Days before a preliminary hearing for suspected WikiLeaks aide and US Army PFC Bradley Manning are set to begin, the attorney for the accused whistleblower is asking for two big names to take the stand. In a request made Friday, Manning’s attorney provided a 20-page list of defense witnesses that they are asking to appear [...]
Archives: 05 December 2011
December 5, 2011
December 5, 2011
Putin shaken by United Russia’s poor election performance
Vladimir Putin was uncharacteristically fidgety as he spoke to supporters at the United Russia headquarters, as polls showed that voters had delivered a harsh blow to his party in parliamentary elections that were widely seen as a test of his personal popularity. “I want to speak to all citizens of the country and, above all, [...]
December 5, 2011
Russia – NATO – Missile Defense – Cut Supply Lines…
Analysts say Russia could deliver deathblow to Nato. With the Russian threat to cut land routes for supply to Nato troops in Afghanistan, the Afghan battleground may turn into a cold deathtrap for Nato, defence analysts believe. They say that Pakistan should utilize the opportunity for a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan by pulling it out [...]
December 5, 2011
Russia: Her Moscow Metro!
I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and thinking about this wonderful video I found on the Moscow Metro. (Subway for Americans) I was looking at YouTube for Russian videos. Then decided to try Metro in the search. I found this fabulous video of the Moscow Metro. It captures the wonderland that the metro [...]
December 5, 2011
Russia downgrades relations with Qatar over attack on ambassador
Russia will downgrade its diplomatic relations with Qatar following an attack on the Russian ambassador by customs officers at Doha airport, the Foreign Ministry said on its website on Monday. The ministry said Russian Ambassador Vladimir Titorenko will leave Qatar “after he finishes a course of medical treatment as a result of the attack” [...]
December 5, 2011
Russian expats vote Yabloko; N.Caucasus, Moscow asylum for United Russia
The Liberal Yabloko party that barely made it over the three-percent threshold in parliamentary elections on Sunday beat the remaining six other parties in the expat vote, while the national favorite United Russia scored best in Chechnya and in a Moscow mental institution. In the UK, there were 2,208 Russians, and 41 percent of them [...]
December 5, 2011
South Ossetians must decide their fate by themselves – Medvedev
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on the South Ossetian authorities and opposition on Monday to find a way to resolve the current political crisis through internal dialogue. “They must agree on how to govern their country, which we have recognized as a subject of international law, on their own,” Medvedev said at a meting [...]
December 5, 2011
New parliament will be ‘lively’
The new-look State Duma that emerged after the weekend’s parliamentary polls will be more conducive to energetic debate, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday. The ruling United Russia party just retained a majority in Sunday’s elections, winning 238 of 450 seats, a significant decline from the 315 seats it claimed four years ago. The second-placed [...]
December 5, 2011
Zenit, Porto face off in de facto knockout Champions League clash
Zenit St. Petersburg clash with Porto on Tuesday in their last, and de facto knockout, Group G match in the Champions League. With top-placed APOEL Nicosia already qualified for the latter stages, the second berth will go to the winner of Tuesday’s encounter in Portugal. A draw will favor Zenit, who lead Porto by a [...]
December 5, 2011
State Duma polls: Who won, who lost?
Russia’s parliamentary elections may have revealed a slump in support for the ruling United Russia party, but it is still too early to talk about the decline of the country’s most powerful political force, analysts say. They agree, though, that the results of Sunday’s State Duma vote present a challenge for the party’s traditional dominance [...]
December 5, 2011
Moscow police investigate British travel writer’s death
The death of British travel writer Colin Adams in a brawl with a bartender at a Moscow hotel on Sunday was possibly caused by a head injury sustained in a fall onto furniture, a police source said on Monday. Adams, 70, died early on Sunday in a fight with a 21-year-old barman at the [...]
December 5, 2011
Gazprom, Ukraine’s Naftogaz agree on ruble deals
Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftogaz on Monday signed a deal enabling the Ukrainian company to pay for Russian gas shipments in Russian rubles. The agreement was signed by Gazprom’s CEO Alexei Miller and Ukrainian Energy and Coal Minister Yuriy Boyko. They also discussed bilateral cooperation, suggesting that negotiations on Russian gas prices for [...]
December 5, 2011
United Russia’s election results ‘success’
The governing United Russia party has done well in the State Duma elections, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday. The party just retained a majority in Sunday’s elections, winning 238 of 450 seats, a significant decline from the 315 seats it claimed four years ago. “Two hundred and twenty six votes are required to [...]
December 5, 2011
Arrests as Russians rally against ‘election fraud’
Thousands of people gathered in downtown Moscow on Monday to protest against alleged election fraud. Crowd numbers were estimated at “around 5,000” by a RIA Novosti correspondent at the scene. Police put the crowd at 2,000. Opposition rallies in Moscow rarely draw more than 500 people. There were an unconfirmed number of arrests made as [...]