TWITTER CAMPAIGN AGAINST RUSSIAN SOPRANO ANNA NETREBKO
Anna Netrebko's decision to donate 1 million rubles to a theater in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, and her posing with a Novorossia rebel flag, has sparked a Twitter campaign under the hashtag #BoycottAnnaNetrebko.
Here are some choice tweets:
IS FRANCE THE NEW GERMANY?
What to make of French President Francois Hollande's meeting with Vladimir Putin this weekend? The Moscow Times takes a look in a story today:
The weekend meeting between the French and Russian presidents has given France a chance to become "the new Germany" for Russia, which lost its last Western ally after a falling-out with official Berlin, analysts say.
French mediation "is aimed at preventing Russia-EU relations from going to the dogs," said Tatiana Kastueva-Jean of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in Paris.
Germany has traditionally been Russia's staunchest defender in Europe. But with Berlin taking a harder line in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, and particularly the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, Paris os trying to fill the void:
Though France has backed EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, it has taken a notably moderate stance toward Moscow.
Hollande was one of the few Western leaders who did not give Putin a hard time at a G20 meeting in Australia's Brisbane last month.
Nor have French authorities pressured French businesses to cut connections to Russia like Germany did, said Sergei Fyodorov of the Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Hollande's "ostpolitik" is reminiscent of that of his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy:
There is a recent precedent for Hollande's attempts to play peacemaker with Russia: In 2008, his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy brokered the end to the "five-day war" between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
Right. And we all know how well that turned out. Just ask the Georgians.
Read the whole piece here.
UKRAINE: FROM PROPAGANDA TO REALITY
I just came across this now and all I can say is: wow! A brilliant, concise, tight, lively, and often funny lecture on Ukrainian and Russian history by Yale University's Timothy Snyder. It's highly informative, very entertaining, and it busts all the myths.
Watch it now!
Yale's Timothy Snyder puts Russian propaganda to the Aristotelian Test of Non-Contradiction
"We have heard there is no Ukrainian state;
And we have also heard the Ukrainian state is very repressive;
We have heard that there is no Ukrainian nation;
And we have also heard that all Ukrainians are nationalists;
We have heard there is no Ukrainian language;
And we have heard that Russians are being forced to speak the Ukrainian language;
We have heard that Russia is fighting fascism;
And, most disturbingly, we have heard that maybe fascism isn't such a bad thing after all;"
A NEW DESIGN FOR THE 100-RUBLE NOTE?
THE EYE OF SAURON IS OVER MOSCOW...
...and the Russian Orthodox Church is not happy about it.
MORNING OIL & RUBLE UPDATE
Good morning. It's 8:25 a.m. in Prague. Brent Crude is selling at $66.18 a barrel. The ruble is trading at 54.18 to the U.S. dollar and 67.13 to the euro.
Follow it all in real time, and enjoy the zen vibes at zenrus.ru.
GIVE 'EM HELL ROBERT!
Watch my good friend Robert Pshel, NATO's representative in Moscow, give as good as he gets in a verbal showdown on Russia's state-run Channel One:
WELL, THAT WORKED OUT WELL...
At first, the Russian Central Bank's decision to raise its benchmark interest rate to an eye-popping 17 percent, the ruble firmed up in early morning trading.
But by mid-morning, it was plunging again to new lows. It is currently floating around 66 to the U.S. dollar and 82 to the euro.
Brent Crude, meanwhile, has dipped below $60 a barrel.
Looks like it's going to be a long day...
THE POWER VERTICAL FEED WILL BE LIVE BLOGGING PUTIN'S PRESS CONFERENCE -- STAY TUNED