Over the sea and back again
It is winter as you walk through the streets of St. Petersburg. The snow drifts gently down, quietly blanketing the canals and bridges on your way to the metro. Manicured parks and onion-domed...
View ArticleOld enemies, new friends
China and Russia have sent a shockwave through the financial world, as they announced that they would no longer use the American dollar when trading with each other. Though this may seem like a rather...
View ArticlePolitical prisoner or thief?
On Dec. 27, 2010, Russian business oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, were charged with embezzlement and money laundering from Yukos Oil and were sentenced to...
View Articleinternational briefs
Italian prime minister resigns Italians celebrated the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi outside Rome’s presidential palace on Nov.12, as the prime minister officially stepped down, ending his 17-year...
View ArticleWhere were you in ’72?: Fondly recalling the Summit Series, 40 years later
Forty years ago Friday, the goal was scored. With 34 seconds left in the eighth and final game of the Summit Series, game tied at five, series tied at 3-3-1, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Paul Henderson...
View ArticleNew “Cold War” in Antarctica? Scientists argue over Vostok bacteria
Lake Vostok is situated almost 4,000 metres below the Antarctic ice. Russian scientists have been drilling there for over twenty years. The lake’s appeal is that it has been isolated from the rest of...
View ArticleCyprus bailout angers Cypriots
Hundreds of Cypriots recently protested the European Commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout that is costing the country’s wealthy up to 60 per cent of their...
View ArticleSaying “no” to Russian vodka
In June this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a constitutional law banning “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations,” and laying fines on those demonstrating at public gay pride...
View ArticleFreeze!
Conflict between Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and Greenpeace International has been escalating over the past week, following environmental activism occurring in the Arctic. What started off...
View ArticlePetitions and protesters voice support for LGBTTQ* in Russia
As the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia approach, activists around the world are attempting to fight against the legislation signed into law on June 30 by President Vladimir Putin, which made it...
View ArticleOur moral superiority at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Kevin Linklater, staff Russia has been in the international spotlight for much of the last two weeks for hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics. However, the actual games themselves have often been...
View ArticleThe Good, the Bad, and the Critic
Pussy Riot is an all-female Russian punk band and performance collective which attempts to shake-up the established order and transform our views about politics, power, and religion. Mike Lerner and...
View Article‘Will Ukraine survive Yanukovych?’
Will Ukraine survive Yanukovych? Such was the name of a talk Alexander Motyl delivered last Friday on the University of Manitoba campus. Motyl, a professor of political science at Rutgers University,...
View ArticleSolidarity with what?
The recent downing of a Russian Su-24 jet by Turkish forces over Syria is the first time a NATO member has destroyed a Russian aircraft since the 1950s. Given the complex, fractious conflict that is...
View Article