Word: putin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Russia ever since its economy began to rebound - along with oil prices - after the currency crisis of 1998. While some have viewed Russia as a fabulous investment opportunity, many have been put off by the taint of corruption and political risk. To assuage such fears, then President Vladimir Putin sat down with about 30 CEOs of Western companies on the fringes of a World Economic Forum meeting in St. Petersburg in June 2007 and gave a concise rationale for why they shouldn't worry. The Kremlin, he told them, would continue to claw back control of some energy and other...
Since then, however, two high-profile business scandals have given Westerners further pause for thought. In July, Putin - who has apparently lost none of his influence since shifting from President to Prime Minister in May - leveled accusations of price gouging and tax evasion at one of the nation's biggest steelmakers, Mechel, sending its New York-listed stock plummeting. With memories of Yukos' fate still fresh, investors didn't stop there: Putin's comments wiped tens of billions of dollars off Russia's stock market in a matter of days. The Mechel furore came on top of an ugly, months...
...stories are reversed in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, where lurid posters portray Moscow's leaders Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev as Hitler and Mussolini and show a gluttonous Russia devouring Georgia, asking "Who's Next?" Givi Tadiashvili fled from a village near Tskhinvali, where he said looters showed up after the bombing ended, demanding water and wine to drink. They made his neighbor drink first, to make sure the liquids were not poisoned. Three villages were burned near his home. "They do it to show their aggression. It's their revenge not to let us go back," he says. Another...
...year's more controversial cases involves two American basketball players who showed up in China wearing the uniforms of the U.S.'s former Cold War rival. Russia may possess oil and nukes, but it is sorely lacking in point guards. In 2004, Vladimir Putin personally authorized the passport granted to J.R. Holden, a journeyman American guard who never made it to the NBA but who has been a catalyst for the Russian national team. But the real sniping began with the "defection" of Becky Hammon, a WNBA star who signed a contract with a Russian club that helped her gain...
Whether or not a renewed Cold War works in Moscow's favor in the long term remains to be seen. Moscow may not be able to halt expanding NATO, as former members of the Warsaw Pact do not seem less eager to join the Western Alliance. While Putin and his troops have succeeded in lashing out at Georgia, such action against former Warsaw Pact allies like the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland - all now NATO members - would be suicidal. But for the near term, the Putin Doctrine is now in play...