Crime Bosses in Russia

A suspected crime boss was arrested in Moscow on January 25th. Semyon Mogilevich was seized by armed police in connection with a charge of tax evasion—to the tune of $2m—at Arbat Prestige, a cosmetics company. Dubbed “the Brainy Don” because of his economics degree, the Ukrainian-born Mr Mogilevich is also wanted by America's FBI for racketeering, fraud and money-laundering.

He is known to have used 17 different aliases and is alleged to have been involved in money-laundering, drugs, prostitution, smuggling and dealing in stolen art. The arrest was particularly sensitive because of Mr Mogilevich's suspected ties to a company that traded gas between Russia and Ukraine.

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Semyon Mogilevich was a major crime boss in Russia in the past decades. But the part I find interesting is that he did some work between companies that sell oil between Ukraine and Russia. He could be at fault for some of the tension that now brews between the two countries. Over the past years the conflict over oil between the countries has been under close watch. This one man's operations may have contributed a significant amount of the problems himself.

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Russia's Jet Industry

Russia is hoping to make a giant come-back in civil and military aviation. It has pledged to spend billions of dollars on boosting its defense industry, especially the air force.

The goal is to build nearly 6,000 new military and civilian aircraft, and to win 15% of the global aviation market. Russia has set up a new government-controlled company to oversee the process, the United Aircraft Corporation.

But there's a long way to go, as Russia's aircraft industry has been in the doldrums since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

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Russia has made several deals on weapons, fighter jets, and passenger jets in the last few years. Supposedly they are have sold and bought all they will need until 2015 . This is "good" for Russia's economy as it will create more jobs and increase trading with other countries. However, the world is not looking at this so lightly. It seems as if Russia is trying to get back to its status of a super power via weapons. The worst part is, is that nobody trusts them, especially now that they are doing all these trades behind their back. How much longer can they do this before the Western World seriously calls their bluff? And will it be a true bluff by that point?

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Medvedev Appears in WSJ

Read what the WSJ has to say about Russia's upcoming leader...

Explosion kills two during Russia's presidential early vote

A bomb blew up in South Ossetia, which is Georgia's Russia-backed separatist region. The explosion killed two police officers and wounded at least 10 civilians Thursday, an official said. Explosion kills two during Russia's presidential early vote BREAKING NEWS Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fight to change...

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All throughout history there have been killings, which makes significant events. One example is the killing of Abe Lincoln, even recent with the Virginia Tech shooting, killing people makes history. It is up to us as humans not to make history for the wrong reasons and help eliminate the killings around the world.

The Pipeline Deal

MOSCOW: Russia scored another victory Thursday in its push to tighten domination of European energy supplies, signing a landmark deal with Hungary for a new natural gas pipeline.

President Vladimir Putin, who was joined by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany for a signing ceremony at the Kremlin, said the South Stream project was a "joint contribution by Russia and Hungary to Europe's energy security."

The €10 billion (US$15 billion) pipeline will go through Hungary after crossing Bulgaria and Serbia, and it further undercuts an alternative project — the Nabucco pipeline, which has been backed by the United States and the European Union as a way to ease Europe's reliance on Russia for energy.

"If the project is implemented, the role and significance of Hungary as an energy supplier to Europe will grow and its own energy security will be guaranteed," Putin told Gyurcsany before the signing.

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Russia and Hungary recently completed a deal for a natural gas pipeline. This pipeline is designed to help Europe with its need for energy and take the burden off one particular country. This pipeline will help to push Russia as well as Hungary to the a more dominant position in European politics. Russia is also continuing to extend their foreign relations and build alliances with other countries.

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Russia’s richest man Oleg Deripaska holds 40-billion-dollar fortune

Finance magazine published the rating of Russia’s richest men for 2008. The first list of Russia’s richest people appeared in 2004. The name of the person topping the list has been changing every now and then. The number of dollar billionaires has increased four times in Russia over just several years.

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Many times we see people that have money, either a movie star, or the creator of a successful business, and never do anything to benefit people in need. With this new billionaire in russia lets see if he will help his country in the time of need or not.

A Jewish President for Russia?

MOSCOW: Allegations by nationalists that Vladimir Putin's chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev, has Jewish roots have brought anti-Semitism to the surface on the margins of Russia's presidential election campaign.

The first deputy prime minister, who is all but assured of victory on Sunday because he has Putin's support, has said he belongs to the Russian Orthodox faith.

But some nationalist groups say his mother's maiden name, Shaposhnikova, is Jewish, and that he is unfit to be president because of this.

Medvedev's campaign staff declined to confirm or deny he has Jewish roots. The Kremlin condemns all forms of anti-Semitism.



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Recent claims among nationalist groups in Russia are that Medvedev, Putin's successor, is Jewish. These claims are based off of the last name of his mother, which makes them not very credible claims. These tactics are the same smearing tactics that we are currently appearing in the US's election. Though the interesting thing is that these claims have not arisen until a week before the election. In the US they would appear much before that. Since Medvedev is the favored successor it will be interesting to see if these allegations hurt his campaign at all.

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Free Speech is Disappearing in Russia

The murders of outspoken journalists go unsolved, independent media outlets have been shut and police have attacked opposition protesters, said the report.

It also said "arbitrary" laws were curbing the right to express opinion and silencing NGOs deemed to be a threat by the authorities. The report comes ahead of Russian's presidential elections on 2 March.


The director of Amnesty International UK, Kate Allen, said: "The space for freedom of speech is shrinking alarmingly in Russia and it's now imperative that the Russian authorities reverse this trend."

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Supposedly the restriction of free speech has been going on behind the scenes recently and the government is now saying that wish to stop it. Journalists and protesters are being silenced, and anyone who speaks out even slightly against the government pays consequences. It seems to me that the same things regarding free speech rights in authoritarian regimes are showing up in Russia. The reappearance of these actions by the government lead me to believe that the government is now fearing change, and a more democratic state. They have found themselves in the middle of their old ways and it is becoming time for them to either listen to the people and more towards democracy or keep silencing the people and trying to tend to old habits. Medvedev will be the one that will have the most influence on the direction of the country. We will have to wait and see what he will do with his new found position as president.

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Lenin’s body may finally be taken out of its Tomb

The body of Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Great October Revolution, which has been resting in Kremlin’s Mausoleum for decades, will be committed to earth with all honours, the way a country’s leader should be interred.
The Federal Memorial Complex where greatest personas of Russian and Soviet history will be interred is expected to be unveiled in Moscow by 2010 to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. The cemetery will have several alleys. The main alley will comprise only 30 tombs.

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Why now? Why are the Russian desciding to celebrate his victory in the great patroitic war, I am sure that during Lenin's reign he accomplished alot, why noy just celebrate every significant battle that Lenin took part in.

Satellite Conspiracy

The satellite was destroyed on Wednesday, February 20 using a modified SM-3 missile fired by a U.S. Navy warship off the coast of Hawaii. The operation to shoot down the orbiting spacecraft was clearly designed to send a message to both Russia and China, America’s two major competitors in the race for military dominance in space. Interestingly, the SM-3 missile used to shoot down the satellite forms the terminal phase of the anti-ballistic missile system currently being developed by the Bush administration.



According to the Pentagon, the out-of-control satellite had to be brought down because the toxic fuel it was carrying, hydrazine, had frozen and so could not be used to guide the satellite into the Earth’s atmosphere to burn up. According to the Pentagon, the toxic fuel posed a significant risk to human health, given the impossibility of predicting where or when the satellite was going to come down. There was also some speculation on whether the satellite contained other potentially hazardous materials, such as a nuclear power source. The Pentagon certainly kept quiet about that.



Both Russia and China, along with many experts around the world, have dismissed the Pentagon’s hazardous fuel argument, saying there are many instances of satellites falling to Earth harmlessly before and it is unprecedented for such action to be taken against a rogue satellite. In 2002, for example, parts of a science satellite rained down over the Persian Gulf. The most spectacular case, however, of a satellite falling to Earth took place when Skylab, a 78-ton abandoned space laboratory belonging to NASA, fell from orbit in 1979. It came down in a fiery mass of debris strewn over the Indian Ocean and Australia. No one was harmed in that incident, but the event was a media sensation at the time.



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China and Russia have expressed their concern over the shooting down of the US satellite. There have been instances in the past of satellites falling safely. They are concerned that the satellite could have contained no technologies or even space weapons that the US is trying to keep a secret from Russia. This instance has definitely hurt our relationship with both China and Russia, and it may be a while until we actually find out what was on that satellite.

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Assessment Complete

Ukraine, free from Radars

Russia will no longer use Soviet-made radars in Ukraine due to its attempts to become NATO’s member. Russia’s lower House of Parliament voted to stop using the radars but extended deal that calls on the neighboring state to maintain Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The move reflects strong military industrial ties between the countries, the AP reported. Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov aid that Ukraine’s strong will to join NATO had made the military to reconsider the agreement.

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With Ukraine's constant push to become part of NATO, it is almost as if Russia just now recognized their "rights" as a country. This removing of satellites and radars that have monitoring Ukraine for many years now shows some progress for both countries. Russia has decided to trust Ukraine enough to remove their equipment, and Ukraine has gained enough attention to be recognized. For the most part I am unsure if the radars were doing much good seeing how they were left over from the Soviet Union. With inaccurate readings it was best they were removed before the "untrue" readings sparked unnecessary conflict between the countries. This proved as a major step for both countries, and will hopefully become a peaceful relation for both countries.

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Can you communicate with the nether world?

Sesnational news from the spirit-world came just the day 2 planes crashed in Russia. While Federal Security Service staff was clearing away the wreckage in the places of the accident in Rostov and Tula regions, the scientists of Saint Petersburg already knew that was an act of terrorism. They got interested strange sounds heard in the ultra short waves that are free from radio signal. When the scientists scrolled down the record, they were astounded. It said: That was a terrorist”.

That was a sensation. The words were replayed on “Saint Petersburg Radio” air. Non-believers finally realized that the other world really exists.

A University of Radio technique professor Artem Mikheev got interested in this question. He found “Russian Instrumental Transcommunication” – an organization aimed to cooperate with the nether world.

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Russian Prime Minister Jailed

Former Russian minister Yevgeny Adamov has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for abusing his office and embezzling more than $30m. On Tuesday, the former atomic energy minister was found guilty of setting up a criminal gang, illegally seizing property and acting against the state.

Adamov, who denied the charges, was arrested in Switzerland in 2005 after a US request, but extradited to Russia. The US accuses him of embezzling $9m it donated to improve nuclear safety. The US had also requested his extradition.

A Russian prosecutor had asked the court to sentence Adamov, who served as minister from 1998 to 2001, to nine years in jail.

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This could be one of the major reasons Russia's finances have become erratic. Now that they have identified where the missing money has gone, hopefully they can get themselves back on track. If Russia was smart they would start looking more closely into where and how the governments money is spent. This would help their economy and would help stabilize all of the redistributing of budgets.

To look at the real picture though, there is always the temptation for self-gain when one is in politics. With a system like Russia, where most of the ministers and such are allowed to be a step above the law, the temptation only grows. With the loose style the politicians are allowed to rule in, it is not extremely surprising to see someone gaining some pocket change.

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