February 18, 2008
by Nosemonkey
5 Comments
Spotted in a decent French article on Kosovo’s independence, a throwaway line that made me ponder: L’indépendance du Kosovo se fera sous supervision internationale. Malgré ces divisions, l’Union européenne a décidé, sans l’aval de l’ONU, de déployer au Kosovo une … Continue reading
February 12, 2008
by Nosemonkey
3 Comments
Shutting down an entire university due to breaches of fire regulations would sound a little harsh at the best of times. When the university in question is St Petersburg’s European University, however, suspicions are naturally raised – not least thanks … Continue reading
February 12, 2008
by Nosemonkey
4 Comments
My big worry over Gazprom boss Dmitry Medvedev becoming president of Russia is his use of the country’s gas supplies as political weapons. Continue reading
January 18, 2008
by Nosemonkey
9 Comments
Monday sees the first round of the Serbian presidential elections – and they could well prove vital for the future of Europe. If power shifts we could all, to coin a phrase, end up exponentially screwed. But surely, you might … Continue reading
December 3, 2007
by Nosemonkey
1 Comment
I mean, seriously. According to pretty much every opinion poll throughout his time in office, Putin has scored a 60-90% approval rating. He’s insanely popular in Russia, while the opposition – given considerable airtime in the West largely due to … Continue reading
November 18, 2007
by Nosemonkey
Comments Off on Russian elections: two weeks to go
And it doesn’t look good so far, the FT noting that Europe’s main election monitoring group said on Friday it was scrapping plans to deploy observers to Russia’s forthcoming parliamentary elections in a decision that could cast doubt on the … Continue reading
November 16, 2007
by Nosemonkey
1 Comment
For the record, I despise this regime more than words can express. What in hell’s name are we doing assorting with such people? This kind of wanton, gleefully unjust barbarity puts them on a par with the Taleban, while the … Continue reading
November 15, 2007
by Nosemonkey
4 Comments
For a largely foreign policy-focussed blog, Gordon Brown’s offered little of any interest since becoming Prime Minister. He simply doesn’t seem to have much interest in the rest of the world, happily ignoring both the EU and the US for … Continue reading
October 8, 2007
by Nosemonkey
2 Comments
Dan Hardie has the latest, following recent (rather odd) newspaper rumours of a change in government policy on the UK’s attitude to those who have worked for the British army in Iraq, and who now face torture and death as … Continue reading
October 2, 2007
by Nosemonkey
1 Comment
So, Gordon’s cunningly timed his announcement of troop withdrawals for the day of the shadow Foreign Secretary’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference – who’d have thought it? But amidst all this playing politics over Iraq – a Blair legacy … Continue reading
September 25, 2007
by Nosemonkey
4 Comments
If you haven’t noticed, where have you been? A mass movement in favour of democracy in a country ruled by a military junta for the best part of half a century is on the brink. Whether it will be crushed … Continue reading
September 21, 2007
by Nosemonkey
24 Comments
It was only a matter of time before Britain’s ridiculous libel laws led to an internet service provider shutting down a bunch of websites in the face of a writ. But the ISP hosting Bloggerheads and Craig Murray‘s blog, which … Continue reading
September 13, 2007
by Nosemonkey
3 Comments
So, is new Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov going to be the next President? After all, Boris Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister (out of nowhere) shortly before the 2000 presidential election in which Putin took power. Is Vlad … Continue reading
September 3, 2007
by Nosemonkey
2 Comments
When we pulled out that time, we tried not to leave anyone behind – the chap in charge of the unfortunate rear-guard even popping back in a motor-boat the day after the evacuation finished to see if anyone was still … Continue reading