TODAY: Markelov murder suspect reportedly confesses; vengeance a possible motive?  Activist abducted in Moscow.  Spy chief issues warning on Georgia; Lavrov surprised at Poland soliciting US help.  Medvedev reserves army use for emergencies. Luzhkov lays into Abramovich; new vodka pricing; toy story. The Moscow Times reports that revenge may be the motive behind the shooting of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov.  Apparently the alleged gunman Nikita Tikhonov may have been a suspect in the stabbing of anti-fascist activist Alexander Ryukhin in 2006, whose mother Markelov was a lawyer for.  The other suspect, Eugenia Khasis, 24, appears to have no prior convictions.  Apparently the killer has confessed - the Other Russia reporting it to be ...

TODAY: Opposition activist torture claims; Miliband leaves with no breakthrough regarding diplomatic concerns; meets with rights activists; Putin and Medvedev popularity waning?; President in need of own power structure to realize reforms; Stalin resurrection an identity issue; Gorbachev on Russophobia; alcohol; jokes; artThe Other Russia reports that Konstantin Makarov, a member of the outlawed National Bolshevik Party, and organizer of an opposition rally planned for the 31st October in Voronezh, was detained and beaten by two policeman, one of whom was S. Yemkov of the notorious Interior Ministry's Center for Extremism Prevention.  According to Makarov, his torturers told him that he would face similar treatment after each rally held by the National Bolsheviks.  Foreign Minister Sergei ...

While my editor was busily working away yesterday, Ariel Cohen had an opinion piece run in the New York Times.  Upon seeing the headline and lede, I was worried that we were going to see yet another one of those "there's a rift between Putin and Medvedev"-type articles which we have seen so much of over the past year, but Cohen is a little more careful than that in his argument.  Of course Medvedev's "Forward, Russia!" article and the quip about the blood tests have clearly illustrated that he feels, or wants us to believe that he feels, that he is a different kind of leader from Putin.  However, as Ariel's op/ed points out, this is all just a rhetorical exercise for the time being, so long as the reformers are without influence.

Some symbolic rifts have also

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TODAY:  Georgia-Russia tensions simmer in advance of EU report; Council of Europe hullabaloo.  Russia edgy on Washington's new defense scheme; Obama forward looking; Kremlin does not feel Iran missiles justify sanctions.  Journalist in hiding over anti-Soviet article; no joy for beer drinkers and hackersAccusations are flying ahead of today's publication of EU-backed report on the war in Georgia which is expected to be critical of both parties.  The Times says that Georgia has preemptively accused Russia of spreading 'patently false information about fictitious attacks on Russian peacekeepers'.  Tbilisi has also claimed that the report has concluded that Russian troops were responsible for ethnic cleansing during the conflict.  Russia is bristling at motions in the Parliamentary ...

As Grigory Pasko recently reported on this blog, President Dmitry Medvedev will sure have his hands full in his latest campaign to tackle the problem of Russian alcoholism.  This piece from Megan K. Stack in the Los Angeles Times reiterates the depth of the problem: "We're not drinking," said a construction worker named Vasily Pik who stood gulping down cans of beer with a couple of buddies at noon on a weekday. "We're just killing our hangovers." Asked about Medvedev's anti-alcohol campaign, Pik burst into raw gasps of laughter. "It's impossible. He doesn't stand a chance," he said. "The Russian man will always be drinking. Russians don't surrender."

Some of the Western media has been picking up on the story of the summer here in Russia: our leaders have declared a war on alcoholism, which some consider to be a certain political grave.

Consider the odds: A ticket to the movies in Moscow costs more than a bottle of vodka. The entrance fee to a museum or an exhibition is also more than a bottle of vodka. A bottle of high quality beer (not to be confused with the swill drank on the trading floors) costs more than a bottle of vodka. Practically all wine - be it good or bad (except for one wine made by the French in Krasnodar Kray, all Russian

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The opinions of Jeremy Grantham, veteran investor and founder of Boston-based money-management firm GMO, have been featured regularly in posts on the Investment Postcards blog. Against the background of his general disregard for  conventional wisdom, his turnaround in early March from a perma-bearish stance to a more bullish demeanour was particularly closely followed.

“… be aware that the market does not turn when it sees light at the end of the tunnel. It turns when all looks black, but just a subtle less black than the day before,” he said in March in a newsletter entitled “Reinvesting when terrified“. He also cautioned investors not to fall prey to “terminal paralysis” that often sets in after a financial crisis.

A recent interview by SmartMoney with Grantham provides insight on why he has changed his mind and his prognosis for the future. A

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George Will seems to be testing some new comedic material in one of his latest columns, bruising the Obama administration over making a priority over getting a nukes treaty with Russia.  He calls Dmitry Medvedev a "human potemkin village" (which we think may be taking things a little far ... see our recent video of expert interviews), and argues that given Nicholas Eberstadt's recent articles about Russia depopulation and alcoholism, there's really not quite so much of a need for Obama to focus on giving away the farm to Russia.This blog has frequently written about the need for a more expansive dialogue on values beyond just security and defense issues, but the idea that just because Russia is drunk and dying that they ...

Dollar-Euro parity? Crude at $12 a barrel? 15% unemployment? J. Christoph Amberger presents the Today’s Financial News top predictions for 2009…

A month ago, I asked my colleagues at TFN to think about the year ahead… the events that will shape the year both politically and financially. In short, to come up with realistic “Predictions for 2009″. As history is fast-forwarding, some of these events have already taken place. Others look increasingly probable… and not half as far out as they appeared just a month ago.

Here they are, in no particular order

*** Dollar hits parity against euro by June 2009.

*** Oil bottoms at $12 per barrel by April 2009.

*** Gold falls to $500 as Indian economy crashes and Dubai abandons spending spree.

*** Russian troops wearing Gazprom uniforms invade Ukraine to “protect” natural gas pipeline. The Russian stock market collapses. Three European energy stocks soar. (Yes, there’s

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Laura Cadden says Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTM) is one of the hottest biotech stocks priced under $5. The company hopes to use its proprietary Tissue Repair Cell (TRC) technology to revolutionise treatment for heart disease. And it is making good progress through the trial phases. Laura says Aastrom is poised to make 20% gains in six months

This from Today’s Financial News:

Investors expect President-Elect Obama to make good on his campaign promise to lift restrictions on federally funding human embryonic stem cell research. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to introduce legislation for a regulatory framework necessary to enable expanded stem cell research.

Biotechnology experts consider both the regulatory framework (to underpin clinical trials) and the additional funding to be crucial to the future of the American bio-pharma industry. In fact, it could ring in a new era for American stem cell

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