Twitter aids Russian revolt

Demonstrators recently took to the streets in the Chisinau region capital, Moldova, last week in protest of the “Communist Party’s suspiciously large electoral victory a few days earlier,” according to Newsweek. This event has raised questions as to whether the once Romanian-turned Russian region could launch an anti-Communist revolution on the scale of Georgia and the Ukraine.

The student organized protest, which brought out more than 10,000 people to the main square, was organized through the use of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. While the protests started out peaceful on Monday, organized by a young Russian journalist, they quickly became violent by Tuesday and escaladed Friday, as more radical twitter protesters took to the streets.

As a part of the “Twitter revolution,” the tools are being used by young people in the region, specifically the capital of Moldovan, to express their discontent and interact with others sharing these counter-Communist ideas. “’Omg I feel so sick that I am living in Moldova back to the ussr,’ read one of the thousands of Twitter posts labeled with the tag #pman,’ shorthand for the Romanian name of Chisnau’s largest square.” Protesters organized by the #pman stream stated that the government would use the threat of a Romanian coup as an excuse for illegal arrests, according to Spiegel Online International.

Jenn Lynch
Team Russia

Russia Buys Spy Drones From Israel

Russia has purchased unmanned "reconnaissance drones" from an Israeli company. The deal is said to have been made because of Russia's outdated and inferior equipment currently in use.

According to the AFP, "Moscow began shopping for foreign unmanned aircraft after last year's war in Georgia. Defence analysts say Georgia made effective use of its Israeli drones in the conflict, while Russia's home-made drones turned out to be inferior."

The Russian military has admitted that the spy aircraft made in their own country is not as effective as those manufactured in other countries, and, according to United Press International, "that the purchase was designed 'to show our industry what it is,' RIA Novosti said."

The Israeli company which sold the crafts was not specified by the Russian defense minister, but was named in reports to be either Israel Aerospace Industries or Israel Aircraft Industries.

The drones, which are used by the military for surveillance, require no pilot aboard to fly. To learn about what the drones do, check out wikipedia's article.

by Malerie Bickhart (team Russia)

Case closed: Russian journalist's cause of death, closed case

On topic with the theme of violence against journalists, an article in the New York Times clearly depicts an instance with the death of Russian journalist, Yuri Shchekochikhin. Shchekochikhin was poisoned in 2003, yet no evidence was found to back up the claim. Now, six years later, Russian prosecutors want to close the case. The deceased was the colleague of Anna Politkovskaya, the famous journalist who was shot in close range in her apartment building in October of 2007. It is extremely unfortunate that journalists, like Shchekochikhin and Politkovskaya have met ill fates for reporting on facts accurately in what Freedom House consider’s to be a “not free” country. This reoccurring theme has left more than 21 reporters killed and Russian authorities doing minimal to protect the reporters.
By Rachel Rovner (Russia)

Anna Politkovskaya

Russia Connected for 15 Years

As of this year, Russia has been officially a part of the World Wide Web for fifteen years with its Internet domain, .RU.  The .RU code was developed out of an agreement signed in December 1993 by prominent Russian Internet providers, “The order of RU top-level domain administration”.

Then, on April, 7, 1994 .RU was finally registered on the Internet Network Information Center (InterNIC. The .RU code represents the Russian federation. The first website with the national domain was www.1-9-9-4.ru . This site still exists today on Runet, which is another name for Russian Internet.

Before using the .RU domain, Russia had been using .SU, which stood for Soviet Union.  Then in 1993 it wanted its own state domain code, and was assigned the .RU code by the Russian Institute for Public Networks (RIPN), which was a scientific institution. However, Russia was not the first Soviet Union Republic to obtain a national representative domain.  Lithuania, Georgia, Estonia and Ukraine all obtained domains in 1992, and Latvia and Azerbaijan obtained domains earlier than Russia in 1993.

Yet, the .RU domain code still seems to be running successfully, and the RU-Center, the regional network service provider still exists.

Julianne Kriner

Russia 

Russian killings reach past borders

According to a recent report released by the AP, the iron fist of Russian government is reaching past its country lines to suppress oppositional voices. Authorities in Dubai, United Arab Emirates arrested two suspects in the killing of a former Chechen rebel on April 5. This plan is believed to have been masterminded by a member of Russia’s parliament. The slain Sulim Yamadayev was to be a rival of the dominant and current Moscow-backed leader of the Chechnya region of Russia, according to the report. Chechnya has a long history of conflict with Russian authorities, under-going and losing two wars for its independence; this is the first politically motivated killing to take place in Dubai. According to the AP, Dubai authorities have received no cooperation from Russian and Chechnya police forces. As past and similar incidents in the region indicate, this is yet another example of the hostility that continues to exist between the Russian government and anyone who expresses opposing viewpoints.

Russia (Jennifer)

Russia Creates New Military Structure

The military strategies that have long defined Russia are now being completely retooled. The nation that was once almost untouchable because of it's sheer number of soldiers and surrounding advantageous demography has now decided to drastically cut back on troop numbers and focus on improving their military technology and strategies.
The Russia goverment is going to be putting an estimated $140 billion dollars into buying new arms for their military over the next two years. But why such drastic changes?
It seems Russia has two main motivating fears:1. NATO and 2. Islamic insurgents.
Russia has no real immediate fear of NATO, and in fact seems to be modeling it's new military system after NATO sanctioned militaries. Though Russia is suspicious of Ukraine's involvement with NATO, to some it looks like Russia may be making a push to in the future join NATO.
The immediate fear of the Russian army is fundamentalist Muslims. Muslims currently account for roughly 17% of the Russian population and are the only growing community in Russian society. Many feel the massive cutback in military forces was to push as many Muslims out as possible.
So what does this mean for journalists? It is too early to tell, but if Russia is putting itself in line to perhaps join NATO, it would go a long way in helping journalists have a fighting chance. The protection of democracy and individual liberty is a fundamental stance of NATO, and though it isn't iron clad, it could only help Russia in terms of loosening its grip on journalists.
If Russia instead decided to focus it's efforts on Mulsims. things might go down hill quickly. The United Nations is not going to stand by and let Russia commit genocide. If Russia turns on it's Islamic population you can bet they're going to be shutting down every media system in the country that isn't run by the government. It could be the end of any chance of journalistic freedom in Russia, at least for a good while.

Wes Culp
Team Russia
3/22/09

Russia Expands Influence Over Former Soviet Republics

From a country many Americans probably never heard of, Kyrgystan, comes some news on Russia. According to the Chicago Tribune, Kyrgystan is allegedly near bankruptcy and taking “economic aid” from Russia. This may not seem significant, but the area is key in America’s military involvement in Afghanistan. After the generous gift from Russia, Kyrgystan agreed to “shut down Manas, the air base the U.S. uses to shuttle troops into and out of Afghanistan and refuel military aircraft.”

This is one of many former Soviet Republics that remain in close ties to Russia despite efforts by the United States in this "political game." Because many countries face a similar economic situation, it is only a matter of time before richer countries like Russia expand their political influence and world power status by taking advantage of the of plight others.

By Malerie Bickhart (Russia)

New Russian leader attempts to gain confidence in republic territories

Russia’s new president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, has been working hard to make sure Russians do not criticize or need security against the government. Although he has made some effort, including ordering barriers to be removed from government offices, Yevkurov has another challenge. The challenge he faces is bringing Ingushetia, a small republic that neighbors Chechnya, under control.
Yevkurov has to watch for Ingushetia, since there is still a war between the Ingush militants and the federal forces that have trouble controlling them. His main worry is that Ingushetia will turn into Chechnya, causing problems on Russia’s southern border. President Dmitri A. Medvedev chose Yevkurov to win over the trust and popularity of the Ingush as a result of his removal of the republic’s unpopular leader.
Some interesting information about Ingushetia is that in order to enter, pedestrians must register at an officer, as if people were entering a different country. The republic is home to less than a million people, where unemployment is at 47.4 percent, making it the highest in any Russian republic. With this issue, hopefully President Medvedev and Yevkurov will be able to restore trust in the government for the people of Ingushetia and all the republics that are in Russia.

By Rachel Rovner (Russia)

Another Russian Journalist's Murder goes Unavenged

According to the Wall Street Journal Europe, yet another Russian journalist has been murdered without the killer being brought to justice.
Prosecutors say Anna Politkovskaya was followed on her way home and shot to death in an elevator by Rustam Makhmudov. Makhmudov then fled the country, and is rumored to be hiding in Europe.
The men who helped Makhmudov were put on trial in Moscow, but were acquited of all wrong doing. One of the men on trial was an ex-police officer with ties to the Kremlin. Prosecutors say that the Federal Security Service were of little to no help in the investigation, and may have tipped several of the co-conspirators off on how to leave the country without detection before the start of the trial.
This may be the death nail of journalism's coffin in Russia. The court system is defunct, the criminals are the pawns of the ruling party, and police turn a blind eye to the deaths of journalists.
Maybe it is time to start over. Maybe this morally bankrupt government should see what happens when it continues to keep it's citizens ignorant and hungry. Let's hope Putin wises up before he has to find out first hand what a Molotov Cocktail can do.

Russia’s Deep Pockets Becoming Only Ankle-Deep

A devastating financial crisis is taking its toll on Russia’s wealthy population. The rich has seen drastic cuts in net value, especially billionaires whose assets have been cut in half in most cases.

Oleg Deripaska, an automotive and aluminum tycoon, was the richest man in Russia until the recent financial crisis. After the Russian stock market collapsed, Deripaska became in debt of over $20 billion.

Other tycoons were hit hard as well. Vladimir Potanin in the metals and media industry lost a fortune. Mikhail Fridman in the banking, oil and retail industries also felt the wrath of the financial crisis.

According to Finans Magazine, the business magazine or Russia, Russia’s richest man is Mikhail Prokhorov, with a fortune of $14.1 billion. was formerly a major shareholder of Norilsk Nickel, Russia’s biggest mining company, but he sold his 25% stake in Norilsk last April, after disagreements with his long-time partner Potanin, bagging $8 billion in cash. So, he was sitting on a pile of cash for a rainy day that came with the financial crisis.

However, with great fortune in Russia comes the emergence of corruption, greed and embezzlement. After Finans published its story on the effect of the financial crisis on Russia’s richest, Russian prosecutors announced that they plan to bring new charges of theft and embezzlement against Khodorkovsky, the former owner of the oil company Yukos.

Khodorkovsky could now face time behind bars. This makes even those who lost fortunes because of the financial crisis feel lucky. Better to be poor and honest than free and behind bars.

Julianne Kriner
Team Russia

Russia: the Financial Crisis and Migrant Workers

There appears to be a juxtaposition between the image Russia wishes to project on a global scale and the realities that exist within the country. Most recently Russia has tried to present a more positive image of itself in the press, openly showing its support of the new Obama administration, even expressing its willingness to holding negotiations on nuclear disarmament with the US. On Feb. 11 the country added to the positive press by announcing its opposition to add issues such as climate change to the agenda for the April summit, arguing its wish to focus on a more pressing matter, the financial crisis. Russia’s G8 and G20 deputy Sherpa Andrei Bokarev stated the need for all countries to work together to make “decisions leading to concrete results” to truly solve all facets of the economic crisis.
Yet, according to a new report released by the Human Rights Watch, the crisis is taking a serious toll on an already underprivileged group in Russia, migrant workers, specifically in the field of construction. According to the report, based upon 146 interviews with current or former workers, employers are not providing contracts, continuing to deny wages, trafficking migrants into forced labor and threatening violence. Perhaps most discerning in the report, however is that there is also an official police presence, which does not work to protect these workers but instead works for the employers to enforce these unfair working conditions and further abuse the workers. "Without urgent action by the Russian government, migrant construction workers will be doubly vulnerable to abuse, both by employers and by others looking to scapegoat migrants for the country's economic problems," Jane Buchanan, the report's author said.

By: Jennifer Lynch (Russia)

United States, Russia to talk nuclear disarmament (again)

News sources around the world this week reported on Russia’s apparent desire to negotiate further nuclear disarmament with the United States. Last Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, “We are ready to go further along the path of cuts and limits, naturally taking account of Russia's national security interests.”
This decision was spurred by the expiration of a standing agreement called the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, which will expire in December. The two countries have slowly been reducing their number of nuclear warheads by similar increments over the last decade.
Obviously both countries do not want to compromise their national security, so they have striven to keep their amount of nuclear arms equal, though it is thought that Russia currently possesses less.
Russian leaders have expressed their appreciation of the Obama administration, because Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has already expressed that the renegotiation of START would be a priority. The Bush administration apparently avoided the issue for the past few years because Russia wants the agreement they decide on to be legally binding.

 

By Malerie Bickhart (Russia) 

Russia: Another Vicious Beating on Journalist

According to an article on Reporters Without Borders, another journalist following the near fatal beating of journalist Mikhail Beketov and the murders of lawyer Stanislas Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, was attacked for being critical of the local authorities in his town.

Yuri Grachev, editor-in-chief of a local Russian newspaper, was badly beaten on February 3rd near his house in Solnechnogorsk, a town north-west of Moscow.

On another report by the Index on Censoship, Grachev, a 72-year-old retired colonel and local deputy, was publisher, editor and most likely the main if not the only journalist for the newspaper Solnechnogorskiy Forum. The paper has no website and is not even listed among local newspapers on the town’s main web resources, so in other circumstances this attack could have gone unnoticed.

Grachv's newspaper is the only opposition publication in Solnechnogorsky, and colleagues say the paper was critical of the authorities, and exposed corruption. The attack is all more worrying since the city is in the middle of an election campaign. Residents are due to elect a mayor and local councilors. The forthcoming edition of the paper on February 10 was due to cover the election.

Various observers agree that the attack was aimed at putting Grachev out of action at least until March 1st — election day for many Russian regions. It is hard to predict how those attacks against journalists will affect the electoral choices of local communities.

- By Jessica Smith (Russia)

Russia and United States team up in Afghanistan

After reading the New York Times and MSNBC, it is interesting to learn that many of the issues relating to the Cold War still exists today between Russia and the United States. Examples relating to the articles include “Kyrgyzstan Says It Will Close U.S. Base” and “Russia: We'll help U.S. stabilize Afghanistan.” The president of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was in Moscow in order to gain financial support as a result of shutting down the U.S. air base.
The country of Kyrgyzstan is in debt to Russia, yet they were receiving more than $2 billion dollars from them. As a result, the base, that was vital to the U.S. in Afghanistan territory, was closed in Kyrgyzstan. Although there were several American troops at the base, which opened in 2001, Kyrgyzstan needed Moscow’s approval. Unfortunately, Russia was bothered by the fact that Americans had a presence on the air base. This situation relates back to the Cold War and the different way of thinking between countries; democracy versus communism. Along with communist Russia, China was not thrilled with the U.S. presence at the air base.
Although there is some tension between Russia and the U.S., the two countries, along with others will cooperate together in order to fight terrorism in Afghanistan. Relating back to the Cold War theory, Russia feels that Afghanistan is becoming too much of a democracy as a direct result of the United States.
Along with working with Russia, Barack Obama is working with Russia on the missile defense issues in the Czech Republic and Poland. Therefore, with possible tension arising between two leading countries, the U.S. and Russia, global security could unite the two, despite their differences.

- By Rachel Rovner

Journalist's murder puts Russian justice on trial

This article talks about the continuing trial for the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. This week, the trial of the three men (two Chechen brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, and a former police officer, Sergei Khadzh-ikurbanov) accused of assisting in the murder- though not of the actual murder itself- begins. Stated in the article: "...critics say, [the trial] has worked more to illustrate the farcical nature of Russia's justice system, and how little is expected to change during the reign of [President Dmitry] Medvedev, himself a former lawyer." A lawyer, Murad Musayev, for the brothers said that the prosecution declared that Politkosvkaya's murder was ordered by a Russian politician without giving a name.

I found this article to be interesting and relevant because it illustrates the constant controversy surrounding Anna's murder. Two years later, justice has still not yet been found. As was mentioned in the article, this trial really demonstrates the absurd nature of Russia's justice system, which in a way reflects upon the country's press freedom as well. I think the outcome of this trial could be very telling of whether or not Russia is moving towards any positive changes in the areas of the justice system and press freedom.

By Lauren Chapman

Son of slained Russian journalist says she was threatened for years

Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down entering her home from a shooping trip. her children revealed that Anna had been threatened for nearly five years prior to her death because her reports were leading to criminal investigation. Four men now stand trial for the murder, but the gunnmen is still yet to be revealed. Also, four days proir to her murder the gunnmen had been entering her apartment building and loitering around passing Anna almost everyday. On the day Anna was murdered the gunnman was seen entering the building and exited the premises 1 minute after the fatal gunshot was fired. Today it is believed that a Russian politcan based in side the country is responisble for the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.

Russia- Perception of Leaders- Home and Abroad

--This article found on the AFP's website entitled "For Russia's Putin, knockabout with Obama is just the ticket" tackles the question of how the world media portrays Putin and also how Russia portrays Obama as the new president elect to the United States.
--The fact that Russian bloggers are talking about the election of Obama is interesting because it shows how our president affects the media in a worldwide perspective. If these bloggers are accrediting Obama to the "decline" of America, it is difficult to understand how much diversity of opinion and information is being delivered to the Russian people regarding the American election. The question arises again of how much the media is being censored in Russia regarding foreign affairs and everything else.
--Putin also is extremely careful of how he is perceived in the media which could help explain why so journalists who speak out specifically against Putin and his administration tend to be silenced in various ways. He wants to remain seemingly powerful in the media. The fact that a publicity stunt was planted where he "saves" a group of journalists from a tiger shows that he must care and understand how the world perceives him as treating the media.

This is the example of how the media portrayed Putin after the tiger stunt:


A hero?
Silly, huh?


Post by: Alexa Sell

Russian Media on Obama and other Russian news this week

Since this week was Election week, I thought it only appropriate to examine how Russian media currently views and is talking of Barack Obama's victory and the future of the U.S. This BBC News article highlights a few Russian news lines regarding Obama including; "Obama has become a kind of new religion for some of his supporters" and "Experts are convinced that Obama will pay more attention to Russian internal political problems such as political pluralism and freedom of speech." I found this very interesting first of all because Russia is recognizing the Obama-craze that has swept the nation and also because for the most part, it seems that Russia is pleased with our election results and hold high hopes that he will improve our relations with Russia. I think this is a very important development. I also noticed the part in the second newsline about Obama paying more attention to the freedom of speech problems in Russia. Since our case study directly involves this issue, that caught my eye and make me wonder what Obama would be able to do in terms of helping this situation in Russia, if this is even possible.

Some other Russian news that I came across in my media monitoring this week includes the following:

Communists accuse Bond girl Olga Kurylenko of "betraying" Russia: The Communist Party of St. Petersburg has accused Ukranian actress Olga Kurylenko, Bond's sidekick in the most recent Bond adventure "Quantum of Solace," of "betraying" Russia by acting in this film. Though the film is of fictional nature, the party is angered that she assists "a man who worked for decades under the orders of Thatcher and Reagan to detroy the USSR." They feel that she is assisting the "killer of thousands of Soviet people and their allies." The article states that the Communist Party of St. Petersburg has a history of criticizing "disloyal" Western films.
I found this article rather interesting because it somewhat relates to media issues, but in this case it's Russia having an issue with our media. I think this really highlights how sensitive an issue it can be for countries to portray other countries in a negitive light, even through fictional movies. This reminded me of examples we covered in class relating to this issue such as the films "Zoolander" and "Borat," who both portray other countries in negative lights as well.

Finally, in one other news story I read, hate crimes in Russia are soaring. Attacks on Russian holiday kill 2: On a national holiday celebrating Russian unity, Russian youths killed two people from Central Asia. National Unity Day has increasingly been used by ultranationalists and facist groups to attack dark-skinned immigrants from Central Asia. Hate crimes in Russia are soaring and are at a 50% increase over the last year. According to the article, in the first 10 months of this year, 113 people were killed and 340 injured in zenophobic attacks. Most of these attacks happened in Moscow.
The reason this story caught my attention is because it made me think of our case study which focuses on the murders of Russian journalists. This case is different because the target is immigrants rather than Russian journalists, however it still highlights some of the country's issues and it still puts Russia in a bad light.


By Lauren Chapman

3 Russian Channels are Banned from Ukraine

National Council of TV and Radio Broadcasting announced that all foreign channels must adapt to comply with the Ukraine law and if failed to do so would be banned. However, how to adapt was never explained to the Russian channels causing them to violate ethical norms, copyright, and advertising law set by the NCTRB. Some see this move as political being that Moscow and Keiv have not fair well recently. “It’s a matter of serious concern for us. Ukraine is a multinational state and those Russian-speaking citizens have the right to use their language and to watch Russian TV channels,” said Grigory Karasin, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister. It was esitmated that the Russian channels take in roughly 15 million viewers, and though the Ukraine cable co. is losing profits they feel that it is the Russian speaking citizens who suffer the worst.

New Community for South Ossetia

Over the weekend Mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov stated that he plans on spending over 100 million dollars to rebuild the society. He would go on later to say that they are celebrating a victory for freedom and independence. Mr. Luzhkov is the Mayor of Moscow not Tskhinvali where the South Ossetians where when the were trying to fight for their freedom. I dont understand how he can call it a victory for freedom when the opposing side was fighting for the same purpose, but gained nothing from it. A good point is made in this article. Foriegn governments protest basically saying that he is detroying everything they built in their society whether it be their society or freedom. Yuri replies back by saying that he is doing this to expand Moscow's sister-city. Yuri M. Luzhkov is what I call a hyprocrit, one second he says that he is celebrating for the victory of freedom and on the other hand here he is invading someone eles privacy. He is only worried about his own country and he is not protecting Moscow's freedom he is adding to it by invading other countries rights and freedoms. Later on in the article it talks about how Luzhkov was critized for his thoughts on Crimea, in a newspaper. He had city officials try to evict the paper from the builing, but officials stopped after a small like riot broke out. This article only goes to show that Russia is not striving for press freedom and democracy. Russia is far from either one of those two things, I think the United Nations needs to step in a create a Universal Law or something to spark press freedom over in Russia.


Tyler Mcdowell