Number of Refugees from Unstable Regions Rises

Two Afghani refugee girls

Over the past two years, the number of people who were forced to leave their homelands because of military conflicts and persecution has risen greatly. A whole range of factors, including climate change and scarcity of resources, may lead to even more sad statistics, the UN Refugee Agency reported. The report was published on the eve of World Refugee Day celebrated on 20 June. According to surveys, in 2007 the UN Refugee Agency helped more than 11 million people worldwide, twice as many than in previous years.

Vera Soboleva, a spokesman for the UNHCR office in Russia, commented in an interview with Voice of Russia, “These figures can be explained by the increasing number of conflicts in all regions of the world. About three million Afghanis still live outside their homeland, mainly in Iran and Pakistan. At least 2 million Iraqis fled to Syria and Jordan and cannot yet return home”. According to the Washington-based Committee for Refugees and Migrants, in 2007, the influx of refugees from Iraq caused very serious emergencies. The authors of the report criticised the US and British leadership, which were busying themselves solely with military operations with no concern for the life of ordinary Iraqis. Also, in 2007, 26 million people were forced to flee to their homes, the Agency reports.

The new data published by the Agency show that the problems of refugees have often been neglected. It was also a mistake to think that the destinations of the refugees were known and that most of the refugees fled to Europe. Now, we see that 80 percent of them fled to countries close to their homelands. In 2007, Pakistan welcomed more than 2 million exiles, and Syria received 1.5 million refugees, while the US gave shelter only to 281,000. The UN Refugee Agency warns that the world is becoming less hospitable…

20 June 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28653&cid=59&p=20.06.2008

20 June 2008. A Shot of Culture, if you please…

First anthology of modern Russian poetry presented in Rome

The first anthology of contemporary Russian poetry has been presented at the European Library in Rome. An Italian publishing house released a 575-page unique edition that includes translations of works by 16 Russian poets who made a significant contribution to local culture. The poems were translated by prominent Slavic expert Annalisa Alleva, who selected poems and presented them to Italian readers. The anthology includes poems by Sergei Gandelevsky, Timur Kibirov, Aleksandr Kushner, and Sergei Startanovsky.

19 June 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28569&cid=51&p=19.06.2008

New production of Tristan und Isolde by the Mariinsky at White Nights Festival

Five Angels for the Millennium (Bill Viola (1951- ), 2001)

St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre is going to introduce this year’s White Nights Festival to a rare blend of classical music and topical art, its new version of Tristan und Isolde comes complete with an original video design by Bill Viola who has long dreamed of introducing St Petersburg to things that delighted the audiences of Paris’ Opera de Bastille, New York, and Los Angeles.

20 June 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28634&cid=87&p=20.06.2008

Voice of Russia World Service

Moscow to host 30th international film festival

The 30th Moscow International Film Festival opens in the capital on Thursday promising lots of fascinating discoveries and featuring numerous guests. World-famous Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano is due to receive an honorary award at the opening ceremony, after which an American comedy, Hancock, will be screened two weeks ahead of its American première.

A jury comprising film makers, critics and actors from Austria, Russia, Britain and Chile will choose the winner from a competition programme of 16 films. Around 200 movies will also be shown. Famous Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov, who was elected festival president for three years at last year’s organising committee session, will be chairman of the event until 28 June.

The Moscow International Film Festival has been held since 1959, although the best foreign films were first screened in the city back in 1935. It has been held annually since 2000. The festival was registered by the International Federation of Film Producers Association (IFFPA) as one of the largest and most prestigious film forums, on a par with its analogues from Berlin, Cannes, San Sebastian, Karlovy Vary, and Venice.

19 June 2008

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080619/111266385.html

RIA-Novosti

20 June 2008. Out and about…

Oil prices jumps above 136 dollars a barrel

On Wednesday, oil prices increased by 2.67 dollars and reached 136.68 US dollars (3,215 roubles. 87.43 euros. 69.23 UK pounds) a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. The reason for the rise is the announcement of a planned strike by oil workers in Nigeria. Oil prices reached a record 138.54 US dollars (3,259 roubles. 88.62 euros. 70.17 UK pounds) a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange on the 5 June.

19 June 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28573&cid=46&p=19.06.2008

Governmental crisis in the Ukraine, yet again

Rada building in Kiev

The Ukraine is once again heading for a cabinet change after the bloc led by Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko said it was ready to move into the opposition and hand power over to other political parties. Speaking in parliament earlier in the day, Ivan Kirilenko, the leader of the Yulia Timoshenko bloc, the biggest member of the ruling coalition, spoke against early parliamentary elections. The current government crisis broke out after two MPs left the ruling coalition which had a shaky one vote majority in the Supreme Rada.

19 June 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28605&cid=45&p=19.06.2008

The Czech Republic refuses to ratify Lisbon Treaty

Karel Schwarzenberg (1938-), Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic opposes proposals from the current EU summit in Brussels to persist in attempts to ratify the EU Treaty of Lisbon despite its resounding rejection at a referendum in Ireland, according to a statement from Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. His country is one of the seven EU members that have not yet ratified or rejected the Lisbon agreement. The “no” vote in Ireland threw the EU into turmoil similar to that three years ago, when a proposed European constitution was soundly defeated in popular referenda in the Netherlands and France.

20 June 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28660&cid=45&p=20.06.2008

Russia believes the Kosovo UDI and constitution violate UN decisions

Russian troops of the peacekeeping force in Abkhazia

Russia believes that the UDI and the new constitution in Kosovo violate UN decisions. In an interview with Voice of Russia on Friday, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko warned of separatist agitation in about 200 other regions world-wide unless the problem is settled in further talks between the Kosovo Albanians and the Serbian government. Amongst other things, he called attention to increased separatist demands in Abkhazia and South Ossetia after the UDI of Kosovo. Mr Yakovenko said Russia continues to urge Georgia to maintain dialogue with its breakaway territories.

20 June 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28662&cid=45&p=20.06.2008

Voice of Russia World Service

USA Accuses Serbia of Scorning UN Decisions on Kosovo

Tina Kaidanow, the Chargé d’Affaires and acting US Ambassador to the illegitimate statelet of Kosovo, a US puppet unrecognised by most nations in the world

The UN Security Council is meeting at 19.00 Moscow time (11.00 EDT), to consider Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s proposal to partially replace the UN mission in Kosovo with a European mission. Emissaries of the European Union have begun to trickle into the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo. Because the UN Security Council is directly responsible for the situation in Kosovo, moves to deploy a European mission and grant it specified powers in the region shall be illegitimate until they receive approval by the Security Council. The USA and the leading European democracies have done their best to prove the legitimacy of the Kosovar UDI. They never hesitate to resort to the use of doubtful arguments.

Take, for example, what Tina Kaidanow, the Chargé d’Affaires and acting US Ambassador to Kosovo, told the US Senate foreign relations committee. Ms Kaidanow sees Serbian rejection of Kosovar sovereignty and what she describes as Serbian support of ethnically-tinged separatism as a threat to stability in the region. As a matter of fact, she goes so far as to accuse Serbia of scorning UN decisions on Kosovo. Let me remind you, though, that Security Council Resolution 1244 describes Kosovo as part of Serbia. That resolution remains unrevised, and a Russian expert in European affairs, Nadezhda Arbatova, sees the UDI of Kosovo as an illegitimate act committed in defiance of the basic provisions of international law, robbing Serbia of part of its territory, and likely to affect all of the Balkans. In Ms Arbatova’s view, any move for Kosovar sovereignty shall, in the absence of appropriate international action, inevitably increase tension inside Kosovo and in neighbouring countries. Because it shall encourage them to seek sovereignty, it shall exert a negative influence on the Albanian minorities of other countries. Ms Arbatova feels that Balkan countries are headed for a period of instability.

As the sponsor and the brains behind the Kosovar moves for sovereignty, the USA bears the full burden of responsibility for the scenario that Ms Arbatova described above and for the attempts to ignore UN decisions on Kosovo. The accusations that Ms Kaidanow hurls at Serbia had best be hurled at the United States of America.

20 June 2008

Yevgeny Kryshkin

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28626&cid=67&p=20.06.2008