“Damascus is the “Stalingrad” of Russian diplomacy. After years of geopolitical withdrawal, Moscow has chosen Syria as a way to revive its image of power in the world. “Not one step back” is the Kremlin’s new strategy, as it was for the Red Army along the banks of the Volga river during World War II. To be more convincing, the Kremlin has simultaneously flexed its muscles by supplying sophisticated […]


Россия удивила мир: она промахнулась, не забив геополитический пенальти в Киргизии. Даже американцы дали понять, что были готовы принять в участие в “гуманитарной интервенции” под российской командой.

 Мир, в том числе постсоветское пространство, порой очень нуждается в ком-нибудь “с яйцами”. В августе 2008-го, несмотря на то что многие танки еще не доехали до поля боя, российские войска одним махом выбили грузин, напавших на Цхинвали. Тогда Запад очень обиделся на грубую российскую силу. А зря: именно эта сила спасла Закавказье от долгой полупартизанской войны между грузинскими войсками с одной стороны и южноосетинскими ополченцами и северокавказскими добровольцами с другой. Войны с жесточайшими этническими чистками и тысячами жертв.

 Статья – – Штефан Шолль – “Московский Комсомолец” 6.07.2010г. 

Stefan Scholl Moskovskij Komsomolets

Нурсултан Назарбаев — это гарантия стабильности, межнационального мира и сохранения кланового баланса. Для России — мотор интеграции, которая только-только из сферы слов начинает переходить в сферу дел. Для Запада и Китая — лидер важной страны.

 Статья  – Михаил Ростовский – “Московский Комсомолец” 6.07.2010г. 

Mikhail Rostovsky Moskovskij Komsomolets

 О гастарбайтерах и других “чурках” в Германии и в России

 Статья  – Штефан Шолль – “Московский Комсомолец” 22 июня 2010 г. 

Stefan Scholl Moskovskij Komsomolets

E’ stato un lungo testa a testa che solo all’alba consolida il piccolo vantaggio di Bronislaw Komorowski. Troppa l’incertezza legata ai dati degli exit polls: circa 6 i punti di differenza tra i due candidati. In serata Kaczynski aveva ammesso la sconfitta, ma Komorowski non aveva festeggiato, aspettando la conta ufficiale.

“E’ stata una campagna elettorale particolare – ha osservato lo speaker della Camera bassa del Parlamento – sviluppatasi all’ombra di una catastrofe”. Anche Jaroslaw Kaczynski non ha mancato di ricordare il fratello presidente Lech, morto nella tragedia aerea di Smolensk in aprile.

“Dobbiamo continuare – ha detto il leader conservatore per cambiare la Polonia. Un movimento è nato dalla morte di quei martiri”.

 58 anni, cattolico, padre di 5 figli Komorowski è per rafforzare le riforme di mercato e per velocizzare l’integrazione del Paese nell’Unione europea. Alleato del premier Donald Tusk non utilizzerà il veto del capo dello Stato con la stessa frequenza come fece il predecessore Lech Kaczynski.

Komorowski 53.01%, Jaroslaw Kaczynski 46.99% Turnout, 55.31%

Mr. Komorowski: “Tonight we will open a small bottle of champagne and tomorrow we will open a big bottle,” “We thank everybody – the more so that it was an unusual campaign, a difficult campaign held in the shadow of catastrophe.”

Mr. Kaczynski: “We have to continue changing Poland.. We have to continue to be mobilised, we must win,” “A movement has emerged from their martyrs’ death.”

Former President Aleksander Kwasniewski: tomorrow “Poland will wake up with a 100 percent government {…} with 100 percent expectations.”

On Sunday, 27 June, the first debate between Bronisław Komorowski and Jarosław Kaczyński took place live on the national television. For an hour the two candidates went head to head on domestic and foreign issues facing the country, as well as economic matters.

 The TV presidential debate was considered as ‘inconclusive’ by many experts. Komorowski and Kaczyński need to lure leftist voters in Sunday’s run-off after the candidate of the leftist opposition SLD party won 13.68 percent in the June 20th  first round of voting.

Analysts say some leftist voters will back Komorowski due to their dislike of Kaczyński ‘s nationalistic, eurosceptic brand of conservatism. However, some say Kaczyński may gain the backing of some left-leaning voters as he favours more state spending.

 According to an opinion poll for Polish Radio, Komorowski has the support of 51.3 percent of voters, Kaczynski is the 43.3 percent, 5.4 percent of people are undecided.

Article Polskie Radio, June 28th, 2010.

ENGLISH – ПО-РУССКИ

On June 26 Lithuania’s former President and former Prime Minister, Algirdas Brazauskas, died at the age of 77 after a serious illness.

In the late 1980ies he became the chief of the Communist Party of Lithuania, which under his leadership supported the aspiration of the republic to become independent. “Either the Party has to radically change itself to get closer to the people, or it must liquidate itself,” he told The New York Times in 1990. In March 1990 Lithuania declared independence from Moscow and it was the beginning of the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Brazauskas was the country’s second-most popular politician in June after current President Dalia Grybauskaite, according to an opinion poll conducted in by Vilmorus for Valstybe.

In June 2010 Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev awarded him the Order of Honour for his significant contribution to cooperation between Russia and Lithuania and good neighbourly relations.

– “President Brazauskas led Lithuania through a period of remarkable change and transformation. He played a crucial role in the independence movement that liberated his country and inspired people all over the world.

As the first president of a free Lithuania, and later as prime minister, he worked to deliver on the promise of democracy. Under his leadership, Lithuania joined NATO and the European Union and developed a strong partnership with the United States. President Brazauskas was a champion for his nation and his people”, US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

– “The background in which he lived and worked, demanded to conform to Soviet conditions, but he had never forgot he was a Lithuanian, and he was a patriot of Lithuania,” the leader of the Belarussian Social Democratic Hramada,  Stanislau Shushkevich.

Article The New York Times, 1990. ArticleThe New York Times, 2010. ArticleDeutsche Welle, 2010.

ПО-РУССКИ

Выступая в эфире радиостанции “Эхо Москвы” в 2008 г., Бразаускас рассказывал о том, как Литва становилась независимым государством.

ПРОГРАММА – “Эхо Москвы”

 The referendum was organized to choose a new Constitution. The interim government hopes it will legitimise its power until new parliamentary elections in autumn. If approved, Kyrgyzstan will become the first parliamentary republic in former Soviet Asia.

 The country is home to a Russian and a US military bases. Washington established its air base at the Manas international airport near Bishkek in late 2001 to support military operations in Afghanistan. Former President Bakiyev threatened to close it in October 2008 after agreeing to a Russian loan. He reversed the decision when the US agreed to more than triple its annual rent for the base.

Weeks later Kyrgyzstan tentatively agreed to allow Russia to open a second military base on its territory, apparently expanding Moscow’s military reach to balance the US presence.

 Earlier in June several hundred people died in clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the south of the country.

 Questions and Answer, BBC, June 27th  2010

StalinGori2 Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has approved the dismantling of the historic monument to Stalin in the centre of Gori, Soviet dictator’s birthplace, and rejected the accusations of attempting to rewrite history.

“There is a museum nearby. In that place there must be the appropriate exposure. In our country there should not be at the same time museums of occupation and monuments to people whose initiative provoked the invasion of an occupation army,” Mr. Saakashvili said, alluding to the military conflict with Russia in August 2008. “It’s necessary to act with history in a civilized manner, without hysterics and vandalism”, he concluded.

 Stalin’s six-meter-bronze statue was removed during the night, so that in the morning the empty square in front of City Hall was a surprise to the townspeople. According to some of them,  authorities simply tried to avoid protests, because local residents would prevent the demolition.

Officials say the overnight dismantlement of the towering statue, approved last week by the city’s parliament, was spurred by the appeals of a younger generation who have embraced Western ideals of freedom.

 At a press conference the Minister of Culture, Sport and Monument Protection Nika Rurua said that “in the centre of the city of Gori, on Heroes’ Square, there is no place for such an ugly idol.”

“Stalin was a political criminal involved in the invasion of Georgia by the Red Army in 1921 and in its occupation which lasted 70 years,” he explained.

 The removal of the monument to the Soviet dictator – erected  in his honor in 1952, the year before his death, –  makes way for the construction of a memorial to the fallen in the war against Russia in August 2008, when the town was shelled by Moscow’s military forces.

 The huge statue of Stalin, in an overcoat staring out over the Caucasus Mountains beyond, was one of the few monuments to the dictator still standing anywhere in the world.

 Born Joseph Dzhugashvili to a peasant woman in Gori (80 kilometres west of Tbilisi) in 1878, Stalin ruled the Soviet Union with an iron fist from the late 1920s to his death in 1953.

 Article – Reuters – Georgia

 Севастополь никогда не входил в состав Крыма и никогда не передавался Украине. Депутат Партии регионов Владимир Зубанов заявил о намерении России отсудить город. Предотвратить такое развитие событий смогла только ратификация соглашения о продлении пребывания Черноморского флота в Севастополе.

 Однако в Москве отрицают существование тайных исков. В 2008 году разгорался скандал из-за предложения мэра Москвы Юрия Лужкова вернуть России Севастополь. В феврале 2010 года постоянный представитель России в НАТО Дмитрий Рогозин снова поднял этот вопрос. Он пояснил, что в послевоенное время Севастополь был выведен из состава Крымской области, “потому в списке “подарков” Хрущева Украине он не числится”.

 Между тем часть севастопольцев настаивает на возвращении города России.

СтатьяДень – Киев

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