Russia Economic Crisis III: On the Importance of Self-Sufficiency in Liquids

This about Economy, tagged , , , , , was written by for on December 7, 2008 .4 Comments

In this essay, I analyze three major areas of concern about the current Russian economy – the debt burden, balance of payments and future fiscal sustainability. Although on paper Russia is comfortably solvent, rolling over debt has been problematic for Russia Inc. because of the shutdown of its traditional financing mechanisms, cheap American credit and […]

Russia Economy Crisis II: Anatomy of the Crisis

This about Economy, tagged , , , was written by for on December 4, 2008 .1 Comment

As promised in the last post, here is a follow-up about Part II of the 17th World Bank Russia report, the reading of which cannot be stressed as too important in the current climate. Like in the last post, I summarize the main reports, using a lot of unattributed straight-out quoting of salient phrases and […]

Russia Economy Crisis I: How Red will Russia Get?

This about Economy, tagged , , , , was written by for on December 3, 2008 .No Comments

Recently the World Bank’s November issue of the biannual Russian Economic Report came out. At the time I was busy with other things, amongst others planning the move from Blogger to self-hosted WordPress; as such, I did not give it the comprehensive treatment that it deserved at the time. Of course, reading about these things […]

Victimized Venezuela II: Beware of Schadenfreude

This about Politics, tagged , , , was written by for on December 1, 2008 .1 Comment

Much like Putin’s Russia, Venezuela has been unfairly victimized by Washington’s foreign policy elite and savaged by the Western MSM, which have caricatured Chávez as a run of the mill Latin American populist strongman. In a previous post on this matter, I drew attention to the work of Mark Weisbrot at the CEPR, who has […]

Russia’s Fertility Future

This about Demographics, tagged , , , was written by for on December 1, 2008 .7 Comments

The excellent demographic journal Demoscope has an extensive discussion of fertility trends in Russia. Some of it backs my own views in Demography I – The Russian Cross Reversed? and consequently, the assumptions behind the future demographic projections in Demography III – Faces of the Future. The issue starts off with 2007: Fertility Year, which […]

The Corpse Stumbles On, Unaware it’s Already Dead

This about Politics, tagged , , was written by for on November 28, 2008 .No Comments

The ludicrous claims spouted by Saakashvili continue falling apart as soon as his febrile mind makes them, forcing even the most ardent Cold Warriors to temper their uncompromising narrative of “Russian aggression against the ‘fledgling’ Georgian democracy”. And despite the impressive achievements of Georgian infowar, after many tribulations the truth came out. OCSE monitors confirmed […]

A Gem (or rather, a Ring) from Lucas

This about Media, tagged , , , , was written by for on November 17, 2008 .14 Comments

The demented Russophobe Edward Lucas has surpassed even his own stellar record of profound insights about the evil empire, this time explicitly comparing Russia to Mordor (the land of shadow in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings) from his Yahoo! list. Quoted below in its entirety for laughs. The British author JRR Tolkien always hated […]

Congratulations, America!

This about Politics, tagged , , , , was written by for on November 4, 2008 .1 Comment

As I predicted he would, Obama has won overwhelmingly. As I argued, this was the best possible outcome for America – Obama understands the importance of investing heavily in renewable energy and new infrastructure, and would withdraw from the financially ruinous Iraq adventure. Just by his election, he has bolstered America’s battered image around the […]

Editorial: Halloween Special – Russia of the Dead

This about Life, tagged , , , was written by for on October 27, 2008 .23 Comments

Halloween is coming up. EnRaged psychos are probably going to invade Russia 28 Months Later. That is, if Russian medical researchers don’t get there first with an accident applying cell transplantation therapy to treat traumatic brain injuries, thus ‘wakening consciousness’ – of a zombie. Plus we need to continue our blog’s recent apocalyptic bend. Thus, […]

The Great Debate

This about Economy, tagged , , , was written by for on October 14, 2008 .3 Comments

Just wanted to point out there is an on-going four-way debate at Streetwise Professor‘s blog between him, commentator Michel, myself and (at times) Timothy Post. In SWP’s words, it is about “(a) the breadth of Russian prosperity, (b) its dependence on oil prices, and (c) the likely future course of oil prices” and despite the […]