VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Krievijas valdības vadītājs, kurš līdz šim ar skarbu valodiņu sev tik centīgi kultivēja "cietā rieksta" tēlu, vienreiz jūtas pagalam neērti. Turklāt ar sava preses sekretāra palīdzību to neslēpj no pasaules publikas.
It is amazing how swiftly a new crisis can knock into perspective one which dominated discussion only a short time before. Just a few weeks ago we were debating whether the west was heading for a new cold war with Russia, or a new Crimean war over Ukraine, or a new Great Game in central Asia. Then the markets began their decline, and Georgia and its possible consequences were swept aside.
Some of the many victims of Vladimir Putin's foreign and domestic policy will be curious to know which aspects of judo's philosophy the former President finds so meaningful. Well, Vlad? Is it the disavowal of aggression and the disqualification of anyone indulging in such? Is it the bit about repudiating tactics that rely on brute strength? Or is it the emphasis on gentleness, from which the term judo is derived?
Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, has let it be known that he would prefer it if streets were not named after him or statues erected to him. The immediate occasion for this expression of modesty was a proposal by the pro-Moscow Chechen leader to rename Grozny's main street in his honour.
As sports go, judo is an invigorating way to combine muscle-honing exercise with the opportunity to break several important bones in your body. Which is why judo can appeal so strongly to the sort of politician who already has demonstrated his virility by flaunting his toned naked torso on a fishing trip, perching at the wheel of a giant racing truck, tracking a tiger through the Siberian forest, and sending his tanks into neighbouring territories. Politicians such as Vladimir Putin.
Now that the Republic of Georgia has been moved off the front pages, it is time to assess what was really behind Russia's heavy-handed invasion of that pro-Western fledgling democratic country.
In the first presidential debate, Barack Obama said that he and John McCain "agree for the most part" on issues regarding Russia. But while both were tough on Russia, their consensus, such as it is, is hardly the result of shared clarity on U.S. policy toward Russia. In fact, neither candidate has outlined a policy that would overcome the current confrontations with Moscow and make the world more secure. The big question is how they expect to change Russia's behavior.
When I tell people that Russia is not only the largest country in the world but that Siberia alone is bigger than the United States (including Alaska) and Western Europe combined, they gasp. They wonder at the scale and diversity of Russia's landscape. They are entranced by reports of witches who communicate with forest sprites, shamans who worship their ancestors, and at mountain horsemen who believe that the campfire over which they heat a kettle of tea is sacred and who therefore rebuked me for kicking at a stray log. It all seems so very unRussian.
The formal rehabilitation of Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, might seem a curious turn of events under the watch of Vladimir Putin, the man who mourned the collapse of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century. But might it be just the latest move by Mr Putin to harness the power of the monarchy and the Orthodox Church to a post-Soviet nationalism?
Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, said yesterday that the irresponsibility of America's financial system was to blame for the global economic crisis, in what marks the latest episode in increasingly hostile relations between the two superpowers.
Our gaze might be on the markets melting down, but the upheaval we are experiencing is more than a financial crisis, however large. Here is a historic geopolitical shift, in which the balance of power in the world is being altered irrevocably. The era of American global leadership, reaching back to the Second World War, is over.
Russia is suffering its own bitter version of financial turmoil, partly because of the summer of antagonism led by Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister. Yesterday Russia suspended its stock market for the fourth day in a fortnight, to try to stem falling share prices. The move headed off a rout, although investors have been fleeing for four months and the market is down by more than half since May.
Il n'est bruit en Europe que d'une nouvelle guerre froide. Au raidissement moscovite répond le raidissement des chancelleries occidentales. Au-delà des discours exaltés et approximatifs sur la nouvelle puissance impériale russe, la question posée par les développements russo-géorgiens demeure pourtant celle de l'intégration - inachevée - du monde ex-soviétisé dans ce que Mikhaïl Gorbatchev nommait la "communauté des nations civilisées".
By rights, this year's Sochi Economic Forum should have been a victory lap for Vladimir Putin. Russia's president turned prime minister had just, in his own words, "punched the face" of upstart Georgia, and a year of record oil prices had boosted Russia's currency reserves to $700 billion.
Stock markets the world over have experienced a crush of losses and all-around volatility in recent days. Here we look at two of the most dramatic markets - those in the United States and Russia - where views of business and government could not be more different. While the U.S. Federal Reserve doesn't even pretend to think it could manage the entire economy by itself, the Russian system is predicated on government control born out of political and economic necessity.
Is Vladimir Putin a savior, a man whose eight-year reign has elevated Russia to new economic heights? Or is he a bully, a strongman who uses violence to maintain a hold on power? The likely answer is both.
The Russian government's $100bn-plus financial rescue plan has won a better reception from investors than Washington's $700bn proposal. Inter-bank lending rates have dropped sharply from last week's crisis levels and the rouble has recovered some lost ground. But, as Tuesday's Moscow stock market decline shows, the mood remains nervous with investors worried about financial stability in both Russia and the US.
"Da poco più d' un anno, la Tv russa manda in onda il pomeriggio e la sera un telegiornale in lingua inglese. Il telegiornale si chiama Russia today, ed è fatto, formalmente, piuttosto bene. Ariosa la scenografia, moderno il montaggio, e carine - anzi belle, una più bella dell' altra - le giornaliste che s' avvicendano nell' esposizione delle notizie. Confesso che le prime due sere a Mosca, la bellezza ed eleganza delle conduttrici di Russia today mi avevano così avvinto, distratto, da non farmi cogliere la sostanza giornalistica del programma."
In the course of the Valdai conference in Russia from September 7-14 we met with President Dmitri Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Deputy Chief of the General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn. There was no significant difference between them in what they said about Russian policy and Russian views. Nor have such differences appeared outside the conference.
