I traveled through a Moscow airport this weekend. Security checks were tight, but the passenger flow was normal. Indeed, on the evening of last week’s suicide bombing at Moscow’s Domodedevo Airport, passenger jets continued landing and taking off. At the main entrance, ambulances continued ferrying away the 35 dead and 168 wounded. The bomb blasted […]
Is Belarus Russia’s North Korea?
US and EU diplomats stayed as far away as possible from Friday’s inauguration of President Lukashenko. But in Moscow, Vladimir Putin posed Thursday with his visiting counterpart from Belarus. Turning to the microphones, he announced $4 billion in energy subsidies to Belarus, plus a brand new $6 billion nuclear power plant. Is Belarus, Russia’s North […]
My Sons’ Road To Russia Passed Through A Harlem AIDS Clinic
Kremlin leaders regularly say they want to increase tourism in order to diversify a Russian economy that is overly dependent on oil and gas. Tourism is labor intensive, geographically dispersed, and carries the potential to promote trade and investment. That may sound like a good plan, but Russia’s bureaucracy doesn’t always cooperate. As an accredited […]
Belarus’ Lukashenko: Term Limited by Biology?
By James Brooke Next week, Belarus will be back in the spotlight as European Union officials meet to impose visa sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko and the top leaders of the government. Several EU foreign ministers have charged that Lukashenko stole the Dec. 19 presidential election. Seeing the Belarus leader as illegitimate, they want to keep […]