Monthly Archives: March 2007

The Road to Okha

Posted on March 27, 2007 by Tim Newman

This picture was taken near Okha, the town in the very north of Sakhalin Island, and serves well to show what the roads can be like in Russia when the snow starts to melt. (Picture via “boichello“)

Posted in Sakhalin | 13 Comments

Of Murders Past and Present

Posted on March 25, 2007 by Tim Newman

With there having recently been the high-profile assasinations of Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko, and Andrei Kozlov and the mysterious death of Ivan Safronov who fell from a window, more than a few people are worried about whether Russia will return … Continue reading →

Posted in Russia | Comments Off

The Thaw Begins

Posted on March 24, 2007 by Tim Newman

Despite us still getting some fluffy snow falling in the evenings, the spingtime thaw is rapidly taking hold in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.  The mountains of snow which lined the streets are slowly receding, and in many places the tarmac surface of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Sakhalin | 1 Comment

A Weekend at Okhotskoe

Posted on March 20, 2007 by Tim Newman

Last weekend my wife and I went with four other couples to spend the weekend in Okhotskoe, where there is a little place which rents a couple of chalets and has barbecue facilities along with a banya.  The chalets were … Continue reading →

Posted in Photos, Sakhalin | 4 Comments

Andrew Meier’s Visit to Sakhalin

Posted on March 12, 2007 by Tim Newman

A couple of years ago I bought a book called Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia After The Fall by Andrew Meier, and American journalist who spent 1996 to 2001 as Time magazine’s Moscow correspondent.  For one reason or another I … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Sakhalin | 1 Comment

Russian Salaries

Posted on March 12, 2007 by Tim Newman

It is a well known fact that Russian salaries are very poor, with the average monthly wage in many Russian towns being little more than a few hundred dollars, which is often barely enough to live on.  In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the wages … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Russia | 5 Comments

SakhalinExpats.com

Posted on March 10, 2007 by Tim Newman

Since I moved to Sakhalin 6 months ago, a fair number of people have contacted me after reading this blog to ask questions on what life is like here, what kind of accommodation is on offer, etc., usually with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Sakhalin | 2 Comments

More on PSAs

Posted on March 8, 2007 by Tim Newman

With thanks to a lot of help from Tim Worstall I have managed to get an article on the use of Production Sharing Agreements in Iraq published on TCS Daily.  You can read it here.

Posted in Oil & Gas | 1 Comment

Russian Women Shot in Pattaya

Posted on March 4, 2007 by Tim Newman

This story has been all over the Russian news for the last week or two, along with grisly TV pictures: THE bodies of two young Russian women, apparently shot by the Thai mafia, were found slumped in deckchairs on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Russia | 3 Comments

PSAs and Ignorance

Posted on March 1, 2007 by Tim Newman

There is an article in yesterday’s Asia Times by a Pepe Escobar, which has been seized on by a number of left-wing blogs as evidence that the war in Iraq is all about securing reserves for US oil companies.  Mr … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq, Oil & Gas | 9 Comments