The Russian view.

Post #387,788 by mmoffitt 3/21/14 9:33:37 AM Reply	The Russian view. All this has made Putin confident, very confident Â confident that European elites are more concerned about making money than standing up to him. The evidence is there. After RussiaÂs strike force reached the outskirts of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, in 2008, there were statements and bluster, but not a squeak about RussiaÂs billions. After RussiaÂs opposition were thrown into show trials, there were concerned letters from the European Union, but again silence about RussiaÂs billions. The Kremlin thinks it knows EuropeÂs dirty secret now. The Kremlin thinks it has the European establishment down to a tee. The grim men who run PutinÂs Russia see them like latter-day Soviet politicians. Back in the 1980s, the USSR talked about international Marxism but no longer believed it. Brussels today, Russia believes, talks about human rights but no longer believes in it. Europe is really run by an elite with the morality of the hedge fund: Make money at all costs and move it offshore. The Kremlin sees its evidence in the former leaders of Britain, France and Germany. Tony Blair now advises the dictatorship in Kazakhstan on how to improve its image in the West. Nicholas Sarkozy was contemplating setting up a hedge fund with money from absolutist Qatar. And Gerhard Schroder is the chairman of the Nord Stream consortium Â a majority Gazprom-owned pipeline that connects Russia directly to Germany through the Baltic Sea. Russia is confident there will be no Western economic counterattack. They believe the Europeans will not sanction the Russian oligarch money. They believe Americans will not punish the Russian oligarchs by blocking their access to banks. Russia is certain a military counterattack is out of the question. They expect America to only posture. Cancel the G-8? Who cares? http://www.politico....-west-104134.html I don't agree with the article entirely, but he makes some valid points, imo.
Post #387,793 by Ashton 3/21/14 5:25:15 PM Reply	Will get a-round-tuit anon; meanwhile.. That excerpt is no .. mere soupçon of truthiness!, I wot. It, fucking- Rocks! Hedge Funds Ūber Alles, Indeed My Country 'tis of thee sweet Hedge Fund of Ayn-Rand-Land; of Thee we sing ... (and the Refrain: cha. cha. cha.) Yep, another few rounds of depraved fairy-tale-speak must ensue.. but the zeitgeist in this 4th-rate Pretenderdom is ... Toast spread with Hypocrisy-berry marmalade. Couldn't Re-pass that ancient Bill-of-Rights thing here (over the $$Overlords' pocket-veto) even with infusions of Advertainment-cash from a squad (are there than many?) of Benevolent Billionaires.. a'tryin to erase some of their karma ... before they meet Siva. I wot. Carrion, after this dessert-before-the-Meal.
Post #387,838 by dmcarls 3/22/14 11:13:22 PM Reply	What about this? >>> They believe Americans will not punish the Russian oligarchs by blocking their access to banks. [...] How Obama Crippled a Russian Bank with a Stroke of a Pen "Obama yesterday authorized the Treasury Department to add 20 members of PutinÂs inner circle, as well as Bank Rossiya, to the Office of Foreign Asset ControlÂs list of Âspecially designated nationals.Â [...] http://news.yahoo.co...c=sun?_devicefull
Post #387,841 by boxley 3/23/14 12:21:58 AM Reply	finally a real sanction, glad the president stepped up Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 58 years. meep
Post #387,845 by Ashton 3/23/14 12:43:54 AM Reply	Well, given that top-oligarchs give allegiance to no one.. (USAians or Russians) and given that our government is appointed by the same Class: clearly international finance is itself a Rogue State. What think? Their 'Cosa' (Nostra) seems to work effectively at bypassing all legal constraints Here.. Why not There? Gaming the (any) System is the means to the end of rendering all legal restraints impotent--did Murica imagine it had a monopoly? Unclear if this will be an engaging )or merely boring) soap opera, next. Place bets.
Post #387,923 by Ashton 3/26/14 3:19:17 AM 3/26/14 3:30:27 AM Reply	Hold on.. The Alaska View has emerged.. + Terry Gross today http://www.dailykos....17-000-signatures Love. It. We. must. embrace. the. Orthogonal. becausee the regular stuff has become soggy, mean and hard-to-light ..like cigarette butts in the urinal. Ed: PS Heard today on Fresh Air/npr A Russian-Crimean History Lesson Terry Gross gets a Ukrainian, Crimean and Russian history lesson for help understanding what's going on in the region today. She talks with Kimberly Marten, professor of political science at Barnard College and deputy director of development at Columbia's Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian and East European studies. Podcast: http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/ This lady seemed to have Putin's MO to a fare-thee-well, answering Terry's (usually al punte) questions without hesitation, and with examples. Obviously her career has been enmeshed with USSR-->present matters, in detail as would be bearable only to a genuine adept (or addict?) Edited by Ashton March 26, 2014, 03:30:27 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #387,924 by Another Scott 3/26/14 6:52:11 AM Reply	Thanks for the Fresh Air episode pointer. Bookmarked.
Post #387,927 by boxley 3/26/14 8:46:05 AM Reply	much of the bush Alaska doesnt have ready access to the internet. They are the ones who have a longer institutional memory of russia's occupation of alaska. They do carry a lot of votes. There is a reason the word for white people in yupik is gussaq (cossack) the rape and pillage back in the day was not much different than what happens in Anchorage now. Hey wait a minute..... Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 58 years. meep
Post #387,931 by a6l6e6x 3/26/14 1:27:30 PM Reply	The NPR podcast was quite good. My only beef is that the professor low-balled the number death in the early 1930's famine in Ukraine. It was in the 7-8 million range or over twice what she said. Alex ÂThere is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.Â -- Isaac Asimov
Post #387,932 by drook 3/26/14 1:51:57 PM Reply	Honest disagreement or obfuscation? What I mean is, are there multiple reasonable estimates with a wide range and she used the low one, or is she quoting official numbers that intentionally understate the reality? -- Drew
Post #387,946 by a6l6e6x 3/26/14 6:00:30 PM Reply	There are no official numbers. Officially there was no famine. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor Alex ÂThere is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.Â -- Isaac Asimov
Post #387,951 by drook 3/26/14 7:45:20 PM Reply	I wouldn't claim Wikipedia as authoritative source, but ... That confirms my suspicion that she was using the lowest "acceptable" estimate. No matter what number she had used, people on one side or the other would feel she was playing politics. Off-topic: "Holodomor" sounds like something from Lord of the Rings. -- Drew
Post #387,982 by a6l6e6x 3/27/14 12:44:50 PM Reply	OT: "Holod" is the word for hunger. Alex ÂThere is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.Â -- Isaac Asimov
Post #418,092 by mmoffitt 5/11/17 9:15:29 AM 5/11/17 9:15:29 AM Reply	"famine" тоже, нет? bcnu, Mikem It's mourning in America again.
Post #418,102 by a6l6e6x 5/11/17 2:48:57 PM 5/11/17 2:48:57 PM Reply	да, тоже Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #418,090 by CRConrad 5/11/17 6:05:39 AM 5/11/17 6:05:39 AM Reply	Also, and perhaps more aptly, sounds like something else that begins with Holo- No, not hologram or holodeck.

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