and Carol D. Leonnig -with contributions by Lucy Shackelford and Madonna Lebling -WashingtonPost 

  ---

20061018
• US - Russia - Weldon - Family - Government - Money - Law - Energy - Politics - Pennsylvania - "Weldon's Ties to Serbian Businessman Part of Probe." ... "Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade were surprised three years ago to be invited to a luncheon in honor of visiting Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa. [Republican-Pennsylvania]), hosted by Bogoljub Karic, a wealthy Serbian businessman who had been barred from visiting or trading with the United States because of his close ties to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic." ... "Weldon "was visiting solely because of Karic," whom he was trying to get off the U.S. blacklist, a former senior embassy official familiar with the visit concluded. "It seemed odd" at the time, because Karic had no obvious tie to Weldon's district outside Philadelphia [Pennsylvania], and Weldon should have known the embassy was shunning contacts with him, the official said." ... "What the embassy apparently did not know is that the Karic family that year signed a contract with Weldon's daughter, Karen, and a business partner that called for monthly payments of $20,000 for "management, government and public relations," according to a copy of the March 2003 contract. In all, the family paid Karen Weldon's firm $133,858 that year for efforts she undertook to set up a foundation for it." ... "Curt Weldon's visit and that deal are under investigation by the FBI, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the probe. His efforts to assist clients of his daughter's consulting firm in their dealings with the federal government are the focus of that probe, according to sources familiar with it." ... "Besides looking at Weldon's Karic connection, the FBI is examining the lawmaker's contacts with a Russian-managed oil and gas company, Itera International Energy Corp., the sources said." (1, 2) -By R. Jeffrey Smith and Carol D. Leonnig -with contributions by Lucy Shackelford and Madonna Lebling -WashingtonPost 

  ---

20061016
• US - Russia - Energy - Weldon - Money - Law - Politics - PA - Florida - "FBI raids four homes, two offices in Weldon probe." ... "FBI agents investigating U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa. [Republican, Pennsylvania]) conducted six raids this morning - including at the homes of his daughter and a longtime friend." ... "In Center City [Pennsylvania], agents searched the law office of John Gallagher, a Weldon friend who has conducted extensive business in Russia and former Soviet Republics." ... "In Media [Pennsylvania], agents searched the offices of the public relations firm formed by Weldon's longtime friend Charles P. Sexton Jr., and the congressman's daughter, Karen." ... "Sexton and Karen Weldon formed Solutions North America in 2002, and won $1 million in contracts from two Russian energy firms and a Serbian family with ties to Slobodan Milosevic." ... "FBI agents in Jacksonville, Fla. [Florida], raided the office of one of the Russian energy firms, Itera, and a private residence whose connection to the investigation was not disclosed." ... "" -By John Shiffman, Mitch Lipka and Patrick Kerkstra -Philly.com 

  ---

20061013
• US - Russia - Weldon - Family - Money - Politics - Law - Pennsylvania - "FBI investigates Rep. Curt Weldon." ... "The Justice Department is investigating whether Republican Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania traded his political influence for lucrative lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, according to sources with direct knowledge of the inquiry." ... "The FBI, which opened an investigation in recent months, has formally referred the matter to the department's Public Integrity Section for additional scrutiny. At issue are Weldon's efforts between 2002 and 2004 to aid two Russian companies and two Serbian brothers with ties to strongman Slobodan Milosevic, a federal law enforcement official said." ... "The Russian companies and a Serbian foundation run by the brothers' family each hired a firm co-owned by Weldon's daughter, Karen, for fees totaling nearly $1 million a year, public records show." ... "Karen Weldon was 28 and lacked consulting experience when she and Charles Sexton, a Weldon ally and longtime Republican leader in Delaware County, Pa., created the firm of Solutions North America Inc. in 2002." ... "Spokesmen for the FBI and the Justice Department declined to confirm or deny that an inquiry is under way." ... "But McClatchy Newspapers' sources said the FBI only over the last few months obtained evidence suggesting that the congressman may have broken the law. One of the sources, a federal law enforcement official, said that Weldon had not yet been told about the inquiry." -By Greg Gordon -McClatchy via -RealCities

  ---

20061009
• North Korea - International - US - Japan - South Korea - China - Russia- UN - Military - Politics - "Outcry at N Korea 'nuclear test': North Korea's claim to have successfully tested a nuclear weapon has sparked international condemnation." ... "President George W Bush said the US was working to confirm the claim, which he branded a "provocative" act." ... "Japan and South Korea also condemned the test and even Pyongyang's closest ally China expressed its "resolute opposition", calling the move "brazen"." ... "Members of the United Nations Security Council have begun meeting in New York to discuss their reaction." ... "The size of the bomb is uncertain. South Korean reports put it as low as 550 tons of destructive power but Russia said it was between five and 15 kilotons. The 1945 Hiroshima bomb was 12.5-15 kilotons." ... "South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said it would be "difficult" to maintain his country's policy of engagement with the North." ... "He feared the move could "spark a nuclear arms build-up in other countries", although Japan quickly said it would maintain its ban on nuclear weapons." ... "If confirmed, the test would make North Korea the ninth country known to have nuclear weapons." -BBC /News 

  ---

20060731
• US - Iran - Nuclear - Military - UN - Germany - Britain - France - Russia - China - "Rice tells Iran to heed UN, or face sanctions." ... "U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Iran on Monday to heed a U.N. resolution demanding it suspend uranium enrichment by August 31 or face sanctions." ... "The United Nations passed a resolution on Monday which gives Iran until the end of this month to suspend its enrichment activities or face "appropriate measures" under Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which pertains to economic sanctions." ... "Rice said the U.N. resolution did not "close the door to diplomacy" with Iran, adding Tehran still had a package of incentives on the table presented by Germany and the five Security Council members with veto power -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China." -By Sue Pleming -WashingtonPost 

  ---

20060510
• Human Rights - Politics - China - Cuba - Pakistan - Russia - Saudi Arabia - Azerbaijan- Iran - Venezuela - "New U.N. Rights Group Includes Six Nations With Poor Records." ... "Six nations with poor human rights records were among those elected to the new Human Rights Council on Tuesday, although notorious violators that had belonged to the predecessor Human Rights Commission did not succeed in winning places in the new group." ... "China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, countries cited by human rights groups as not deserving membership, were among the 47 nations elected to the council. But in a move hailed by the same groups, both Iran and Venezuela failed to attract the needed votes." -By Warren Hoge -NYTimes

  ---

20060330
• Iran - US - Germany - Russia - China - France - Britain - UN - Politics - "Iran Defiantly Rejects New U.N. Demands: Iran Rejects New U.N. Demands to Stop Uranium Enrichment; Rice Says International Community United." ... "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday the "international community is united" in the dispute over its nuclear program, but a Tehran envoy defiantly rejected a U.N. call to reimpose a freeze on uranium enrichment." ... "Rice spoke after a meeting in Berlin among diplomats from the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany over ways to press Iran to stop enriching uranium, which can be used for weapons. Iran says its program is peaceful." ... "The meeting follows agreement Wednesday by the 15-member Security Council to ask the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to report back in 30 days on Iran's compliance with demands to stop enriching uranium." ... "Wednesday's statement from the Security Council took into account the Russian and Chinese reservations about too much toughness, while meeting U.S., French and British calls for keeping the pressure on Tehran." (1, 2, 3)-AP via -ABCNEWS.com 

  ---

20060223
• US - Russia - Military - Energy - Politics - Business - Jack Abramoff - Tom DeLay - "Abramoff ties to Russians probed: US inquiry widens to energy concerns." ... "The federal investigation into the lobbying activities of Jack Abramoff has broadened to examine his dealings with the Russian government and a pair of high-profile Russian energy company executives, according to documents made available to the Globe." ... "The subpoena seeks information about ties between Abramoff-related groups and a Moscow energy giant that is called Naftasib, a major supplier to the Russian military." ... "Investigators have asked for any information about Abramoff's dealings with two top Naftasib executives, Alexander Koulakovsky and Marina Nevskaya. Senior Naftasib executives helped arrange a trip Abramoff took to Moscow in 1997 with former House majority leader Tom DeLay, a longtime Abramoff friend." -By Michael Kranish -Boston/Globe 

  ---

20060117
• Russia - China - Iran - Britain - France - Germany - US - UN - Nuclear - Military - Energy - "Russia, China join pressure against Iran." ... "The five nations with permanent seats on the UN Security Council agreed at a crisis meeting Monday that Iran must suspend attempts to make nuclear fuel, but Russia and China stopped short of demanding that Iran be referred to the Security Council for possible sanctions." ... "The crisis was set in motion in August when Iran broke the IAEA's monitoring seals on the fuel-conversion line at its Isfahan plant, thus breaking its agreement with Britain, France and Germany not to make nuclear fuel. The Europeans, backed by Washington, referred the matter to the IAEA, which passed a resolution criticizing Iran but declined to vote on referring the matter to the UN." ... "That emboldened the Iranians to push the envelope a bit further. This month they cracked the seals on the uranium-enrichment plant at Natanz, provoking the Europeans to declare that its 2 1/2-year effort to find a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions had reached a dead end." (1, 2) -By Tom Hundley and Alex Rodriguez -ChicagoTribune

  ---

20060104
• Russia - Ukraine - Business - Politics - EU - "Russia and Ukraine reach gas agreement." ... "Russia and Ukraine reached a gas agreement on Wednesday after a damaging pricing dispute in which Moscow cut off supplies via the Kiev pipeline, hitting supplies to European consumers." ... "Alexei Miller, chief executive of Gazprom, the Russian energy company, said the five year deal, effective from January 1, would be based on a price of $230 per 1,000 cubic metres and would "ensure stable supplies to Europe"." ... "About a quarter of Europe's gas comes from Russia and up to 90 per cent of that travels through Ukraine." -Contributed to by Robert Anderson, Neil Buckley, and Sarah Laitner -FT.com via -MSN

  ---

20051230
• Ukraine- Russia - EU - "Ukraine rejects Moscow gas loan offer." ... "President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine last night rejected an offer of a $3.6bn (£2bn) loan from Russia to pay for a big increase in gas prices by Gazprom, the Russian energy company." ... "The move has provoked the biggest rift between the two neighbours since last year's "Orange Revolution" in Kiev. Mr Yushchenko has turned Ukraine towards the European Union and Nato and wrenched it out of Russia's orbit." ... "The dispute could cause shortages in western Europe if Russia carries out a threat to reduce the gas it pumps into the huge export pipeline that crosses Ukraine from January 1. By doing so, however, Russia would risk damaging its claim to be a reliable energy supplier, just as it takes over the presidency of the Group of Eight industrialised nations with energy security as a main theme." -By Neil Buckley -FT.com

  ---

20051229
• EU - Global - Russia - US - Military - Politics - "EU sends up 1st of 30 satellites in GPS network." ... "The European Union on Wednesday launched the first satellite in its $4.5 billion Galileo global positioning system, a bid to enhance the world's growing reliance on satellite navigation and to break the U.S. monopoly on networks in space." ... "Many Europeans see political significance in the project too: The world's only civilian-controlled system will give Europe and its partner nations self-sufficiency from the United States, which has warned it could diminish or cut off GPS satellite coverage to countries considered enemies in times of national emergency." ... "The launch comes at a time when Russia is moving forward with a positioning system known as GLONASS. On Sunday it put into orbit three new satellites for the network, which is scheduled to be operational in 2010." -By Molly Moore-WashingtonPost via -ChicagoTribune

  ---

  
• EU - Global - Russia - US - Military - Technology - "Sky-High Ambitions: Europe attempts to find its own place in the world of satellite navigation with the launch of GIOVE-A." ... "Europe has moved one giant step closer to operating its own long-awaited global navigation satellite system, Galileo, designed to challenge the domination of the U.S. military's GPS, or Global Positioning System." ... "GIOVE-A (or Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) will be testing new technologies — including atomic clocks, signal generators and user receivers — for what has been a dream of the European Union since the early 1990s: a wide-ranging navigation system that is faster and more precise than GPS, provides an uninterrupted service under civilian control, and offers a commercial alternative to the U.S. system and its Russian counterpart, GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System)." -By Maryann Bird -TIME.com

  ---

  
• Russia - Political - Business - "Russia threatens to cut off Ukraine's gas." ... "Ukraine's natural gas company declared Thursday that it has enough gas in storage to see the country through the winter if Russia halts shipments in a standoff over prices." ... "Russia's state-run natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, which provides about a third of the gas used in Ukraine, says it will stop selling gas to the country on Jan. 1 unless it agrees to a fourfold price increase." ... "Ukraine currently pays $50 (U.S.) per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. Gazprom is demanding that the price in 2006 rise to $220 to $230, saying that is more in line with world markets." -By Henry Meyer -AP via -GlobeAndMail

  ---

  
• Russia - Business - "Russia to significantly up gas imports." ... "Russia on Thursday agreed to significantly increase its imports of natural gas from Turkmenistan in 2006, buying 30 billion cubic meters at US$65 (euro52) per 1,000 cubic meters, the state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom said in a statement." -AP via -BusinessWeek

  ---

20051227
• Russia - Economics - "Outspoken Putin aide set to quit: An outspoken aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his resignation in protest against what he called the end of political freedom." ... "Economic adviser Andrei Illarionov said Russia was no longer politically free but run by state corporations acting in their own interests." ... ""It is one thing to work in a country that is partly free. It is another thing when the political system has changed, and the country has stopped being free and democratic," Mr Illarionov told reporters in Moscow."-BBC /News

  ---

20051226
• Iran - Russia - "Iran says it didn't get Kremlin nuclear plan: Deal would move enrichment to Russia." ... "Iran denied Sunday that it received a proposal to move its uranium-enrichment facilities to Russian soil, a compromise Europe is seeking to resolve a standoff over Iran's nuclear program." ... "Russia had announced Saturday that it sent the formal proposal to Tehran, which has insisted it would not agree to moving enrichment abroad." -By Nasser Karimi -AP via -ChicagoTribune

  ---

20051222
• Russia - China - Environment - Health - "Toxic leak reaches Russian city: A slick of chemicals from a toxic river spill in China has reached the Russian city of Khabarovsk after weeks of anxious waiting for residents." ... "Officials say the levels of the deadly benzene toxins were at acceptable levels and water supplies, which are being filtered, will not be cut." ... "The benzene spill into the Amur river was caused by an explosion at a Chinese chemical factory last month." ... "The explosion occurred higher up the Songhua river, in Jilin. The Songhua flows into the Amur river on the Russian border."-BBC /News

  ---

20051206
• China - Russia - Environment - Health - "Update 2: China City Rushes Water Plant Into Action." ... "A city of 480,000 people in China's northeast rushed a new water plant into operation as a toxic spill on a nearby river arrived Tuesday and the city was forced to shut down other water facilities for fear of contamination, the local government said." ... "The spill of cancer-causing benzene and related compounds into the Songhua River has disrupted drinking water supplies to millions of people in China, and a Russian city downstream is bracing for the arrival of the chemicals early next week." ... "There has been no indication that local Communist Party leaders, who are accused of initially trying to conceal the spill, might face punishment." -Contributed to by  Helen Luk -AP via -Forbes

  ---

  
• Iran - EU - France - Russia - US - UN - Politics - "Iran stays course on nukes: The EU has also drawn a firm line against allowing Iran to enrich uranium." ... "Iran says it is ready for "constructive and serious" talks over its controversial nuclear program, but Monday spelled out a bedrock position on enriching uranium that European negotiators deem "unacceptable."" ... "But just as Iran draws its red line, Europeans are sticking to theirs, insisting that no enrichment can take place in Iran." ... "France's foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, expressed dismay at Iran's stance Monday, saying that its insistence on enriching uranium was a "unilateral" rejection of a Russian proposal to resolve the standoff." ... "The Europeans and the US will support action against Iran by the UN Security Council unless there is compromise over what they see as a proliferation risk. But on Saturday, Iran approved a bill that would halt international inspections of its atomic facilities if Iran were taken before the Security Council." -By Scott Peterson -CSMonitor 

  ---

  
• Kazakhstan - Russia - China - United States - Oil - "Foes call Kazakh poll invalid: Observers also see flaws in figures." ... "Opposition leaders yesterday called for President Nursultan Nazarbayev's election victory to be declared invalid, while Western-led observers said the vote that gave him 91 percent support was flawed." ... "An array of exit polls had indicated Nazarbayev would win with 70 to 80 percent of the vote." ... "Kazakhstan, which is four times the size of Texas and borders both Russia and China, has vast oil and gas reserves that are a potential alternative to Middle East petroleum, and its stability matters greatly to the United States and Western Europe." -By Jim Heintz -AP via -BostonGlobe

  ---

  
• Russia - Civil Liberties - Intelligence - Politics - "Russia reins in 'foreign influence': The legislature wants to tighten state control of 450,000 civic groups." ... "The headquarters for Open Russia in downtown Moscow was known as "The Citadel" for its turreted Gothic facade." ... "But these days a real bunker mentality prevails inside the civic education center founded by now-imprisoned oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Like many other Russian nonprofit groups involved with public policy issues, it faces possible closure under new legislation that goes before the Duma next week." ... ""I don't want to be a Cassandra, but I fear the entire nonprofit sector in Russia is facing dark times," says Irina Yasina, the center's program director. "There is spy mania in Russia, and they are specially scrutinizing any organization that has foreign funding."" ... "All of Russia's estimated 450,000 civic groups - from community sports clubs to charities and nationwide human rights movements - will need to re-register next year with a special state agency. The sweeping amendments to Russia's law on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), approved by a Duma majority last month, would add up to levels of state control not seen since Soviet times." (1, 2) -By Fred Weir -CSMonitor 

  ---

20051114
• US - Russia - World - Religious - Terrorism - "US faulted on handling nuclear threat." ... "The U.S. government is not doing enough to protect nuclear weapons from terrorists and its handling of terrorism suspects is undermining America's image in the Muslim world, members of a commission that investigated the September 11 attacks said on Monday." ... "Although President George W. Bush calls arms proliferation the country's biggest threat and al Qaeda has sought nuclear weapons for a decade, the former commission's chairman Thomas Kean said, "the most striking thing to us is that the size of the problem still totally dwarfs the policy response."" ... ""In short, we still do not have a maximum effort against the most urgent threat ... to the American people," he told a news conference, noting that half the nuclear materials in Russia still have no security upgrade." (1, 2) -By Carol Giacomo -Reuters 

  ---

20051107
• UN - World - US - Russia - "US and Russia back 'nuclear fuel bank'." ... "Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear monitor, said on Monday he had won commitments from the US and Russia for an initiative to create an international nuclear fuel bank." ... "The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said only such an international approach could resolve the problem of countries being able to develop a nuclear bomb through their own development of the fuel cycle." -By Guy Dinmore with contributions by -FT.com via -MSNBC 

  ---

20051105
• Azerbaijan - Russia - Georgia - Turkey - Iran - Energy - "Azerbaijan Braces for Election: Riots Threatened If Fraud Is Seen." ... "Flame licks the hills outside of this city on the Caspian Sea, spontaneous little eruptions jumping from the earth and testifying to the energy riches that this Muslim country with a large impoverished population is about to transform into billions of dollars in cold cash." ... "Between now and 2024, a new oil pipeline to Turkey will generate an estimated $124 billion, a bonanza for this nation of 8 million with a state budget this year of $1.4 billion." ... "Azerbaijan, a small former Soviet republic squeezed between Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Iran, is on the verge of an oil boom. On Sunday it will go to the polls in parliamentary elections, and the outcome, amid charges of strong-arm tactics and fears of vote-rigging, might prove just as pivotal to the country's future." -By Peter Finn-WashingtonPost 

  ---

20051028
• World - Iran - Israel - France - Russia - Palestine - Nuclear - Military - "World Leaders Condemn Iranian's Call to Wipe Israel 'Off the Map'." ... "In a joint statement, the E.U. leaders "condemned in the strongest terms" the Iranian president's call, saying it "will cause concern about Iran's role in the region and its future intentions." President Jacques Chirac of France told reporters that Ahmadinejad risked Iran "being left on the outside of other nations."" ... "Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Israel, called the Iranian president's statement "unacceptable."" ... "The statement was widely reported in the Arab world; leaders there reacted for the most part with silence. Most Arab countries have no diplomatic relations with Israel. But the Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said, according to the Associated Press: "We have recognized the state of Israel and we are pursuing a peace process with Israel, and . . . we do not accept the statements of the president of Iran. This is unacceptable."" ... "U.S. and European leaders have grown increasingly worried about the bellicose attitude of Iran at a time when it is pursuing a nuclear program that they have said may be intended to produce a nuclear weapon." (1, 2) -By Mary Jordan and Karl Vick with contributions by Scott Wilson and Robin Wright-WashingtonPost 

  ---

20051026
• Russia - Syria - United States - UN - MIL - Terrorism - "Russia says will defend Syria against UN sanctions." ... "Russia, Syria's close ally since Cold War times, will do all it takes to block any attempt to slap economic sanctions against Damascus, a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying on Wednesday." ... "Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, angered the United States earlier this year by announcing plans to sell advanced missile systems to Syria, which Washington has accused of having links to terrorism." -Reuters 

  ---

20051024
• US - Poland - Russia - Germany - "New Polish Leader to Maintain U.S. Ties: New Polish President Will Talk Tougher to Neighbors, Maintain Friendship With U.S.." ... "The election of conservative Lech Kaczynski as Poland's president seals a shift to the right with the rise of tough-talking leaders who pledge to protect the country's interests." ... "But while the tone may sharpen toward old foes such as Russia and Germany, the new Polish leadership will keep its long-standing commitment to the European Union and NATO membership and to its close friendship with the United States." ... "Indeed, Kaczynski, who won a run-off election Sunday, stressed during his campaign that as president he wants to make his first foreign visit to Washington, underscoring the priority he places on the trans-Atlantic friendship." (1, 2) -By Monika Scislowska with contributions by Ryan Lucas -AP via -ABCNEWS.com 

  ---

20051016
• US - Syria - Iran - France - Russia - Britain - Military - Nuclear - "Rice enlists support for Syria, Iran showdowns." ... "U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mobilized support among major powers for diplomatic showdowns over the next few weeks with Syria and Iran on a trip that ended on Sunday." ... "Over three days, Rice held talks with the leaders of France, Russia and Britain -- all holders of vetoes at the U.N. Security Council - on how to make the two U.S. foes meet U.N. security demands." ... "In a show of diplomacy that reflected the Bush administration's efforts this year to consult partners more, Rice crisscrossed Europe seeking to build a common front against Syria's suspected support for militants in Lebanon and Iran's nuclear ambitions." (1, 2) -Reuters 

  ---

20051014
• Russia - Terrorism - Police - "Militant Attacks on Russian City Leave 108 Dead." ... "Authorities said today that 108 people have been killed in Russia's North Caucasus region as Islamic militants have staged coordinated attacks on police and government buildings in a new wave of violence spilling over from war-torn Chechnya." ... "At least 24 law enforcers, 12 civilians and 65 guerrillas have died in the two days of fighting in Nalchik, capital of the predominantly Muslim republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, authorities said. Seven more guerrillas were reported killed in an outlying district and 17 were captured." ... "Gunmen who held hostages overnight in a Nalchik police station and in a souvenir shop were killed this morning, and the captives were freed, authorities said." (1, 2) -By David Holley with contributions by Natasha Yefimova and Yakov Ryzhak -LAtimes 

  ---

20050920
• -  - -  - Politics -"North Korea Says It Won't Disarm Before New Reactor (Update7)." ... "The North Korean government said it wouldn't abandon nuclear weapons until the nation receives a light- water reactor for producing power, highlighting a dispute over timing one day after an agreement was reached on disarming." ... "At the United Nations today, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said they would rely on the written promises of the accord rather than the North Korean comments. In Washington, Frederick Jones, a spokesman at the National Security Council, said U.S. officials would give the North Korean regime ``some time to reflect upon what they agreed to.' ... "Light-water reactors use ordinary water as a coolant, rather than ``heavy water,'' which involves a hydrogen isotope and can be used in connection with weapons production."' -By Aaron Sheldrick and Allen T. Cheng -Bloomberg

  ---

  
• -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - "North Korea does quick reversal on nuclear-arms pact." ... "After four rounds of discussions spanning several years, the United States, North and South Korea, Japan, Russia and China said yesterday that they had agreed on a vaguely worded plan under which North Korea promised to dismantle its nuclear weapons in return for energy assistance, eventual U.S. and Japanese diplomatic recognition and a pledge by Washington that it would not attack the country." ... "The agreement also said the United States and other nations would discuss giving North Korea a light-water reactor for generating electricity, though it skirted the question of when." ... "But the North Koreans made it clear today that they are in no mood to defer their reward." ... "In a blunt statement, North Korea's official KCNA news service warned that "the U.S. should not even dream of the issue of [North Korea's] dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing" a light-water reactor, which it called "a physical guarantee for confidence-building."" -By Barbara Demick, Mark Magnier and Sonni Efron with contributions by Alissa J. Rubin and Bruce Wallace -LAtimes with -AP and -SeattleTimes.NWsource

  ---

20050818
• -  - "China, Russia kick off first joint military exercises." ... "Russia and China began unprecedented joint military exercises involving air, sea and land forces Thursday, as commanders from both nations insisted the war games weren't meant to intimidate other countries." ... "The exercises, dubbed “Peace Mission 2005,” started Thursday with strategic consultations between commanders, and will climax next week with an amphibious and paratroop landing on China's Shandong peninsula in the Yellow Sea. Some 10,000 troops are involved, mostly Chinese and about 1,800 Russians." ... "Experts say the manoeuvres are more of a sales pitch to the Chinese of Russian-made arms -- including the country's long-range strategic bombers." -By Burt Herman -AP via -GlobeAndMail 

  ---

20050808
• -  -  -  - "British navy frees stricken Russian submarine." ... "A Russian submarine was freed from fishing nets entangling it and its seven crew members were saved by an unmanned British rescue vehicle yesterday after being trapped for three days in the Pacific Ocean with dwindling oxygen supplies." ... "Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, kept a low profile during the incident but yesterday charged his defence minister Sergei Ivanov with investigating its causes. Earlier, Mr Ivanov flew to the scene of the accident off the Kamchatka peninsula in the far east of Russia to oversee the rescue operation, involving the British and US navies." -By Arkady Ostrovsky -FT.com 

  ---

20050801
• -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - Religion - "Saudi Arabia's King Fahd Dies: The long-time ruler leaves behind a number of challenges for his country, as well as jockeying for new positions in the kingdom." ... "The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, orchestrated by Saudi native Osama bin Laden and carried out by 15 Saudi militants, ensured that Fahd would go down in history as the Saudi ruler who turned a blind eye to growing Islamic extremism. To protect the regime from spreading Islamic revolution following Ayatullah Khomeini's overthrow of the Shah of Iran, Fahd gave the Kingdom's ultra conservative Islamic establishment the green light to promote an ever rigid Wahhabi form of Islam so long as it continued to recognize the legitimacy of the House of Saud as Saudi Arabia's political leadership. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, he worked with the U.S. government to encourage a jihad against the Red Army. During Fahd's reign, the country imposed a stricter dress code for women, continued to ban women from driving and spent billions exporting Wahhabi teachings and building mosques throughout the Islamic world. The policy backfired not only with the September 11 attacks in the U.S. but two years later inside the Kingdom itself, when Bin Laden's organization started a jihad against Al Saud rule with a series of terrorist attacks." -By Scott Macleod -TIME.com 

  ---

20050719
• -  -  -  - "China military build-up tipping balance against Taiwan - Pentagon." ... "The annual report to Congress said China's actual defense spending is estimated to be two to three times more than acknowledged by Beijing, or up to 90 bln usd this year, the largest in Asia and the third largest in the world after the US and Russia." ... "'The pace and scope of China's military build-up are, already, such as to put regional military balances at risk,' said the 45-page report, entitled 'The Military Power of the People's Republic of China.'" ... "It said China has deployed 650 to 730 mobile short range ballistic missiles in garrisons opposite Taiwan, and is adding to them at a rate of about 100   missiles a year, it said. Newer versions of the missiles have improved range  and accuracy." -AFXNews via -Forbes

  ---

20050516
• -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - "Countries circulate resolution to expand U.N. Security Council." ... "Brazil, Germany, India and Japan circulated a draft resolution Monday that would expand the U.N. Security Council from 15 to 25 members and give the four countries permanent seats along with two African nations." ... "The draft says the new permanent members should have "the same responsibilities and obligations as the current permanent members" — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — which includes veto power over council resolution." -AP via -USATODAY 

  ---

  
• -  -  -  - "Russia Named in Iraqi Oil Scandal: Iraq's ex-vice president said Hussein's regime gave Moscow [Russia] millions in fuel vouchers in hopes of ending U.N. sanctions, a Senate panel reports." ... "Former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told [US Senate] investigators that the allocations were "compensation for support," according to a report being released today by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs investigations subcommittee." -AP via-LAtimes 

  ---

  
• -  -  -  - "Russians cited in oil-for-food probe: Senate panel accuses politicians ahead of public hearing." ... "A Senate report released Monday accuses top Russian politicians, including advisers to President Vladimir Putin, of engaging in illicit transactions with Iraq during the U.N. oil-for-food program." ... "The report found that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime allocated 76 million barrels of crude oil to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russia's deputy parliament speaker, and his political party between 1997 and 2002." ... "Not a drop of Iraqi oil entered Russia, which is a net exporter of oil, investigators found. Instead, the crude was shipped to the North American and European markets." -By Phil Hirschkorn with contributions by Liz Neisloss -CNN 

  ---

  
• -  -  -  -  -  - "Report: Saddam's Aides Used Oil As Reward." ... "Russian leaders received millions of dollars in Iraqi oil allocations from top representatives in Saddam Hussein's former government in hopes of ending U.N. penalties against Iraq, Senate investigators were told." ... "The Senate investigators said their interviews and documents from the former Iraqi government add to evidence in previous probes linking Russian officials to abuses in the $64 billion U.N. program. It was designed to permit Saddam to sell some oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian items." ... "Documents released by the panel last week claimed former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and British politician George Galloway also accepted allocations, charges both men deny." (1, 2) -By Ken Guggenheim -AP via-WashingtonPost 

  ---

20050428
• -  -  -  -  - "Putin Warns Iran Against Atomic Arms: Russian President Warns Iran Against Seeking Atomic Arms, but Defends Syria Missile Deal." ... "On the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Israel, Russia's Vladimir Putin soothed his hosts Thursday by aiming sharp words at Iran over its nuclear program, but he sparred with his Israeli counterpart on a Syrian missile deal that Israelis see as a threat." ... "Making a trip meant to cement relations after decades of Soviet-era discord, the Russian president said his country and Israel are linked by the Holocaust and the deaths of millions of Soviet citizens in World War II. And he noted Israel's large population of Russian-speaking immigrants." (1, 2, 3) -By Steve Gutterman -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

  ---

20050422
• -  - "NATO acts to open door for Ukraine." ... "NATO acted officially on Thursday to open discussions with Ukraine, a former partner of Russia, to become a member of the Atlantic military alliance, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with opposition leaders favoring the ouster of the Russian-backed regime in Belarus." ... "Rice, who previously had declared that Belarus was the last dictatorship in Europe, warned bluntly that it should not conduct a "sham election" next year because its conduct would be "watched by the international community," much as the election in Ukraine last year had been watched and deemed fraudulent, helping to lead to its revolution." -By Steven R. Weisman -NYTimes via -IHT.com 

  ---

20050411
• -  -  - "Germany, Russia sign major business deals." ... "German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday expanded their growing economic links with new natural gas and rail equipment deals." ... "The two leaders looked on as executives from German oil and chemical company BASF AG and Russia's Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, signed a memorandum of understanding at the Hanover Trade Fair to expand cooperation in the production, transportation and sale of gas." -By David Rising -AP via -BusinessWeek

  ---

20050409
• -  -  - Tom DeLay - "DeLay shrugs off claims of ethics violations." ... "The list of complaints grew this week, when The New York Times reported that his wife and daughter were paid more than $500,000 (€387,000, £266,000) by his political action and campaign committees. On the same day, The Washington Post reported that a six-day trip to Moscow in 1997 was underwritten by business interests who were lobbying in support of the Russian government." ... "Mr DeLay is a hero in conservative circles, praised for his fundraising prowess and nicknamed "The Hammer" for his ability to round up support on tight votes. He has dismissed the latest charges as "just another seedy attempt by the liberal media to embarrass me.""  -By Holly Yeager -FT.com

  ---

20050406
• -  -  - - Tom DeLay - "A 3rd DeLay Trip Under Scrutiny: 1997 Russia Visit Reportedly Backed by Business Interests." ... "A six-day trip to Moscow in 1997 by then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was underwritten by business interests lobbying in support of the Russian government, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the trip arrangements." ... "DeLay reported that the trip was sponsored by a Washington-based nonprofit organization. But interviews with those involved in planning DeLay's trip say the expenses were covered by a mysterious company registered in the Bahamas that also paid for an intensive $440,000 lobbying campaign." ... "The 1997 Moscow trip is the third foreign trip by DeLay to be scrutinized in recent weeks because of new statements by those involved that his travel was directly or indirectly financed by registered lobbyists or a foreign agent." -By R. Jeffrey Smith and James V. Grimaldi -WashingtonPost 

  ---

20050330
• -  - "Kyrgyz president: "I haven't resigned"." ... "Askar Akayev, the Kyrgyz president who disappeared when protesters overran his office last week, resurfaced in Russia yesterday, saying he would not resign his position but holding out the possibility of returning to talk things over." ... "Akayev made his statements to Russian reporters near Moscow, where he said he retreated for his own security." ... ""My term in office will expire on Oct. 30, 2005. I haven't resigned yet," he said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio broadcast yesterday evening. "Currently, I can see no reason to resign."" -By Karl Vick -WashingtonPost via -SeattleTimes.NWsource 

  ---

20050323
• -  -  -  -  - Kyrgyzstan -  - "Kyrgyzstan Must Tackle Poll Irregularities, U.S. Says (Update2)." ... "Kyrgyzstan, which borders China and the Central Asian republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, is a strategically important country. Both the U.S. and Russia maintain military bases in the country, with the U.S. using its Manas base to aid operations in Afghanistan, to the south." ... "Opposition supporters took over government offices in a third southern town late yesterday, Interfax reported. The protesters occupied offices in Kyzyl-Kiya, the news agency said, citing unidentified police officials. Protests have taken place in Osh and Jalal-Abad in recent days." -By Paul Tighe -Bloomberg 

  ---

20050314
• -  -  -  -  -  - "China Threat to Attack Taiwan Alarms Asia." ... "China's threat Monday to oppose Taiwanese independence with military force triggered a call for peaceful dialogue from Japan and a discussion of Australia's treaty obligations should a war break out. But Russia and Pakistan supported Beijing's new legislation." ... "An outbreak of hostilities would be a severe blow to stability in East Asia, possibly prompting a response from the United States — which has some 50,000 troops in Japan and 35,000 in South Korea — to defend Taiwan." -By Joseph Coleman -AP via -SFGate.com 

  ---

20050226
• -  -  -  -  - "Iran, Russia postpone nuclear fuel deal citing black market info." ... "Last-minute disputes Saturday forced Iran and Russia to postpone the signing of an agreement to supply Iran with fuel for its first nuclear reactor, a deal strongly opposed by the United States." ... "Under the agreement, Russia will provide Iran with fuel and take back the spent fuel, a safeguard meant to banish fears Iran would misuse it to build nuclear weapons. U.N. nuclear experts also would monitor the facility." -AP via -USATODAY

  ---

20050216
• -  -  -  - "Kyoto Protocol comes into force: After years of waiting, global-warming treaty gets off the ground." ... "From Wednesday 16 February, countries throughout the world must make good their promise to cut greenhouse-gas emissions." ... "The agreement, adopted in December 1997, could not be enforced until it had been ratified by a set of industrialized countries that, in 1990, were responsible for at least 55% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. That threshold was reached by Russia's ratification in November last year, which set off a 90-day countdown until the protocol could become law." ... "The activation of the 141-nation treaty also cements the pariah status of the United States and Australia. The two countries, which together account for more than a quarter of world greenhouse-gas emissions, have declined to ratify the agreement, claiming that it will damage their economies." -By Michael Hopkin -Nature

  ---

Russia Weblog: Russian Weblog:	- Top
(NOT Necessarily Recommended)-! surf at your own risk, no lifeguard on duty (and read the fine print ;-)

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia

•  Russian Government Internet Network Home Page - http://www.Gov.ru
•  English page

 Google Search: Russia News

 Google Search: Russian

 Google Search: Russian News

 Google Search: Russian Federation

 Google Search: Russian Space Agency - RSA

 Google [News] Search: Russian Space Agency

•  TheMoscowTimes.com
•  http://english.pravda.ru/

RUSSIA Notes:	-
	Top

From the World Fact Book:
• Russia Country name:
• conventional long form: Russian Federation
• conventional short form: Russia
• local long form: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
• former: Russian Empire, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
• local short form: Rossiya
• Russia Government type:  federation
• Russia Capital:  Moscow

  ---

• Russia Background: "Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household. The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. While some progress has been made on the economic front, recent years have seen a recentralization of power under Vladimir PUTIN and an erosion in nascent democratic institutions. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya."

  ---

---

News Reference Facts Information Sources Intelligence Haven Works !-)

---

Support your local library.

---

Website Web Design: Web Design by Hermit ;-)

---

---

HavenWorks.com content Copyright 1998-2008 Works
HavenWorks.com ©Works - All rights reserved.

---

Russia News
HavenWorks.com/world/russia