The Venezuelan media is reporting tonight that a judge has ordered the immediate release of the political prisoner Eligio Cedeño - a client of Robert Amsterdam.  The trial judge has not yet responded to the order, and other decisions in this case have been routinely ignored by lower courts under political instructions from the government, so we will have to see if rule of law will prevail in the case.  As we have written here many times, the two years and eight months of pre-trial detention without any conviction of a crime represents a serious violation of local and international laws.  The following is my translation of an article published in El Universal:

Appeals Court Rules for Trial in Freedom for Eligio CedeñoThe Eighth Court of Appeals ruled today that the businessman Eligio Cedeño should be ...

The following is a press release being distributed today on behalf of the Mikhail Khodorkovsky defense team:

OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF ITALIAN PARLIAMENT VOTE TO SUPPORT MIKHAIL KHORDOKOVSKY

Rome, September 23, 2009 - The Italian parliament today voted in favour of a motion urging the Italian Government "to activate all diplomatic channels, together with other European partners, to guarantee the respect for human rights and the right of defence for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev and for all Russian citizens". The motion, presented at the Lower Chamber by Pier Ferdinando Casini, leader of the Christian Democrat Party (UDC), received overwhelming support: out of 478 MPs attending the plenary session, 430 voted in favour. During the debate, Alfredo Mantica, Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressed support for the motion on behalf of the Government and called for unanimous adoption

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TODAY: US to modify or jettison missile defense plans? NATO chief to meet with Russian envoy; Lukaschenko sends out mixed messages.  South Ossetia denies book burning; think tank leader says Putin could be heading for Brehznev-style decades in power; Medvedev finds inspiration on blogosphere.The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House may abandon the Bush-era missile defense plans which have caused consternation in Russia.  AP sources quoted on the Washington Post suggest a compromise measure, tempered to Russian concerns.  RFE/RL has an entertaining list of the 'dissidents' President Medvedev might like to meet on his upcoming US trip.  NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Russian envoy to the alliance Dmitry Rogozin will hold an ...

Yesterday I saw this note on FT Lex which essentially argued for the Italian energy company Eni to be split up into two separate companies in order to maximize value.  Today they are running another piece about the activist investor group Knight Vinke, who are eager to see the same thing happen - they even cite the energy security issue as one reason for Eni to be broken in half.  In the past, the lurching energy dinosaurs of Europe have fought off any attempts at unbundling from the European Commission by pointing to the conveniently threatening spectre of Gazprom, arguing that they've got to stay big in order to negotiate with such a monster.  The rub is that a split ...

Diane Francis, columnist at the Financial Post, wrote up a short column about the Eligio Cedeño case in Venezuela interviewing Robert Amsterdam, making mention of the Rusoro controversy, which has a Russia-related angle."Venezuela said it will offer a joint venture to Russian-owned miner Rusoro to operate the Las Cristinas and Brisas gold projects, currently under contract to two Canadian companies, Mining minister Rodolfo Sanz on Thursday. He told a Russian delegation that a memorandum of understanding would soon be signed with Rusoro. It appeared that Sanz intends to replace the Canadian companies who operate the projects that contain some of Latin America's largest gold deposits, with Rusoro, but he did not mention their names."Why would this be happening, given the fact that the Canadian companies had signed a deal and invested millions in good faith already?"What's happening in Venezuela is not understood by Canadians," ...

Given all the news this week of Russia and Italy's South Stream deal with Turkey in exchange for a nuclear power plant, I thought I would repost an article written by Robert Amsterdam last fall in Energy Risk on Turkey's political pipelines.

FROM OCT. 2008, ENERGY RISK:

Turkey's political pipelines

Turkey's strategic position at the crossroads of East and West has put it at the centre of a geopolitical tug of war, with energy supply a key driver. Robert Amsterdam examines the energy policies being brought to bear in the region

Turkey's role in global affairs is defined by its geostrategic importance as the bridge between Europe and the Near East. Following Russia's invasion and occupation of Georgia in August, which caused considerable energy supply jitters, Turkey was once again thrust into the spotlight as the European

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Why blog about the day's news when you can shoot a quick video?  Today we take the lazy approach, as Robert Amsterdam speaks briefly about the controversy over the Joseph Biden and Hillary Clinton comments on Russia, the release of the alleged mobster Semyon Mogilevich, and the deepening problems in the Caucasus, such as the arrest of mourners at the Estemirova funeral followed by the suicide bombing attack, which illustrate that the Kremlin's ability to govern in these areas is becoming diminished.

TIME magazine has published a very interesting profile of Alexander Lebedev and his quest to reform Russia.  Robert Amsterdam is quoted in the excerpt below.What is not simple is Russia. That quintessentially Russian query -- What is to be done? -- continues to bedevil the Kremlin. The country is, after all, falling apart. The price of oil is down sharply from its high of $147 a barrel in July 2008. The markets have been badly shaken by Putin's attack on steel giant Mechel, the breakup of the oil conglomerate TNK-BP (during which the Russians none-so-subtly squeezed out their British partners), and last summer's war with Georgia. And then, of course, there's the global financial crisis, which has hit Russia particularly hard. On top of all ...

Yesterday afternoon Robert Amsterdam was interviewed on Air America radio by host Montel Williams on a range of issues, including the recent coup in Honduras and the recently published White Paper on the Eligio Cedeño case in Venezuela.

Robert Amsterdam was interviewed on the Lionel Show on Air America, discussing the Iran-Venezuela link, Eligio Cedeño and the new white paper, as well as some discussion about Russia: