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Recently, the Russian Orthodox church, which has been experiencing a great revival in post-Soviet Russia, has set its sites on the ex-Soviet republics.  On January 16th, the Patriarch of the church, Kiril Frolov,aimed to visit Astana, Kazakhstan.  However, due to fog blocking the airplane, he was rerouted to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s commercial center.
Whether it was [...]

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Headlines like this, “In a City of Over Ten Million, Only Five-Star Hotels Are a Near-Safe Bet “ point to Moscow’s dismal position as a tourist town.
Russia Profile reports that Russia, unlike Paris or London, has an over-demand for hotel rooms and not enough hotels to satisfy tourism:
Many travelers, both foreign and non-foreign, find [...]

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Back in the 1970s when the Soviet Union was interested in expanding its sphere of influence in African countries, in addition to backing African freedom movements, it brought many African students to study at Russian universities, most notably Patrice Lumumba.
Shubin emphasises the wide spectrum of Soviet support of liberation
movements in Southern Africa, ranging from [...]

I reported this story for NewEurasia (complete with pics and video here.)

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The Foreign Policy association reports,
In order to return the biblical species of deer now known as the Persian Fallow Deer to Israel an espionage mission was set up by an Israeli general who was also a zealous conservationist.
Israel had struck a deal with the Shah of Iran and his son to capture two of [...]

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The UN, the United States, and other bodies often send money to the West Bank and Gaza alike.  However, their  donations in Palestine end up being squandered due to the usual littany of complaints: no transparency and high levels of  bureaucracy.
Which is why it’s good news that
The Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), a publicly owned investment [...]

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A post I wrote about the situation in Ghajar is now a WSJ news item.
GHAJAR, on the Israel-Lebanon border—The Obama administration is pushing Israel to withdraw its forces from the Lebanese side of this farming village, where 2,200 residents—all Israeli citizens—are stuck in limbo astride the border of two rival nations.