May 2012
57 posts
Gold and Graft in Azerbaijan, Filtered Fatwas in...
Highlights of compelling, original work by RFE/RL journalists this week. # AZERBAIJAN Khadija Ismayilova’s dual reports uncover the profitable ties of Azerbaijan’s first family to both the massive Eurovision Hall construction project and a gold mine worth about $2.5 billion # IRAN Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has apparently become the latest victim of...
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Critics Of Georgian Game Show Question Thinking...
Quick! Is the measure of a woman down to how she looks, or what she knows? ’
“Women’s Logic” respondents take on questions about history, math, science, and anything else that can get them into trouble.
That’s the question being raised by “Women’s Logic,” a controversial new quiz show in Georgia whose entertainment value rests on watching...
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Investigative Report: Azerbaijani Government...
The contract for the Chovdar gold field in western Azerbaijan, worth an estimated $2.5 billion, was awarded in an opaque process in 2007 to a U.K. consortium, AIMROC, that was hastily created for the project. Newly discovered documents now reveal that AIMROC is actually a shell company controlled by companies tied to President Ilham Aliyev’s daughters…[READ MORE]
Ilham...
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In Moscow Sergei Ivanov, a programmer tells @BalmforthTom: ”I think more and more people are going to come out [on the streets] after they beat women and thrashed everyone one by one yesterday. There is no way back now. It is shameful that OMON [riot police] were carrying out orders to beat women with batons.”
Denis Ivanov, 25 a historian: “We are not going to stop [protesting],...
.@SvobodaRadio: Protesters chanting in central Moscow: ”Third term — in jail! Third term — in jail! Third term — in jail!..”
Follow RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Radio Svoboda on Twitter @SvobodaRadio for the latest updates & live stream.
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Putin takes the oath of office at his inauguration ceremony to the sound of a military band playing “The Festival Coronation March” by Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
“I swear that in exercising the powers of the president of the Russian Federation I shall respect and safeguard the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, to observe and protect the Constitution of the Russian Federation, to...
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Nemtsov tells @SvobodaRadio: “[Putin] crossed the line yesterday and now Russia will be rapidly going down the road of Lukashenka’s Belarus, I have no doubt about that.”
Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov speaking today (May 7) to journalists, including RFE/RL’s Anastasia Kirilenko, in Moscow.
Follow RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Radio Svoboda (@SvobodaRadio) to...
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@amnesty tells @RadioiOzodi: they are calling on the authorities of #Tajikistan to ensure investigations into all allegations of torture in detention and that the alleged victims of torture and their representatives are not harassed or punished for speaking out about police abuse, days ahead of the visit by the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or...
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Highlights from @PowerVertical's weekly podcasts...
Interested in analysis of emerging and developing trends in Russian politics, high-stakes power struggles, machinations and clashing interests that shape Kremlin policy?
The Power Vertical is just the podcast for you. For the past few months Brian Whitmore of the The Power Vertical and co-host Kirill Kobrin, the managing editor of RFE/RL’s Russian Service have been discussing topics...
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April 2012
23 posts
Central Asia Spotlight: Sore Losers, Thwarted...
A look at some of the most popular stories from RFE/RL’s Central Asia bureaus. # Sore losers? A Tajik football club received a stiff fine and had several players suspended after defeating an arch rival team — which just happens to be founded by President Emomali Rahmon’s eldest son. # Kyrgyzstan’s Prosecutor-General says Georgia has refused Bishkek’s extradition request...
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Tymoshenko’s daughter tells @RFE/RL , ”she [Yulia Tymoshenko] showed us her remaining bruises. She had many more, five days have passed now. They barred anyone from seeing her for four days, they were waiting for the bruises to disappear. She has a very large bruise on her abdomen, about 10 centimeters in diameter. She also has fingerprint bruises on her left arm.”
- Yevgenia...
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Council of Europe Sec.General Thorbjorn Jagland on confessed Norwegian mass murderer Breivik:
“We have a new thing, namely that this kind of people — lonely people, with a very sad background, a very sad childhood — are connecting to other people in the cyberspace, on the Internet, so they are forming a kind of a parallel society. And they are becoming more and more extreme,...
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Did the dogs do it?
A suspected cyberattack on Tuesday targeted Iran’s oil-export terminal and the Oil Ministry itself. Although officials say their systems suffered no long-lasting damage, there are questions about the origins of the attack and the potential effect on Iran’s oil industry. RFE/RL correspondent Antoine Blua discussed these issues with Boldizsar Bencsath, assistant professor at the...
From Hunger Strikes to White Orcas: Russia's...
Opposition comes in all shapes and sizes in Russia. # Before he became popular with Moscow’s liberal intelligentsia for his hunger strike protesting alleged falsification in Astrakhan’s mayoral election, Oleg Shein was a leftist firebrand, a trade union leader, and an obedient pro-Kremlin State Duma deputy. Shein’s status as the opposition’s current poster boy...
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Afghan National Security Adviser Rangin Dadfar Spanta today in #Kabul on U.S-Afghan strategic partnership:
“When this agreement is finalized and signed, it will help in bringing peace and security to Afghanistan. It will help peace in the region and will help global peace and the struggle against international terrorism and terrorism in our country. We have asked for help with creating...
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@RadioAzadi interviews Maryam Durani, included in @TIME’s 100 most influential people list: “I cannot say for sure, but I hope that my work in women’s rights field has made an impact in the lives of women in my province. I work with many women.”
Maryam Durani, who has been selected one of the most “influential” people in the world by the U.S. newsmagazine...
