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 […]

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. […]

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: […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]