Celebrations Usher In New Year
Life Returns To Booksellers' Road
Documentary On Stoning In Iran
Google co-founder Sergei Brin
On Monday, for the first time, the share price of the Chinese search engine Baidu eclipsed the share price of its competitor, the Internet behemoth Google.Analysts attributed the 7 percent price jump of Baidu ($593) versus the 4 percent drop of Google ($556) in early trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange to increased fears that Google may shut down its Chinese-language website and leave Baidu without competition in the largest Internet domain in world.Google is involved in a simmering dispute with Chinese authorities over their demand to censor politically sensitive information on Google’s Chinese website and the unwillingness of the company to do so. Google's Chinese website has been hacked vigorously. Google claims the attacks originated from Chinese government-controlled Internet entities; Chinese authorities reject the accusations.It has been reported that the driving force behind Google’s principled position against Internet censorship is Google’s co-founder, Soviet-born Sergei Brin, who has expressed his willingness to sacrifice the largest segment of the Internet market rather than acquiesce to further censoring.Brin spent only the first six years of his life in the Soviet Union but has said that those years had a profound impact on his character, specifically on the significance he attaches to freedom of expression.Baidu's "eclipsing" of Google’s share price is merely a psychological victory, but it does hint at investors' increasing concern over Google’s uncertain future in China.With a market capitalization of $178 billion, Google dwarfs the $20 billion Baidu, and its dominance as the world's search engine of choice is clearly established in most of the world except China.In China, Baidu controls 58 percent of Internet search revenues, compared to 36 percent for Google.-- Nikola Krastev
News & views on RFE/RL's broadcast regionRFE/RL in the Media# "Forbes" reprints Claire Bigg's piece on protests in Russia# "The Independent" reports on a new radio station to North Korea# "UPI" reports on Iran's arresting of 30 people accused of cyber warfareInt'l Press ReviewAfghanistan# "Return of the Warlords" - Sanjay Kumar, "The Diplomat"# Stanley McChrystal is now commanding most U.S. special forces operations# "Peace with the Taliban" - Munir Akram, "News International"# "Beating the Taliban at the Propaganda Game" - Allen Richarz, "CSM"Pakistan# "The Wall Street Journal" on Pakistan's domestic politics# "Pakistan's Catch 22" - Sameer Lalwani, "Foreign Policy"Iran# Vandals have defaced buildings on Mehdi Karroubi's block in Tehran# Iran has banned photos of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani# Iran's women are rallying against a polygamy lawIraq# "The New York Times" editorializes on Iraq's elections# "The Wall Street Journal" reports on early returnsRussia# "AFP" reports on how Russian bloggers battle corruption# "Is Putin in Trouble?" - Miriam Elder, "Global Post"# "The Wall Street Journal" reports on Russia's regional elections# Some Western firms may pull out of Russia due to corruptionOf Interest# "The Future of Capitalism" - Alan Webber, "USA Today"# Jeanne Shaheen and George Voinovich on progress in the Balkans# Fred Weir on the politics of language in UkraineU.S. Politics/Foreign Policy# Anne Applebaum on the continuity of UK-U.S. politics# Embassy Row from "The Washington Times"
A glamorous blue-blood will marry her Russian oligarch fiance later this year, capping a fairy-tale romance. A number of Central Asian publications, including the popular CentrAsia.ru news website, are following the love story between British-born Alexandra Tolstoy and Russian banker Sergei Pugachev. Central Asians are interested because the ex-husband of Tolstoy, a 35-year-old equestrian adventurer and descendant of novelist Leo Tolstoy, is a former Uzbek athlete. Countess Tolstoy made a splash in Central Asia in 2003 when she married Shamil Galimzyanov, an otherwise obscure show-jumper.The two had reportedly met four years earlier when Tolstoy hired Galimzyanov as her guide during an expedition along the ancient Silk Road.Tolstoy was said to have claimed her love would survive despite the sharp contrast between her upper-class upbringing and Galimzyanov's humble background. Tabloids reported that the marriage went sour around the time that she gave birth to a son in early 2009.Pugachev was listed by "Forbes" as Russia's 50th richest citizen in 2008, and is said to be worth a less humble $5.2 billion.-- Farangis Najibullah
International Day of Nowruz is celebrated on March 21.
The Week Ahead is a detailed listing of key events of the coming week affecting RFE/RL's broadcast region.
MONDAY, March 15:
Armenia: Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian visits Berlin.
Turkmenistan: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Ashgabat (to March 16).
TUESDAY, March 16:Armenia: Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian visits Paris.Armenia/Russia: Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill I begins a two-day official visit to Armenia.Belarus: Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka pays an official visit to Venezuela.
Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev visits Tashkent (to March 17).
Russia/Belarus: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin takes part in a session of the Russian-Belarusian Council of Ministers in Brest (Reuters).THURSDAY, March 18:
Russia: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton begins a two-day visit to Moscow.Russia: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha sign Joint Declaration on Cooperation in Moscow.Tajikistan/Turkmenistan: Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov visits Dushanbe.FRIDAY, March 19:Russia: Moscow hosts a meeting of the Middle East Quartet and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
SATURDAY, March 20:
Balkans: Slovenian town of Brdo pri Kranju hosts a conference on the EU and Western Balkans.Iran: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad address the nation on the eve of the Persian New Year (AFP).
SUNDAY, March 21:
World: International Day of Nowruz.
News & views on RFE/RL's broadcast regionSunday Talk Shows# The analysis of Shields & Brooks# Fareed Zakaria interviews Richard Holbrooke# "Meet the Press" has David Brooks and Thomas FriedmanPakistan# Fareed Zakaria thinks Obama's Pakistan policy has been successful# H.M. Naqvi reports from Baluchistan# "In Search of the Real Pakistan" - Amil Khan, "The Guardian"# "Islam Threatens Pakistan's Survival" - Jaswant Singh, "The Daily Star"# "Der Spiegel" reports on U.S. drone attacksAfghanistan# Kandahar is reeling after coordinated terrorist attacks over the weekend# Five myths about the war in Afghanistan# "The National" on the aftermath of the Marjah campaignIran# Mojtaba Vahedi thinks the Khamenei-Ahmadinejjad rift is widening# "10 Practical Steps to Liberty in Iran" - The Heritage FoundationIraq# Frustration is mounting over the slow vote count in Iraq# Charles Dunne on Iraq's opportunties# "Iraq for Iraqis" - David Ignatius, "The Daily Star"Russia# A fake newscast of a Russian invasion sparks panic in Georgia# Monitors report high voter turnout for Russia's regional elections# "Kommersant" will start FM radio broadcasts today# "Perestroika Lost" - Mikhail Gorbachev, "The New York Times"# Olympic facilities workers in Sochi have not been paid for monthsU.S. Politics/Foreign Policy# The U.S. State Dept. will do report on its human rights record# David Rothkopf on the Obama Administration's czars# Al Kamen's "In the Loop"
Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov is the meddling type of strongman and there is nothing he won't speak out about. In the past he's taken firm stands on the state of the Russian republic's roads and amount of litter on the ground. Now he's taking an interest in the state of people's cars. At a recent meeting with Chechen traffic police, Kadyrov said that all drivers should wash their cars regularly to ensure that vehicles entering Grozny are aesthetically pleasing to look at. That requirement is likely to create problems for residents of rural areas where roads turn to rivers of mud in the spring. Kadyrov, who seems to believe in the virtues of micromanagement, also threatened to hold traffic police responsible for car thefts, the incidences of which he said must be reduced to zero.-- Aslan Doukaev
Gennady Khazanov
A Tajik Olympic official says the country sold one of its official accreditations to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver to a Russian comedian.Muhammadshoh Abdulloev, the head of Tajikistan's National Olympic Committee delegation to Vancouver, told RFE/RL that prominent comedian Gennady Khazanov officially represented Tajikistan at the Olympics last month.Abdulloev said the cash-strapped Tajik delegation could not afford to invite Tajik guests to the Olympics and therefore had to sell two of its official accreditations to the Bosco Sport Company for $2,000 and a promise by Bosco to sponsor the Tajik delegation at the Summer Olympics in London in 2012.It is not known how much Khazanov paid Bosco for the Tajik accreditation.The Tajik Olympic team was represented in Vancouver by only two athletes -- alpine skiers Andrei Drygin and Alisher Qudratov. The International Olympic Committee paid all expenses of the Tajik athletes, their coaches, and officials in Vancouver.Russian media report that Armenia, Moldova, and Russia are some of the countries that brought prominent Russian actors, journalists, and businessmen as official guests to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in exchange for cash payments.-- Tajik Service