The Moscow Times

Market Matters: Struggling Stocks Spur New Record Oil Prices
Oil hit another record of just under $143 as global stocks tumbled last week, with the Dow briefly dipping into bear market territory as investors sought safety in gold, government debt and the Swiss franc.

The Moscow Times » Opinion

Issue 3940 | 9 Jul 2008

Editorial: Painting All Muslims With a Broad Brush
On behalf of all Muslims living in Russia, Geidar Dzhemal, head of the Islamic Committee of Russia, has called for an end to the persecution of Muslims in the country.

Op-Ed Contributor: In Search of Georgia's Culture of Democracy
Speaking to a television journalist late last month in Tbilisi, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili -- leader of the Rose Revolution and darling of the administration of President George W. Bush -- defended the crackdown on free media in Georgia, saying the country lacked a ""culture of democracy.""

Issue 3939 | 8 Jul 2008

Konstantin Sonin: Progressive Tax System Is Fair And Necessary
Politicians in Europe and the United States have taken keen interest in the issue of excessive CEO pay.

Nikolai Petrov: Abramovich's Chukotka Miracle
Roman Abramovich, one of Russia's richest and most influential oligarchs, has resigned as governor of Chukotka, one of the country's most remote and sparsely populated regions.

Issue 3938 | 7 Jul 2008

Editorial: Time to End Prison Abuse And Brutality
Eight employees at a Chelyabinsk region prison have been arrested in connection with a riot at the institution in May that ultimately led to the deaths of four inmates.

Op-Ed Contributor: Less Is More
John McCain would kick Russia out of the Group of Eight economic powers, but this is no time to think small. The G8 leaders themselves should declare surrender and disband their high-profile huddle on the state of the world.

Editorial: Time to End Prison And Brutality
Eight employees at a Chelyabinsk region prison have been arrested in connection with a riot at the institution in May that ultimately led to the deaths of four inmates.

Richard Lourie: It'll Take More Than PR to Lift Russia's Image
Some countries have better reputations than they deserve. The Netherlands, for example, emerged from World War II with a nobler image than they warranted.

Mark H. Teeter: The Talented Mr. Ripsky
To the relief of anxious Russian males currently looking down the business end of an army induction notice, Culture Minister Alexander Avdeyev has come up with a plan to help them beat conscription.

Matthew Collin: Selling Lofty Dreams in Separatist South Ossetia
At the launch of Dmitry Sanakoyev's autobiography, his beefy minders were taking no chances, despite the genteel surroundings.

Issue 3937 | 4 Jul 2008

Editorial: Leaks Damage Politkovskaya Investigation
For almost a year, the Prosecutor General's Office and its Investigative Committee have been competing over who could reveal more sensitive information on the investigation into the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Michele A. Berdy: How to Depict Sour Faces and Sour Smiles
Thinking about the summer drink of kvas immediately makes me think of another traditional Russian summery dish, kisel, fruit jelly. It's no wonder my synapses made the leap.

Op-Ed Contributor: Greatest Investor Risk
Investor sentiment was rather mixed as we entered 2008. Bullish hopes lingered in developed markets, based on the naive assumption that 2007 credit woes would magically evaporate on New Year's Day, and emerging markets danced to the dream of decoupling.

Issue 3936 | 3 Jul 2008

Op-Ed Contributor: Why the Kremlin Is So Scared of Ukraine
Russia and the West are losing each other yet again. The magnetic attraction and repulsion between the two has been going on for centuries. Indeed, historians have counted as many as 25 of these cycles since the reign of Tsar Ivan III.

Georgy Bovt: The Price of Rotten Stability
Stability has become the catchword of the Putin era. The country's political life is now so predictable that most people no longer take any interest whatsoever in politics. It's indeed all very dull and boring.

Op-Ed Contributor: It's Time to Float the Ruble
It is often argued that Russia should quote its oil price in rubles because it would reduce oil companies' volatility of revenues and thus facilitate investment planning. Perhaps it would also strengthen the ruble exchange rate and promote its status as an international transaction currency.

Issue 3935 | 2 Jul 2008

Editorial: A Rich Russia Must Protect All People
Estonian President Toomas Ilves should have known that his remarks that some Finno-Ugric people have yet to taste freedom would irk Russia, home to 2 million of its members.

Op-Ed Contributor: Looking Beyond Oil
President Dmitry Medvedev has begun to outline what could become a serious Russian initiative to address the environmental impact of profligate energy use and to encourage greater energy efficiency.

Yulia Latynina: The Dangers Of Wearing A Headscarf
One week ago in the center of Makhachkala, assailants gunned down Colonel Mogamed-Arip Aliyev, head of the local branch of the Interior Ministry in the city of Buinaksk.

Yevgeny Kiselyov: Lessons About Franco, Football and Freedom
For three glorious weeks, football ruled in Europe. But that is all behind us now. Spain won the championship, and passions have died down -- that is except in Russia, where football fever is still gripping the population like some form of mass madness. There is a good reason for that excitement, of course. To everyone's pleasure and amazement -- including mine -- Russia's team rose from its initial standing in 16th place after a dismal showing in the qualifying round to finish in third place overall. Now even housewives who never cared about football before know that nothing like this has happened since 1988, when the Soviet team last made it to the European championships. Soccer coverage dominated the airwaves almost as much as Putin's Plan did before the presidential election. But we heard much less about the fact that Spain last made it to the finals in 1964, when they beat the Soviet team.

Issue 3934 | 1 Jul 2008

Op-Ed Contributor: Historic Start to a New EU-Russia Partnership
The 21st EU-Russia summit held in Khanty-Mansiisk on Friday was a historic one.

Alexei Pankin: Something Old, Something New
We have no special controls on mass media that differ from those in other countries."" These were the words of President Dmitry Medvedev in answer to a question from Reuters agency several days before the EU-Russia summit in Khanty-Mansiisk.

Alexander Golts: A Nation With 2 Armies
In 1996, a little-known lieutenant general told a few journalists the last thing I expected to hear from a Russian military leader: ""The armed forces should be given only concrete military goals, not political goals.

Issue 3933 | 30 Jun 2008

Op-Ed Contributor: Life After Death in EU
According to a Brussels anecdote, the main revelation of every European Union presidency at the end of its six-month stint is that there is life after death after all.

Alexei Bayer: Hiddink No Corrupt Nincompoop
Economists and investors like talking about the BRIC countries, meaning Brazil, Russia, India and China. Besides making a clever acronym, it would seem that the four don't have a lot in common as far as history, culture or economic structure is concerned.

Vladimir Frolov: Putting Some Meat in EU Summit Talks
In Khanty-Mansiisk on Friday, Russia and the European Union finally kicked off negotiations on a new strategic agreement.

Issue 3932 | 27 Jun 2008

Editorial: New Priorities But Steadfast Dependence
After the Soviet collapse, the government and ordinary Russians initially saw the European Union as a benign role model and an example of best practices in public and business administration.

Editorial: How My Husband Saved Me From Extortion

Op-Ed Contributor: Look West, Go East
When the leaders of the European Union and Russia gather for their summit on Friday in Khanty-Mansiisk, the main items on the official agenda will be a new partnership and cooperation agreement and an energy charter.

Op-Ed Contributor: Getting Sour, Sluggish and Old on Kvas
What do you get when you cross an American carbonated soft drink and a traditional Russian fermented beverage? Bubbly bread? Cola with a kick?

Issue 3931 | 26 Jun 2008

Op-Ed Contributor: Making Champions Out of Underdogs
The image of Russia in the West has slowly deteriorated from one of potential ally to that of an aggressor that threatens Asian and European security.

Boris Kagarlitsky: A Battle Against Everything Soviet
Lithuania and Latvia have begun a new campaign in the struggle against the consequences of the Soviet occupation of their countries.

Issue 3930 | 25 Jun 2008

Yulia Latynina: AAR Getting the Last Laugh
To Our Readers The Moscow Times welcomes letters to the editor. Letters for publication should be signed and bear the signatory's address and telephone number. Letters to the editor should be sent by fax to (7-495) 232-6529, by e-mail to oped@imedia.ru, or by post. The Moscow Times reserves the right to edit letters. Email the Opinion Page Editor Two weeks before our vigilant Federal Security Service agents arrested TNK-BP employee Ilya Zaslavsky and charged him with industrial espionage, one of the owners of Alfa Group complained to then-President Vladimir Putin that ""the foreigners are getting in our way."" When I wrote this after Zaslavsky's arrest, even some well-informed businessmen said, ""This is impossible. After all, why would Alfa start a conflict with the British? If Alfa did this, it would be persecuted everywhere in every country except Russia."" It is clear that Russian and British shareholders in TNK-BP are now embroiled in a bitter internal feud.

Anders Aslund: Inflation's Sun Spots Stain Economic Successes
The economic boom has been extraordinary. In the 15 former Soviet republics, average growth for the last nine years has been no less than 9 percent per year. But paradise always comes to an end.

Issue 3929 | 24 Jun 2008

Editorial: Time for the Liberal Parties To Join Forces
Grigory Yavlinsky caught a few Yabloko supporters by surprise over the weekend when he abruptly stepped down as the party's leader after 15 years. But most saw the change coming even before the party opened the congress Saturday in the Moscow region.

Op-Ed Contributor: Chechnya's Revival
Over the past few days and weeks, there have been a series of militant attacks in Chechnya. This made news, and this is as it should be.

Nikolai Petrov: Local Elections Outside of the Kremlin Box
For a second week now, people are discussing Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiyev's call to reinstate direct elections for governors and to strip the Russian president of the power to disband regional parliaments if they reject the gubernatorial candidate he submits for their approval.

Op-Ed Contributor: A Country of Champions
In May, a new law that restricts foreign ownership in industries related to national security went into effect.

Konstantin Sonin: Direct Elections Might Not Be So Bad After All
The election of governors -- cancelled nearly four years ago under a Kremlin initiative -- has again become a theme for public discussion.

Issue 3928 | 23 Jun 2008

Mark H. Teeter: When I Say Russia, You Say ...
On June 12, amid the festive revelry of Russia Day, a goodly chunk of the populace may have missed the bell for round two of Rossia television's ""Name of Russia"" contest, a ""grandiose"" national project whose odd-sounding title should not obscure its noble aim -- to identify a single individual as the most significant figure in Russian history.

Matthew Collin: Worrying Sign Of Crackdown On Azeri Press
It's been some time since the name of Che Guevara struck fear into capitalist souls. Now the Argentine revolutionary is more of a money-spinner himself -- a hip totem used to sell countless numbers of T-shirts and other trinkets carrying his iconic bearded visage.

Richard Lourie: Advice for President Obama
Hard as it will be for Barack Obama to bring change to Washington should he become president, it will be harder still to bring change to Washington's relations with Moscow.

Issue 3927 | 20 Jun 2008

Editorial: Free-Market Approach to State Inertia
The number of federal programs that the government is trying to implement is mind-boggling.

Op-Ed Contributor: End of The eXile Era
So farewell, The eXile. An era has ended, and we shall not see its like again.

Michele A. Berdy: Moving Is Like Putting Out 3 Moscow Fires
For the expat community, summer is the time of moving in and moving out. If you are not moving, it's a great time to snap up some moving sale bargains. If you are moving, it's a great time to buy a case or two of vodka.

Issue 3926 | 19 Jun 2008

Fyodor Lukyanov: From Vancouver to Vladivostok
President Dmitry Medvedev has made a number of foreign policy statements since taking office. His speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has drawn the most attention, although it was lacking something new in content.

Georgy Bovt: Service Without a Smile
ere was no line as I stepped up to the express-mail window at Moscow's Central Post Office on Tverskaya Ulitsa. The attendant was a middle-aged woman wearing a standard-issue blue smock.

Issue 3925 | 18 Jun 2008

Editorial: The Kremlin Doesn't Need Another Yukos
The TNK-BP dispute promises to define Dmitry Medvedev's presidency in the same way that the Yukos bankruptcy defined Vladimir Putin's presidency.

Op-Ed Contributor: Gazprom's Dirty Secret
On Thursday, during my testimony at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I asked a rhetorical question: Did President Dmitry Medvedev, while serving as chairman of Gazprom, know that the company might have been linked to organized crime through the Swiss-based intermediary company RosUkrEnergo?

Yulia Latynina: Discarded Like A Worn-Out Pair of Shoes
he Federal Drug Control Service is purging its staff. The first to go was General Viktor Rykov, head of the agency's internal affairs.

Issue 3924 | 17 Jun 2008

Op-Ed Contributor: Russia Has Emerged at Last
We live in an age of accelerating economic convergence. The world's new economies --with Russia among the leaders -- will drive global growth and value creation in the early decades of this new century.

Alexei Pankin: Aitmatov Deserved a Nobel
My father and I spent the long Russia Day holiday weekend at our dacha, where we reminisced about Chingiz Aitmatov, the great writer who died last week and was buried on Saturday in Bishkek.

Alexander Golts: Bismarck in the Kremlin
Foreign diplomats and analysts have spent a lot of time scrutinizing President Dmitry Medvedev's comments on Russia's foreign policy.

Issue 3923 | 16 Jun 2008

Op-Ed Contributor: Lots of Bark but Little Bite
Since Vladimir Putin came to power and steadily increased the country's defense budget, there has been a lot of talk about Russia's resurgent military power and its threat to the United States and Europe.

Vladimir Frolov: Kremlin Dream Team Needs More Direction
The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the government are in a shouting match over whether the economy -- growing at roughly 8 percent a year -- is overheating, as the IMF believes, or underinvested, as the government thinks it is. This debate is a good sign of the heightened expectations for Russia's future.

Alexei Bayer: Competing With a Bare Behind
Marxism-Leninism, the official Soviet ideology, was based on strict scientific principles -- or so its founders claimed. They believed that they discovered the universal laws of human history, much like physicists or chemists identified the laws that define the material world.

Issue 3922 | 11 Jun 2008

Martin Gilman: Immunity From the Oil Curse
Oil is so central to the existence and development of modern economic life that it has inevitably become the focus of global concerns as prices have doubled since 2006.

Yulia Latynina: The Perfect Orthodox Wahhabi
On June 5, a Moscow City Court jury acquitted Vladimir Kvachkov, a retired military intelligence colonel, of charges that he attempted to kill Anatoly Chubais, the architect of privatizations in the 1990s and head of Unified Energy System.

Issue 3921 | 10 Jun 2008

Editorial: Put the Brakes On Russian Technologies
Hopefully, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov's revelation on Sunday that the authorities will scale back state involvement in the economy demonstrates the Cabinet's and the president's real intentions.

Op-Ed Contributor: Moscow's Growing Skyline
n comparison with Dubai or any of China's metropolises, the pace of Moscow's current construction might appear measured. But if the recent acceleration of construction continues, Moscow's growth may well reach the level of the United Arab Emirates.

Nikolai Petrov: Regions Vying For Funding And Influence
President Dmitry Medvedev's first month on the job has provided a good opportunity to analyze the developing relationship between the new leader and the regions. Most important, we have seen a continuation of Moscow's policy toward the regions that was initiated last autumn with the appointment of Dmitry Kozak as the regional development minister.

Konstantin Sonin: Nothing Overheated In Russian Economy
Last week, the Moscow bureaus of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank declared that Russia's economy is overheated and that the government should take immediate measures to stem inflation.

Issue 3920 | 9 Jun 2008

Boris Kagarlitsky: Celebrating Russia's Independence
It's amazing how difficult it is to remember the name of the holiday on June 12. First it was called Independence Day in 1991, then, in 1994, it was renamed the Day of the Declaration of the Sovereignty of the Russian Federation, and finally, in 2002, Putin again renamed it Russia Day.

Richard Lourie: Parsing the Schumer Plan
It's not only supply and demand that drives markets, it's fear itself. After the Israeli transportation minister threatened last week to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if Tehran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, the price of oil jumped more than $10 a barrel, sending the U.S. stock market down by 400 points.

Mark H. Teeter: My Bad, Khodorkovsky
During Russia's first two presidencies, as in most of the millennium that preceded them, the rule of law was frequently more honored in the breach than the observance.

Matthew Collin: Soap Operas Replace Opposition on Imedi
A huge portrait of the moustachioed tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili still hangs from the tower of the Wedding Palace, the imposing Soviet building that was his home in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, before his unexpected death this year.

Issue 3919 | 7 Jun 2008

Editorial: A Litmus Test for the Rule of Law
Anyone who paid even the slightest attention to Dmitry Medvedev's policy pronouncements during the presidential campaign and since he took office knows that he considers the rule of law a priority.

Op-Ed Contributor: Medvedev's Window of Opportunity
For the market, the postelection period began when Vladimir Putin used his first speech as prime minister to announce his plans to lower taxation for the oil sector.

Op-Ed Contributor: Bringing Trust Into Russia's Business Culture
The idea that business ethics can be combined with maximum quarterly profits is an amusing concept to many businesspeople in Russia.

Issue 3918 | 6 Jun 2008

Op-Ed Contributor: Op-Ed Contributor: Give Putin a Break
After President Dmitry Medvedev's inauguration on May 7, Russia has successfully concluded its first ""normal"" presidential succession cycle, in which a healthy outgoing president voluntarily turned over power to a new popularly elected one.

Michele A. Berdy: How to Deal With the Cops
Ever since the invasion of British football fans on Moscow -- which was the largest foreign presence in Moscow since Napoleon's troops sacked the city in 1812 -- some jokey pieces have been making the rounds on the Internet.

Issue 3917 | 5 Jun 2008

Yevgeny Kiselyov: Cracks in Putin's Vertical Power Fortress
Four weeks have passed since Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as president and since his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, was approved as prime minister.

Georgy Bovt: Medvedev Without Morality
Two years ago, I met with a high-ranking Kremlin official who confidently asserted, ""The next president will surely become more of a moralist than former President Vladimir Putin, who is not suited to that style of behavior."" Now, Dmitry Medvedev has become president, but he has yet to mention the issue of morals or ethics in society.

Issue 3916 | 4 Jun 2008

Op-Ed Contributor: Moscow's Fig Leaf
The West could be sleepwalking into a war on the European continent. Georgia, which burst into view with a moving display of democratic ambition during the Rose Revolution of 2003, is teetering on the brink of war with Russia over the separatist Georgian enclave of Abkhazia.

Yulia Latynina: Foreign Bank Accounts Prevent War
Georgia says Russia was planning to invade the Kodor Gorge during the early morning hours on May 9.

Op-Ed Contributor: An Offer Putin Can't Refuse
Last month, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran was installing an additional 6,000 centrifuges at Iran's main nuclear-enrichment complex.

Op-Ed Contributor: Bringing Volunteerism To Corporate Culture
All over the world, companies spend considerable effort on team building, leadership development and creating a corporate culture.

Issue 3915 | 3 Jun 2008

Op-Ed Contributor: Russia for Racists
In Russia, if you have dark hair and a slightly swarthy complexion, you are likely to be in danger. Sadly, the country’s leaders have tolerated, if not encouraged, fear of foreigners and assaults on those whose appearance differs from the average Russian.

Alexander Golts: Biggest Government Losers
The foreign media were all worked up over the military parade on Red Square during the Victory Day celebrations. Some commentators even interpreted it as a sign that the Kremlin is intent on attaining military parity with the West.

Alexei Pankin: The Good Kind of Corruption
I recently went to the veterinarian to get a health certificate for my dog, which was needed to take him with me on a trip overseas. As the veterinarian started to shuffle through some papers, he said: “You can take your dog for a walk. There are so many new forms to fill out now that the process might take 20 minutes.”

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