The Washington spin on the IAEA resolution agreed Thursday is that it “sharply criticizes” Iran — or, more accurately, expresses “deep and increasing concern about the unresolved issues” about the nuclear program Tehran insists is purely peaceful, but which the UN nuclear watchdog has alleged may have have included research work, …
Russia
Nuke Report Unlikely to Break the Stalemate, Could Iran Be the New Cuba?
Game changer? Hardly. As the dust settles on this week’s release of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report on Iran, it’s become clear that pre-release hype from Western officials that it would produce a dramatic shift in the international standoff over that country’s nuclear program appears to be wishful thinking. …
Five Years On, Alexander Litvinenko’s Widow Continues Her Quest for Justice
In November 2006, as ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko lay dying of radioactive poisoning, his wife Marina held a bedside vigil. At first doctors at his London hospital blamed an E. coli infection for Litvinenko’s yellowing skin, sunken eyes and dramatic weight loss. But Marina sensed something more sinister. “We asked many times …
Despite International Outcry, Ukraine’s Yulia Tymoshenko May Face Even More Jail Time
In the three days since a Ukrainian court convicted ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of abuse of power, the country’s president Viktor Yanukovych has been portrayed as a modern-day Joseph Stalin. Leaders from Brussels to Moscow accused his regime of staging a show trial in which his main political rival was sentenced to seven years …
Court Convicts Ukraine’s Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko
The judge read out the guilty verdict, and Yulia Tymoshenko’s supporters shouted “Shame!”
This afternoon a court ruled that Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s former Prime Minister, had acted against the national interest when she signed a natural gas deal with Russia in 2009, leading to $190 million in damages to Ukraine’s state-run …
Russia’s Putin Visits Beijing: Friendly Neighbors or Strategic Competitors?
Regular readers of stories from China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency know that relations between China and nearly every country whose leader visits Beijing merit a positive appraisal. “Malawi treasures its friendship with China and is grateful for China’s selfless support for Malawi’s national development,” gushed one …
Battle of the Oligarchs: Russian Exile Seeks Billions from Former Business Partner
Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch sitting on an estimated fortune of $16 billion, “betrayed and blackmailed” his erstwhile mentor, coercing him to sell his stake in a Russian oil company at a fraction of its value, a High Court in London heard this morning.
Boris Berezovsky, once one of Russia’s most influential oligarchs, …
Dagestan: As an Insurgency Rages, a Soccer Team Rises
The Washington Post ran a lengthy feature Tuesday on the violence in Dagestan, the restive Muslim-majority republic in Russia’s North Caucasus region whose troubles have long hovered under the radar as the world fretted over the Chechen insurgency and Moscow’s tensions with independent Georgia to the south. Yet, as this 2009 U.S. …
Russian Politico, Chess-Master and UFO Enthusiast Comforts Gaddafi
Simon Shuster reports for TIME that proponent of alien lifeforms, chess, and anti-Western dictators Kirsan Ilyumzhinov visited with Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi Sunday evening. Ilyumzhinov, a Russian politician and former head of the Russian republic of Kalmykia, sat down with the embattled leader to offer him some comfort and play a game of …
Something’s Rotten in Europe
TIME’s Leo Cendrowicz writes from Brussels about what the controversy — and hysteria — over E.coli in vegetable produce is doing to the already fraying bonds of the European Union.
Originally the authorities in Hamburg identified the source of the outbreak as Spanish cucumbers. This was not only incorrect but led to an acrimonious
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A Game of Two Halves: Can Soccer’s Governing Body FIFA Finally Clean Up Its Act?
Where were we when we last discussed the soap opera that is soccer’s governing body (and veritable global behemoth), FIFA? Ah yes, President Sepp Blatter — who, given the power of his position and the popularity of the sport, is arguably as influential as the Pope — claimed he was going to clean up the sport for good if re-elected on …
Global Briefing, May 10, 2011: American Narcissim, Russian Woes
The Obama Doctrine(s) — The American Prospect critiques President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. “Obama doesn’t have a doctrine of foreign policy; he has a style,” writes Joshua Foust. “As a result, his decisions are often constrained not by guiding principles but by circumstances.”
Pyrrhic Victory — Will Osama bin Laden’s …
Why the BRICS Summit Won’t Accomplish Anything
Yep, just what the world needs—another international summit. On Thursday, leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa convened under the palm trees of China’s Hainan Island for the third BRICS summit. The acronym was coined back in 2001 by an economist at Goldman Sachs to describe the bright emerging economies of Brazil, …