Scotland: the Moldovan Connection
How modest homes in some of Scotland’s poorest areas became prolific ‘company factories’, and how those companies were used in a giant Moldovan bank fraud
Read more...Category Archives: Russia
The Russian Pipeline Waltz
An analysis of possible Russian pipelines in Europe as strategic bargaining chips.
Read more...What If There is No Deal on Greece?
The alarming part of the deadlock between Greece and its lenders is the lack of a plan on the creditor side to develop a Plan B, a sort of mirror image of the Greek government’s claim that its has bet everything on securing a favorable agreement.
Read more...John Helmer: Financial Times Makes Igor Zyuzin a Hero for Standing Up to Putin
A case example of how Financial Times Moscow bureau reporters give advertorial promotion an oligarch applying to the City of London to raise debt and equity finance, buying London and country real estate; and deterring investigation of their business with British libel law firms.
Read more...Michael Hudson: Global Financialization – The State of Play in Ukraine and Russia
Michael Hudson gives a wide-ranging interview on the state of financial capital, with emphasis on fresh events in Ukraine and Russia.
Read more...John Helmer: Chatham House Rule — Propaganda is What Comes Out of Other People’s Mouths, and Pockets
The West is apparently worried about a propaganda gap with Russia, and the solution is truth-telling, provided by Chatham House for a price.
Read more...How the China’s New Silk Road is Shifting Geopolitics
Even though China’s Silk Road initiative is in its early stages and still opportunistic, traditional rivalries could impede progress. Even so, the US is concerned about how China has gotten and is making countermoves.
Read more...John Helmer: How Angela Merkel Has Been Abandoned By John Kerry, Victoria Nuland, And Vladimir Putin
How Merkel was sidelined in negotiations over Ukraine.
Read more...William J. Astore: The American Military Uncontained, Chaos Spread, Casualties Inflicted, Missions Unaccomplished
An important, sobering description of how US military overreach became institutionalized.
Read more...John Helmer: Polish President Komorowski’s Defeat is a Blow to the War with Russia Party,
First-round presidential election results show that the Poles have not been persuaded to vote for a candidate promising to go to war in the Ukraine or on the Russian border.
Read more...The Gazprom Case: Good Timing or Bad Timing?
Just a week after having sent a Statement of Objections (SO) in the frame of the antitrust case against Google, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager sent yesterday an SO in the frame of the case against Gazprom. The decision to send a charge sheet against the Russian gas company came after almost three years of investigations, which have also seen EU antitrust officials raiding Gazprom offices in central and eastern European countries.
Read more...John Helmer: The Loophole to End, Er, Open All Loopholes – The Russian Trust
How Russian trusts allow Russian oligarchs to beat Putin.
Read more...Ilargi: Russia’s Central Bank Governor Is Way Smarter Than Ours
Just like the Bank of England hired Mark Carney from Canada, maybe our central bank, the Fed, should hire Elvira Nabiullina from Russia?
Read more...John Helmer: Why Faking is Failing in the Russian Art Market
Increasing buyer sophistication in the Russian art market is squeezing networks of fakers and forgers.
Read more...Why Putin Doesn’t Need To Pander To The West
When sanctions were imposed and tightened against Russia, and oil prices plunged, conventional wisdom in the US press was that the Russian people would not tolerate a decline in living standards and therefore Putin’s days were numbered. In fact, Putin’s approval ratings rose and even most of his opponents in the Moscow intelligensia fell in behind him. Some analysts pointed out that sanctions seldom succeed and were unlikely to work on Russia. That view has become more prevalent as Russia has proven to be less dependent on oil revenues than widely assumed and Russia’s foreign currency reserves have stabilized.
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