Very intriguing news brief from Reuters, as the cops in Minsk find themselves stamping out anti-Russia protests:Thousands of Russian soldiers have started to arrive in Belarus for joint exercises that will continue until Sept. 29. Riot police moved in to disperse the meeting minutes after protesters unfurled banners saying "Russian army go home" and "No Russian occupation". "This is our response to the beginning of the exercises, to the entry of Russian troops onto the territory of Belarus. Belarus should not be with Russia, but with Europe," protester Dmitry Bondarenko told journalists.

TODAY: NATO head upbeat on relations with Russia; Medvedev looks to imams for help with Caucasus Islamic insurgents; suggests a TV channel.  Russia on the defensive regarding WW2; 70th anniversary of its start to prove a diplomatic minefield?  St Petersburg heritage status in jeopardy with Gazprom tower looming.The New York Times reports on how the period of relative tranquility in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan has ended with a surge in violence.  Reuters relays Russian claims that an al-Qaeda agent has been killed in Dagestan.  The republic's recovering President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has warned Medvedev that Islamic insurgency has 'permeated all facets of life in society'.   The Russian president has urged Muslim clerics to help ...

Reuters reports that Poland and Russia are unlikely to reach a deal on gas when Putin visits Warsaw in September, and negotiations could continue until the end of the year, meaning Poland may, in the meantime, have to seek supplies elsewhere.  Ukraine will accelerate attempts to restructure the debts of state energy giant Naftogaz by opening talks with bonds investors imminently.  A new government bill will give wholesale electricity markets special access to stations that are powered by associated gas.  The government has decided that 95% of associated gas extracted must be used by 2012.  Pipeline maker Transneft's net profits have fallen by 17% year on year.  Petrom and ExxonMobil are initiating a seismic study of 3,000 km2 in the Black Sea.  The state-controlled Chinese chemicals company Sinochem has agreed to buy London-listed Emerald Energy for $879 million, with ...

The French philosopher André Glucksmann has been one of Europe's most outspoken advocates in support of liberty of Russian political prisoners, such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky.  Here in City Journal is a translation of a thought piece by Glucksmann relating to Russia's ambitions in terms of "spheres of influence," European sovereignty, and of course the Georgia problem.

Independent Georgia must survive through this summer. Last year, the Russian army positioned itself just 20 miles from Georgia's capital, Tbilisi--one hour on the highway by tank. Clouds are gathering: large military maneuvers, inflammatory media rhetoric, and a Russian veto in the UN Security Council that interrupted the work of neutral observers. The UN and the OSCE have packed their bags, leaving 200 observers, restricted to the Russian side. Pavel Felgenhauer, a military specialist based in Moscow, fears that the Russian military command will take advantage of the absence of observers in Georgia

...

Der Spiegel has supposedly obtained confidential documents written by the EU team led by Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini that is investigating the war last summer. There are quite a few interesting little nuggets in Der Spiegel's write-up. Here are a few:

The confidential investigative commission documents, which SPIEGEL has obtained, show that the task of assigning blame for the conflict has been as much of a challenge for the commission members as it has for the international community. However, a majority of members tend to arrive at the assessment that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili started the war by attacking South Ossetia on August 7, 2008. The facts assembled on Tagliavini's desk refute Saakashvili's claim that his country became the innocent victim of "Russian aggression" on that day.

The experts found no evidence to support claims by the Georgian president, which he also mentioned

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TODAY: Troops begin controversial Georgia border control; EU fears Russia not a 'reliable partner'; Medvedev's first year analyzed; Russians unimpressed by income anti-corruption drive; democracy dwindling but economy bolstered in Sochi?; balletSurveillance on the borders between Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Geogia has begun with hundreds of troops deployed; Russia apparently plans to construct a naval base in Abkhazia.  Russian Ambassador to Abkhazia Semyon Grigoryev has set up the country's new Russian embassy.  Reuters has a list of 'tipping points' in relations between Georgia and Russia here.  The Chairman of the Duma's International Affairs Committee has apparently reiterated that Russia was forced to intervene in Georgia due to actions undertaken by President Mikheil Saakashvili.  'Any hope for trust, which is ...

TODAY: Russian soldiers get a raise and permission to fire; Georgian conflict shows its identity crisis; Russian officials balk over economic crisis; Venezuela buys more Russian tanks; Kremlin discusses missile defense for Syria; Russian and US leaders may extend nuclear arsenal treaty; and Russia's biggest mosque opens in Grozny. Amid a report about a plan to raise the salaries of Russian army officers, there are varying accounts of the number of Russian troops killed in an ambush in the North Caucasus region over the weekend. Meanwhile, there is no confusion concerning the directive given to police in South Ossetia, who have been ordered to meet any potential assault by Georgian forces with force. "We will not allow our people and our officers to be killed," said Acting South Ossetian Interior Minister Mikhail Mindzayev. Abkhazia, for its part, remains ensconced ...

TODAY: Ingush opposition figure shot dead; EU summit to be held today; Medvedev reveals foreign policy plan to preserve nearby territories; South Ossetia to join Russia; Turkey and Russia heading for “trade war”; Putin “saves” television crew from tiger; textbooks whitewashing Stalin. The EU will hold its emergency summit today to decide on its next steps in relation to Russia. President Dmitry Medvedev has already warned that Russia will retaliate against any hostile moves, but what is the likelihood of economic sanctions? A German MP has called for Russia to be temporarily excluded from the G8. Magomed Yevloyev, the prominent owner of an Ingush opposition news website and Kremlin critic, has been shot dead after being detained by police. Medvedev has revealed a new five point foreign policy plan, ...

French political philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy has a very passionate article of conclusions about the war in today's Wall Street Journal: - Western public opinion fell with disconcerting facility for the thesis advanced -- from the very first day -- by the Kremlin's propaganda machine. We know now that the Russian army had been hard at work on its war preparations since before Aug. 8. We know that it massed at the "border" between Georgia and Ossetia a considerable military and paramilitary logistical presence. We know the Russians had methodically repaired the railroad tracks that the troop-transport trains were to take, and we know that at least 150 tanks went through the Roky tunnel separating the two Ossetias the morning of Aug. 8. In other words, no one can ignore the fact that President Saakhashvili only decided to act when he no longer had a choice, and war had already come. ...

Veronica Khokhlova at Global Voices Online, who's always been very kind to link over to us, has a great post up linking to a LiveJournal user blogging about a satirical protest staged in Tbilisi in front of the Russian Embassy to bring attention to the widespread looting and robberies being carried out under the Russian occupation. […] To the Russian embassy in Tbilisi they brought old refrigerators, toilets, rolls of toilet paper, irons, bottles of vodka, forks and spoons, clothes and other objects that [looters from the Russian army] took interest in during their visits to private houses of Georgians, state institutions, military bases and army barracks. People are coming up to have a closer look, shake their heads, laugh. Cars that are passing by are honking… The photos are worth a look.