All Trought about politic at Ukraine

A FOREIGN dictator with an ''appalling'' human rights record and links to murders of his political opponents will have two runners in Victoria's spring racing carnival.

Chechnyan President Ramzan Kadyrov - who was described as ''a new Stalin'' by a journalist weeks before she was assassinated - is preparing the gelding Mourilyan for the Melbourne Cup and the stallion Bankable for the Mackinnon Stakes, which is run on Derby Day.

Racing Victoria officials say they are powerless to prevent the former warlord's horses competing or to stop him from cheering them on at Flemington Racecourse.

The Greens leader Bob Brown demanded that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ''intervene and do all he can to stop him and his horses from coming''.

''If this nasty character were to get his hands on the Melbourne Cup, it would be the lowest point in Australia's sporting history,'' Senator Brown said.

Mourilyan is guaranteed a run in the ''race that stops a nation' ... Read more »

In a surprising late-night twist on the eve of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, FOX News has learned President Obama will announce Friday morning a significant expansion of the consortium of countries that tackle global economic and climate change issues.

Obama will tell reporters that the G-20, comprised of 19 industrial and emerging-market countries plus the European Union, will supplant the smaller Group of Eight nations, G-8, as the go-to group for solving the world's economic ills.

"This decision brings to the table the countries needed to build a stronger, more balanced global economy, reform the financial system, and lift the lives of the poorest," the White House said in a statement.

The G8 will retain its national security focus, but be replaced by the broader G-20 on the issues of climate change, financial regulatory reform and global imbalances.

Pre ... Read more »

The military operation by Chechen and Ingush interior ministry forces in the two republics has been in progress for nearly two months now. It appears, however, that the campaign has not brought the desired result. Even the tone of President Kadyrov's speeches on the subject has changed. Back in June he gave his law enforcement agencies a month to return the supposedly last remaining dozen or two "satans" to the nether world, presenting the feasibility of this task as a foregone conclusion. But now his confidence in a swift and conclusive victory has been placed on the back burner. The new strategy of the Islamic insurgents, who this summer have staked their success on the deployment of suicide bombers and terrorists, has for a time at least smudged the adroitly painted picture of Chechen peace and stability.

Kadyrov now has no option but to forget about the defeat his forces have suffered, and restrict himself to talking about how his security officials have ... Read more »

The president of Ukraine has accused the Kremlin of harbouring the men he suspects of poisoning him when he ran for office five years ago, the Sunday Times writes.

Viktor Yushchenko, who was disfigured and nearly died, said Ukraine prosecutors wanted to question three main suspects believed to have fled to Russia. His requests for help have been repeatedly rebuffed by the Kremlin, he claimed.

"The people who organised my poisoning have been in Moscow for the past four years," Yushchenko said. "I've appealed to the Russian president three times."

Yushchenko, 55, said Vladimir Satsyuk, the former deputy head of Ukraine's secret police, was one of the suspects after an investigation by Ukrainian prosecutors in which more than 1,000 people were interviewed. Satsyuk attended a private dinner with Yushchenko when he was running for president in 2004. Ukraine's pro-Russian government at the time was opposed to Yushche ... Read more »

Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama ending their meeting in New York on Wednesday. Also present were Lavrov, left, and Clinton, right.

President Dmitry Medvedev has hinted that Russia might support U.S.-backed sanctions against Iran and praised President Barack Obama’s administration for its decision to scrap the missile shield plan in Central Europe.

But Medvedev’s apparent willingness to cooperate on Iran, which is being widely interpreted as a Russian concession to the United States, does not mark a departure from Moscow’s previous position on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, defense analysts said Thursday.

“We believe we need to help Iran to take a right decision,” Medvedev said after meeting with Obama on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

Medvedev said Russia’s position on new sanctions, whic ... Read more »