When I last talked to Andrei Sannikov, on the night of Dec. 19, he was partly leading, partly being swept along, by a river of Belarussians who filled the largest avenue in Minsk, protesting yet another fraudulent presidential election. Dressed in a business suit and tie, speaking English polished during a five year diplomatic stint […]
Public Enemy No. 1 in Belarus: A Diplomat turned Democrat
Posted April 29th, 2011 at 9:34 am (UTC+0)
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Chernobyl Zone — Europe’s Largest Wildlife Refuge?
Posted April 25th, 2011 at 4:00 pm (UTC+0)
Japan has imposed a 20-kilometer exclusion zone around Fukushima nuclear power complex, banning human habitation for the foreseeable future. April 26, marks the 25th anniversary of the worst nuclear accident on record, the explosion of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine. The fate of 4,500 square kilometer exclusion zone around the old Soviet plant […]
Belarus’ Lukashenko and his Mini-me: Biographer Needed
Posted April 22nd, 2011 at 5:58 pm (UTC+0)
Calling all political biographers: We have here on the eastern edge of Europe a quirky modern dictator in desperate need of a world-class writer to tell his tale. Alexander Lukashenko, the long running ruler of Belarus, never ceases to surprise. For starters, there is his 6-year-old son, Nikolai. The president dresses him up in various […]
Belarus: Bombing while Economy Burns
Posted April 18th, 2011 at 6:05 am (UTC+0)
When a massive bomb goes off in a police state, one can only ask: where were the police? Belarus is the Cuba of Central Europe — a police state. Type “List of countries by size of police forces” into Wikipedia and you will find that Belarus is the champion, with 1,442 policemen for every 100,000 […]
Yuri Gagarin: When the Soviets Beat the Americans
Posted April 13th, 2011 at 3:10 pm (UTC+0)
I remember standing in a field in southern France one evening in the summer of 1962. My father watched a blinking red light slowly arcing across the night sky. “That,” he said pointing. “That is a sputnik.” It could well have been the night flight from Paris to Algiers. But the uneasiness in his voice […]
Russia’s Corruption Fighter — Censored?
Posted April 6th, 2011 at 3:59 pm (UTC+0)
Do a Google search on “Kadyrov cars,” or “Kadyrov palace,” or “Kadyrov racehorse.” Russians often wonder what happens to the billions of rubles the Kremlin pours into Chechnya to prop up Ramzan Kadyrov, the chief of the long rebellious republic. Five minutes on Google gives a juicy hint. Russia is riding the rocket of some […]
