Barack Obama (might be) running for President!

It's big news, and could signal a rejuvenation of Democratic hopes - the junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, is considering running for President of the United States. As one of my favourite Democrats, and a man I had the opportunity to speak with briefly in Chicago several years ago, I'm overjoyed.

Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of other news that's great. The Russia-Georgia thing continues, this time with a group of thugs trashing a Georigan art exhibition in Moscow. As if the Georgian thing wasn't bad enough, the piece notes that:

The gallery owner has been listed as an "enemy of Russia" on several nationalist web sites, for his Jewish last name, his promotion of non-traditional art and his campaigning against neo-fascists.

Guess that 'non-traditional art' must be eroding good Russian values.

In other assorted news, Israel admitted to using phosphorus shells in their war against Lebanon and the civil conflict in Sudan is getting worse. Former German Chancellor Schröder has a new book out where he critisises President Bush's religious behaviour. Oh, and the Pope is bringing back the Latin Mass.

Human Rights Watch now operating illegally in Russia

Though it must be said, not because they particularly want to. They're operating illegally because they failed to meet a dealine set by the Russian authorities that allows any NGO to function within the country, reportedly because the Russian officials kept changing the required documentation until the dealine had passed. The reported purpose of the law is to allow the Russian government to 'monitor' the conduct of the NGOs within their border, on top of the reported physical harassment and police pressure many of them currently face. Why? Apparently to keep track of the "foreign puppet masters" that control them, according to President Putin.

On the Georgian issue, the EU has stated its "grave concern" over the economic effects of the Russian economic embargo of Georgia, and asked the Russia not continue measures to target Georgians within their territory. Human rights organisations note that some of the Georgians expelled from Russia were there legally, and issued leaked documents showing St Petersburg police orders to put pressure on the judges dealing with deportation cases.

Real Beauty

Although this webpage by Dove isn't particularly novel, it features in a flash video illustrating the methods that are used to produce the images of women that most woman see in the media and internalise as being the standard to which they have to compete - the team of makeup artists, the extensive Photoshopping, etc. Definitely worth a watch. There's also quite a bit of survey data and other related information to the campaign avaliable.

Spiegel on Politkovskaya

A more indepth article about Anna Politkovskaya's life from Der Spiegel. In addition, it details some of the torture methods used by Russia to obtain 'confessions' from Chechen prisoners documented in her last unfinished work.

More on Russia's Political Culture

Why I read the CSM at the end, I don't know, but as per usual, they have two very excellent stories relating to my previous post. The first is on Anna Politkovskaya, who was putting together a story on torture tactics used by the Russians in Chechnya before becoming the 13th journalist assassinated since Putin came to office. The second is an excellent synopsis of Russia's growing anti-minority lobby that is attempting to create a 'Russia for Russians.' It notes that in late August anti-minority riots broke out in the northern town of Kondopoga killing three people and forcing hundreds of Caucasians (in this case, people from the Caucuses, which includes Georgia) to flee for their lives. In a set of depressing numbers, 57% of Russians surveyed thought that similar riots could break out in their towns, and 52% supported the idea of making Russia 'the Russian people's state.'

Putin's Russia - making the Soviet Union look good

With all the news about Iraq, Afghanistan, and now North Korean nukes, I thought I'd take some attention to another equally important problem: Russia, and Russian political culture. Over the weekend, one of the most acclaimed Russian journalists, Anna Politkovskaya, was assassinated by a hitman so confident that he left the murder weapon in the elevator where she was shot. Famous for her coverage of the Chechin Wars, she was likely killed on orders by the central government.

As if murdering the media wasn't bad enough, Russia has taken to bullying neighbouring Georgia in the last few weeks. Starting (recently, at least) over the spying accusation of four Russians by the Georgian government, even though they have long since returned them to Russia, the Russians continue with an economic blockade of key Georgian products, have prevented all shipments from crossing the Russian-Georgian border, raided Georgian businesses in Russia, and have started drawing up lists of people with Georgian names for potential deportation. Drawing up lists of people with particular names to ensure you know where they are, closing down their local businesses -- hmmm, sounds vaguely familiar.

Now, 'a mild form of ethnic cleansing' might be going to far since I would reserve the phrase 'ethnic cleansing' for situations that seriously merit it, but this episode, along with the murder of the journalist, is troubling in many ways. Sections of the Russian popular are becoming increasingly hypernationalist in character, stressing themes of homogeneity and 'Slavic' culture, themes that are being picked up by government policies. In a presentation given in Edinburgh last year, a visiting academic polled Russians on attitudes about minority groups seen as 'deviant' to mainstream culture, which resulted in 25% support for the 'liquidation' of homosexuals, for instance. This is a serious problem, though all is not lost yet, as there is still some opposition to such policies. Still, the way in which Russia can get away with flagrant abuses on a smaller and weaker neighbour whose only real offence was to apply for NATO membership is worrying, and hopefully does not point to a stronger destructive nationalist movement attempting to resurrect the 'glory' of the Soviet (or Tsarist Russian, depending on their model) Empire.