And Starring As Evita...

According to a piece in The New Republic, Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko feels a real connection to Argentina's legendary First Lady Eva Perón. If fact, according to one of her closest political confidants, Tymoshenko thinks she is Evita, her reincarnation at least.

“She was told she is the reincarnation of Eva Perón,” said Dmitry Vydrin, a former Tymoshenko political adviser for much of the past decade. “And she believes it. She admits it in closed circles.” Vydrin went on to say that Tymoshenko has modeled much of her public persona on the populist Evita.

Beyond that rather odd claim, the TNR piece paints a compelling portrait of Ukraine's current Prime Minister, and Presidential candidate ahead of next weekend's elections. The article charts Tymoshenko's rise from a modest beginning in a dim industrial city, to become one of Ukraine's richest oligarchs before recasting herself as a populist leader during 2004's Orange Revolution. The one theme that runs through the TNR piece though is Tymoshenko's drive first to succeed and now for power as she pursues the presidency.

Meanwhile the man currently holding the job, President Viktor Yushchenko, thinks his PM should just quit politics all together. "She should take a rest, at least for a while, because each month of her work results in a colossal poverty in our country," Yushchenko said at a campaign stop. Despite having been partners in the Orange Revolution, the two have since become bitter political adversaries. Ahead of next weekend's vote Tymoshenko is running second in the polls, while Yushchenko's numbers are in the low single digits thanks to the economic crisis gripping the country and many Ukrainians' belief that Yushchenko's government has done little to improve the situation.

Football Ambush in Africa

Terrorism came crashing into the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament today when the bus carrying the team from Togo was attacked as it crossed the border from Congo into Cabinda region of Angola. Cabinda is an oil-rich region separated from the rest of Angola by a strip of land belonging to the Republic of the Congo, rebels fought for independence for Cabinda until 2006 when a truce was signed with the Angolan government in Luanda hat signaled an end to hostilities.

That is until now. The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC for short), the group that had led the previous fight for independence, has claimed responsibility for the Togo attack and said that it was the "start of a series of targeted actions" in Cabinda. FLEC attackers raked the Togo team bus with machine gun fire as soon as it crossed the border from the Congo. Nine Togo footballers where injured, at least one seriously; the driver of the bus was killed in the attack.

Organizers of the Africa Cup of Nations were concerned about Angola staging some of the Cup games in Cabinda, but government officials dismissed their fears, promising to have extra security at the events. Angola has tried to promote itself recently as a stable and growing nation in southwest Africa, even purchasing an advertising supplement in Foreign Policy magazine in recent months. Angola's state-run oil company recently won bids to develop several oil fields in Iraq, a sign of their growing economic clout in the region.

Polaroid Primed For Comeback

News broke on Thursday that thrilled camera buffs around the world - Polaroid would relaunch production in 2010. Until digital cameras became commonplace items in the past decade, if you wanted to be able to see the picture you just took (almost) instantly, then you needed a Polaroid. But the digital revolt cut deeply into Polaroid's business, the company went bankrupt in 2001 and again in 2008. During that second reorganization, the company announced that it would give up its film-based instant camera business in favor of digital imaging.

Even though its commercial business had dwindled, Polaroid still had legions of fans around the world who still preferred the old analog format to digital. On Thursday China's Summit Global announced they would start producing a new line of cameras under the Polaroid name. But what makes a Polaroid a camera and not just an oversized paperweight (like the two I own) is the unique film, a lesson that the Soviet Union's camera industry once learned (*see end note), and that's where "The Impossible Project" steps in.

The story of The Impossible Project is fascinating in itself - after Polaroid shuttered their Enschede, Netherlands plant, a group of former technicians stepped in and acquired the factory and all its fittings. Their goal was to produce a new version of the Polaroid film for the thousands of instant picture enthusiasts out there. This meant figuring out the chemistry that essentially puts a whole darkroom on a sheet of paper - from scratch, something they themselves dubbed "the Impossible Project". But they'll be putting their film into production this year as well. Instant photography fans rejoice.


*The Soviet Union produced their own version of the Polaroid camera called the "Moment". Unfortunately for Soviet photographers, Soviet camera technicians were never able to master the production of instant film, meaning Moment owners had to try to buy Polaroid film on the black market. Few were able to and the Moment was a flop.

Russia's Corruption Cop Gets Busted

Major Alexey Dymovsky, the former police officer from Russia's Krasnodar region, who shot to national and international fame after issuing a plea to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on YouTube to investigate rampant corruption in the Russian police forces, has himself been charged with embezzlement while serving as a police officer. Prosecutors in Krasnodar claim that Dymovsky embezzled $800 while working as a narcotics officer.

So, are the charges true? Quite likely, but if anything that only works to reinforce Dymovsky's original claim - that Russia's police forces not only tolerate corruption, but expect it as part of the job. In his original YouTube post, Dymovsky alleged that starting salaries for police officers in Krasnodar were so low, around $400 per month, in part because ranking officials just expected younger officers to supplement their incomes with bribes.

In that way, the charges levied against Dymovsky are much like those filed against Mikhail Khodorkovsky formerly one of Russia's richest men while CEO of Yukos, formerly one of Russia's largest energy companies. In 2004 Khodorkovsky was arrested on charges of fraud and tax evasion, he would later be sentenced to eight years in prison. Some of Khodorkovsky's defenders claim the charges against him were trumped up. Actually, the charges were likely legitimate, the problem is that they could have been levied against any of Russia's oligarchs - all of whom tended to take advantage of poorly-written and rarely-enforced laws to build their mega-fortunes. Yet Khodorkovsky was singled out for punishment, the allegation is because he violated a secret agreement between then-President Vladimir Putin and the oligarch class that Putin would give them a free hand in business if they agreed to stay out of politics. Khodorkovsky made a few relatively small donation to political parties in Siberia and soon found himself being arrested by Russian security forces.

Now Dymovsky who blew the whistle on police corruption has himself been charged with taking money shouldn't have. The question is whether this is the start of the oft-promised government campaign against corruption, or if Dymovsky will be just a blue collar version of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Kabul's First Rock Band

Cool story yesterday from the BBC about "Kabul Dreams", who bill themselves as Afghanistan's first rock-and-roll band. The three members of Kabul Dreams are pairing Western-style indie rock music with traditional Afghan rhythms and say that the are tapping into a new-found love of rock music among young Afghanis in the post-Taliban period. Whether or not Kabul Dreams is the future of Afghanistan's music scene is yet to be seen, but they are a hopeful sign of Afghanistan's future for another reason - the multi-ethnic makeup of the band. While Afghanistan often organizes along tribal/ethnic lines, Kabul Dreams is made up of a Pashtun, a Tajik and an Uzbek.

"The reason we formed this band was to give a message to the Afghan youth, a message that they can live together," bassist Siddique Ahmad told the BBC, adding that he felt after decades of civil war, younger Afghanis were looking to put tribal identities behind them. "One Afghan, that's it," he said.

Another Nation Jumps on the Abkhazia Bandwagon

The would-be nations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia received a Christmas present of sorts - more international recognition of their independence. Since the August 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia over the two Georgian regions, official recognition has been hard to come by for the two fledgling states; so far only Venezuela and Nicaragua have agreed with Russia that the two regions are actually independent nations.

But now another country has joined the list, the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru. Never heard of it? You're not alone, I'd be willing to guess few people in either Abkhazia or South Ossetia knew of its existence either before the Nauruans opened diplomatic relations with them. Nauru is the smallest island state in the world, in fact with a population of just 12,000, it's so small that it's the only nation in the world without a capital city. So why would a tiny speck of a nation in the Pacific bother to get involved with post-Soviet politics half a world away? Likely for money.

Nauru's recognition comes as Russia grants the island state a loan of $50 million, money Nauru desperately needs. Nauru's economy had been largely built around an enormous phosphate mine at the center of the island - the result of centuries of accumulated droppings from migrating birds. But the guano mine played out in the 1980's, plunging the nation into a financial crisis. Nauru enjoyed a brief reprise as a money-laundering center, but international regulations put a stop to that as well; the country cannot even rely on tourism since according to Wikipedia: "there is little to see or do here, the climate is very unpleasant, and there are few facilities for tourists." The CIA estimates the economy is in such dire straits that Nauru lacks the funds to even have a functioning government.

Russia's loan is likely enough to keep Nauru solvent for the better part of the next two years. Of course the bigger question is why does Russia care about establishing Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent nations anyway?

The conventional wisdom is that supporting the independence claims of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is a way for Russia to rebuild its sphere of influence in the world. While it's hard to disagree with this notion, even the great minds in the Kremlin have to realize that no one will ever confuse Russia and a collection of statelets like Abkhazia, South Ossetia and perhaps Transdniestria for the Soviet Union. The deep personal dislike between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Georgia's Mikhail Saakashvili also likely has something to do with Russia's strategy - nothing would make Saakashvili look worse than to officially lose to sizable chunks of his country's territory; Putin, meanwhile, would revel in the embarrassment of his Caucasus adversary.

But one factor - a major factor that is being overlooked - in Russia's drive to get international recognition for the two regions are the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Like Sochi, with whom it shares a Black Sea coastline, Abkhazia was once part of the "Soviet Rivera" - the favored vacation retreat for the Soviet elite. The Sochi region shares a border with Abkhazia (the places are so close, Georgia even tried unsuccessfully to get the Olympic committee to move the 2014 Winter Games in the wake of the 2008 conflict citing "security concerns"). Russia is hoping the Winter Games will spark a resurgence of the Sochi region as a world-class resort destination, and Abkhazia factors into their plans, both as a source of cheap labor and material in the run-up to the 2014 Games and in their post-Olympics development plans as well. Of course this makes a lot more sense from the Russian point of view if Abkhazia is a compliant satellite state rather than a region of their regional competitor, Georgia.

With the Winter Olympics being seen as a coming out party for the "new" post-Soviet Russia and Abkhazia factoring into their Sochi plans, don't be surprised if the Russian government doesn't dole out more foreign aid to some pretty unusual corners of the globe.

China May Build Foreign Military Base

In a sign that China is seeing itself as a growing world power, the Chinese military is discussing building a permanent naval base in the Middle East. It's a move their admirals say is necessary if China is going to continue to participate in anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia.

China joined international efforts at curbing piracy last year. The action was a milestone change in Chinese military planning - it was the first time the navy of the People's Republic had operated so far from Chinese territorial waters and the first time naval vessels from China had engaged in a mission to Africa in 600 years, since the time of the treasure fleets of the Ming Dynasty.

China is currently the world's largest importer of oil, much of it from the Persian Gulf and Africa, so a navy base in the region to protect their energy interests makes strategic sense. But it is also a sure sign of China's growing military clout and desire to be a player in matters of international security, desires that are sure to be met with unease by some other world governments.

Russia Launches Its Own "Cash for Clunkers"

In another effort to boost their domestic auto industry, Russia's Trade Ministry has announced their own version of the "Cash for Clunkers" rebate program for 2010. Under the terms of the program, Russians can get a certificate worth 50,000 rubles (or $1,650) towards the purchase of a new, more fuel efficient, Russian-built car.

Some Russians though think that domestic cars like Ladas are clunkers the moment they roll off the assembly line. One critic I read in an article a little while ago asked if Russian cars were so good why then do government officials drive German luxury sedans rather than home-built models? In recent years imported foreign-built used cars have been more popular with Russia's emerging middle class than new domestic autos. This prompted the government's last effort to boost domestic production - the slapping of a 50% tariff on imported used cars at the end of 2007, a move that sparked public protests in the port city of Vladivostok, which had a thriving cottage industry in importing used cars from Japan.

Russia's "Cash for Clunkers" is planned to run throughout 2010.

Pirates Spark Housing Price Boom

Just to prove that they deserved the "Capitalists of the Year" award, the Somali pirates are being accused of sparking a boom in housing prices in neighboring Kenya. Officials in Nairobi say that housing prices in some neighborhoods have tripled in just the past five years; by contrast they it should take at least 10 years for prices to double, given normal economic growth. The reason for the property price boom appears to be money flooding in from pirate activity in Somalia. One real estate agent interviewed by the AP said that it is not uncommon for Somalis to pay double the asking price of a property just to complete the sale quickly.

This has sparked charges that the Somali pirates are using the purchase of Kenyan houses as a way of laundering money. According to the US State Department, thanks to lax banking regulations, Kenya is a prime center for money laundering. Some Somali pirates though say that the property purchases are more of a retirement plan than an attempt to hide wealth. One pirate named Abdulle said: "I have invested through my brother, who is representing me, in Nairobi. He's got a big shop that sells clothes and general merchandise, so my future lies there, not in the piracy industry."

Meanwhile the pirates have started 2010 off with a bang by capturing four ships. Among them are two chemical tankers and the "Asian Glory" a cargo ship carrying automobiles to Saudi Arabia. Somali pirates normally do not steal the cargo of the ships they capture, instead they make their money in ransoming the ship and crew, but the automobiles could make for a lucrative payday if they can figure out a way to get them off of the ship. Thanks to 20 years of neglect, most of Somalia's port facilities are in total disrepair, meaning that there's no easy way to off-load bulk items - like automobiles.

It's estimated that pirate clans are currently holding a dozen ships and more than 250 crewmembers.

Democracy Not Worth It, Says Presidential Candidate

It's kind of disturbing when a presidential candidate questions the whole point of democracy, but that's basically what Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych did last week. During an interview with the Associated Press last week Yanukovych said that he thought Ukraine's pro-democracy "Orange Revolution" in 2004 wasn't worth the upheaval it cost for the country.

The whole Orange Revolution was sparked in the first place by Yanukovych's attempts to rig the results in the 2004 presidential election. Eventually the massive street protests would see his challenger Viktor Yushchenko swept into power. But the promises of the Orange Revolution have turned out to be hollow for many Ukrainians. The government has spent the past few years in virtual gridlock as the camps of President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko fought for control over the nation. Meanwhile Ukraine has suffered badly during the global recession; the economy has contracted by 15% this year alone, while they've relied on billions in loans from the International Monetary Fund just to keep their currency afloat.

The situation is so bad that Yanukovych is now leading in the polls for the presidential elections to be held later this month. He's pledging to nix membership in NATO and to rebuild relations with Russia - ideas that are playing well in eastern Ukraine, which has a large ethnic Russian population, while causing unease in western (and pro-Western) Ukraine. His main challenger is PM Tymoshenko, who Yanukovych has been slamming for allowing Ukraine's government to become corrupt and ineffective.

"Democracy is above all rule of law," Yaunkovych said to the AP. "In these five years we have seen how the laws have been systematically broken, how the principles of the law have been replaced by political expediency."

Tymoshenko and Yanukovych will likely face off in a run-off election in February.