Cultural colonisation much?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/world/europe/24georgia.html?hp

This is an article about the English-teaching programmes developed in Georgia, with the clear intention of getting rid of anything Russian. Language included.

http://www.economist.com/node/17961912?story_id=17961912&fsrc=nlw|hig|01-20-2011|editors_highlights

I love how in this Rosneft is the bad boy and BP the reliable and trustworthy company. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/world/europe/17russia.html

Interesting article by the NY Times on heroin addition and HIV in today's Russia.

Seriously Part 2

The unholy alliance as already started a debate about the serious consequences it could have on the environment...After all we are still talking about BP...Italian newspaper La Repubblica offers interesting observations on the issue:

http://www.repubblica.it/ambiente/2011/01/16/news/bp_russia-11298341/index.html?ref=search

The target of the joint venture is the Kara Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. There should start explorations to identify the natural gas and oil potential of the region and start their extraction. Many fear that a eco-disaster might take place. Interesting is also that, following the deal, Rosneft has become the strongest shareholder in BP. We shall see if a big Gulf of Mexico-style drama is going to happen soon.

Seriously

http://www.vedomosti.ru/companies/news/1188811/rosneft_i_vr_sozdayut_strategicheskij_alyans

Russian government-owned company Rosneft and BP: that is what I call an unholy alliance

Don't look back in anger

The New York Times publishes this interesting piece on ethnic tensions in Russia:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/europe/16russia.html?ref=world

The occasion is the Orthodox Christian tradition of commemorating the dead after 40 days. The victim to commemorate is Yegor Sviridov, a Spartak Moscow supporter killed during a mass brawl between football fans and internal migrants from the North Caucasus in north Moscow. Since that day ethnically motivated episodes of intolerance have conspicuously increased to the extent that the police had to intervene repeatedly  to disperse football hooligans and nationalists protesting against the presence of the immigrant community in Russia. The worrying aspect is that, while those episodes of violence are often enacted by the most radical part of the population, many common citizens share their views.  “Animals have taken over this neighbourhood,” one woman says. “Mourners complained that ethnic Caucasians, who flowed into the city after the collapse of the Soviet Union, had monopolized the job market and increased the crime rate,” the NYT reporter adds. This all too clearly reminds me of the ethnic campaign against the Roma community in Italy. It is always too easy to find a scapegoat when the situation is grim. And the outsiders are of course the preferred target.

Alpha Females: Europe’s Power Players

http://runninginheels.co.uk/articles/european-female-politicians/