By John Helmer, Moscow “Greenpeace has broken the safety zone. Greenpeace activists have forced their entry into the drilling rig. This constitutes an obvious illegal act that disregards the democratic rules. It furthermore constitutes a severe violation of the safety regulations put in place to protect human lives and the environment. The Greenpeace action [is] […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, October 24th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Once in a blue moon it is crystal clear – McChrystal clear, for reason shortly to be explained — why Anglo-American warmaking is bound to fail, and why Russian resistance to it – in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Chechnya, Georgia, Libya, Syria – is the model the rest of the world should […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow A mystery company in London, doing millions of dollars’ worth of mystery business for United Company Rusal, has reappeared after being struck off the UK Companies Register in June for failure to report its annual accounts. Except that now the company auditor says he can’t explain the revenue and cost claims, […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Oligarchy versus democracy is a very old game, and so are the seven deadly sins. Why exactly men like Vladimir Potanin, Mikhail Prokhorov, Alisher Usmanov, Andrei Melnichenko et al. should calculate that advertising their standard of living should help them keep it is difficult to say. Maybe their pockets are under […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, October 20th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow The conflict between state pipeline company Transneft and Summa Capital over which of them will control the Novorossiysk Seaport Company is almost over, and the winner is — the Russian state. But wait – who is at the sharp end of the state, and who has got hold of the handle? […]

by John Helmer - Friday, October 18th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Struggling with a rising debt burden of more than $8.2 billion, the Evraz group, owned by Roman Abramovich (left), Alexander Abramov (centre) and Alexander Frolov (right), has suspended production at its Claymont steelmill in Delaware. The production halt is indefinite. A company announcement from Moscow on Monday says that “due to […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, October 17th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Last week, on October 7, United Company Rusal – the state aluminium monoply managed by Oleg Deripaska (right) — was due in the Nigerian High Court at Abuja to start trial on the claim by a Nigerian-American group, BFIG, for the handover of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (Alscon). BFIG […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 15th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Fibber McGee was one of the first situation comedy serials on American radio; from 1935 to 1959, it was also one of the longest running. The situation joke was that Fibber would tell tall tales which his wife Molly would expose. Fibber (left image-1) stood (and fell) for hare-brained schemes; Molly, […]

by John Helmer - Monday, October 14th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow As a presidential assistant and a first deputy prime minister for many years, Igor Sechin grew accustomed to the illusion to which high officials in all states are prone – that the fault in efficient administration lies in the weakness of command-and-control systems, sociologically speaking. Or to speak psychologically of humankind, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 9th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow A court in Lagos, Nigeria, today dismissed all charges of arms smuggling and illegal entry for the crew of the Russian security tender, Myre Seadiver. Seven crewmen, who have remained on bail at the Russian Embassy in Lagos since the last hearing in July, will be free to leave Nigeria and […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 8th, 2013
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