Vladimir Putin’s combatative approach to the United States at the Munich security conference this weekend prompted an ironic response from US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. Responding to Putin’s list of accusations over America’s role in the world, Gates said:”As an old cold warrior, one of yesterday’s speeches almost filled me with nostalgia for a [...]

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According to an article in the February 9 edition of Izvestia, the Belarusian economy appears to have lost $5 billion in de-facto subsidies from  energy price hikes by Russia this January. This estimate, sourced to Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko himself, is greater than previous estimates which had ranged from $3.5 billion to $4 billion. The [...]

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