Russian rouble rallies as Putin agrees Ukraine ceasefire September 5, 2014 The rouble rose 0.22 per cent against the dollar and 0.14 per cent against the Euro at pixel time after Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko announced his government had reached a ceasefire agreement with pro-Russian rebels this afternoon. Earlier in the day, investors had piled into Russian stocks on rumours of an end to fighting, with [...]
Ukraine can’t win in this crisis – but Putin can be made to pay for his victory September 3, 2014 IT IS a standard rule of thumb in global risk analysis that the side in a conflict calling for a ceasefire is the side that is losing. Until two weeks ago, President Putin of Russia – seeing his Kremlin-sponsored separatists on the run in the face of a rejuvenated Ukrainian army – was all for [...]
Space race take two? Putin speeds up building of Russian spaceport September 2, 2014 Russia has upped its game in the race to become a space superpower. Today, President Vladimir Putin announced that he was hastening Russia's efforts to build a multi-billion dollar spaceport in the East of the country. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has relied on the Baikonur cosmodrome in [...]
Putin has won in Ukraine – but the West can still salvage the long game September 1, 2014 There’s only one way to make a fortune, and that’s to down the fellow who’s up against you." W Somerset Maugham, on poker ONE OF the many wonderful traditions at St Andrews University is that, if a student did well, they did not have to sit final exams until their last year. As a result, [...]
EU warns Russia to withdraw from Ukraine as Putin steps up rhetoric August 31, 2014 EUROPEAN leaders, backed by America, have warned Russia’s President Putin that he has a week to withdraw from Ukraine and calm the crisis between the two countries, or face tough new economic sanctions. The warning comes as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his country is at breaking point. “We are very close to the point [...]
Nato can save us from Putin – but only if Europe gets serious about its military August 31, 2014 For my sins, early in my Washington career I was sent to literally scores of high-level North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) meetings, frustratingly all on the same beside-the-point topic. Stripped of its finery, basically every conclave revolved around finding another mission for the most successful politico-military alliance in the history of the world, now that [...]
Putin wants to negotiate “statehood” of southeast Ukraine August 31, 2014 As Europe gets ready to place more sanctions on Russia, Vladimir Putin has called for the “statehood” of southeast Ukraine to be negotiated. In a TV interview, the Russian President said: “We must immediately begin substantive, meaningful negotiations, not on technical questions but on questions of the political structure of society and of the [...]
Putin compares Kiev to the Nazis, Ukraine seeks Nato membership August 30, 2014 Ukraine has pleaded for full membership in Nato, signalling a desire for increased Western military protection from Russian aggression. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told government yesterday that his cabinet would "bring before parliament a law to scrap the non-aligned status of the Ukrainian state and establish a course towards membership of Nato." Nato membership would [...]
London Report: Putin’s Crimea comments help to calm FTSE August 14, 2014 THE FTSE yesterday rose after being bolstered by apparently conciliatory comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin on a visit to Crimea, as well as expectations for a continuation of ultra-loose monetary policy. On a trip to Crimea, the Ukrainian region annexed by Russia in March, Putin said his country would stand up for itself but [...]
Meet the magical computing that puts the human into artificial intelligence August 3, 2014 Think Artificial Intelligence and the first thing that comes to mind is probably robots. Thanks to popular culture, AI is considered distinctly un-human, and can prompt people to worry about the role of technology in our daily lives and who is really in control. However, there’s a new wave of technology fighting to put the [...]