1 October 2009 AvtoVAZ, Russia’s largest car maker, announced last week that would axe more than one quarter of its total workforce—throwing 27,600 workers onto the unemployment lines or into early retirement. The week before, Aeroflot, Russia’s main international airline, announced that it plans to cut 2,215 staff over the... » read this article

Obama's geopolitical demarche in Russia's backyard is moving ahead nicely -- for the present, notes Eric Walberg First there was the election in Bulgaria 5 July which brought a new party to power -- Boyko Borisov's Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria. Borisov, or Batman, as he is affectionately called,... » read this article

Furious at what they see as threats to their language and culture, the Erzyas, a 300,000 plus-strong Finno-Ugric linguistic community that Moscow has long treated as part of the Mordvin nation, are demanding that Moscow agree to establish a separate and distinct Erzyan Autonomous Republic within the Russian Federation The... » read this article

A delegation of Venezuelan officials led by Vice President Ramon Carrizalez met with Russian officials including former President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to create the bank and review the progress of ongoing bilateral projects. The vice ministers of finance of the two countries, Dmitry Pankin of Russia and Gustavo Hernandez... » read this article

Russia is ready to drastically cut its nuclear stockpiles in a new arms pact with the United States if Washington meets Moscow’s concerns over missile defense, President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday. “We are ready to reduce by several times the number of nuclear delivery vehicles in comparison with the START-1... » read this article

This week marks the end of the dollar’s reign as the world’s reserve currency.  It marks the start of a terrible period of economic and political decline in the United States. And it signals the last gasp of the American imperium. That’s over. It is not coming back. And what... » read this article

Bringing the threat of war to Russia’s borders is having wide-ranging repercussions, argues Eric Walberg As Russian troops marched to celebrate the victory over Nazi Germany 8 May, NATO troops — 1,300 of them from 10 member countries and six “partners” — were beginning their month-long Cooperative Longbow/Lancer war “games”... » read this article

Georgian Opposition Stage Mass Rally  Tens of thousands of opposition supporters were expected to take to the streets of  the Georgian capital Tbilisi Thursday for the start of mass protests aimed at ousting  President Mikheil Saakashvili.   Opposition leaders have vowed to rally at least 100,000 supporters and to continue ... » read this article

Russia’s defense minister this week accused the United States of beefing up its military presence near Russian borders and poaching for mineral wealth there, signaling that Moscow could take a tough position in upcoming talks with Barack Obama’s new administration. Anatoly Serdyukov’s statement — made alongside President Dmitry Medvedev at... » read this article

8 November 2008 The New York Times on Friday carried a front-page article headlined “Accounts Undercut Claims by Georgia on Russia War.” The article cited a report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a multinational association of 56 member states whose monitors were in Georgia when... » read this article

MOSCOW, November 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delivered his first state of the nation address to both houses of parliament on Wednesday. His speech to the Russian parliament was broadcast on state television and became the longest-ever presidential address, lasting 1 hour and 25 minutes. In line... » read this article

Ever since America gained Georgia via the Rose Revolution in 2003, and then cemented her influence in parts of Ukraine through the Orange Revolution in 2004, Russia’s antagonism towards American influence in the post-soviet space has grown immensely. The conflagration between the two erstwhile adversaries is greatest over NATO’s attempts... » read this article

This article will appear in the next issue of Al-Ahram Weekly.  The UN vote to refer Kosovo’s legitimacy to the ICJ (International Court of Justice) reveals a new political constellation taking shape, observes Eric Walberg. Last week Serbia’s neighbours Montenegro and Macedonia recognised Kosovo, the world’s newest country — leaving... » read this article

Reflections from Tashkent circa 2003 When the West was forced to drop its Cold War (CW) campaign (during WWII, and to some extent during the early 60s and mid-70s, due to the invigorated peace struggles of the time) there was a slight breathing space which gave hope to the possibility of... » read this article

This will appear in the next issue of Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/     Russia is determined to bring NATO’s expansion eastward to a halt. Can it prevail? asks Eric Walberg   NATO’s metamorphosis from Cold War Euro-policeman into the unabashed global military arm of the United States over the past 18... » read this article

This will appear in the next issue of Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/ Was an independent Ossetia inevitable after Kosovo or is it an US election ruse gone wrong, asks Eric Walberg   Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a gritty, straight-talking 30-minute interview with CNN this week in Russian. It was not... » read this article

Despite intense pressure from a number of Eastern European states, supported by Western European powers such as Great Britain and Sweden, the declaration issued by European Union (EU) foreign ministers meeting in emergency session in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss the conflict between Georgia and Russia refrained from any criticism... » read this article

The West and Russia are continuing their worn-out Cold War dance routine.   As antagonists United States President George W Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin both begin ceding power to others, one would... » read this article

The handover of power in Russia is confounding one and all. Eric Walberg looks into the crystal ball   As expected, the Russian presidential elections went smoothly, with Dmitri Medvedev reaping a comfortable 70 per cent... » read this article

Recent elections were either a triumph of the will or a confirmation that Russia has found itself.     If Time magazine had a "country of the year", it would surely be Russia, despite its colourful... » read this article