THE EYE OF SAURON IS OVER MOSCOW...
...and the Russian Orthodox Church is not happy about it.
A NEW DESIGN FOR THE 100-RUBLE NOTE?
Yale's Timothy Snyder puts Russian propaganda to the Aristotelian Test of Non-Contradiction
"We have heard there is no Ukrainian state;
And we have also heard the Ukrainian state is very repressive;
We have heard that there is no Ukrainian nation;
And we have also heard that all Ukrainians are nationalists;
We have heard there is no Ukrainian language;
And we have heard that Russians are being forced to speak the Ukrainian language;
We have heard that Russia is fighting fascism;
And, most disturbingly, we have heard that maybe fascism isn't such a bad thing after all;"
UKRAINE: FROM PROPAGANDA TO REALITY
I just came across this now and all I can say is: wow! A brilliant, concise, tight, lively, and often funny lecture on Ukrainian and Russian history by Yale University's Timothy Snyder. It's highly informative, very entertaining, and it busts all the myths.
Watch it now!
IS FRANCE THE NEW GERMANY?
What to make of French President Francois Hollande's meeting with Vladimir Putin this weekend? The Moscow Times takes a look in a story today:
The weekend meeting between the French and Russian presidents has given France a chance to become "the new Germany" for Russia, which lost its last Western ally after a falling-out with official Berlin, analysts say.
French mediation "is aimed at preventing Russia-EU relations from going to the dogs," said Tatiana Kastueva-Jean of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in Paris.
Germany has traditionally been Russia's staunchest defender in Europe. But with Berlin taking a harder line in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, and particularly the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, Paris os trying to fill the void:
Though France has backed EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, it has taken a notably moderate stance toward Moscow.
Hollande was one of the few Western leaders who did not give Putin a hard time at a G20 meeting in Australia's Brisbane last month.
Nor have French authorities pressured French businesses to cut connections to Russia like Germany did, said Sergei Fyodorov of the Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Hollande's "ostpolitik" is reminiscent of that of his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy:
There is a recent precedent for Hollande's attempts to play peacemaker with Russia: In 2008, his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy brokered the end to the "five-day war" between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
Right. And we all know how well that turned out. Just ask the Georgians.
Read the whole piece here.
TWITTER CAMPAIGN AGAINST RUSSIAN SOPRANO ANNA NETREBKO
Anna Netrebko's decision to donate 1 million rubles to a theater in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, and her posing with a Novorossia rebel flag, has sparked a Twitter campaign under the hashtag #BoycottAnnaNetrebko.
Here are some choice tweets:
DID PUTIN TONE DOWN HIS BIG SPEECH?
Simon Shuster has a new piece up at Time suggesting he did, based on a draft copy of the speech prepared by the Kremlin leader's speechwriters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently cut out a blistering critique of Ukrainian authorities in a speech to human-rights advocates last week, as he seeks to carve out a peace deal with his country’s neighbor.
In a draft prepared by Putin’s speechwriters and obtained by TIME, the President was set to accuse Ukrainian authorities of the “mass destruction of their own citizens” during their ongoing conflict with Moscow-backed separatist rebels. But at the last moment, Putin appears to have dropped that line.
Read the whole piece here.
MORNING OIL PRICE AND RUBLE RATE WATCH
Good morning. It's 8:07 a.m. in Prague. The price of Brent Crude is $65.52 a barrel. The ruble is trading at 53.96 to the U.S. dollar and 66.48 to the euro.
You can watch is all in real time on zenrus.ru -- and enjoy the soothing music and images!
Here's what Streetwise Professor had to say:
VVP: Not Getting His Kicks On Brent $66
Brent traded with a 66 handle for most of today. I am sure that Putin was not getting his kicks on Brent 66.
But no worries. It didn’t stay there long: it’s now trading at a 65 handle.
Going down, down, down, in a ring of fire.
ZEN AND THE ART OF OIL PRICES AND CURRENCY TRADING
Did you ever dream of being able to watch the dollar-ruble and euro-ruble exchange rate in real time AND listen to soothing meditation music at the same time? Well, your dreams have come true! Just click this link.
RUBLE RATE AND OIL PRICE
Good morning. It's 8:30 a.m. here in Prague.
The Ruble is trading at 53.3 to the U.S. dollar, down 0.79 percent from the start of trading. Bloomberg is tracking the rate here.
And Brent Crude is selling for $68.36 a barrel, down 0.71 percent on the day. Bloomberg is tracking the price here.