Here we go again: Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas and oil giant, has announced that it is cutting off gas supplies to Ukraine from 10 o’clock in the morning, Moscow time, on January 1, 2009. Happy New Year, Ukraine! Just like in the past, Moscow has been threatening Kiev for the last several weeks, saying that it owed Gazprom a lot of money, this time more than $2 billion for using good old Russian gas in November and December, plus [...]

Martin McCauley writes: Chinese citizens are being advised by their government not to splash out too much over the festive season which culminates in New Year celebrations in February. This is a stark reminder that Beijing expects 2009 to be a very harsh year in economic terms. In other words, the boom times are over and it is time to face stark reality. The Communist Party of China’s legitimacy has always rested on its ability to improve the living standards [...]

Thomas Mathew writes: It is sad that it has taken more than eleven years for the Bishops of the Anglican Church to finally realise what many Christians have known for a long time: that the Labour government has been introducing policies that have nothing to do with morality and decency. Still, better late than never, as they say, so I can only welcome the decision of the five of the Anglican Church most senior leaders to speak out publicly against [...]

I find it quite remarkable that US President-elect Barack Obama has already been voted personality of the year by several publications, including the American Time magazine and the British The Times newspaper. Hacks are saying that the United States would be revived under Obama’s leadership. Let the good times roll, they write. Let the party begin. I am sorry, but what is it exactly that Obama has done to deserve this accolade? Win the presidential election in November in the [...]

Martin McCauley writes: President Boris Tadic of Serbia and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, have just signed a deal in Moscow. It passes 51 per cent of the Serbian state owned company, NIS, to Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of the Russian state gas and oil giant, Gazprom. The latter has promised to build a gas pipeline through Serbia and a gas storage facility there. It is hard to imagine what could be worse for Serbia. So why has Belgrade agreed [...]

I believe that certain people are just not cut out to doing certain jobs. Like running the country, for example, or adopting new laws in parliament, or presenting shows on TV and radio, or practicing law, or designing buildings, or sitting on local planning committees, or editing newspapers and magazines and writing for them. Yes, that last category is very important because editors and journalists shape public opinion and influence the way people see the world. And if they are [...]

Alex Nekrassov writes: It took Jorgan Klinsmann, the former star of German and English football and former manager of the German national team, to actually say what many people have been thinking: that the fate of the English Premiership was hanging in the balance as the world financial crisis wiped out vast personal fortunes and left the once mighty sponsors of football struggling for their survival. Klinsmann said that he anticipated leading English clubs, Chelsea and Liverpool, in particular, taking [...]

It is amazing how we, at StirringTouble, often predict things correctly. Back in the summer of 2008 many commentators were saying that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was about to be ousted by his own people. You may not remember this, but many seasoned observers were claiming that Brown was finished and that it was just a matter of time before he would go. Foreign Secretary David Milliband was touted as the most likely contender for the top job. But we, [...]

Martin McCauley writes: The United States have had ample opportunities to deploy and test new weapons during the conflicts in the Gulf, in the former Yugoslavia and in Afghanistan. One of the systems in question, the cruise missile, has proven to have a devastating effect on the enemy. And it has the advantage of being launched from the air, sea or land. The first air-to-surface missile was actually used on August 27, 1943 by the German Luftwaffe against the British [...]

As we look back on the articles that we have been posting on our website during the past year we find some pieces that were not only funny and entertaining but contained some constructive proposals in them. As talk about who is going to win the British Academy Television Awards (Baftas) in 2009 has already started, we thought we might join the debate, in our own, peculiar sort of way, and post an article that we had written all the [...]