The Kremlin, after all, controls everything in Russia: money, abuse of police
power, laws, local election committees, the judges, the elites, the TV
channels…in other words, the regime has everything it needs to extend its rule
ad infinitum. Or more precisely, until the moment when god finally
decides to punish this arrogant power vertical by removing the last vestiges of
political sense from its collective head, grown dizzy with its own success. It
isn’t yet clear when this will happen, but there is a growing feeling that it
will be soon. Putin and all his initiatives are becoming increasing odious and
unpopular among wide circles of opinion –musicians, writers, actors, directors,
journalists, popular bloggers etc. – who for long years maintained a political
neutrality but have now roused themselves into civic engagement.
via putin's face - Google News on 2/4/13
Trial of Putin Foe Shows No Russian Investors are Safe
Bloomberg Gennady Gudkov, a protest leader and ex-lawmaker who was stripped of his parliamentary seat last year and faces possible charges of “illegal business activity,” says Putin's reaction to criticism recalls the dark days of Stalinist mass trials and ... and more » |
Gennady Gudkov, a protest leader and ex-lawmaker who was stripped of his parliamentary seat last year and faces possible charges of “illegal business activity,” says Putin’s reaction to criticism recalls the dark days of Stalinist mass trials and repression.
“We are heading toward 1937,” Gudkov says. “All that’s left now is for them to shoot the opposition.”
THE PUNCH THAT WENT AROUND THE WORLD
HO/Reuters/Landov
Tempers flared during the recording of a TV discussion in Moscow. The host appealed for calm. Seconds later, Lebedev punched property developer Sergei Polonsky, knocking him off his chair. A video of the Sept. 16, 2011, incident became a YouTube sensation.
Tempers flared during the recording of a TV discussion in Moscow. The host appealed for calm. Seconds later, Lebedev punched property developer Sergei Polonsky, knocking him off his chair. A video of the Sept. 16, 2011, incident became a YouTube sensation. Photographer: HO/Reuters/Landov
via Russia News Headlines - Yahoo! News on 2/4/13
LONDON (Reuters) - London's Evening Standard, backed by the family of Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, won a London television franchise on Monday, beating four other bidders with a package offering live news from the paper's West London offices. Britain's telecoms regulator is offering 21 licenses for local digital TV stations, most covering single cities. The London franchise, which offers an audience of up to 4 million people, is potentially the most lucrative. ...
Mike Nova's starred items Latitude: Is Moscow Setting
the Russian Opposition's Agenda? via NYT > Global Opinion by...
"Russia Blogs" via Mike Nova
"Russia Blogs" via Mike Nova
via RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД by Mike Nova on 2/4/13
via putin's face - Google News on 2/4/13
Trial of Putin Foe Shows No Russian Investors are Safe
Bloomberg Gennady Gudkov, a protest leader and ex-lawmaker who was stripped of his parliamentary seat last year and faces possible charges of “illegal business activity,” says Putin's reaction to criticism recalls the dark days of Stalinist mass trials and ... and more » |
Gennady Gudkov, a protest leader and ex-lawmaker who was stripped of his parliamentary seat last year and faces possible charges of “illegal business activity,” says Putin’s reaction to criticism recalls the dark days of Stalinist mass trials and repression.
“We are heading toward 1937,” Gudkov says. “All that’s left now is for them to shoot the opposition.”
THE PUNCH THAT WENT AROUND THE WORLD
HO/Reuters/Landov
Tempers flared during the recording of a TV discussion in Moscow. The host appealed for calm. Seconds later, Lebedev punched property developer Sergei Polonsky, knocking him off his chair. A video of the Sept. 16, 2011, incident became a YouTube sensation.
Tempers flared during the recording of a TV discussion in Moscow. The host appealed for calm. Seconds later, Lebedev punched property developer Sergei Polonsky, knocking him off his chair. A video of the Sept. 16, 2011, incident became a YouTube sensation. Photographer: HO/Reuters/Landov
via Russia News Headlines - Yahoo! News on 2/4/13
LONDON (Reuters) - London's Evening Standard, backed by the family of Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, won a London television franchise on Monday, beating four other bidders with a package offering live news from the paper's West London offices. Britain's telecoms regulator is offering 21 licenses for local digital TV stations, most covering single cities. The London franchise, which offers an audience of up to 4 million people, is potentially the most lucrative. ...
Mike Nova's starred items Latitude: Is Moscow Setting the Russian Opposition's Agenda? via NYT > Global Opinion by...
via Chatham House - Publications on 2/4/13
Download Executive Summary here The oil era is dawning in Uganda. It has the potential to accelerate development and drive the country's transformation into a regional – and even global – economic player. But oil also brings risks – of the erosion of the relationship between people and government, of economic distortion, of increased corruption and of internal tensions. A well-informed, inclusive national conversation about the management options available to Uganda is vital in generating broad-based political consensus robust enough to stand up to the pressures that oil will inevitably bring Uganda has time on its side. Though geography and the technical challenges of extracting 'waxy' on-shore oil mean that production has not yet begun, and full capacity is unlikely to be reached before 2020, the relatively slow pace of oil development is an advantage as well as a frustration. Debate over the management of Uganda's oil is already intense in the country, and has been the subject of considerable controversy. It is incumbent on all stakeholders – government, opposition and civil society alike – to rise above the politics of today and look to the long term.
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
U.S. Ambassador to Russia expects further dialogue on civil society issues
russialist.org
VOLGOGRAD. Feb 1 (Interfax) – Discussion of civil society issues will continue in spite of the U.S. dropout from the relevant bilateral working group, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul...
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Another Reset of Relations With Russia in Obama’s Second Term
www.nytimes.com
Four years after Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. proposed a “reset” with Russia, the United States is quietly adopting a new approach to its old cold war rival: the cold shoulder.
Another Reset With Russia in Obama’s Second Term
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and ANDREW E. KRAMER
MOSCOW — Four years ago, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. used an audience of world leaders at an annual security conference in Munich to propose a “reset” with Russia, the Obama administration’s first big foreign policy statement. But as Mr. Biden arrives in Germany for the same conference this weekend, the United States is quietly adopting a new approach to its old cold war rival: the cold shoulder.
The intense engagement on the reset led to notable achievements, including the New Start nuclear arms treaty and Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization. But after more than a year of deteriorating relations, the administration now envisions a period of disengagement, according to government officials and outside analysts here and in Washington.
The pullback — which may well be a topic of discussion when Mr. Biden meets with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, on the sidelines of the conference — is a response to months of intensifying political repression in Russia since Vladimir V. Putin returned to the presidency last May and a number of actions perceived by Washington as anti-American.
Because American officials do not want to worsen the relationship and still hope for cooperation, they declined to publicly describe the plans. But within the administration it is taken for granted that the relationship with Russia is far less of a priority.
“We have real differences, and we don’t hide them,” said Tony Blinken, who has served as Mr. Biden’s national security adviser and is now joining the president’s national security team.
Briefing reporters before the Germany trip, Mr. Blinken said: “We have differences over human rights and democracy. We have differences over — in a number of areas that have been in the media in recent days and weeks.”
The distancing began with the recent withdrawal by the United States from the “civil society working group,” one of 20 panels created in 2009 to carry out the reset between Moscow and Washington under an umbrella organization known as the Obama-Medvedev Commission.
If that step was barely perceptible outside diplomatic circles, the strategy will soon become far more obvious. American officials say President Obama will decline an invitation — publicly trumpeted by Mr. Lavrov and the Russian news media — to visit Moscow on his own this spring. Instead, he will wait until September, when the G-20 conference of the world’s largest economies is scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg, Russia.
And while Secretary of State John Kerry has yet to select his first overseas destination, officials said Russia had been ruled out.
The main goal seems to be to send a message that the United States views much of its relationship with Russia as optional, and while pressing matters will continue to be handled on a transactional basis, Washington plans to continue criticizing Russia on human rights and other concerns. As for the anti-Americanism, the new approach might be described as shrug and snub.
Nevertheless, Mr. Blinken said there was real potential to work through the differences. And American officials are clearly betting that Mr. Putin desires a prominent role on the world stage and will ultimately decide to re-engage.
But the chances of that seem slim. Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, warned that a pullback would be a shirking of American responsibility to work with Russia to maintain global stability. He said that Russia wanted to improve economic ties and build a stronger relationship, but that the United States must stay out of Russia’s affairs.
“We have heard numerous times the word in Washington that Russia’s domestic affairs are not satisfactory,” Mr. Peskov said. “Unfortunately these voices cannot be taken into account here, and we cannot agree with them. We are a genuine democratic country, and we are taking care of ourselves.”
In the nearly three years since the signing of the New Start treaty, followed by Russia’s vote two months later at the Security Council in support of sanctions on Iran, American officials say only one major thing has changed: the return of Mr. Putin to the presidency.
Confronted by the emergence of a potent political opposition movement among Moscow’s urban middle class, Mr. Putin has taken steps since his inauguration last May to suppress political dissent. Many of those steps were also seen in Washington as anti-American and undermining human rights.
These included the prosecution and jailing of members of the punk band Pussy Riot; the decision to end more than 20 years of cooperation on public health programs and civil society initiatives run by the United States Agency for International Development; cancellation of a partnership to dismantle unconventional weapons; and approval of legislative initiatives clamping down on pro-democracy groups and other nonprofit organizations.
The final straw appeared to be a law signed by Mr. Putin in December prohibiting the adoption of Russian children by American citizens, which the Kremlin said was retaliation for a new American law punishing Russian human rights violators. Senior Obama administration officials viewed the adoption ban not only as geopolitically disproportionate, but so utterly cruel in denying orphans the chance to join a family that it left many speechless and some near tears.
That the Russian government would put children in the political cross-fire convinced American officials that they were not confronting political theatrics, as they believed when Mr. Putin was running for re-election, but rather an increasingly idiosyncratic government driven by Russian domestic concerns, especially Mr. Putin’s fears of popular unrest.
“It’s a feeling of frustration that Putin and company are unnecessarily imposing strains on the Russian and American relationship,” Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security adviser, now a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in a telephone interview.
“I would not construe that as saying that Russia needs to be downgraded, or is irrelevant,” Mr. Brzezinski said, but that “we do not need it for everything.”
Even Russia’s most critical role in the global economy, as a major supplier of oil and gas — particularly to American allies in Europe — has ebbed, given the rise of the United States as a major producer of shale gas and the return of Iraq as a big oil producer.
At the same time, outside its borders, Russia remains indisputably relevant on a range of global issues, including the threats and opportunities from climate change in the Arctic and the political uncertainty in North Korea, that prevent the United States from pulling back too far.
“We can manage these issues effectively together, or end up shouting at each other,” said James F. Collins, who was ambassador to Russia from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. “Anybody who suggests we are going to disengage and let them stew just doesn’t get it. We will have to deal with them.”
Matthew Bryza, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Eurasian affairs, said it would be best to deal dispassionately with Moscow.
“Every American president in my career has come into office thinking that they are going to be the great communicator that makes a breakthrough with Russia,” Mr. Bryza said. “As their terms have continued, every president has been disappointed.”
He added: “Russia behaves like Russia. Russia pursues its own hard-core national interests. That is realpolitik. We should de-sentimentalize our relations.”
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Police Began Violence At Protest, Panel Says
russialist.org
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – February 4, 2013) Members of the Kremlin’s human rights council believe that police, not activists, instigated viole...
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
With Internet gaining wide influence in Russia, authorities seek to step up control ove...
www.itar-tass.com
The authorities responded in abundant initiatives aiming to toughen control and administrative pressure on the web
via RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД by Mike Nova on 2/4/13
Владимир Путин и патриарх Кирилл Фото: M. Japaridze/AP
Путин и 300 архиереев
«Православная идеология» в путинской модели просто заменяет коммунистическую
Владимир Путин на встрече с участниками Архиерейского собора Русской православной церкви
От редакции: Государство и церковь - почти советская модель «Православная идеол...
via Russian Politics - Российская Политика's Facebook Wall by Russian Politics - Российская Политика on 2/4/13
От редакции: Государство и церковь - почти советская модель
«Православная идеология» в путинской модели просто заменяет коммунистическую
От редакции: Государство и церковь - почти советская модель
«Православная идеология» в путинской модели просто заменяет коммунистическую
От редакции: Государство и церковь - почти советская модель
__________________________________________________
Mike Nova
4:31 PM- Public
Putin and the monk - FT.com »
Father Tikhon Shevkunov looks a little too polished to fit the image of the Orthodox Christian monk branded into the western imagination by Dostoevsky. The beard is just unkempt enough, but his chin i...
via Russia Beyond the Headlines's Facebook Wall by Russia Beyond the Headlines on 2/4/13
Anna Nemtsova spoke on behalf of RBTH to the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet Sergei Filin, who was recently the victim of a sulphuric acid attack. Check out the full interview here:
Bolshoi drama: Looking for answers | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
On Jan. 17, a man wearing a mask splashed sulphuric acid into the face of the Bolshoi Theater’s artistic director, Sergei Filin. After spending two weeks in a Russian hospital, he left for additional care in Germany on Feb. 4. Just after undergoing his fourth surgery in Moscow, he spoke to Anna Nemt...
Bolshoi drama: Looking for answers | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
On Jan. 17, a man wearing a mask splashed sulphuric acid into the face of the Bolshoi Theater’s artistic director, Sergei Filin. After spending two weeks in a Russian hospital, he left for additional care in Germany on Feb. 4. Just after undergoing his fourth surgery in Moscow, he spoke to Anna Nemt...
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via Russia Beyond the Headlines's Facebook Wall by Russia Beyond the Headlines on 2/4/13
Discover Russia with RBTH!
Today we take you all the way to Olkhon, a natural treasure island in the middle of Lake Baikal: http://rbth.ru/22401
Source: Andrey Bezlepkin / focuspictures
Today we take you all the way to Olkhon, a natural treasure island in the middle of Lake Baikal: http://rbth.ru/22401
Source: Andrey Bezlepkin / focuspictures
via RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД by Mike Nova on 2/4/13
February 4, 2013
Dealing With the Real Putin
By FIONA HILL and CLIFFORD GADDY
THE Obama administration has decided it’s time to “reset the reset” with Russia. The reset was one of the administration’s first foreign policy initiatives in 2009 and certainly reduced bilateral tensions for a period. But President Obama now faces Vladimir Putin as Russia’s president instead of Dmitri Medvedev, and the entire premise of U.S.-Russia relations will have to be reviewed.
After 12 years at the top of Russian politics, Putin should be a known quantity. But policy makers and pundits are constantly diverted by the images that proliferate inside and outside Russia — from the action man tranquilizing tigers and flying with cranes, to the cruel anti-American autocrat who exploits orphans to undermine U.S. human rights legislation.
For the Obama administration to chart a new course in relations with Russia, it needs to be clear about who Vladimir Putin is and what he wants.
Putin is a man fixated on the survival of the Russian state, not just his own survival. In his first two presidential terms he worked to restore and consolidate the strength and independence of the Russian state. He did so primarily by channeling windfall revenues from the oil boom to pay off the colossal debts accumulated by his predecessors, Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. He then proceeded to build up Russia’s financial and material reserves.
Putin now believes it is time to concentrate on strengthening Russia internally. In his annual “Message to the Federal Assembly” (the Russian equivalent of a State of the Union Message) in December 2012, Putin barely mentioned the outside world. The international system, he suggested, is fraught with risk for Russia, not opportunity. Russians, Putin commanded, need to turn inward. They should look to patriotism, not Westernism; to solidarity, not individualism; to spirituality, not consumerism and moral decay. He touted Russia’s historic roots and traditional values as the basis for its future trajectory.
Putin’s priority for 2013 is to reduce Russia’s exposure and vulnerability to external shocks. He is not interested in foreign policy adventures, especially not a confrontation with the United States. Putin firmly opposes U.S. policy toward Syria and the threat of force against Iran. But his opposition stems neither from anti-Americanism nor a desire to back the Iranian mullahs or Syria’s Bashar al-Assad in their struggles with the West. It is rooted in his obsession with stability. Helping Tehran secure a nuclear weapon and keeping Assad in Damascus are not Putin’s goals. But an Israeli or U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, and NATO or the United Nations intervening in Syria to forcibly remove Assad, would increase global volatility.
Putin wants Russia to be left alone, unencumbered by liabilities and obligations. He wants Russia to hunker down in its Eurasian neighborhood and not embark on further integration with an embattled West. Putin has never seen the West as a model for Russia. Now, he is not even interested in joining it as a partner. The euro zone crisis has convinced him there is no need for Russia to pursue a “common European home” (an idea he picked up from Gorbachev and Yeltsin early in his presidency).
Although he championed Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization, Putin saw this as a long-denied right, as well as a rite of passage into the “big boys club.” In his annual address, Putin promised he would ensure there is a “demand” for Russia in the world, both for the Russian economy and for a Russian role in geopolitics. Putin’s goal is to make sure the ailing West knows it needs Russia and its vast territory and resources more than Russia needs the West, even if that is an overreach.
Where does this leave the reset? The reality is this: There are no big deals to be had with Putin. Outside the traditional U.S.-Russian bilateral realm of arms control, there is no great opportunity for the Obama administration in Russia. The only quid pro quo Putin would likely strike with the United States is one no administration could (or would) contemplate — where Moscow agrees not to make life too difficult for Washington, as long as the U.S. ignores Russian domestic developments and human rights abuses.
On Iran and Syria, Putin will calibrate his moves to reduce Moscow’s exposure and increase its leverage. Meanwhile, Putin’s perceptions of U.S. meddling in Russian politics will remain the sore point in the relationship. When he considers the Russian state insulted or challenged in any way on this issue, Putin will be quick to respond.
For Putin very little is off-limits in getting his message across, as the recent ban on U.S. adoptions makes clear. Even when the myths are dispelled, the real Vladimir Putin is difficult to deal with. Putin is a man who knows what he wants. Only once the administration is clear about what that is can it begin to figure out its own message and limits in dealing with Putin’s Russia.
Fiona Hill is senior fellow and director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. Clifford Gaddy is senior fellow in foreign policy and global economics and development at Brookings. They are co-authors of the forthcoming book, “Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin.”
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
U.S. Ambassador to Russia expects further dialogue on civil society issues
russialist.org
VOLGOGRAD. Feb 1 (Interfax) – Discussion of civil society issues will continue in spite of the U.S. dropout from the relevant bilateral working group, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul...
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
With Internet gaining wide influence in Russia, authorities seek to step up control ove...
www.itar-tass.com
The authorities responded in abundant initiatives aiming to toughen control and administrative pressure on the web
via RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД by Mike Nova on 2/4/13
A Nice Snow Job
Link
Десятки фальшивых диссертаций в Московском педагогическом государственном университете (МПГУ)...
- Feb. 4th, 2013 at 2:51 AM
"..По результатам проверки, объем списанного текста в псевдонаучных работах доходил до 90 процентов.
Результаты проверки ошеломили всех, в том числе и самих проверяющих. Цифры — запредельные. Рассмотрели 25 кандидатских и докторских, защищенных в Московском педагогическом государственном университете. Оказалось, что в 24 названы несуществующие публикации, в 22 ложно указаны ведущие организации.
Семь работ проверили в Российской государственной библиотеке, и все оказалось плагиатом. Вердикт комиссии не оставил шансов профессору Александру Данилову, главе Диссертационного совета: 17 кандидатов и докторов наук теперь предлагают лишить ученой степени. Среди тех, кто симулировал занятия наукой, есть и очень известные люди...
...
"Вести недели" решили позвонить по такому телефону. Полная неожиданность — даже после разразившегося скандала на другом конце провода любезно отвечают:
- Мне очень нужно быстрее защитить кандидатскую, есть хорошее место в музее. Я в аспирантуре. Но мне надо быстрее, понимаете. Я из Петербурга, но мне сказали, в Москве это легче устроить.
- Мы вам поможем.
В советское время защититься было сложно. Вокруг часто кипели макиавеллиевские страсти. Были "черные" оппоненты, которые писали критические отзывы. Иногда все заканчивалось инфарктом. Но престиж науки высок.
"Когда я защищал докторскую в 1965 году, это была первая диссертация, защищенная в новом здании Института истории. Актовый зал был набит. У меня сохранились фотографии. Диссертация была событием", — вспоминает профессор Института российской истории РАН, почетный доктор РГГУ Сигурд Шмидт.
В 90-х система стала разрушаться. ВАК теперь рассматривает только докторские, да и то на предмет соблюдения формальностей. В вузах стали возникать в огромном количестве диссертационные советы разного уровня, ведь определенное количество защит диссертаций в год — это престиж учебного заведения.
Изменилась пропорция. Раньше докторов наук было в десять раз меньше, чем кандидатов, теперь — в три раза. При этом новоиспеченных докторов почему-то не приглашают преподавать в западные университеты, им не дают Нобелевскую премию, хотя, возможно, им это и не нужно.
"Это котируется. На визиточке какого-то политического деятеля или большого бизнесмена пишут, что они кандидаты или доктора — желательно экономических наук", — говорит Вадим Радаев.
Кандидат технических наук — совсем не интересно, физико-математических — не понятно. Котируются остепененные юристы и гуманитарии. Тут — традиционно. За сложносочиненными фразами можно скрыть отсутствие мысли..." http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=1022936
--------------------------
Если бы только в одном университете, а то ведь повсеместно, и все в курсе...
РАН против лженауки? — “Врачу”: исцелися сам…
http://dotu.ru/2007/04/20/20070420_tek_moment0464/
Результаты проверки ошеломили всех, в том числе и самих проверяющих. Цифры — запредельные. Рассмотрели 25 кандидатских и докторских, защищенных в Московском педагогическом государственном университете. Оказалось, что в 24 названы несуществующие публикации, в 22 ложно указаны ведущие организации.
Семь работ проверили в Российской государственной библиотеке, и все оказалось плагиатом. Вердикт комиссии не оставил шансов профессору Александру Данилову, главе Диссертационного совета: 17 кандидатов и докторов наук теперь предлагают лишить ученой степени. Среди тех, кто симулировал занятия наукой, есть и очень известные люди...
...
"Вести недели" решили позвонить по такому телефону. Полная неожиданность — даже после разразившегося скандала на другом конце провода любезно отвечают:
- Мне очень нужно быстрее защитить кандидатскую, есть хорошее место в музее. Я в аспирантуре. Но мне надо быстрее, понимаете. Я из Петербурга, но мне сказали, в Москве это легче устроить.
- Мы вам поможем.
В советское время защититься было сложно. Вокруг часто кипели макиавеллиевские страсти. Были "черные" оппоненты, которые писали критические отзывы. Иногда все заканчивалось инфарктом. Но престиж науки высок.
"Когда я защищал докторскую в 1965 году, это была первая диссертация, защищенная в новом здании Института истории. Актовый зал был набит. У меня сохранились фотографии. Диссертация была событием", — вспоминает профессор Института российской истории РАН, почетный доктор РГГУ Сигурд Шмидт.
В 90-х система стала разрушаться. ВАК теперь рассматривает только докторские, да и то на предмет соблюдения формальностей. В вузах стали возникать в огромном количестве диссертационные советы разного уровня, ведь определенное количество защит диссертаций в год — это престиж учебного заведения.
Изменилась пропорция. Раньше докторов наук было в десять раз меньше, чем кандидатов, теперь — в три раза. При этом новоиспеченных докторов почему-то не приглашают преподавать в западные университеты, им не дают Нобелевскую премию, хотя, возможно, им это и не нужно.
"Это котируется. На визиточке какого-то политического деятеля или большого бизнесмена пишут, что они кандидаты или доктора — желательно экономических наук", — говорит Вадим Радаев.
Кандидат технических наук — совсем не интересно, физико-математических — не понятно. Котируются остепененные юристы и гуманитарии. Тут — традиционно. За сложносочиненными фразами можно скрыть отсутствие мысли..." http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=1022936
--------------------------
Если бы только в одном университете, а то ведь повсеместно, и все в курсе...
РАН против лженауки? — “Врачу”: исцелися сам…
http://dotu.ru/2007/04/20/20070420_tek_moment0464/
via RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД by Mike Nova on 2/4/13
This is the example of hateful, if not rabid anti-Americanism whipped up by Putinistas in Russia these days, in media news coverage. I wonder to what extent and how far beyond the words this "inspiration" might go; if it has a single informational and actional source and how much involved in "wars by proxies" it is. And also, and probably most importantly if it reflects a new, more aggressive stance as a matter of doctrine and policies (of antiwestern self-preservation), including more aggressive and overt "special operations" abroad.
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Автора книги "Американский снайпер", одного из самых опасных снайперов в истории США, Криса Кайла застрелили в тире в маленьком техасском городке.
http://www.newsru.com/crime/04feb2013/shotbestsnipertex.html
____________________________________________
- СМЕРТЬ НЕГОДЯЯ
Автора книги "Американский снайпер", одного из самых опасных снайперов в истории США, Криса Кайла застрелили в тире в маленьком техасском городке.
http://www.newsru.com/crime/04feb2013/shotbestsnipertex.html
Четыре раза он побывал …
СМЕРТЬ НЕГОДЯЯ
- Feb. 4th, 2013 at 8:19 PM
Автора книги "Американский снайпер", одного из самых опасных снайперов в истории США, Криса Кайла застрелили в тире в маленьком техасском городке.
Четыре раза он побывал в Ираке, где принимал участие в боевых операциях и получил множество правительственных наград.
"Я отправился на войну не для того, чтобы рассматривать свои мишени как людей. Мне не интересно было знать, есть ли у них семьи или дети", - признался в 2012 году Кайл в интервью журналу Time.
Первой его жертвой была иракская женщина, в одиночку вышедшая с гранатой в руке навстречу американским морпехам.
Только в одной Фаллудже он убил 40 человек.Официально на его счету 160 застреленных иракцев, хотя сам он утверждал, что убил не менее 255 человек.
Ни об одном совершенном убийстве Кайл в итоге не жалел, и в отвечал в интервью, что "все убитые были плохими людьми".
Иракское сопротивление прозвало его "Дьяволом".
Криса "Дьявола" застрелил бывший сослуживец, такой же бессовестный наёмник, как и сам Кайл...
Только в одной Фаллудже он убил 40 человек.Официально на его счету 160 застреленных иракцев, хотя сам он утверждал, что убил не менее 255 человек.
Ни об одном совершенном убийстве Кайл в итоге не жалел, и в отвечал в интервью, что "все убитые были плохими людьми".
Иракское сопротивление прозвало его "Дьяволом".
Криса "Дьявола" застрелил бывший сослуживец, такой же бессовестный наёмник, как и сам Кайл...
via oD Russia by Daniil Kotsyubinsky on 2/4/13
Russian lawmakers have given preliminary approval to a law to allow governors to be appointed in the country’s 83 regions, reversing last year’s move to restore direct elections. As Daniil Kotsyubinsky reports, this issue is unimportant in itself, but it exposes the regime’s soft underbelly, unrest in the Caucasus.A reform that backfired
Vladimir Putin introduced Russia’s crooked gubernatorial appointment system in 2004. Until then regional heads were directly elected, except in Dagestan where the governor was appointed by the local parliament. But after the terrorist attack on the school in Beslan (in north Ossetia) in September 2004, Putin suddenly came out against the election of regional chiefs, proposing instead that they be effectively appointed by the president, i.e. himself. Formally, three candidates’ names would be put before regional parliaments for approval. Given the absolute domination of the president’s United Russia party in all these bodies, the results of these ‘elections’ would clearly be a foregone conclusion.However, the pros of this impulsive reform turned out to be outweighed by its cons. In the first place, the obviously spurious implied connection between elected governors and Chechen separatists in Beslan only strengthened public suspicion that the seizure of the school might have been secretly initiated by the Russian security services.
Putin destroyed any remaining illusions the public had about being able to influence government, even if only at a local level, and handed the opposition a new and highly popular rallying cry: ‘Bring back governors’ elections’.
In the second, by abolishing gubernatorial elections, Putin dismantled a system that created a political buffer between himself and the voters. Elected governors served the useful purpose of deflecting the flak for any problems or failures away from the Kremlin – now that option had disappeared.
Lastly, Putin destroyed any remaining illusions the public had about being able to influence government, even if only at a local level, and handed the opposition a new and highly popular rallying cry: ‘Bring back governors’ elections’. And the opposition, which until then had been unsure about what reforms to demand of the Kremlin, seized it with gratitude and made it one of its key slogans.
As a result, when in the autumn of 2011 the political situation in Russia suddenly began to deteriorate sharply and fearful government officials even began to pronounce the words ‘political reform’, first PM Putin and then President Medvedev spoke out in favour of reintroducing gubernatorial elections. On Medvedev’s initiative the law was duly changed. The first elections, for those regional heads whose terms of office ran out between June and December 2012, were scheduled for autumn 2012. They took place without any hitches – or indeed any unpleasant surprises for Vladimir Putin.
Not that any were likely! The Kremlin, after all, controls everything in Russia: money, abuse of police power, laws, local election committees, the judges, the elites, the TV channels…in other words, the regime has everything it needs to extend its rule ad infinitum. Or more precisely, until the moment when god finally decides to punish this arrogant power vertical by removing the last vestiges of political sense from its collective head, grown dizzy with its own success. It isn’t yet clear when this will happen, but there is a growing feeling that it will be soon. Putin and all his initiatives are becoming increasing odious and unpopular among wide circles of opinion –musicians, writers, actors, directors, journalists, popular bloggers etc. – who for long years maintained a political neutrality but have now roused themselves into civic engagement. To give an example, the celebrated musician Yuri Bashmet has been universally ostracised for his implicit support for the recent Dima Yakovlev Law, which among other things bans the adoption of Russian children by US citizens.
How much longer will the regime last?
The current situation in Russia is beginning to resemble the years 1915-6, when the Tsarist government suddenly found itself the object of universal hatred and it seemed that it would only take one serious spark of revolution for all the Grand Dukes, generals and ministers to let go of power and leave the Tsar to his fate. Although of course the roots of that revolution didn’t lie in ‘the odd mistake’ made by the government, but events stretching back over many years.‘The current situation in Russia is beginning to resemble the years 1915-6, when the Tsarist government suddenly found itself the object of universal hatred and it seemed that it would only take one serious spark of revolution to leave the Tsar to his fate’
There are also objective and fundamental reasons for the moral and political decline of the Putin regime, the most significant of which is the public’s weariness with the long years of economic and political stagnation which have not given them the stability and prosperity they were promised. Another important factor is Putin’s increasingly obvious physical aging, magnified by the lack of a constitutional (rather than emergency) procedure for a handover from one ruler to another. Everyone, both those close to power and the public at large, is becoming increasingly neurotic about this state of affairs. Sooner or later, we shall see an inevitable split in the Kremlin ranks, followed by the fateful ‘spark of revolution’…with Putin looking less and less immortal, it is only a matter of time before someone in his inner circle will risk gambling on a drop in his political stock, to avoid going down with the presidential Titanic. Putin’s autocracy, in other words, is being eroded from within, and the question of how regional governors are selected is neither here nor there.
While the Dragon is still strong, he will make short work of any election campaigns, whether direct or indirect, as is clear from not only the last parliamentary and presidential elections, but also the direct gubernatorial elections that took place in five Russian regions last autumn. Unsurprisingly, these passed off in just as orderly a fashion as the previous indirect ones, with the sitting candidates duly re-elected.
What’s more, should, heaven forbid (as has been known in some mayoral elections), the election winner be not the ruling party candidate, but some local Robin Hood or William Tell, he or she will be forced to fit into the existing power vertical. It is unthinkable for someone to successfully govern a region while at the same time voicing any disagreement with the Kremlin. The overwhelming majority of Russia’s regions are reliant on central government hand-outs for their survival, and any official at any level can at any time be sacrificed to the latest ritual war on corruption — everyone knows this, and knows to watch their step.
How the pyramid of power is constructed – directly or indirectly – is totally unimportant. What is important is for a prince to have received from the hands of the Great Khan a letter patent entitling him to ‘govern, raise taxes and collect tribute’. If you have, then get on with it. Otherwise, join the Yuri Luzhkov Club for Retired Heavyweights.
But if that’s the case, why did the Kremlin then make another U-turn and revert to an appointment system for governors (whether total or partial is still not clear)? Boris Nemtsov, leader of the opposition Parnas Party, blogged on the ‘Moscow Echo’ radio station website: ‘Gubernatorial elections, which they had apparently just reinstated, were already emasculated by all kinds of municipal filters and innumerable ways of disqualifying ‘unsuitable’ candidates. Yet they are still being abolished. I predict that they will try to abolish any elections where there is even the slightest threat of their power being challenged.’
Bolotnaya Square's revolutionaries were unable to advance truly influential ideas. The one so-called reform, on governors elections, will ultimately be refashioned in the interests of the regime. Photo: (cc) Flickr/mpeakeSo, the Russian opposition is such a threat to the regime that even in its emasculated state it has enough political potential to have the Kremlin running scared? Alas, no. Sadly for Nemtsov and other professional opponents of the regime, direct gubernatorial elections as such present no danger whatsoever to either Putin or his electoral system. The clearest proof of this is that the opposition leader’s contention has been echoed by a United Russia member of the country’s upper chamber, Senator Vadim Tyulpanov, who has declared that ‘the idea of abolishing the election of governors even in part of Russia could lead to the downfall of our country’, and that it was ‘a great pity’ that Parliament had taken such a decision.
A Theatre of the Absurd?
So what is this Theatre of the Absurd, where Tyulpanov appears as Putin’s antagonist and Nemtsov dramatically brandishes castrated revolutionary marionettes about? In fact there is nothing absurd at all. Or rather, the absurdity began last winter. At the very height of the street protests, the opposition missed the opportunity of demanding radical change (i.e. Putin’s resignation and a full scale programme of political reform). Instead, all they could come up with was the nonsensical ‘Churov Out!’ (a reference to the Chair of Russia’s Central Election Commission and Eminence grise behind election fraud) and a cry for new elections without any change of government or its regime. Among other patently dead horses being flogged was the idea of a return to the direct election of governors. And the Kremlin, terrified by the hell that was breaking loose outside its gates, quaked. And it promised to deliver.‘The new law’s chief purpose is not to ‘keep Nemtsov and Co. away from power’ (there is no risk of that anyway). The message is clear: the boss is back in town and any Kremlin wavering and worrying in December 2011 is history.’
What’s more, the promise was kept! After which it resolved to dot all the ‘i’s, in case any doubt remained about the outcome of the previous political year. Then the new law was tabled. Its chief purpose is not to ‘keep Nemtsov and Co. away from power’ (there is no risk of that anyway), but simply to demonstratively draw a line under the phantom trials and tribulations of the opposition and its sympathisers among the public, all of it precipitated by the fuss around Putin and Medvedev’s announcement of their job swap in September 2011. The message was clear: the boss was back in town and any Kremlin wavering and worrying in December 2011 was history. This is the reason for the opposition’s present hopeless and needless anger as Putin dismisses them now as ‘disqualified for total debility’.
Of course the Kremlin’s rationale is not only an ethico-political one; an indirect form of election of governors is both simpler and cheaper. There is never going to be any problem about lining up a few dozen regional MPs to vote the right way. Sorting out the media, the police and all the local election committees before a direct election is a much bigger hassle, although all these issues are of secondary importance to the Kremlin. And the fact that Tyulpanov was joining with Nemtsov in criticism of Putin probably only means that the Kremlin hasn’t yet made up its mind whether to reimpose the old indirect system everywhere or to invent a new game of ‘letting a hundred flowers of regional freedom bloom’.In which case of course the regime’s PR stress will be on the complete freedom of self development enjoyed by Russia’s regions and any suggestions to the contrary come from the mendacious corridors of the US State Department.
The real truth behind the law
But this whole story nevertheless contains a ‘moment of truth’ which allows us to see which haystack hides the needle of Putin’s downfall. It is obviously not Bolotnaya Square, synonymous with last year’s protest rallies. It is not Moscow at all. It is the Caucasus. That is the area where Moscow will not even pretend to hold a dialogue with the public. That is the area where the President’s men on the ground are starting to sound nervous. In December 2012 Aleksey Machnev, the speaker of North Ossetia’s parliament, told Putin that direct gubernatorial elections would lead to ‘an increase in social and political tension, a deterioration in the socio-economic situation, and escalation of inter-regional discord and a threat to security in the area’. And on the eve of the national parliamentary debate on the new Bill the President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Yevkurov made an almost monarchist appeal in support of the appointment system:‘The President’s administration will never appoint some good-for-nothing who won’t be up to the job. What would be the point of that?’ In the heat of the moment, Yevkurov seems to have forgotten that formally it is still local MPs who elect regional governors, and the President merely ‘nominates three candidates’.
Are the Northern Caucasus Putin's nemesis? Photo: (cc) Wikimedia/Peter FitzgeraldIt is clear in any case that the vote after the Bill’s first reading has ended the ‘Moscow’ stage of the anti-Putin revolt, and has effectively announced the beginning of a new stage in which we may assume that the revolutionary flame that has gone out in Bolotnaya Square will flare up in the Caucasus - where, of course, it has never been completely quenched.
Thumbnail: (cc) Polit.ru
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via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
TRANSCRIPT: [Putin:] Meeting of the Council for the Local Self-Government Development
russialist.org
(Kremlin.ru – January 31, 2013) The Kremlin, Moscow Vladimir Putin held a meeting of the Council for the Local Self-Government Development. Participants discussed improving the regulation of ...
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
What the Papers Say, Feb. 4, 2013 | News
www.themoscowtimes.com
A roundup of today's Russian-language newspapers
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Russia sinks to 148th place on Press Freedom Index
russialist.org
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru - Yulia Ponomareva, Combined report – February 4, 2013) Russian media fell near the bottom of the list on the 2013 Press Freedom Index. The a...
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Twitter End to Love Story Born in Russia’s Protests
www.nytimes.com
Russia’s glamorous political-opposition couple, Kseniya Sobchak and Ilya Yashin, are no more. Ms. Sobchak has surprised Moscow by marrying another man.
Atom Feed
"Russia Blogs" via Mike Nova
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
U.S. holds key to improving Russia ties: Putin aide
www.reuters.com
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Strained Russian-U.S. ties will not improve unless Washington stops openly criticizing Moscow's human rights record and supporting President Vladimir Putin's foes, the top foreign policy
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Russia 2013: Critical Questions for 2013: Regional Issues | Center for Strategic and International S
csis.org
A1: Zero. Nothing. The “Reset” is dead as a doornail. In retrospect I would date its demise to September 24, 2011, when at the United Russia Party Congress it was revealed that Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, the so-called tandem, would switch places with Putin again becoming president of Russia...
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Russia, U.S. can sign new agreement on WMD instead of Nunn-Lugar program – daily
russialist.org
MOSCOW. Feb 4 (Interfax) – The normalization of relations between Russia and the United States may begin with practical cooperation in resisting the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD...
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Russian diplomat warns of terror threat in Syria, Algeria, Mali
russialist.org
(Interfax – Moscow, 1 February) The events in Syria, Algeria and Mali are interrelated and demonstrate the multi-faceted nature of the modern terrorist threat, Aleksandr Zmeyevskiy, the Russi...
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Involving Russia in Syria
www.washingtonpost.com
Two new ideas bring Russia into helping to solve the ongoing crisis.
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Russia mulls resumption of Georgian wine imports
www.mercurynews.com
MOSCOW—A Russian official said Monday that Moscow may soon resume imports of Georgian wine, mineral water and fruit after a seven-year ban, the first tentative step toward repairing the ruptured ties between the two ex-Soviet neighbors.
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
No Gas Price Deal With Ukraine Yet – Kremlin
russialist.org
SOCHI, February 4 (RIA Novosti) Russia and Ukraine have not yet agreed on ways to lower the price of Russian gas regardless of whether Ukraine joins the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazak...
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Dealing With the Real Putin
www.nytimes.com
To “reset the reset” with Russia, the United States first has to know who Putin is and what he wants.
via Johnson's Russia List's Facebook Wall by Johnson's Russia List on 2/4/13
Five Myths About Russia - Forbes
www.forbes.com
Thus Russia in 2013, unlike Russia of the mid and late 1970's, has a growing birthrate, decreasing mortality, declining numbers of alcohol deaths, and a broadly flat level of military spending. If we want to understand what Russia is and where it's going, we need to take its many positive developmen...
Atom Feed
"Russia Blogs" via Mike Nova
via Chatham House - Russia and Eurasia on 2/4/13
Members of the present Russian political elite have powerful motives for adhering to the status quo: their patronage, protection or predation of many businesses damages competition in the economy and enriches them. It is difficult to see how resistance to change of political and business incumbents would be overcome. Salvation by liberal insiders - Anatolii Chubais, Aleksei Kudrin and Igor Shuvalov - though possible, does not look very likely in Russia. If the present signs of both a split within the leadership and public discontent became stronger, they would have their parts to play. But in that situation only those who had clearly separated themselves from the authorities would be well-placed to exert much influence.
via Russia Beyond the Headlines's Facebook Wall by Russia Beyond the Headlines on 2/4/13
Martin Sieff writes: "Some 70 years after Paulus surrendered, and more than 67 years since the Third Reich was finally crushed, the memories and scars of that struggle still define modern Russia. Communism is dead but Russian patriotism is not. And that is why in an era of growing differences and alienation between Russia and the United States, we need to remember the passionate intensity of that struggle, how much it contributed to The Allied victory and what it cost the Russian people."
Remembering the final surrender at Stalingrad | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
Stalingrad, epicenter of the most epic battle, is a reminder to Americans of what Russia did for them
Remembering the final surrender at Stalingrad | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
Stalingrad, epicenter of the most epic battle, is a reminder to Americans of what Russia did for them
via Russia Beyond the Headlines's Facebook Wall by Russia Beyond the Headlines on 2/4/13
PHOTO OF THE DAY - Motorcycle and sidecar cross country race in Moscow on February 4
Source: ITAR-TASS
http://rbth.ru/22501
Photo of the day 2013
Source: ITAR-TASS
http://rbth.ru/22501
Photo of the day 2013
via Russia Beyond the Headlines's Facebook Wall by Russia Beyond the Headlines on 2/4/13
What's behind Putin's delay in signing the new Russian Foreign Policy draft?
Putin delays signing Russia’s foreign policy draft | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
Foreign Minister Lavrov reveals that Russia’s draft Foreign Policy Concept is still under review by the head of state. Experts believe Putin is looking for tougher rhetoric regarding Russia’s stance on interference in its domestic affairs
Putin delays signing Russia’s foreign policy draft | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
Foreign Minister Lavrov reveals that Russia’s draft Foreign Policy Concept is still under review by the head of state. Experts believe Putin is looking for tougher rhetoric regarding Russia’s stance on interference in its domestic affairs
via Chatham House - Publications on 2/4/13
Members of the present Russian political elite have powerful motives for adhering to the status quo: their patronage, protection or predation of many businesses damages competition in the economy and enriches them. It is difficult to see how resistance to change of political and business incumbents would be overcome. Salvation by liberal insiders - Anatolii Chubais, Aleksei Kudrin and Igor Shuvalov - though possible, does not look very likely in Russia. If the present signs of both a split within the leadership and public discontent became stronger, they would have their parts to play. But in that situation only those who had clearly separated themselves from the authorities would be well-placed to exert much influence.
via Chatham House - Publications on 2/4/13
This is a summary of an event held at Chatham House on 19 November 2012. Nikolay Kozhanov, scholar at the Institute of the Middle East, discussed Russia's approach to the Middle East. Event details.
via Chatham House - Publications on 2/4/13
This is a summary of an event held at Chatham House on 26 November 2012. Muhiddin Kabiri, Chairman of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, discussed the political situation in Tajikistan. Event details.
via Chatham House - Russia and Eurasia on 2/4/13
This is a summary of an event held at Chatham House on 19 November 2012. Nikolay Kozhanov, scholar at the Institute of the Middle East, discussed Russia's approach to the Middle East. Event details.
via Chatham House - Russia and Eurasia on 2/4/13
This is a summary of an event held at Chatham House on 26 November 2012. Muhiddin Kabiri, Chairman of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, discussed the political situation in Tajikistan. Event details.
"Russia Blogs" via Mike Nova
via Russia Beyond the Headlines's Facebook Wall by Russia Beyond the Headlines on 2/4/13
The mystery behind Stalin's death:
VIDEO - Solving the mystery of Stalin's death | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
This Soviet figure was one of the most prolific leaders the world has ever known. The circumstances surrounding his death still remain a secret. He was the man with an iron heart: Joseph Stalin.
This Soviet figure was one of the most prolific leaders the world has ever known. His personal life was complicated, and the circumstances surrounding his death still remain a secret. He was the man with an iron heart: Joseph Stalin.
Joseph Stalin, 73 years old, had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died at 9:50 p.m. on March 5, 1953. At four in the morning of March 6 it was announced: "The heart of the comrade-in-arms and continuer of genius of Lenin's cause, of the wise leader and teacher of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union, has ceased to beat."
Stalin as a legend and a leader is still debated but so is the mystery surrounding his death. Some believe it wasn't poor health that killed him.
VIDEO - Solving the mystery of Stalin's death | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
This Soviet figure was one of the most prolific leaders the world has ever known. The circumstances surrounding his death still remain a secret. He was the man with an iron heart: Joseph Stalin.
Solving the mystery of Stalin's death
February 3, 2013
This Soviet figure was one of the most prolific leaders the world has ever known. His personal life was complicated, and the circumstances surrounding his death still remain a secret. He was the man with an iron heart: Joseph Stalin.
Joseph Stalin, 73 years old, had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died at 9:50 p.m. on March 5, 1953. At four in the morning of March 6 it was announced: "The heart of the comrade-in-arms and continuer of genius of Lenin's cause, of the wise leader and teacher of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union, has ceased to beat."
Stalin as a legend and a leader is still debated but so is the mystery surrounding his death. Some believe it wasn't poor health that killed him.
via Russia Beyond the Headlines's Facebook Wall by Russia Beyond the Headlines on 2/4/13
BREAKING
Moscow Exchange announces IPO details | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
The company will seek to sell its shares for $1.8–2.1, raising $500m or more
Moscow Exchange announces IPO details | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
The company will seek to sell its shares for $1.8–2.1, raising $500m or more
via Russia Beyond the Headlines's Facebook Wall by Russia Beyond the Headlines on 2/4/13
The Russian Ministry of Economic Development and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) have signed a memorandum of understanding with Goldman Sachs, according to which the investment bank will help to establish a dialogue with foreign investors and ratings agencies.
How do you see this new partnership?
Goldman Sachs to improve Russia's image for $500,000 | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
In a new image campaign to spur investment, the Russian government has hired the investment bank Goldman Sachs to persuade investors and ratings agencies of the country's appeal
How do you see this new partnership?
Goldman Sachs to improve Russia's image for $500,000 | Russia Beyond The Headlines
rbth.ru
In a new image campaign to spur investment, the Russian government has hired the investment bank Goldman Sachs to persuade investors and ratings agencies of the country's appeal
via Chatham House - Publications on 2/4/13
This is a summary of an event held at Chatham House on 6 December 2012. The summary highlights the key themes and findings of the event, during which participants discussed different national experiences in the field of demand reduction and the role of public education and prevention in reducing both the supply and demand for drugs globally. Project on Drugs and Organized Crime.
via Dances With Bears by John Helmer on 2/4/13
By John Helmer, Moscow
Lars Nyberg (right), chief executive until Friday afternoon of TeliaSonera, the Swedish and Finnish telecommunications group, is something of an expert on the blowback effect. Firearms and forensics experts understand that blowback is what happens after a gunshot, when the vacuum inside the gun barrel draws in blood and tissue from the person who’s just been shot. Even if the corpse cannot be found, the blowback evidence can convict the shooter whose prints are on the gun, of murder. The typical defence in situations like that is no corpus delicti, no evidence of crime.
In the case of TeliaSonera’s payment of more (much more) than $320 million to a one-person company registered in Gibraltar allegedly having nothing to do with Gulnara Karimova (centre), Nyberg claims he is innocent of intending corruptly to advance TeliaSonera’s profits in its Uzbek mobile telephone concession. Karimova is the senior daughter of Uzbekistan’s president, Islam Karimov, and the dominant business figure in the country.
Nyberg is also innocent, he says, of having looked down the barrel of the gun once fired. “Five years ago,” he told the Financial Times in November, “you had to do something to break the law. The law now says if you don’t do something you might be breaking the law. It is a major difference. We have to do a lot more discovery [of documents]. We have to have all the paperwork.”
Before the release on Friday of the investigative report by Mannheimer Swartling, a Stockholm law firm commissioned by TeliaSonera’s board, Nyberg had claimed that “severe media allegations” didn’t upset his “confiden[ce] that the allegations are legally unfounded.” After the TeliaSonera board of directors refused a vote of confidence in Nyberg, and he had resigned, he said: “Even if this transaction was legal, we should not have gone ahead without learning more about the identity of our counterparty. This is something I regret.”
In fact the Mannheimer Swartling report stops short of concluding that the transaction, and Nyberg’s actions, were legal. It allows the possibility that the media allegations are true, and passes the buck for issuing indictments to Sweden’s prosecutor: “The suspicions of crime expressed in the media and by the Swedish Prosecution Authority cannot be dismissed by this investigation,” reports Mannheimer Swartling. For the full report, click here. The English summary starts at page 159.
Legally, Nyberg didn’t take over as chief executive of TeliaSonera until September 3, 2007, by which time the Swedish company was well down the path of finding an alternative to a company known to be associated with Karimova as the local partner for the operation of its Uzbek telephone concession. The Mannheimer Swartling report appears to let TeliaSonera off the hook by concluding that “TeliaSonera’s acquisition of MCT was preceded by extensive due diligence and planning on how to structure it the best way.”
However, it is clear from the evidence presented to the law firm that once the Swedes had decided to choose Takilant, a 3-year old entity registered in Gibraltar and owned by a 25-year old Armenian Uzbek named Gayane Avakyan, it had also decided not to investigate how she had acquired the concession TeliaSonera was buying from Takilant. TeliaSonera also failed to investigate whether Avakyan and Takilant had the legal right to sell the asset. According to Mannheimer Swartling, Takilant was “introduced” in the autumn of 2007. The formalities were signed three months later in December. According to the Swedish press reports, the first TeliaSonera payment to Takilant came to about $320 million. Nyberg was in charge and personally responsible at the time.
But he didn’t want to know too much. “The reason for levelling criticism at the current CEO,” reports Mannheimer Swartling, “is the uncritical attitude that has been maintained, despite the presence of continued unclear circumstances in connection with transactions in 2007, as well as subsequent events.”
But there is nothing at all in the report about how much in revenues, profits and dividends TeliaSonera has shared with Takilant, and paid to the benefit of its shareholder, allegedly Avakyan, since December 2007. TeliaSonera’s financial releases report sales revenues for the Uzbekistan operation; in 2011, for example, these came to 1.7 billion Swedish krona ($275 million). But there is no reporting by TeliaSonera of the Uzbek joint venture’s earnings, profits, or dividend distribution to Takilant.
The TeliaSonera reports do show that in 2008 and 2009 the Swedes owned 74% of the joint venture, Uzbek Telcom Holding B.V.,while Takilant owned 26%. In February 2010, with Nyberg in charge, TeliaSonera exercised an option and bought another 20% of the joint venture. According to page 18 of the 2010 annual report, it paid Takilant “approximately SEK 1,600 million (USD 220 million).” That leaves Takilant with 6%, and according to TeliaSonera’s annual report for 2011, this is valued at SEK 495 million ($78 million).
Adding the three share transactions together, the Swedish payments to Takilant, and thus allegedly to Karimova, make at least $618 million, plus the annual dividend stream. TeliaSonera refuses to say how much was paid in dividends to Takilant.
It wasn’t enough for Nyberg to inquire officially into the identity of the beneficiary, in case Nyberg really knew nothing. The sum also wasn’t enough for Karimova. That’s now clear in retrospect, because in May or June of 2012, she had a falling out with Bekhzod Akhmetov, the initial negotiator of TeliaSonera’s entry to Uzbekistan through Takilant, and subsequently the head of Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s mobile operator in Uzbekistan, Uzdunrobita.
The Swedish press have been focusing their investigations on alleged wrongdoing in Uzbekistan by TeliaSonera and Nyberg. The Swiss press have been focusing on the falling-out between Karimova and Akhmedov; the latter’s flight from Uzbekistan; and an attempt by people reportedly close to both of them to remove cash from Takilant’s bank account at the Geneva branch of the private bank, Lombard Odier. The Swiss police arrested two Uzbeks in July 31 on charges of money-laundering, and then released them on bail at the start of November. No indictments have yet been issued in court or released to the press. Lombard Odier has released this document from the Swiss authorities detailing their suspicions of what has been happening.
In Moscow the media focus has been on Yevtushenkov, his Mobile Telesystems (MTS), and the fate of Russian nationals arrested in a sweep of Uzdunrobita last summer by the Uzbek police. There have been warnings from the Russian Foreign Minister to his Uzbek counterpart, and the arrest by Moscow court marshals of real estate owned by Karimova in Moscow. Yevtushenkov continues to express optimism that he will retrieve the Uzdunrobita concession. The Uzbek authorities lost their first attempt to confiscate the assets, but they continue to press for payment of a $600 million penalty for alleged tax evasion. Yevtushenkov has put the subsidiary into bankruptcy to stop payment.
In the interval, it has been crystal clear to every telecommunications sector analyst in Moscow that whatever Karimova’s intentions had been last June, her actions have been good for at least one Russian rival of Yevtushenkov’s, and probably two. According to the MTS financial reports, its sales revenues in Uzbekistan in the second quarter to June 30 came to $132.8 million. After Karimova hit the fan, the corresponding figure for the third quarter (September 30) was just $26 million. The corresponding earnings figures went from $72.3 million to minus-$2.2 million. In MTS’s worldwide balance sheet, the Uzbek concession generated just 3.5% of revenues; 4.4% of earnings. However, if to the third-quarter losses on MTS’s account, the fourth-quarter losses are added, there is now a hole on the balance-sheet of more than $200 million, compared to 2011.
In the Uzbek mobile telephone market until last June, MTS’s Uzdunrobita was the biggest operator geographically and numerically, and claimed to have 9 million subscribers. TeliaSonera’s Uzbek Holding claimed 7 million, and Vimpelcom, controlled by Mikhail Fridman (far left) and his Alfa group, another 7 million. You don’t need Mannheimer Swartling to work out that once Uzdunrobita’s operations had been halted, its local subscribers moved to one of the two alternatives. So Yevtushenkov’s misfortune is turning out to be good for TeliaSonera, good for Fridman.
The latest Vimpelcom financial reports for the second and third quarters reveal that its sales revenues in Uzbekistan have jumped 54% from $89 million to $137 million. Earnings have risen even more lucratively from $45 million to $77 million; that’s a gain of 71%. In Uzbekistan VimpelCom reported on November 14, 2012, it has “substantially strengthened its market position in 3Q12 after the forced closure of a competitor´s network. Revenue was up 88% organically YoY in 3Q12, supported by a 62% YoY increase in the subscriber base as well as 26% ARPU growth.”
TeliaSonera’s latest financial report includes several implicit acknowledgements of how much better business has been in Uzbekistan since Karimova acted against MTS in June. Second-quarter revenues, for example, were $474 million. In the preceding two quarters, Teliasonera recorded comparable sales figures of $462 million and $470 million, respectively. Evidently, TeliaSonera and Miss Avakyan weren’t managing to extract much fresh growth out of the Uzbek subscriber base. However, with Yevtushenkov out of the way, the third-quarter revenue jumped to $684 million, a growth rate of 44% — not quite as good as Vimpelcom had achieved, but much, much better than Nyberg and Avakyan were managing on their own in the first six months.
The December quarter revenue total is $749 million, a quarterly growth rate of 10%. Comparing the first and second-half sales results, TeliaSonera has added $497 million in revenues which it almost certainly could not have earned with Avakyan’s talent — and without Karimova’s influence.
Is it likely that TeliaSonera’s Russian partner assisted in this outcome? That partner is Alisher Usmanov (second from left), a figure in whom Nyberg has so much confidence he personally invested from his own pocket $2 million in the initial public offering of Usmanov’s Megafon last November. Netting Nyberg’s outlay against his income from serving as a board member of Megafon, and adding the 40% capital gain ($800,000) he has already made on the share, Nyberg’s vote of confidence in Usmanov has been a modest one.
Did Usmanov’s relationship with Karimova motivate her conduct in any way towards Yevtushenkov and Uzdunrobita? Did that relationship have any bearing on the good fortune that has befallen TeliaSonera?
For the time being it isn’t clear what relationship there is between Usmanov and Karimova. In 2007 Usmanov told the London Guardian: “There isn’t any relationship between me and President Karimov and any members of his family”. Last September, sources confirm Usmanov was in Tashkent. There have been press reports claiming he attended the celebration of a wedding between a member of his family and a member of Karimova’s. The reports claim Usmanov spoke in praise of Karimova and of his relationship with her. But did he?
Anastasia Gorokhova is an associate partner of the London public relations firm RLM Finsbury, and communication advisor to Usmanov’s Metalloinvest holding. She was asked to clarify what Usmanov said at the Tashkent event. She had not replied by publication time.
via Russia Beyond the Headlines's Facebook Wall by Russia Beyond the Headlines on 2/4/13
Was the Battle of Stalingrad really the greatest battle of World War II?
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via Russia Beyond the Headlines's Facebook Wall by Russia Beyond the Headlines on 2/4/13
FACT OF THE DAY - On the 4th of February 1722 Peter the Great introduced the Table of Ranks, a formal list that defined everyone’s position and status was determined according to service, and not birthright. The Table of Ranks recognized three fundamental types of service: military, civil and court, dividing each into 14 ranks.
Image: Peter the Great, the first emperor of Russia (1672 - 1725). Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
Image: Peter the Great, the first emperor of Russia (1672 - 1725). Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
via Chatham House - Publications on 2/4/13
This is a summary of a study group held at Chatham House in January 2013 in which participants discussed the latest political developments in Yemen. Summary: While the Yemeni government faces a critical budget deficit, negotiations over mechanisms for the delivery of aid pledges have stalled. Meanwhile, the defence budget has been increased. Tensions between the governing Islah and the General People's Congress (GPC) parties have had an unexpectedly positive impact on government transparency, with each party leaking details of government corruption against the other. Youth activists are increasingly drawn to the Houthis, who are emerging as the only credible opposition to established political elites seen as complicit with foreign influence in Yemen. Saudi Arabia has been less involved in Yemen of late as domestic and regional crises have taken precedence. Iran is building contacts with emerging power centres, but the larger impact of this remains to be seen. Yemen Forum.
via Russia by admin on 2/3/13
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