Section: Business Insider (USA)
The Soviet Union’s fall led to an alarming nuclear failure that informs today’s nuclear crisis
The collapse of the Soviet Union created one of the biggest security challenges of recent decades: The task of securing fissile material left unguarded after the empire’s rapid collapse and transferring thousands of forward-deployed Soviet nuclear warheads to places where they would stay out of the wrong hands. The international community...
Putin isn’t reviving the USSR — he’s creating a fascist state
Russian President Vladimir Putin has memorably called the breakup of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics a tragedy, and that has led many to believe that he is hoping to restore the old USSR as he consolidates control within Russia and projects military power outward into Ukraine and beyond. However, the government Putin is building in...
Putin is going to extreme lengths to hide Russian soldiers who died fighting in Ukraine
Russia is using crematoriums on wheels to burn the bodies of its soldiers who die fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine, Bloomberg’s Josh Rogin reports. “The Russians are trying to hide their casualties by taking mobile crematoriums with them,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry told Rogin. “They...
REPORTS: Russia abandons its Mistral warship deal with France
Russia has given up on its €1.2 billion deal for two Mistral-class helicopter carriers with France, according to reports. Following Russia’s alleged role in supporting separatist militia in eastern Ukraine, French President François Hollande had imposed two conditions necessary for the sale. These were a cease-fire that was being observed...
Putin’s dream of reuniting the Russian empire is falling apart
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dream of uniting the self-declared separatist republics in eastern Ukraine under the banner of Novorossiya, or New Russia, was put on hold indefinitely last week as Moscow moves to abide by the terms of February’s ceasefire deal. Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian...
The Russian government is taking on Android and the iPhone with its own mobile operating system
The global smartphone race is largely a two-horse race between two American companies, Apple and Google — and the Russian government isn’t happy. The Russian minister of communications has announced plans to develop a new, Russian-built mobile operating system (OS), ZDNet reports, citing a report on the Russian-language news site RBC....
Putin is risking a clash with the IMF over Russia’s $3 billion loan to Ukraine
President Vladimir Putin is warning that he could call in Russia’s $3 billion loan to Ukraine at any time, a move that would spark a stand-off with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Under the terms of the original 2013 deal, negotiated with then President Viktor Yanukoych who fled the country last year following massive anti-government...
Conservative newcomer Duda wins Polish presidential cliffhanger
Warsaw (AFP) – Conservative opposition challenger Andrzej Duda on Sunday won Poland’s presidential run-off, exit polls showed, trumping incumbent centrist Bronislaw Komorowski on promises of generous social spending.An MEP and lawyer with a populist streak, Duda scored 53 percent support ahead of Komorowski, who mustered 47 percent,...
What it’s like to be a Google intern, and how to get a job there when you graduate
Rohan Shah is 22, and he’s a software engineer at Google. He was offered the job just before his senior year of college at the University of Illinois, but his career with Google started six months prior, in January 2013, when he was 20. Then, Shah remembers receiving an email from his dream employer. The search giant – the best company to...
Bearded queen Conchita kicks off Eurovision jamboree
Vienna (Austria) (AFP) – Austrian bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst, resplendent in a sparkly, backless purple outfit, floated onto the stage in Vienna Saturday to begin the 60th Eurovision Song Contest, Europe’s annual anything-goes pop fest.The difference this year for the clash of the catchy, corny and camp watched by around 200...
