Russia

The Russian Punk Rock band “Pussy Riot” has released a new video, Rolling Stone reports, entitled “Like a Red Prison,” in which they attack Russia’s oil magnates and their ties to President Vladimir Putin. The song likens Putin to Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei because of his favoritism toward the Russian Orthodox Church, and complains that […]

Government surveillance

Snowden Fall-out: European Denial of Overflight to Bolivian President Angers South America

Juan Cole

As Bolivian President Evo Morales was returning from Moscow in a private jet after consultations on energy, his pilot was suddenly informed that France and Portugal had revoked overflight permissions, along with Spain and Italy. Spain ultimately relented, and Morales’s plane refueled there, before heading to Vienna to overnight. The Bolivian government is furious at […]

Russia

Baikonur, Kazakhstan: Unmanned Russian rocket crashes (spectacular video)

Juan Cole

At the Baikonur Space Station in Kazakhstan, an unmanned Russian Proton M rocket booster went sideways and crashed this morning. Here’s the video from Russian t.v.:

Russia

Snowden: Top Ten Signs that Putin might not be on Washington’s Side

Juan Cole

The American political class and corporate press professed itself shocked, shocked, when Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to order the arrest Edward Snowden, marooned in a transit lounge at the Moscow airport, or his return to the United States. Among Putin’s major projects has been making Russia a Great Power, recovering some of the stature […]

Russia

Syria needs a dozen S-300 batteries to protect itself – Russian general; Kerry Denounces Plan

Juan Cole

Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday deplored the Russian plan to ship S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Syria, saying that it will not lead to peace. The batteries would constrain Israel from bombarding targets in Syria and so would be a game-changer for Israeli security, and they would likely put paid to any talk of […]

Israel/ Palestine

Russia Warns Israel: Hands off Syria, as PFLP threatens Guerrilla Strike

Juan Cole

The Iranian press is reporting that Russian President Vladimir Putin has vehemently warned Israel against further airstrikes on Syria. Putin is said to be accelerating shipments of anti-aircraft batteries to Syria. Meanwhile Syrian leader Bashar al-Asad’s decision to permit guerrilla attacks on Israel from Syrian soil was welcomed by the Popular Front for the Liberation […]

al-Qaeda

Did the Boston Bombing Hurt the Syrian Revolution? Obama & Putin Confer as Rebels Allege Regime Massacre

Juan Cole

The phone call between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin after the Boston Marathon bombers were identified as Chechens, in which Obama thanked Putin for Russia’s cooperation on counter-terrorism and promised more such collaboration, was probably the most cordial exchange the two countries have had for some time. The thaw was occurring as Syrian […]

al-Qaeda

Chechen Jihadis Reject Tsarnaevs (OSC)

Juan Cole

The USG Open Source Center translates a reaction from the Caucasus Emirate Islamic insurgency on the news that the Tsarnaev brothers are accused of the Boston Marathon bombing. The CEII casts doubt on their guilt and also on the plausibility that these are jihadis, given their internet profiles at Russian-language sites. It does not claim […]

Russia

Videos on the Present and Past of Chechnya

Juan Cole

Here are some videos for Saturday viewing that give a sense of the recent tragic history of Chechnya and of Russian policy toward it today. Also for print sources, see this brief history of Daghestan and Chechnya from the Smithsonian Magazine. A reader sent in this insightful comment yesterday, which I’m moving up here: ” […]