Eurozone crisis: reform fatigue a key trend says EBRD chief counsel

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Ruth Green

Here is my latest piece published in the IBA Global Insight newsfeed:

Following in the footsteps of its Eurozone neighbours Spain, Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus, fears of deteriorating growth this week saw Italy become the latest country to fall victim to Standard & Poor’s credit downgrading.

As this most recent downgrading demonstrates, the challenges facing the European financial markets are numerous and increasingly complex.

During a plenary session at Session 480, ‘The Rule of Law in a Globalized World’, at the Salzburg Global Seminar, Carlos Primo Braga, Special Representative and Director for Europe External Affairs at the World Bank, and Michel Nussbaumer, chief counsel of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), spoke about the short-term and long-term prospects and challenges to growth in Europe.

Published on 23-09-11. Read on here

Rosneft embraces new western partner after abortive BP deal

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Ruth Green

Here is my latest piece published in the IBA Global Insight newsfeed:

The news this week that ExxonMobil has signed a deal with Rosneft to explore oil and gas reserves in Russia’s Arctic shelf has ruffled more than a few feathers.

As IBA Global Insight reported earlier this year, after initial excitement, BP and Rosneft’s momentous US$16bn share swap deal quickly fell apart following a dispute with Russian investors in TNK-BP (BP’s existing Russian joint venture).

BP was eventually forced to pull out of the tie-up in May and the fiasco was an embarrassment for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had previously endorsed the deal.

Published on 02-09-11. Read on here

On the record

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Ruth Green

Here is my latest article published in Prospect:

Through Wikileaks, phone-hacking, and the obstacles facing journalists across the Middle East, the traditional practices of the media industry have come up against many challenges over the past year. According to Reporters Without Borders, around 57 journalists were killed last year in connection with their work. This month a new play On the Record arrives at London’s Arcola Theatre, dramatizing the dangers faced by the world’s independent journalists.

Stories about journalists are usually reported either in print or in documentaries, so it is rather novel that Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted-Breen have decided to bring the stories of six real-life journalists to the stage. As Birksted-Breen notes, “it has been a challenge, as obviously the relationship between the actors and the audience is quite different in documentary theatre compared with film documentaries. There isn’t a lot of theatre about journalism and when there is, it’s usually satirising journalism. We really wanted to show how big a difference there is between independent journalism and mainstream media.”

Published on 26-07-11. Read on here

The Belarusian 'Clapping' Revolution

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Ruth Green

My first blog for Huffington Post UK:

While strikes and protests the world over have dominated much of the news this year, the Belarusians are adopting a rather unusual form of anti-government protest: clapping.

In what has now become a weekly ritual that has steadily gathered momentum, on Wednesday hundreds of people once again lined the streets and clapped in silence. Why clapping you might ask? Well in June, Russian news agency Ria-Novosti reported that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had placed a ban on all forms of protest. So the Belarusians are getting their own back now and instead of chanting or holding banners and placards, they merely stand in silence and clap their hands in a taunting gesture to protest against Lukashenko’s government.

Published on 12-07-11. Read on here

Medvedev has failed to protect judiciary

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Ruth Green

Here is my latest article published in the Guardian:

A leading senior Russian judge, Eduard Chuvashov, was assassinated in Moscow on Monday morning. Chuvashov was a judge in many high-profile trials involving extremist organisations and was renowned for his tough sentencing of groups such as the notorious Russian fascist group, the White Wolves.

Published on 16-04-10. Read on here

Ruth Green

International Freelance Journalist

Category Archives: Eastern Europe

Eurozone crisis: reform fatigue a key trend says EBRD chief counsel

Rosneft embraces new western partner after abortive BP deal

On the record

The Belarusian 'Clapping' Revolution

Medvedev has failed to protect judiciary