Showing Archived Posts

Russian President’s Potemkin Press Conference

Posted May 20th, 2011 at 8:20 am (UTC+0)
5 comments

The empty box said it all. Each reporter was issued a neat white plastic box, complete with notepad, pen and computer memory stick. Each item was embossed: “Press Conference of the President of the Russian Federation Dimitry Medvedev.” But unlike most press kits, there was no press release, no biography of the president and no […]

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Victory Day: Soviet Liberators or Occupiers?

Posted May 13th, 2011 at 9:23 pm (UTC+0)
40 comments

In Soviet times, the day of victory over Nazi Germany was marked with a level of reverence that seemed to make May 9 the only religious holiday on the Soviet calendar. The reason is clear. Study the family tree of almost any Russian, and you will find branches that abruptly ended at the war years. […]

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Reality Check: Russian vs American record in Afghanistan

Posted May 9th, 2011 at 3:07 am (UTC+0)
13 comments

Russia’s foreign ministry has just issued a new statement lecturing the U.S.-led coalition “to take additional steps” to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Presumably, in this post-Osama Bin Laden era, Moscow is trying ingratiate itself with Afghan public opinion, and ultimately, the Taliban. If so, then it’s time for some reality checks: Reality Check 1: […]

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A Tale of Two Wars: United States in Afghanistan and Russia in the Caucasus

Posted May 4th, 2011 at 9:39 pm (UTC+0)
2 comments

Oddly, the death tolls in both wars stand at 440. In Afghanistan, 440 American soldiers were killed by hostile action last year. In Russia’s Caucasus, 440 Russian police and soldiers were killed by Islamic insurgents last year. The death of Osama bin Laden has many Americans thinking: let’s declare victory, crank up the brass bands, […]

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About

About

James Brooke is VOA Moscow bureau chief, covering Russia and the former USSR. With The New York Times, he worked as a foreign correspondent in Africa, Latin America, Canada and Japan/Koreas. He studied Russian in college during the Brezhnev years, first visited Moscow as a reporter during the final months of Gorbachev, and then came back for reporting forays during the Yeltsin and early Putin years. In 2006, he moved to Moscow to report for Bloomberg. He joined VOA in Moscow in 2010. Follow Jim on Twitter @VOA_Moscow.

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