April 1:
Russians are among the unhappiest people in the world, a new survey of global age and happiness has found. The Washington Post, citing data compiled by the Brookings Institution’s Carol Graham, reports that life in Russia is marked by a steady decline in happiness until late old age – a marked contrast to much of the rest of the world. Happiness tends to look like “a U-shaped curve, with the low point...being at roughly age 40 around the world,” the Post cites Graham as concluding. Except in Russia, that is, where the low point is not reached until age 91 – a point that most Russians (where the average life expectancy for males hovers around 60 years of age) never live to see. “What’s going on in Russia is deep unhappiness,” Graham says.
April 3:
Japan Today reports that Tokyo is poised to cancel a visit to Moscow this month by Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida, as tensions between Moscow and the West deepen over Crimea and Ukraine. The Japanese government had planned to go ahead with the state visit even after the tabling of the planned G-8 foreign ministers’ meeting in late April, but the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to have closed ranks with Washington and Europe over the need to pressure the Kremlin for its conduct, says the paper.
A trio of big-name music labels are taking aim at Russian social media for rampant piracy and copyright infringement. London’s Guardian newspaper reports that Sony Music Russia, Universal Music Russia, and Warner Music UK – all of which are subsidiaries of what are known as the “big three” recording industry companies – have each filed copyright infringement suits against vKontakte, commonly known as the “Russian Facebook.” The lawsuits allege that the social media platform has generated an unlicensed music service and actively promoted “large-scale piracy.” The record companies are demanding damages totaling as much as $1.4 million from the alleged copyright infringements.
April 4:
The Moscow Times reports that fast food giant McDonald’s has shuttered its three restaurants in Crimea. The closure of the storefronts in Sevastopol, Semfiropol and Yalta, announced by the chain’s corporate office, will continue “indefinitely.” The cause is cited as “manufacturing reasons,” but observers are ascribing political motives to the move. LDPR head Vladimir Zhirinovsky has called for activists to picket “every McDonald’s branch” in retaliation.
April 5:
Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is blasting Russia’s state natural gas firm, Gazprom, for hiking prices for its gas deliveries to his country. Yatsenyuk has termed Gazprom’s new rate – which has been increased by more than 80% - to be tantamount to “economic aggression.” "Russia was unable to seize Ukraine by means of military aggression. Now they are implementing plans to seize Ukraine through economic aggression," Yatsenyuk said in comments carried by the Wall Street Journal.
[EDITORS’ NOTE: Russian economic pressure has not stopped at energy price hikes. Now that Crimea is in Russian hands, Moscow is demanding a refund from Kyiv for years of lease payments for the naval base at Sevastopol. Gazprom chief Alexei Miller has said that Ukraine’s previous, low gas price was pre-payment for Russian navy’s use of the Black Sea port – and that the Ukrainian government should now repay the $11.4 billion that it saved as a result.]
April 6:
Russia’s incursion is beginning to take an economic toll on Crimea. The Moscow Times reports that Raiffeisen Bank Aval a subsidiary of Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank, has announced that it plans to close all of its branches in Crimea this month “because of the changes in the region’s geopolitical situation.” The announcement comes on the heels of the closure of all 339 branches of Ukraine’s Privat bank on the peninsula back in March.
Analysts have predicted that the drastic increase in gas prices for Ukraine by Gazprom - Russia’s state natural gas giant - could ultimately cause the company to lose close to $2 billion in revenue this year. According to the Moscow Times, experts have warned that the 80 percent price hike would devastate Ukraine’s struggling economy and force the country to decrease its level of oil purchases. Moreover, Gazprom’s pressure could have an effect on Russia’s energy relationship with Europe; because about half of Europe’s Russian supplied gas flows through and is stored in Ukraine, Russia could become unable to fulfill its European export contracts.
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