What the heck is going on in Russia? Looks like a virulent outbreak of democracy is underway, as once-untouchable strongman Vladimir Putin and his United Russia political party are suddenly being body-slammed by the Russian peoples! All this from being booed at a wrestling match? Yep, and even stranger days are ahead for Russia as the first true full-on expressions of democracy are finally flowering…which will lead to an interesting Presidential election in March. Get the low-down on the Moscow madness here!
Keywords: Russia, democracy, wrestling, elections, booed, Russians, President, Prime Minister
Russia and 7 other countries just signed a free trade agreement…which makes it more of a free trade block. What is so fascinating about that? Well, the 7 countries in question are all former republics of the Soviet Union! Is Russia trying to re-form the Union? Hmmm…doubtful, but this does come on the heels of Vladimir Putin publicly promoting the formation of a “Eurasian Economic Union,” and the strengthening of the SCO group which is dominated by the Chinese and Ruskies. Wow! We are definitely seeing the beginnings of a serious alternative to the EU, and the geo-political and economic future of the Eurasian continent as whole. Putin party on!
Keywords: Russia, Eurasian Economic Union, EU, CIS, SCO, USSR, Commonwealth of Independent States, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Ukraine
The Professor tackles a news story that did not make any major headlines in the US…but has profound consequences for the world…and he wants you to be hip to it!
Today…it’s all about Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s proposal to create some sort of ‘‘Eurasian union’’ between former Soviet republics that may become an alternative to the EU. Seem trivial? Perhaps, but it certainly speaks to the direction that Putin intends to take Russia in for the foreseeable next decades…a decade that he will be overseeing as the next President of Russia!
The Professor gives his take on a few international stories he thinks are of equal, if not greater, significance this week than the domestic political discourse or even the over-touted huge UN meeting going on in New Your UN headquarters. This week:
...Mahmoud Abbas gains Palestinian popularity
...Islamic extremist/separatist activity in SouthEast Asia
...Russian Prime Minister Putin throws his ushanka into the presidential race
...Center-right leaders across Europe are taking political hits
...and the head US military man lays the smack-down on the Pakistani ISI as being part of the problem, not part of the solution, to instability and terrorism in Central Asia…US/Pakistani relations now at an all time low?
Keywords: Palestine, sovereignty, UN, US, Philippines, Abu Sayyaf, Moro National Liberation Front, Awliyah, Indonesia, religious violence, Russia, Germany, Italy, UK, fiscal policy, Admiral Mullins, Pakistan, ISI, Haqqani network, General Kayani, deteriorating relations
The Professor gives his take on a few international stories he thinks are of much greater significance this week than the droll domestic political drivel that is forced upon the American public on a daily basis. This week:
...Japan Typhoon Talus body-slam
...Terrorist blast in India just tip of the terror iceberg
...Russian air disaster claims national hockey stars
...The ribbon-cutting on a Russian-German gas pipeline…which is drawing the two Eurasian powers into a closer embrace, and affecting international relations of the region in a big way!
Keywords: Japan, Typhoon Talus, India, New Delhi, terrorist attack, Naxalites, Russia, hockey, natural gas, pipeline, NORD Stream, Germany, US
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