Borscht and Falafel…
Russia plans Middle East summit
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, has said that Moscow aims to hold a peace conference before the end of 2009 to help resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
After holding talks in Cairo with Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, Medvedev said a two-state solution, the issue of settlements and a future capital would be on the agenda at the meeting.
June 23, 2009, 10:14am
Is it really just Christian vs Muslim?
Suicide bombing gravely injures Kremlin-backed Ingushetia president
Russia’s efforts to crush a growing Islamist insurgency across its southern borders suffered a stinging setback today when a suicide bomber gravely injured the president of Ingushetia.
Yunus-bek Yevkurov was wounded when a car packed with explosives was detonated as his convoy drove past. Two bodyguards, including his driver, were killed. The president’s brother and head of security were also badly hurt.
The assassination attempt underscores Moscow’s failure to pacify the troubled Muslim republics of the North Caucasus. The region, already the scene of two Kremlin wars in Chechnya, is now in the grip of a major insurgency by Islamist rebels.
Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, promised harsh measures against those responsible. He dubbed them “bandits”, while the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, called them “Nazis”. But there is little sense that the Kremlin has a clear strategy for dealing with the crisis.
June 22, 2009, 4:42pm
Congratulations…
Russia now ‘top heroin consumer’
The head of Russia’s anti-narcotics service, Victor Ivanov, said that seizures of Afghan heroin were up 70%.
March 10, 2009, 4:44pm
The Afghan trap
(via The Real News Network)
As Obama sends 17,000 troops to Afghanistan, we look back to the roots of the conflict. Ray McGovern says that the USSR was “mousetrapped” into invading Afghanistan by the CIA under both the Carter and Reagan administrations. He adds that the CIA policies of that day are “largely responsible” for the existence of today’s armed fundamentalist groups.
February 22, 2009, 12:46pm
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Sat collision highlights growing threat
February 12, 2009, 12:02pm
