Keywords: Russian Prime Minister
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INTERNATIONAL
- Tony Kevin
- 11 August 2014
12 Comments
On Sunday morning Australian time, we learned that the destructive civil war raging in East Ukraine seemed to be drawing to a close, essentially on Kiev’s terms. It appears that the tense test of wills between Russia and the West generated by the crisis, which briefly last week risked a wider war, has ended in a tacit backdown by Moscow.
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AUSTRALIA
- Lawrence Cross
- 27 June 2014
30 Comments
While a number of Cabinet ministers are Christian, their policies seem to lack any Christian emphasis on caring for the poor and disadvantaged. America's interpretation of Christianity is heavily influenced by the doctrine of the theologian John Calvin, according to whom the rich who work hard for their wealth are preparing themselves for heaven, while the poor not only deserve their plight, but may well be abandoned by God.
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AUSTRALIA
- Brian Matthews
- 23 May 2014
6 Comments
In the specialist’s waiting room, I usually while away the hours with quality BYO literary fare. But one day I had left my book in the car, and I searched the reading rack for reading matter on subjects more interesting than the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Australian holiday. Succumbing at last to extreme boredom I got up, slid Soap World from under its ragtag competitors, and all was revealed.
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INTERNATIONAL
Tim Judah, highly regarded historian of the post-Yugoslavia wars of secession, predicted things were about to go very badly in Ukraine. He wrote that in the east he witnessed 'the same brave talk, euphoria, and delusions' that beset Yugoslavs before they 'tipped their country into catastrophe in the 1990s'. Just two weeks later, Ukraine races towards civil war, prompted largely by the provocative clumsiness of Kiev and its Western cheerleaders.
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AUSTRALIA
- Dorothy Horsfield
- 04 April 2012
Among Westerners and locals alike, Moscow seems to be afloat on scurrilous innuendo, focused on Putin's bully-boy tactics, fondness for young women and pathological greed. Still, since the eruption of street protests after last December's parliamentary elections, the narratives appear to be shifting.
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AUSTRALIA
- William Gourlay
- 18 October 2011
16 Comments
First appearing in 1906, the islamic periodical Molla Nasreddin displayed a sardonic and satirical take on women's rights, the role of religion in society and government, press freedom and education. The Arab Spring is the latest expression of this forestalled progressive sentiment.
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AUSTRALIA
The Devil himself could not have better orchestrated Sunday's air tragedy at Smolensk Airport. It was to be a symbolic moment of reconciliation between two neighbouring countries that have been separated by war.
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AUSTRALIA
- Luke Fraser
- 09 September 2009
The relationship between Australia and Russia is over 200 years old. It
began with great promise, but relations cooled following the Russian
Revolution. The financial crisis presents an opportunity for both
countries to look to each other with optimism once again.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 23 April 2009
25 Comments
With uncharacteristic vehemence, Mr Rudd said people smugglers could rot in hell.
This kind of language echoes the tabloid characterisation of people who have done foul deeds as monsters. The Christian view of evil is more complex.
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AUSTRALIA
- Ben Coleridge
- 31 March 2009
4 Comments
The Russian language has two words for whisperer: one who whispers
behind others' backs, and one who whispers for fear of being
heard. Government forces wish emphasise Stalin's achievements as the builder of the country's glorious Soviet past.
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AUSTRALIA
- Tony Kevin
- 31 October 2007
In the early 1990s, a young politician Donald Tusk seemed so Westernised that his chances of ever becoming Polish prime minister were nearly non-existent. Now his moment has arrived.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Brian Matthews
- 27 June 2007
3 Comments
A literary pilgrimage to rural lands near Wellington, NSW, while writing a book about Louisa Lawson. You never arrive: there is no pub, no post office, no CWA; no change in the benign parquetry of land ploughed, harvested, under crop, straggling with native scrub.
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