- 20:09 01/06/2011
In an interview with RIA Novosti’s Samir Shakhbaz, Felix Stanevsky, head of the Caucasus department of the Institute of CIS countries, claims that Georgia will inevitably face major upheavals sooner or later due to its dramatic internal situation. Georgia is living on borrowed money and its economy with exaggerated achievements is built on PR, he believes.
- 13:29 01/06/2011
Over the last month Belarus was pushed to the top of world news, mostly because of its complicated economic situation. The Russian government is thinking about the prospects of joint projects like the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space. Russia is interested in Belarus, but is it interested in Lukashenko as a partner? Which political promises is the Belarus leader ready to offer for real loans? Alexander Fadeyev, head of the Belarus Department at the Institute of CIS Countries in an interview with RIA-Novosti’s Mikhail Yousef shares his views on the Belarus crisis.
- 14:23 30/05/2011
Opposition riots started on May 21 and have been marked by arrests and casualties. Ismail Agakishiev, political scientist and head of the Caucasus Studies Center at the Russian State University for the Humanities, tells RIA Novosti's Samir Shakhbaz that opposition protests can't be described as a revolution and also shares his opinion on the possible remake of Georgia's scenario in neighboring Azerbaijan.
- 20:46 26/05/2011
The opposition protests that started in Georgia on May 21 continued throughout this week. Protesters demand the resignation of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who has lost the U.S. backing he had until quite recently. After what happened in the Middle East during recent months, many believe that we are witnessing a new revolution. Alexei Vlasov, editor-in-chief of the information and analytical Internet portal vestikavkaza.ru in an interview with RIA Novosti’s Mikhail Yousef says the current developments in Georgia are only part of an internecine conflict within the elite and can’t be described a revolution.
- 16:46 25/05/2011
It is still unclear whether the sexual assault charges against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn are more tragedy or farce. However, it is clear that the case will have serious and wide-reaching consequences, primarily for Europe. Sergei Fyodorov, leading fellow from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Europe Institute takes us through the web of political intrigue surrounding the ex-IMF chief in an interview with RIA Novosti’s Mikhail Yousef.
- 18:13 16/05/2011
Humanity is obsessed with Apocalyptic forecasts. Doomsday predictions are made on an almost daily basis. Yet, another Friday the 13th has just gone by without any major catastrophes. Why are we afraid of Friday the 13th? What are the roots of this superstition? Find out in a pre-global-catastrophic edition of 2-minute warning.1
- 19:28 05/05/2011
Thousands of soldiers die every year all over the world defending the ideals of their bosses. Some for freedom, some for freedom of oppression, some kill in the name of god, some just because it’s all they’re good at. But no matter how noble or how low are the causes of the bloodshed, the ideologists of any military carnage, for some reason, are rarely on the battlefield. They prefer to lead from big desks far, far away... Why does it work this way? 2-Minute Warning dares to ask this question.
- 17:30 05/05/2011
While a civil war accompanied by regular NATO airstrikes continues in Libya, massive opposition protests continue to break out in Syria. Can we expect the same scenario in the country that used to be one of the most stable in the region? Were Syrian authorities too late to use force?
- 18:32 03/05/2011
For the last few months Afghanistan was pushed to the background of world news reports, mostly because it was overshadowed by the events in the Middle East. But NATO-led military operation still continues, people are dying there every day and coalition forces seem to be far from achieving their officially declared goals. Oleg Kulakov, a retired colonel, served in the Soviet War in Afghanistan and is now a professor of the Military University in an interview with the chief editor of RussiaProfile.org Andrei Zolotov, Jr. expresses deep doubts about the possibility of a successful end to the current operation in Afghanistan.
- 18:55 29/04/2011
More than three months after North Africa’s first popular uprising caught the world off guard by toppling Tunisia’s long-standing leader, unrest continues to rage across the region. Many in Russia fear rising discontent in the Caucasus, a mainly Muslim region that straddles Russia’s southern border. Viktor Nadein-Rayevsky, a senior fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explains why he thinks the situation in the region is so far under control.
- 18:43 27/04/2011
Global warming has long become one of the hottest topics for scientists, politicians and mass media. While it is posed as a serious threat to humanity, there are many experts who believe that the idea of global warming is being promoted in order to avoid addressing more significant issues or even benefiting from it.
- 20:35 25/04/2011
They are smaller, lighter, faster, shinier, touchier-screenier. And they are eating us alive. Welcome to the Matrix-Terminator Mobile Communication Device Vortex, the seemingly limitless virtual amusement park of today's "knowledge society."
- 18:38 25/04/2011
Over the last few years, Russian-Chinese relations have been maintaining positive dynamics. Both countries have expanded their bilateral economic, security and cultural cooperation and are pursuing similar policies regarding global and regional issues.
- 21:41 21/04/2011
Over the past year alone Moscow was affected by different climate anomalies – last summer’s two-month heat wave, winter’s ice rain and recent April snow. Is it a tendency? If so, what may be next? Nikolai Yelansky, head of the trace gas laboratory at the A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, answers these questions and also claims that due to the growth of worldwide industrial production, weekly work cycles now can influence the global climate.
- 20:18 19/04/2011
When speaking about the arms race, people tend to mention nuclear rather than chemical weapons. But ecologists consider the latter one of the biggest threats to the environment. Professor Sergei Baranovsky, President of Green Cross Russia, tells RIA Novosti’s Samir Shakhbaz what steps are being taken to reduce this threat. He also suggests that environmental ignorance is the main source of many ecological problems in Russia.
- 21:30 15/04/2011
The Fukushima disaster has revived concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants. Russia - with its sad experience after the Kyshtym and Chernobyl tragedies - offered help to Japan, but for some reason it wasn’t accepted immediately. Professor Sergei Baranovsky, President of Green Cross Russia discusses possible ways to reduce the nuclear threat in the world and reflects on whether it is both possible and reasonable to get rid of nuclear energy completely.
- 21:14 12/04/2011
They came, they saw, they... got confused. Operation United Protector - the official name for NATO's operation in Libya -- seems bogged down in the desert, "united" only in name and "protecting" pretty much no one within striking range. Is this perplexing and deadly display of Western firepower a fight for democracy and human dignity? Is it an elaborate, international ruse to foil an eccentric autocrat and "protect" his oil? Taking no sides, at least not seriously, 2-Minute Warning gently lifts the veil of hypocrisy surrounding this Mess in the Maghreb.
- 22:51 31/03/2011
Scarcely a week passes without scientists discovering new “threats to humanity.” These threats are often considerably exaggerated and gladly spread by mass media. Meteorites hitting the Earth, exploding stars, fading Sun, you name it… Sergei Popov, Ph.D., senior research associate at the Sternberg Astronomical Institute, tries to separate the wheat from the chaff to find out where the real danger lies and what just the product of journalists’ fevered imaginations is. He also talks about magnetars – the most extreme form of neutron stars.
- 18:52 31/03/2011
The 13-member coalition, now led by NATO, continues to impose a no-fly zone over the North African country, where civil war has been brewing since mid-February. But what does the operation mean for global multilateralism? And where is it leading the international community? Fyodor Lukyanov, chief editor of the Russia in Global Affairs journal shares his views on the Libya conflict in an interview with the chief editor of RussiaProfile.org, Andrei Zolotov, Jr.
