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China apologises for roughing up journalists on eve of Games
Aug 5 01:18 PM US/Eastern
Chinese police Tuesday apologised for roughing up two Japanese journalists as Beijing's Olympic commitment to allow foreign media freedom came under scrutiny three days before the Games opened.
The apology came after border police "clashed" with the Japanese journalists who had arrived in the Muslim-majority Xinjiang region after an alleged terrorist attack Monday left 16 police dead, Xinhua news agency said.
"The local foreign affairs department made an apology Tuesday to two Japanese reporters," Xinhua said.
A photographer for the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper was forcibly detained late Monday and kicked by police in the city of Kashgar, his employer said.
A reporter for the Nippon Television Network was also detained and treated roughly by Chinese police who pushed his face to the ground, the network said.
"We are planning to make a strong protest," Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura told reporters.
Kashgar police also entered an AFP photographer's hotel room and forced him to delete photos he had taken of the scene of the attack.
"We strongly protest against the violent detention of a reporter who was reporting by fair means," the Tokyo Shimbun said in a statement.
Its photographer Masami Kawakita, 38, said he was taking photos at the scene when he was grabbed by paramilitary policy and carried into a government facility nearby.
Police at one point held him to the ground, placing a foot on his face pinning his head to the ground, and also kicked him once, before he was released after two hours, he said.
"I don't speak Chinese so I couldn't understand what they were doing or saying. They just made me sit there. I could not make a phone call, it was unbelievable," he said.
Nippon Television Network said its Beijing correspondent, Shinji Katsuta, 37, was held for two hours and then questioned for about an hour at his hotel, describing the incident as "extremely deplorable."
The network has received word that the local police had requested a meeting to apologise for the incident, a spokesman said.
"We heard that the Chinese side pointed out that it is forbidden to film military facilities, and it seems like there was confusion because the scene of the assault was just 50 metres (yards) from a military facility," he said.
The assault came just four days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which has drawn thousands of foreign journalists and is being seen as a litmus test of China's willingness to allow greater press freedom.
Jonathan Watts, president of the Foreign Correspondent Club in China (FCCC), condemned the behaviour of the Chinese police.
"The FCCC condemns the recent beating by paramilitary police of two Japanese journalists in Kashgar," he told AFP in Kashgar, where he was reporting on the attack.
"This would be utterly unacceptable at any time. It is particularly reprehensible just days before the Olympics when China had promised complete media openness," he said.
China's foreign ministry did not immediately comment on the handling of the reporters and did not confirm if it had received a formal Japanese protest.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080805171811.vz49fe9h&show_article=1
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China: A Pre-Olympic Attack in Xinjiang
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China apologises for roughing up journalists on eve of Games
Aug 5 01:18 PM US/Eastern
Chinese police Tuesday apologised for roughing up two Japanese journalists as Beijing's Olympic commitment to allow foreign media freedom came under scrutiny three days before the Games opened.
The apology came after border police "clashed" with the Japanese journalists who had arrived in the Muslim-majority Xinjiang region after an alleged terrorist attack Monday left 16 police dead, Xinhua news agency said.
"The local foreign affairs department made an apology Tuesday to two Japanese reporters," Xinhua said.
A photographer for the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper was forcibly detained late Monday and kicked by police in the city of Kashgar, his employer said.
A reporter for the Nippon Television Network was also detained and treated roughly by Chinese police who pushed his face to the ground, the network said.
"We are planning to make a strong protest," Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura told reporters.
Kashgar police also entered an AFP photographer's hotel room and forced him to delete photos he had taken of the scene of the attack.
"We strongly protest against the violent detention of a reporter who was reporting by fair means," the Tokyo Shimbun said in a statement.
Its photographer Masami Kawakita, 38, said he was taking photos at the scene when he was grabbed by paramilitary policy and carried into a government facility nearby.
Police at one point held him to the ground, placing a foot on his face pinning his head to the ground, and also kicked him once, before he was released after two hours, he said.
"I don't speak Chinese so I couldn't understand what they were doing or saying. They just made me sit there. I could not make a phone call, it was unbelievable," he said.
Nippon Television Network said its Beijing correspondent, Shinji Katsuta, 37, was held for two hours and then questioned for about an hour at his hotel, describing the incident as "extremely deplorable."
The network has received word that the local police had requested a meeting to apologise for the incident, a spokesman said.
"We heard that the Chinese side pointed out that it is forbidden to film military facilities, and it seems like there was confusion because the scene of the assault was just 50 metres (yards) from a military facility," he said.
The assault came just four days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which has drawn thousands of foreign journalists and is being seen as a litmus test of China's willingness to allow greater press freedom.
Jonathan Watts, president of the Foreign Correspondent Club in China (FCCC), condemned the behaviour of the Chinese police.
"The FCCC condemns the recent beating by paramilitary police of two Japanese journalists in Kashgar," he told AFP in Kashgar, where he was reporting on the attack.
"This would be utterly unacceptable at any time. It is particularly reprehensible just days before the Olympics when China had promised complete media openness," he said.
China's foreign ministry did not immediately comment on the handling of the reporters and did not confirm if it had received a formal Japanese protest.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080805171811.vz49fe9h&show_article=1
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China: A Pre-Olympic Attack in Xinjiang
Stratfor Today » August 4, 2008 0543 GMT
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
Chinese security check the bags of tourists entering Tiananmen Square on Aug. 3 ahead of the Olympics
An attack early Aug. 4 on a border police station in China’s Xinjiang province left 16 dead and another 16 injured, according to Chinese media reports. While reports have been conflicting, it appears that at least two individuals drove a truck into a border patrol armed police compound in Kashi (also known as Kashgar) at around 7:55 a.m. local time (though some reports say the incident occurred at 4 a.m.), threw two grenades — possibly into a barracks — and drove away. Shortly thereafter, the two were captured.
The two armed men reportedly drove directly into a team of policemen who were jogging during morning exercises outside the police division before storming the building, attacking policemen with knives and then throwing the two grenades. The vehicle’s collision into the joggers reportedly caused the bulk of the deaths and injuries. Given how far west Xinjiang is, the attack likely commenced before sunrise was complete, explaining the discrepancies in time reports.
The attack comes less than a week before the Olympics kick off in Beijing, and follows a July 25 video release from the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) claiming several bombings and security incidents across China and warning of further attacks during the Olympics. While the TIP claims were exaggerated, the attack in Kashi appears to demonstrate that either TIP or those inspired by their message are capable of attacks.
By its own admission, TIP is just one manifestation of a long-standing — though intermittent — Islamist militant Uighur independence movement that also has used the name East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). ETIM has been the focus of Chinese security warnings ahead of the Olympics for several years, and at Beijing’s request the United States has placed ETIM on its Terrorist Exclusion List.
While there does not appear to be a large-scale Islamist Uighur insurgency challenging Beijing, smaller security threats exist, as the attack on the police station appears to demonstrate. Whether they can reach to Beijing, Qingdao, Hong Kong, Shanghai or the other Olympic cities is unclear, but Beijing is taking no chances. Reports from China cite a rather marked increase in security measures directed toward transportation, particularly buses. ETIM (and disgruntled Chinese, organized criminals and general troublemakers) previously have shown a predilection for targeting public transportation, particularly buses.
Whether TIP has any more attacks planned or capable militants ready to strike, the psychological impact of the video warning followed by the attack in Xinjiang is going to stir further unease. This will only add to the mounting public relations problems the Chinese authorities are facing with what was once supposed to be their showcase event that increasingly is becoming Beijing’s biggest headache.
Russians are 'systematically doping': Olympics drugs czar
Aug 5 11:04 AM US/Eastern
IOC drugs chief Arne Ljungqvist on Tuesday accused Russia of systematically doping after seven athletes were hit with suspensions which could lead to four-year bans.
The 77-year-old Swede, who is also a vice-president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), expressed his huge disappointment at what had taken place.
"A year ago I would have answered no," said Ljungqvist referring to whether he thought it was a case of systematic doping.
"However, I agree that it is a case of systematic doping. This would fall under the new WADA code that carries a four year ban."
Ljungqvist, the IOC medical commissioner, congratulated his former colleagues at the IAAF for their handling of the case.
"I shouldn't really say very much as I am no longer a part of the IAAF, but this is a very bad story," said Ljungqvist, who announced that there would be 4,500 doping tests at the Olympics with at least 700 of those being blood samples.
"I find it frustrating that such planned cheating is still going on. I am very disappointed.
"Of course, the procedure is still going on and it is for the Russian federation to find out what was going on," added Ljungqvist, who said that at the Olympics there would be targetted dope testing based on informatinon gathered.
The Russian scandal arose last week when the IAAF provisionally suspended seven leading Russian female athletes - five of whom were in the Russian Olympic squad - for the suspected switching of urine samples in drug tests last year.
The controls showed discrepancies in their DNA results, the IAAF said, which indicated the samples given were not from the athletes in question.
Yelena Soboleva, who has clocked the fastest times in the world this year over both 800m and 1500m, was targeted as well as fellow middle distance runners Svetlana Cherkasova, Yulia Fomenko, former double world champion Tatyana Tomashova and Olga Yegorova.
Yegorova has already courted controversy as the IAAF ruled she could run in the 2001 Edmonton world championships because French authorities had failed to test her blood as well as her urine when she tested positive for EPO at a Golden League meeting in Paris.
She went on to win the title in Canada amid boos from the crowd while Britain's long-distance star Paula Radcliffe held up a placard in the stands saying 'EPO Drug Cheats Out'.
Hammer thrower Gulfiya Khanafeyeva, a former world record holder, and reigning European discus champion Darya Pishchalnikova, were also named in the affair.
http://www.breitbart.com/print.php?id=080805150403.hqs95ycf&show_article=1
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Solzhenitsyn and the Struggle for Russia's Soul
Stratfor Today »-->August 5, 2008
There are many people who write history. There are very few who make history through their writings. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died this week at the age of 89, was one of them. In many ways, Solzhenitsyn laid the intellectual foundations for the fall of Soviet communism. That is well known. But Solzhenitsyn also laid the intellectual foundation for the Russia that is now emerging. That is less well known, and in some ways more important.
Solzhenitsyn’s role in the Soviet Union was simple. His writings, and in particular his book “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” laid bare the nature of the Soviet regime. The book described a day in the life of a prisoner in a Soviet concentration camp, where the guilty and innocent alike were sent to have their lives squeezed out of them in endless and hopeless labor. It was a topic Solzhenitsyn knew well, having been a prisoner in such a camp following service in World War II.
The book was published in the Soviet Union during the reign of Nikita Khrushchev. Khrushchev had turned on his patron, Joseph Stalin, after taking control of the Communist Party apparatus following Stalin’s death. In a famous secret speech delivered to the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev denounced Stalin for his murderous ways. Allowing Solzhenitsyn’s book to be published suited Khrushchev. Khrushchev wanted to detail Stalin’s crimes graphically, and Solzhenitsyn’s portrayal of life in a labor camp served his purposes.
It also served a dramatic purpose in the West when it was translated and distributed there. Ever since its founding, the Soviet Union had been mythologized. This was particularly true among Western intellectuals, who had been taken by not only the romance of socialism, but also by the image of intellectuals staging a revolution. Vladimir Lenin, after all, had been the author of works such as “Materialism and Empirio-Criticism.” The vision of intellectuals as revolutionaries gripped many European and American intellectuals.
These intellectuals had missed not only that the Soviet Union was a social catastrophe, but that, far from being ruled by intellectuals, it was being ruled by thugs. For an extraordinarily long time, in spite of ample testimony by emigres from the Soviet regime, Western intellectuals simply denied this reality. When Western intellectuals wrote that they had “seen the future and it worked,” they were writing at a time when the Soviet terror was already well under way. They simply couldn’t see it.
One of the most important things about “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” was not only that it was so powerful, but that it had been released under the aegis of the Soviet state, meaning it could not simply be ignored. Solzhenitsyn was critical in breaking the intellectual and moral logjam among intellectuals in the West. You had to be extraordinarily dense or dishonest to continue denying the obvious, which was that the state that Lenin and Stalin had created was a moral monstrosity.
Khrushchev’s intentions were not Solzhenitsyn’s. Khrushchev wanted to demonstrate the evils of Stalinism while demonstrating that the regime could reform itself and, more important, that communism was not invalidated by Stalin’s crimes. Solzhenitsyn, on the other hand, held the view that the labor camps were not incidental to communism, but at its heart. He argued in his “Gulag Archipelago” that the systemic exploitation of labor was essential to the regime not only because it provided a pool of free labor, but because it imposed a systematic terror on those not in the gulag that stabilized the regime. His most telling point was that while Khrushchev had condemned Stalin, he did not dismantle the gulag; the gulag remained in operation until the end.
Though Solzhenitsyn served the regime’s purposes in the 1960s, his usefulness had waned by the 1970s. By then, Solzhenitsyn was properly perceived by the Soviet regime as a threat. In the West, he was seen as a hero by all parties. Conservatives saw him as an enemy of communism. Liberals saw him as a champion of human rights. Each invented Solzhenitsyn in their own image. He was given the Noble Prize for Literature, which immunized him against arrest and certified him as a great writer. Instead of arresting him, the Soviets expelled him, sending him into exile in the United States.
When he reached Vermont, the reality of who Solzhenitsyn was slowly sank in. Conservatives realized that while he certainly was an enemy of communism and despised Western liberals who made apologies for the Soviets, he also despised Western capitalism just as much. Liberals realized that Solzhenitsyn hated Soviet oppression, but that he also despised their obsession with individual rights, such as the right to unlimited free expression. Solzhenitsyn was nothing like anyone had thought, and he went from being the heroic intellectual to a tiresome crank in no time. Solzhenitsyn attacked the idea that the alternative to communism had to be secular, individualist humanism. He had a much different alternative in mind.
Solzhenitsyn saw the basic problem that humanity faced as being rooted in the French Enlightenment and modern science. Both identify the world with nature, and nature with matter. If humans are part of nature, they themselves are material. If humans are material, then what is the realm of God and of spirit? And if there is no room for God and spirituality, then what keeps humans from sinking into bestiality? For Solzhenitsyn, Stalin was impossible without Lenin’s praise of materialism, and Lenin was impossible without the Enlightenment.
From Solzhenitsyn’s point of view, Western capitalism and liberalism are in their own way as horrible as Stalinism. Adam Smith saw man as primarily pursuing economic ends. Economic man seeks to maximize his wealth. Solzhenitsyn tried to make the case that this is the most pointless life conceivable. He was not objecting to either property or wealth, but to the idea that the pursuit of wealth is the primary purpose of a human being, and that the purpose of society is to free humans to this end.
Solzhenitsyn made the case — hardly unique to him — that the pursuit of wealth as an end in itself left humans empty shells. He once noted Blaise Pascal’s aphorism that humans are so endlessly busy so that they can forget that they are going to die — the point being that we all die, and that how we die is determined by how we live. For Solzhenitsyn, the American pursuit of economic well being was a disease destroying the Western soul.
He viewed freedom of expression in the same way. For Americans, the right to express oneself transcends the content of the expression. That you speak matters more than what you say. To Solzhenitsyn, the same principle that turned humans into obsessive pursuers of wealth turned them into vapid purveyors of shallow ideas. Materialism led to individualism, and individualism led to a culture devoid of spirit. The freedom of the West, according to Solzhenitsyn, produced a horrifying culture of intellectual self-indulgence, licentiousness and spiritual poverty. In a contemporary context, the hedge fund coupled with The Daily Show constituted the bankruptcy of the West.
To have been present when he once addressed a Harvard commencement! On the one side, Harvard Law and Business School graduates — the embodiment of economic man. On the other side, the School of Arts and Sciences, the embodiment of free expression. Both greeted their heroic resister, only to have him reveal himself to be religious, patriotic and totally contemptuous of the Vatican of self-esteem, Harvard.
Solzhenitsyn had no real home in the United States, and with the fall of the Soviets, he could return to Russia — where he witnessed what was undoubtedly the ultimate nightmare for him: thugs not only running the country, but running it as if they were Americans. Now, Russians were pursuing wealth as an end in itself and pleasure as a natural right. In all of this, Solzhenitsyn had not changed at all.
Solzhenitsyn believed there was an authentic Russia that would emerge from this disaster. It would be a Russia that first and foremost celebrated the motherland, a Russia that accepted and enjoyed its uniqueness. This Russia would take its bearings from no one else. At the heart of this Russia would be the Russian Orthodox Church, with not only its spirituality, but its traditions, rituals and art.
The state’s mission would be to defend the motherland, create the conditions for cultural renaissance, and — not unimportantly — assure a decent economic life for its citizens. Russia would be built on two pillars: the state and the church. It was within this context that Russians would make a living. The goal would not be to create the wealthiest state in the world, nor radical equality. Nor would it be a place where anyone could say whatever they wanted, not because they would be arrested necessarily, but because they would be socially ostracized for saying certain things.
Most important, it would be a state not ruled by the market, but a market ruled by a state. Economic strength was not trivial to Solzhenitsyn, either for individuals or for societies, but it was never to be an end in itself and must always be tempered by other considerations. As for foreigners, Russia must always guard itself, as any nation must, against foreigners seeking its wealth or wanting to invade. Solzhenitsyn wrote a book called “August 1914,” in which he argues that the czarist regime had failed the nation by not being prepared for war.
Think now of the Russia that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitri Medvedev are shaping. The Russian Orthodox Church is undergoing a massive resurgence, the market is submitting to the state, free expression is being tempered and so on. We doubt Putin was reading Solzhenitsyn when reshaping Russia. But we do believe that Solzhenitsyn had an understanding of Russia that towered over most of his contemporaries. And we believe that the traditional Russia that Solzhenitsyn celebrated is emerging, more from its own force than by political decisions.
Solzhenitsyn served Western purposes when he undermined the Soviet state. But that was not his purpose. His purpose was to destroy the Soviet state so that his vision of Russia could re-emerge. When his interests and the West’s coincided, he won the Noble Prize. When they diverged, he became a joke. But Solzhenitsyn never really cared what Americans or the French thought of him and his ideas. He wasn’t speaking to them and had no interest or hope of remaking them. Solzhenitsyn was totally alien to American culture. He was speaking to Russia and the vision he had was a resurrection of Mother Russia, if not with the czar, then certainly with the church and state. That did not mean liberalism; Mother Russia was dramatically oppressive. But it was neither a country of mass murder nor of vulgar materialism.
It must also be remembered that when Solzhenitsyn spoke of Russia, he meant imperial Russia at its height, and imperial Russia’s borders at its height looked more like the Soviet Union than they looked like Russia today. “August 1914” is a book that addresses geopolitics. Russian greatness did not have to express itself via empire, but logically it should — something to which Solzhenitsyn would not have objected.
Solzhenitsyn could not teach Americans, whose intellectual genes were incompatible with his. But it is hard to think of anyone who spoke to the Russian soul as deeply as he did. He first ripped Russia apart with his indictment. He was later ignored by a Russia out of control under former President Boris Yeltsin. But today’s Russia is very slowly moving in the direction that Solzhenitsyn wanted. And that could make Russia extraordinarily powerful. Imagine a Soviet Union not ruled by thugs and incompetents. Imagine Russia ruled by people resembling Solzhenitsyn’s vision of a decent man.
Solzhenitsyn was far more prophetic about the future of the Soviet Union than almost all of the Ph.D.s in Russian studies. Entertain the possibility that the rest of Solzhenitsyn’s vision will come to pass. It is an idea that ought to cause the world to be very thoughtful.
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Solzhenitsyn: exiled then exalted in Russia
The Nobel Prize-winning writer gave voice to millions imprisoned in Stalin's Gulag. He died Sunday.
By Fred Weir Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the August 5, 2008 edition
Solzhenitsyn: In June 2007, Vladimir Putin (r.), who gave
Alexander Solzhenitsyn a humanitarian award, visited the writer
at his home on the outskirts of Moscow. Ria Novosti/AP/File
Moscow - The Russian media erupted Monday with praise for Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning writer whose stormy life reflected Russia's 20th-century vicissitudes almost as dramatically as his own literary work.
Mr. Solzhenitsyn, who spent eight years in the USSR's sprawling Gulag prison camp system and two decades living in exile, passed away Sunday in Moscow.
"Until the end of his days he fought for Russia, not only to move away from its totalitarian past but also to have a worthy future, to become a truly free and democratic country. We owe him a lot," the independent Interfax agency quoted the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, as saying.
It was Mr. Gorbachev's campaign of sweeping democratic reforms that made possible the restoration of Solzhenitsyn's Soviet citizenship and publication of his works in the twilight days of the USSR.
"He was one of the first people who spoke up about the inhumanity of Stalin's regime with a full voice, and about the people who lived through this but were not broken," Gorbachev added.
Solzhenitsyn was an irreconcilable opponent of the communist system but also vigorously rejected American consumerism and pop culture. He ended his days a fierce critic of the path taken by post-Soviet Russia.
Widely viewed as Russia's greatest contemporary writer, he will be best remembered for works that depicted the harsh underbelly of Soviet society under dictator Joseph Stalin. But his books, including several works of nonfiction, suggest the far more ambitious goals of seeking to reappraise Russian history.
The author may have been speaking for himself when he had a character in his novel, "The First Circle," say: "For a country to have a great writer is like having another government. That's why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones."
The early years
Born in 1918, Solzhenitsyn grew up a convinced communist and was educated as a mathematician. He served with distinction as a Red Army artillery officer in World War II, but was arrested in 1945 for "anti-Soviet agitation" over oblique comments he'd made about Stalin in a letter to a friend.
He subsequently spent seven years in the Gulag, first in a sharashka, a special prison for scientists, and later in a labor camp in Kazakhstan. These experiences, along with cancer treatment in Tashkent, served as the basis for his first great novels, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," "The First Circle," and "Cancer Ward."
"A Day in the Life" was published in Moscow in 1962, but when the liberal reformer Nikita Khrushchev fell from power two years later, all plans to print the author's other novels were canceled.
All of Solzhenitsyn's writings were smuggled to the West, where they were published to great acclaim in the late 1960s. But adulation abroad brought Solzhenitsyn into deepening friction with Soviet authorities, who were furious that his revelations about the Gulag and spiritual poverty of Soviet life appeared to validate the West's cold-war image of conditions in the workers' state.
International acclaim
His novels won Solzhenitsyn the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970. But it was a work of nonfiction, "The Gulag Archipelago," that prompted Soviet authorities to finally charge him with treason and expel him from the USSR, along with his whole family, in 1974.
Part memoir, part journalism, the immense three-volume work chronicled the origins and evolution of the USSR's secret web of prison camps, which, at their peak, numbered in the thousands and held millions of hapless inmates.
Expelled from Russia, Solzhenitsyn and his family took up residence in Switzerland and later, from 1976, on a 50-acre estate in Vermont. During his long exile in the US, he worked on his still unfinished cycle of novels, entitled "The Red Wheel," which cover the early 20th century history of Russia's descent into war, revolution, and communism.
He returned to Russia after the collapse of the USSR and in 1994 embarked on a two-month, 6,000-mile journey across the country that left him with grim impressions. "I came with a very sad, dark idea of the country," he told a meeting in the central Russian city of Yaroslavl. "It has been confirmed." The author rebuffed ex-President Boris Yeltsin's attempts to present him with a medal, but last year finally accepted a State Prize for "humanitarian achievements" awarded by Vladimir Putin.
Solzhenitsyn's warming ties with the Kremlin under Mr. Putin led some critics to view him as soft on Russia's growing authoritarianism. The author also triggered controversy with a book he wrote about Russian-Jewish relations, "Two Hundred Years Together," published in 2003, which some saw as perpetuating anti-Semitic stereotypes.
In an interview with the state-run English language TV channel Russia Today this year, Solzhenitsyn's wife, Natalia, said he was disappointed with Russia's post-Soviet direction.
"[Solzhenitsyn] has said many times that we've chosen the worst, most crooked, most unfair and ineffective way to get rid of communism," she said. "All his works during the recent 14 years have been full of hope that we would finally straighten our paths in some ways, and full of sadness that we've chosen an extremely irrational and ineffective way. And our country will be paying for it for a long time."
Find this article at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0805/p07s05-wogn.html
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ReutersMonday, August 4, 2008; 9:03 AM
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday said it was time for Russia to rebuild links with former Cold War ally Cuba, news agencies reported.
The Kremlin is angry at U.S. plans for a missile defence system in Eastern Europe, and last month a news report suggested Russia might use Cuba, a thorn in America's side for half a century, as a refueling stop for nuclear-capable bombers.
The Russian Defence Ministry denied the report and said it had no plans to open any military bases abroad, but a top U.S. general was drawn to say such a move would cross a "red line."
Moscow was the Caribbean island's key oil, arms and grain supplier for 30 years, until subsidies propping up the economy of Fidel Castro's revolutionary government fell to a trickle and then dried up entirely after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"We need to reestablish positions on Cuba and in other countries," news agency Interfax quoted Putin as saying at the weekly presidium meeting of key government ministers.
Just 144 km (90 miles) from the coast of U.S. state of Florida, Cuba still has no formal diplomatic ties with Washington D.C.
At the height of the Cold War in 1962, a two-week crisis over Soviet missiles on the island nearly led to full-blown war.
Putin's remarks came after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin reported on a recent three-day visit to Cuba, where he discussed a raft of trade and investment issues and met with Raul Castro, Fidel's brother and now the island's leader.
"We agreed on a priority direction for cooperation, this being energy, the mining industry, agriculture, transport, health care and communications," news agency RIA quoted Sechin as saying.
(Reporting by Chris Baldwin, editing by Toby Reynolds)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/04/AR2008080400594_pf.html
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Russia: Might Place Missile Systems In Belarus
August 6, 2008 1455 GMT
Russia might place Iskander missile systems and strategic bombers in Belarus in response to the construction of a U.S. missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, Kommersant reported Aug. 6, citing Russian Ambassador to Belarus Alexander Surikov. Belarus and Russia are bound by the Treaty of 1994 on removing nuclear weapons from Belarus, on which the United States is the guarantor, Surikov said. No one can breach the treaty, but issues of missile defense could be considered, he added.
http://www.stratfor.com/
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By Associated Press8:09 AM PDT, August 5, 2008MOSCOW (AP) _ Russian arms sales are set to reach a new post-Soviet record this year, a top official said Tuesday.Russia's weapons exports will exceed $8 billion this year, Russian news agencies quoted Mikhail Dmitriyev, head of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, as saying.Arms sales have grown at a quick pace, reaching a post-Soviet record of $7.5 billion last year and on track to surpass that for 2008.According to the latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia accounted for a quarter of global arms sales in 2003-2007, coming a close second after the United States.While China and India have been the leading customers, Russia recently also has struck big weapons deals with Venezuela, Algeria and Iran.Dmitriyev on Tuesday confirmed that Russia completed the delivery of 24 Su-30 fighter jets to Venezuela.But despite the steady increase in sales, Russia has suffered several recent, highly publicized failures in arms exports that were widely attributed to swelling production costs and the general inefficiency of the nation's weapons industries.Russia demanded a revision of the contract price in a deal to refurbish a Soviet-era aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy, and difficult talks with the disgruntled Indian officials are still ongoing. It also has failed to fulfill China's order for 38 Il-76 transport planes and Il-78 tankers, leading to the suspension of the deal.Earlier this year, Algeria also returned the MiG-29 fighter jets it bought from Russia, complaining of their poor quality.Dmitriyev acknowledged that Russia's military industries have struggled to fulfill the earlier contracts."At present, we have a queue of foreign customers waiting for military products, foremost air defense systems under earlier contracts," Dmitriyev said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-russia-arms-exports,0,1755069,print.story
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Catching the Baltic wind
Aug 06, 2008Julia Zalutskaja
Surf culture Tallinn style.
TALLINN - What looked like hundreds of butterflies with limpid wings stretched along the coast line of Pirita, ready to flit away into the sea. When the starting horn howled, windsurfing sails headed off into the water splashing. The windsurfers were clutching see-through polyester sails, manipulating them to catch the wind. The athletic sailors were moving like whirligigs, imitating the sea waves, and a few of them collapsed like a house of cards at the very beginning of the race. Gladly, most of the windsurfers managed to speed up and whirl away. The traditional Estonian Aegna Marathon started this year with one hour delay as there was a dead calm in the morning at Tallinn’s beach, Pirita. “The wind is a requirement for good surfing,” explained Aivar Kajakas, a windsurfer at the Hawaii Express. Regardless of the very short Estonian summer, surfing has recently become quite popular here. When winter begins, most of the surfers train in Egypt, Spain or South Africa which have better weather conditions, curly sea waves and sand beaches. Kajakas has been surfing for more than 10 years. This year he bought new sail equipment: an excellent Italian surfboard fin and a unique sailboard designed by an Olympic champion. Surfers have to wait for almost six months for the surfboard fin. The cheapest fin costs 250 euros and the cheapest sailboard 1200 euros. Aegna Marathon accepts two types of boards, but three-meter longboards are the most common because they are optimized for lighter winds and course racing. Windsurfing combines surfing and sailing, using a single sail to propel the board across the waves. This type of surfing is one of the safest and easiest. It is essential for every windsurfer to train muscles, build stamina and develop excellent balance in order to become competitive. By the late 20th century, surfing had created its own industry, with its own music, clothes, lifestyle, accessories, equipment and competitions. “It is a very positive type of sport. The feeling of freedom and the wild splash of adrenaline is guaranteed. Estonia is one of the European countries where surfing is popular and our sailors participate in international competitions,” said Kajakas. Surfing theory and practice is available for professionals and amateurs at the surfing school at the Pirita beach. Experienced windsurfers teach the lessons. The sailing equipment can either be hired or bought. There is more information athttp://http//epl.surf.ee.
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/21036/
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Aug 06, 2008Monika Hanley
JUST BEACHY: No matter how many people flock to the shores of Jurmala, there’s always room for sunbathers on this 33km long stretch of sand.
RIGA - After six months of living in Latvia, I finally made it to the shores of Jurmala — and once I got there, I never wanted to leave. Hot sun, sand and beach-volleyball tournaments aren’t usually the images first associated with Latvia, but the country continues to surprise. The word jurmala means “beach,” and the name is completely appropriate — the entire town seems to lead to the 33-kilometer white sand beach. The water is usually just right to beat the summer heat, but unless you’re half a meter tall, you might have to stroll quite a ways into the water to get to suitable swimming depths. The talcum-powder-fine sand and comforting sun’s rays had me wondering why anyone ever went elsewhere for a vacation when such a paradise was right in their own backyard. Chances are you’ve already been to Jurmala, but things are always changing here. It has come a long way since serving as a vacation spot during the Napoleonic War and a resort and spa for Soviet officers, and it still boasts a long list of celebrities among its residents. In addition to the regular exhibitions, this month Jurmala hosts the Latvian volleyball championships, the Summer Time international music festival and the fifth International Art Forum’s “Art Brings People Together” event. Jurmala is easier to get to than ever before. The newest route goes by shuttle bus directly from the airport to the sunny shores, but the most common method is by Latvia’s most frequent train. Fares from Riga run steady at about .60 lats (0.85 euros) each way, which leaves you plenty of money to splurge on the handmade crafts and natural goods from the stalls lining the main drag. I would recommend hopping off the train after about 25 minutes at the main beach, Majori, although it’s possible to hop off the train at any one of stops to enjoy a different flavor. Majori has by far the most cafes and boutiques, while Dzintari, Dubulti and Bulduri are more for the sporty types, with bikes and kites available for rent. But locals and tourists flock to Jurmala not just for the beach, but for the spas, which block the view of the beach from much of the town. The architecture of the region is also worth a look. Most of the buildings were built in 1910 and later by Germans and Scandinavians, leaving the area dotted with glorious wood buildings. Many are abandoned and it’s not uncommon to find a beautifully maintained house next to a ramshackle, derelict abode. If you don’t have time to make it during the summer peak season, the beach in winter still holds on as a peaceful beautiful place to visit. During the winter season, amidst the snowfall, you can often see swans floating by, bobbing up and down on the waves. No matter what the season, Jurmala will always be there as a relaxing spot to take a walk, do some shopping or just breathe in the fresh sea air. For more information and event calendars, visithttp://www.jurmala.lv/
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/21037/
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JUST BEACHY: No matter how many people flock to the shores of Jurmala, there’s always room for sunbathers on this 33km long stretch of sand.
RIGA - After six months of living in Latvia, I finally made it to the shores of Jurmala — and once I got there, I never wanted to leave. Hot sun, sand and beach-volleyball tournaments aren’t usually the images first associated with Latvia, but the country continues to surprise. The word jurmala means “beach,” and the name is completely appropriate — the entire town seems to lead to the 33-kilometer white sand beach. The water is usually just right to beat the summer heat, but unless you’re half a meter tall, you might have to stroll quite a ways into the water to get to suitable swimming depths. The talcum-powder-fine sand and comforting sun’s rays had me wondering why anyone ever went elsewhere for a vacation when such a paradise was right in their own backyard. Chances are you’ve already been to Jurmala, but things are always changing here. It has come a long way since serving as a vacation spot during the Napoleonic War and a resort and spa for Soviet officers, and it still boasts a long list of celebrities among its residents. In addition to the regular exhibitions, this month Jurmala hosts the Latvian volleyball championships, the Summer Time international music festival and the fifth International Art Forum’s “Art Brings People Together” event. Jurmala is easier to get to than ever before. The newest route goes by shuttle bus directly from the airport to the sunny shores, but the most common method is by Latvia’s most frequent train. Fares from Riga run steady at about .60 lats (0.85 euros) each way, which leaves you plenty of money to splurge on the handmade crafts and natural goods from the stalls lining the main drag. I would recommend hopping off the train after about 25 minutes at the main beach, Majori, although it’s possible to hop off the train at any one of stops to enjoy a different flavor. Majori has by far the most cafes and boutiques, while Dzintari, Dubulti and Bulduri are more for the sporty types, with bikes and kites available for rent. But locals and tourists flock to Jurmala not just for the beach, but for the spas, which block the view of the beach from much of the town. The architecture of the region is also worth a look. Most of the buildings were built in 1910 and later by Germans and Scandinavians, leaving the area dotted with glorious wood buildings. Many are abandoned and it’s not uncommon to find a beautifully maintained house next to a ramshackle, derelict abode. If you don’t have time to make it during the summer peak season, the beach in winter still holds on as a peaceful beautiful place to visit. During the winter season, amidst the snowfall, you can often see swans floating by, bobbing up and down on the waves. No matter what the season, Jurmala will always be there as a relaxing spot to take a walk, do some shopping or just breathe in the fresh sea air. For more information and event calendars, visithttp://www.jurmala.lv/
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/21037/
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Jul 30, 2008By Adam Mullett
VILNIUS - Unidentified vandals plastered the walls of the Lithuanian Embassy in Minsk with Bolshevik symbols and threw bottles of paint over the fence at the main building early Friday morning. Following the attack, ambassador Edminas Bagdonis lodged an official complaint with the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demanding that the embassy be protected under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a diplomatic-immunity agreement that ensures safe passage for diplomatic missions.
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/20983/
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Aug 06, 2008By Egle Strockyte
VILNIUS - The government office in charge of the Vilnius ring road project has engineered a bidding process in which only one favored company, Panevezio Keliai, could possibly win the contract, anti-corruption officials charge. They accuse the Vilnius Public Procurement Office of coming up with strange eligibility criteria so the contract was won by their political friends. Fegda, one of Panevezio Keliai’s competitors for the contract, is suing the procurement office over the alleged corruption.
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/21017/
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