By John Helmer, Moscow When the last war with Germany was ending, the British intelligence services rounded up as many of their German counterparts as they could find, and interrogated them. They were taken by surprise, as a series of reports by Hugh Trevor-Roper, then a signals intelligence analyst, uncovered as early as 1944.* For […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, January 29th, 2014
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By John Helmer, Moscow Once upon a time, not so long ago, the United States and Russia appeared to agree that the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, was a crook. It now appears that whatever government officials say in private, in public it is now US policy, along with that of the multilateral banks which […]

by John Helmer - Monday, January 13th, 2014
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By John Helmer, Moscow So far everything about the metamorphosis of Mikhail Khodorkovsky has gone like the cartoon – surprise launch into the air; flight without turbulence; soft landing among a flock of wellwishers; much cooing. Just how well those wishers intend towards Khodorkovsky, and he towards them, is now to be tested. That’s a […]

by John Helmer - Monday, December 23rd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Never let it be said that in Russia deeds done out of the goodness of the heart go unnoticed by the state. Nup. Not even when philanthropies are paid for with cash accumulated in violation of the state’s policy of deoffshorization. Nup, nup. There is even a special award minted by […]

by John Helmer - Monday, December 23rd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Oleg Deripaska’s (image right) associates inside Rusal say the company is so short of cash, the chief executive has no alternative but to squeeze the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon (left), and threaten to publish details of his offshore bank accounts, unless he comes across with almost $350 million. But Rahmon, […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, November 21st, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Three hundred and ninety years ago the Dutch water-boarded and then executed a group of British merchants on the trumped-up allegation of plotting to seize the Dutch fortress on the island of Ambon, now part of Indonesia where it is called Maluku. Remember the Amboyna Massacre! became fighting talk in London […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 12th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Private letters from foreign governments to President Vladimir Putin usually go into the Secret box. Applications by foreign governments for large-value arms deals from the Russian state exporter, Rosoboronexport, usually go to the Security Council of the Russian Federation for review, and there they are kept in the Top Secret box. […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 29th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow All the punditry since September 8, when Alexei Navalny won 27% of the Moscow mayoral vote, with a 32% turnout, has missed three unusual poll indicators measured by the Levada Centre. The first is that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s approval rating has been in steady decline for a year, but it […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow If the common Russian opinion of who runs the country matches the evidence of who really runs Russia, that’s a reliable test of a democratic culture. There’s a catch. If just one man and a handful of his trusties run the country, and noone else, not even the very rich or […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 25th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow How many angels can dance on the point of a pin was a trick question for medieval scholars: that’s because, theologically speaking, angels have no substance. So the correct answer is that an infinity of them can sit on the point. Alternatively, since Thomas Aquinas (d. March 7, 1274) claimed two […]

by John Helmer - Monday, September 23rd, 2013
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