AND the Academy Award for best fascist dictator goes to Adolph Hitler! Woody Allen cracked the joke at the ex- pense of the US habit of making awards out of self-congratulation of the least worthy type. Were anyone to dare in the same spirit, they might award the new US nominee to head the World […]

by John Helmer - Friday, March 18th, 2005
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Although Russian steelmaking is booming, so too is iron-ore mining. As the only one of Russia’s steel mills without a significant supply of iron-ore of its own, Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine, Russia’s largest steelmill, is unhappy to have discovered this week that a domestic rival may take control of most of its iron-ore supply. In the […]

by John Helmer - Monday, February 21st, 2005
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MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) –Two things are known for certain about the conversation President Vladimir Putin had with Sakha region president Vyacheslav Shtirov in the Kremlin, at the end of December. One is that Shtirov invited Putin to come to the region for fishing. The other is that Putin replied that now is not the time. Maybe […]

by John Helmer - Friday, February 18th, 2005
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The greatest dynastic struggle between two queens that is recorded in European history was the rivalry over the throne of the 16th century British empire between Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots, The contest was decided by bribery, knives, explosives, multiple murder, forgery, extortion, espionage, entrapment, torture, a rigged court, and finally […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, February 17th, 2005
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MOSCOW – Andrei lllarionov is a coward, but President Vladimir Putin isn’t strong enough to say so. This makes the lllarionov case the very opposite of what Putin’s enemies in the media are claiming. lllarionov is one of the leftovers of the laissez-faire, free-for-a-few economics of the Boris Yeltsin era (1991-99). Married to an American […]

by John Helmer - Friday, January 14th, 2005
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According to the Russian Christmas Day tradition, Dyed Moroz (“Father Frost”, aka St. Nicholas, Santa Claus) makes his annual visit to children to question them, before he distributes the presents. He is assisted by Snegourochka (“Snow Girl”). It can happen that she is late. Then Dyed Moroz is obliged to ask the children to call […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, December 28th, 2004
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MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) – Last Friday, some days ahead of deadline, Norilsk Nickel issued a terse announcement. “MMC Norilsk Nickel,” it read, “a 20% owner of Gold Fields, announced today that, in accordance with previously stated intentions, it voted against the proposed transaction with IAM-Gold.” On the surface, this appeared to be nothing more than the […]

by John Helmer - Monday, December 6th, 2004
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MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) – When we last left our Great White Hunters, the Anglo American chief executive and two of his companions, they had arrived in Moscow for two days of meetings, Monday and today. Like the legendary Allan Quatermain himself, they were intent on covering their tracks, while manoeuvering into position for their prey. But […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 30th, 2004
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MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) -The headline in the Moscow newspaper came straight out of Rider Haggard’s century-old adventures. “Renova masters Africa”, it said, going on to describe how Victor Vekselberg, the Russian oligarch behind the Renova company, recently visited South Africa to arrange local approval of a plan for the largest manganese mine in the world, and […]

by John Helmer - Monday, November 29th, 2004
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By John Helmer in Moscow Laundering a man’s reputation is a little like laundering money. The more you churn the facts, the harder it is to remember them; the less damage they can do; and the whiter the outcome. It is for this reason that Russia’s oligarchs have spent so much effort bringing defamation cases […]

by John Helmer - Monday, November 22nd, 2004
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