Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: Russia

Putin shutters Russian indigenous peoples’ organization

Putin shutters Russian indigenous peoples’ organization

In Russia, indigenous peoples have encountered a major setback. The Ministry of Justice has ordered the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and Far East (RAIPON) closed until next April because their charter and operations ostensibly conflict with federal law. RAIPON, one of the six indigenous organizations that is a Permanent Participant of the […]

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SYRIA IN DEPTH: A Candid Discussion with Carsten Wieland

SYRIA IN DEPTH: A Candid Discussion with Carsten Wieland

Initially sprung as a pro-reform movement with demands for government accountability and transparency, today the Syrian conflict has morphed into a multiplayer geopolitical chess game that so far has proved to have no limits in inflicting pain on the players involved. With Iran fearing the loss of a key ally, Turkey aspiring to dominate a post-Arab […]

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Bird Injury: Putin Officially a Lame Duck

Bird Injury: Putin Officially a Lame Duck

Looks like Putin’s infamous crane flight has claimed another victim. Two months after his unauthorised sequel to Fly Away Home, which reportedly resulted in several of the endangered birds getting killed and maimed, the Russian president has mysteriously cancelled a spate of domestic events and foreign engagements. Word on the street is of a back […]

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HIV Update: Ugandan Prevalence, Methadone, and Aging Populations

HIV Update: Ugandan Prevalence, Methadone, and Aging Populations

Today, I’d like to share a few updates on HIV/AIDS. Uganda has backslid against the epidemic, according to advocacy organizations in the country. A review published in the British Medical Journal finds that methadone therapy for injecting drug users more than halves the risk of HIV transmission. And we are about to face a new challenge: […]

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Ready for the Foreign Policy Debate?

Ready for the Foreign Policy Debate?

  I’m looking forward to the upcoming presidential debate on foreign policy. This will be the final debate before election day and will be held in Florida on Monday night at 9pm ET and hosted by Bob Schieffer of CBS News. According to the  Commission on Presidential Debates we can expect the debate to cover […]

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United Russia – Back from the Dead?

United Russia – Back from the Dead?

“The more choice of different candidates there was, the better United Russia did. We’re not afraid of democracy; we need democracy”. With these words, prime minister Medvedev greeted the happy news that despite greater choice and wider opposition involvement compared to December’s parliamentary vote, UR ended its electoral slump on Sunday. The opposition did not […]

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Iraq, Arms, and Oil

Iraq, Arms, and Oil

Back in the swing of things. “Iraq could overtake Russia as the world’s second-largest oil supplier behind Saudi Arabia by the 2030s, nearly tripling its current output, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.” (h/t The LA Times) “Iraq has signed contracts to buy Russian arms worth $4.2bn (£2.6bn; 3.2bn euros) this year, […]

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Russia launches its 40th-ever drifting ice station

Russia launches its 40th-ever drifting ice station

Russia has just launched a drifting ice station in the Arctic with 16 people on board. The researchers will be carrying out all sorts of studies as they drift through the Arctic, working in oceanography, meteorology, and glaciology. The flag was raised on North Pole-40 (NP-40), aptly (and a bit oddly) named “Russia,” at 85°12′ […]

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Russia to construct world’s largest nuclear icebreaker

Russia to construct world’s largest nuclear icebreaker

Russia oversees the world’s largest fleet of nuclear icebreakers, and it will soon add the largest one yet to its tally. Rosatom, which currently manages Russia’s fleet of new icebreakers through its subsidiary, Atomflot, has just signed a contract with the St.Petersburg-based shipbuilding company Baltisky Zavod to construct a 556-foot long behemoth – about 42 […]

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CDC, U.S. Health System Bungles WNV: Biosecurity Belongs to the Military

CDC, U.S. Health System Bungles WNV: Biosecurity Belongs to the Military

Bite me. You might as well go outside and shout it loud, because there isn’t enough DEET in your medicine chest to fend off the bloodlust of Culex pipiens, Anopheles, Aedes vexans, and dozens of other species of infected mosquitoes blanketing the United States. And West Nile virus season has just begun—consider August 2012 a preview.

Don’t get me wrong. Health organizations, federal, state and local, have spent buckets of money on nice-looking, easy-to-understand websites that calmly advise citizens to douse ourselves with bug spray, wear light, long-sleeved clothing (think Out of Africa), eliminate standing pools of water, and, of course, just stay inside the damn house until the Center for Disease Control (CDC) sounds the all-clear.

All good. But hardly sufficient.

West Nile virus—how it got here, how it travels, how it kills, and how health officials could, but often fail to mount the most effective responses—is a complicated story, a cautionary tale, some would say, about power, ego, bureaucracy, preparedness, ignorance, incompetence, and disparate champions whose voices routinely go unheard and whose counsel is too often ignored.

Right now, the highbeams are on Dallas, Texas, ‘Ground Zero’ for West Nile—and Mayor Mike Rawlings has indeed declared a state of emergency in the municipality. As the number of victims escalates, however, so does the anxiety of state and local officials, as well as the complaints of constituents, who’ve begun to question and criticize the city’s response to the health crisis….

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New port in Murmansk slated for coal exports

New port in Murmansk slated for coal exports

SDS-Ugol, a major coal producer in Russia, has announced plans to build a new seaport outside of Murmansk that will accommodate up to 18 million tons of coal exports a year. Many of the company’s coal mines are located in the Kuzbass region in Siberia. From there, much of the coal is shipped by rail […]

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Supporting Pussy Riot – for All the Wrong Reasons?

Supporting Pussy Riot – for All the Wrong Reasons?

In this week’s shameless FPA self-promotion, my piece about Pussy Riot somehow infiltrated today’s International Herald Tribune and got a few angry looks. So, is it hypocritical for Western mainstream media to champion a group of anarchist feminists over in Russia for behaviour that it would almost certainly not approve of at home? Read on […]

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In Russia, a Return to Bad Habits

In Russia, a Return to Bad Habits

There was a brief moment in time, back in the early 1990s, where the idea of Russia becoming a real democracy did not seem ridiculous. By now, that illusion has passed. Corruption passes for governance, civil society functions albeit under strict scrutiny, and elections are less than free and fair. Needless to say dissent is […]

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The Return of the Russian-Georgian War

The Return of the Russian-Georgian War

Four years after the Russian-Georgian war of 2008, the event is back in the news, in Russia if not here. Moreover, it appears to be tied to a power struggle, and the news also resurrects old questions about exactly how that war started. Understanding the precise order of events is key to understanding the war, […]

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Russian Navy to acquire two new nuclear submarines this year

Russian Navy to acquire two new nuclear submarines this year

As I mentioned in my previous post, Putin’s administration is busy readying the Northern Sea Route for increased maritime traffic. In order to maintain control over the shipping lane, Russia will need a first-class navy and naval bases. Plans are underway to equip the navy with eight new nuclear submarines by 2020. Last month, at […]

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