Word: russianizing
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...trial for taking millions in kickbacks and organizing huge arms commissions from the Angolan government during the mid-1990s. In the dock were such big names as Charles Pasqua, a former French Interior Minister; Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, the son of the late French President François Mitterrand; and Russian-Israeli billionaire Arkadi Gaydamak, who is currently a candidate for mayor of Jerusalem. The group is charged with having supplied almost $800 million worth of arms to Angolan President José Eduardo Dos Santos, including 12 helicopters, 6 naval vessels, 150,000 shells and 170,000 land mines...
...bail out Iceland, when Iceland's traditional allies weren't offering the money? After all, Russia has its own grave financial issues to deal with. Does the country really expect to be paid back in "the famous Icelandic herring, popular in Russia since Soviet times?" as Victor Tatarintsev, Russian ambassador to Iceland, noted in an interview on Russian television. More likely, this act of benevolence is being viewed as a way for Russia to help secure a bridgehead for an advance into the Arctic regions to claim the vast hydrocarbon and other mineral deposits there. Iceland also happens to possess...
That is why the Arctic looks so enticing. Energy experts say the Arctic's continental shelf may contain up to a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and natural gas. "The use of these energy reserves is a safeguard for Russia's energy security," Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said. "It is our duty to our descendants. We have to ensure the long-term national interests of Russia in the Arctic." Thus, the $5.4 billion - under terms more favorable than Moscow has extended to recapitalize one of its own major banks - seems a modest price to pay. Even if ordinary...
...None of these economic zones reach the North Pole. Under the current U.N. Maritime convention, one country's zone can be extended only if it can prove that the continental shelf into which it wishes to expand is a natural extension of its own territory. In August 2007 two Russian submersibles reached the bottom of the North Pole and left a titanium-made Russian flag there. Putin alleged that the expedition delivered proof of Russia's claims, though few believe it is good enough to substantiate Moscow's claims under international...
...current state of the Russian economy is worrisome enough. Since August, the Russian stock markets' capitalization has dropped from $1.5 trillion to less than a third of that. Trading had to be stopped last week and again on Monday for fear the markets would dissolve into thin air. Some Russian banks have started calling in credits before they are due; others have stopped issuing credits altogether. Layoffs are expected, and Big Business even wants the government to reduce the required two months' severance pay for laid-off workers to a single month. Meanwhile, in the past two months, Russia...