By John Helmer, Moscow Suppose, just suppose that Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia (image far left), and Igor Sechin, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of resource concessions (image far right), were stakeholders somehow of United Company Rusal, the state aluminium champion. And suppose, just suppose they decided that the hostile takeover strategy of […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
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The greeting card looks happily auspicious. But as many Russians know, or should remember, the month of January 1937 saw the second of Stalin’s show trials against alleged Trotskyists, the epitome of evil in Russia in those days. That was followed in June of 1937 by the trumped-up trial and execution of Marshal Tukhachevsky and […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, December 30th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow The Prime Minister has asked Russians to send him their choices of a name for a young Bulgarian shepherd dog, which was presented to him by the dog fancier, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, when the two met in Sofia on November 13.

by John Helmer - Thursday, December 16th, 2010
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, December 7th, 2010
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by John Helmer - Thursday, November 25th, 2010
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow For weeks now, Yury Luzhkov has been receiving ultimatums to resign, along with black valentines for his wife. Yesterday, he did a Metaxas. Ioannis Metaxas, a career army officer with more military skill than brains, ran Greece as a dictator from 1936 until his death in January of 1941. He […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Until the Beest of Fleet Street – aka Richard Beeston, Foreign Editor of the London Times – referred to President Dmitry Medvedev as Vladimir Putin’s “diminutive partner”, none of the establishment media in the world had thought to make an issue of the physical size and proportions of either of […]

by John Helmer - Monday, September 13th, 2010
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by John Helmer - Friday, September 10th, 2010
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link 1 link 2 By John Helmer in Moscow The Valdai International Discussion Club is a collection of journalists, academics and erstwhile opinion-makers from countries whose hostility towards the Kremlin has traditionally been a problem. Neutralizing that sentiment has been the principal reason the club’s annual autumn trip to Russia and talk-show with Vladimir Putin […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
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