As many readers are aware, the Russian government has been on a recent censorship tear, including talk of banning off-color and proudly offensive animated TV imports such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park (oddly, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has already done the same).  No reason to stop at TV shows.  Today we're seeing reports that the government has ordered Russian retailers to pull the video game title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 from its shelves while a ban on the game is considered.  The game, which pits players in bloody gunfights in a slew of imaginary international conflict zones, is already being called one of the decade's most successful product launches - hitting $310 million in one day alone....

I just published a quick rant on Huffington Post after watching Joe Scarborough complain and moan about how the U.S. is going it alone on Afghanistan during his morning MSNBC show.  It's no wonder so many countries are getting into bed with Venezuela, Russia, and China ... they probably show more appreciation.

Both Washington and its pundits on both sides of the aisle have got to come around to the fact that the number of disincentives for being friendly with the U.S. are rapidly increasing, and it's not longer just the radical fringes. In Latin America, where we can't even seem to hold confirmation hearings for our diplomatic appointees, it simply pays much, much more to accept unconditional aid from Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, or even strike up relationships based on credit and guns from Russia and China. In Eastern Europe, Poland and the Czech Republic stick their necks

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Reporters without Borders, an international press freedom watchdog group, has been suddenly and unexpectedly stripped of their travel visas to attend an event to honor Anna Politkovskaya and screen a new documentary.  I first caught this news late last night from RFE/RL, who writes that RSF was "shocked" by the government's decision to not allow them into the country.This comment struck me as somewhat amusing and interesting.  We all remember that the very same thing was done to Kenneth Roth, the director of Human Rights Watch, right after the organization had published a critical (and very well done) report on the rights situation in Russia.  Hugo Chavez is fond of doing pulling the same moves on HRW, and likely RSF in the future.  When we pretend to be shocked and surprised that the Kremlin acts like an ...

Yesterday the insider blog Caracas Chronicles ran a cool post about Eligio Cedeño, a once successful banker turned political prisoner whom (as you probably know) Bob represents.  The article captures the sinister threat of legalistic machine that Hugo Chávez had built, but the source is a little off on what contributed to the motives (such as Eligio's support to Carlos Ortega) as well as any suggestion that Eligio was some kind of Boligarch (he build his banking group out of abject poverty).   In speaking with this anonymous source, Quico gets into a little comparative discussion on the situation in Russia:"And in a way, it's much worse this way. Because if you're in a ...

Robert Amsterdam has an opinion article published in The Moscow Times today:

The recent visits to Moscow and Tehran by Hugo Chavez raise a number of concerns about the deepening relations between Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

The motivation behind the Russia-Iran-Venezuela alliance is often misunderstood. On the one hand, there is the narrative that these governments are pursuing national interests, seeking to deepen their security against ever-present external threats and accrue regional power. Others argue that the alliance is driven by an attempt to build an "alternative architecture" of global relations, one that is conveniently unconcerned with democracy and human rights and bound solely by the common value of anti-Americanism.

Both these assumptions are dangerously misleading. In reality, the foreign policies of these three states are driven by the personal interests

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Apparently no agreement was made on when gas supplies to Russia will resume at Medvedev's meeting with Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.  Following Iranian complaints of exclusion from the Aktau meeting, Medvedev has acknowledged that all countries involved in Caspian issues should be invited to participate.  The Guardian reports that Russia is planning on entering the British nuclear market:  Atomenergoprom is apparently in talks with Siemens on supplying reactors to Britain.  The Times looks at Greenland's untapped energy reserves.  Russian oil companies may form a consortium to enhance their development in Iraq.  EON has suspended one coal project in Russia and ruled out further projects due the economic slowdown.  Venezuela and a group of Russian companies will invest $20 billion in the Junin 6 block in the Orinoco Belt.  President Hugo Chavez has said that the ...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is known for his erratic behavior, but his latest move to extend official recognition to Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia during his visit to Moscow is a bit of a head-scratcher.  In theory, it shouldn't come as a surprise, as probably the strongest predictor of Chávez's future behavior is anything perceived to be contrary to U.S. interests.  That includes sometimes illogical policies and relationships, such as red carpet welcomes for Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, cooperation with Iran on missile and nuclear technology, hugs for Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, and tea parties with Coronel Muammar Qaddafi. 

What is strange is that Chávez waited a whole year before joining up with his surrogate state

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At yesterday's meeting between Dmitry Medvedev and Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's PdVSA state oil firm and a consortium of major Russian producers signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in Orinoco and on joint development of the Junin-6 field.  PdVSA also made a deal with Transneft to build infrastructure in the Orinoco belt and another deal with Rosneft.  OPEC is apparently 'not encouraged' by Russia's lack of output cuts.  'We never had any obligations (to OPEC). When we were communicating, we never promised anything', an unfussed Sergei Shmatko has responded.  Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko is hoping to hold the government to $770 million of loans in 2010 to improve coal mines, as an alternative energy source to natural gas.  If Norway's labor majority coalition lose next week's elections, it could be good news for oil majors as the ...

Russia's refusal to upgrade gas contracts with Ukraine jeopardizes gas transit to Europe, says Bogdan Sokolovsky, the representative of the Ukrainian president on international aspects of energy security.  The Ukrainian economics minister has reportedly assured Moscow that it will stick to the gas contract agreed in January.  The Kuwaiti Oil Minister, Sheikh Ahmed al-Abdullah al-Sabah, has advised that OPEC output quotas be retained - meanwhile Qatari Energy Minister, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, has chastised Russia for not supporting the cartel more actively.  Russia may face a fall in oil production as geological prospecting significantly decreases.  The Kremlin is preparing a series of oil and gas agreements to be signed when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visits Moscow later this week.  Gazprom reportedly plans to increase investment in the Far East to $3.7 billion in 2010 to cater ...

It's September again, and that means the children are heading off to school, and the birds - heading south. And, as tradition goes, Comandante Chávez has embarked on a world tour. This time, the Lt. Col. - the leader of the Bolivarian revolution - visited Libya, where he observed the 40th anniversary in power of another colonel, Muammar Qaddafi. Then - Algeria. Then - he went to Iran. Then - popped into Turkmenistan, which, it seems, turned out to have been a surprise for president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow [We are using the spelling the Turkmens themselves use as they switch from Cyrillic to Latin script, instead of "Berdymukhamedov", which is actually a transcription from Russian--Ed.].

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