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| -Short Attention Span Theater- | |
| Putin Disinvites Biden, Prince Chuck From WWII Ceremony | |
| 2010-05-09 | |
| Two princes, a crown prince and a clown prince told to stay home. Peas in a pod. An excerpt: The White House is privately furious at the snub. Boy howdy that's got Vlad shaking in his shoes ...
Pavel Felgenhaur, a defence analyst and columnist with the opposition Novaya Gazeta newspaper, said that Putin had personally decided to kick Prince Charles off the list. "It was entirely his decision," he said. Other sources have confirmed the story. Felgenhaur said the Kremlin was in an uncompromising mood following a string of recent foreign policy successes. These include the overthrow of Ukraine's pro-western government and its replacement by a pro-Russian one, and last month's revolution in Kyrgyzstan, now run by a more Kremlin-friendly administration. For the first time, troops from Britain, France and the US -- the Soviet Union's wartime allies -- are taking part in the victory parade, marching alongside 10,500 Russian soldiers. More than 25 foreign leaders will attend, including France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel. But there will be no senior British figure. Both the UK and US will be represented by their respective ambassadors, Dame Anne Pringle and John Beyrle. Pringle hosted a reception on Thursday at the new British residence in Moscow, along with soldiers from the 2nd Company Battalion the Welsh guards who will march in Red Square. | |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #17 Putin needs Europe to be bad off enough to be paying lots for natural gas, but not so bad off that it actually starts burning its own coal again. At least until Europe doesn't have the capital in place to switch back, just like the US won't really have the will to drill here, drill now until it no longer has the capital to either. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-05-09 22:27 |
| #16 Because, regardless of 'reality' (and I don't think your assessment is entirely accurate), Russia views itself as the 'big dog' when it comes to the Continent. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-05-09 22:25 |
| #15 Russia has every interest in an economically strong, but politically weak Europe. how so? Russia has essentially a third world, commodity-based economy. They sell necessities, not consumer luxury luxuries-- gas and industrial metals like nickel, not cell phones and electronic gadgets. The Euros desperately need Russia's gas and will pay up regardless of how economically strong or weak the euroland economy is. |
| Posted by: lex 2010-05-09 22:02 |
| #14 However, as noted in yesterday's Rant, they did invite a contingent of the Army to march in the VE day celebration. Why invite one and not the other. They know something we don't. Deep chess game going on? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-05-09 21:30 |
| #13 He proved that at Yalta. Fool. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-05-09 19:56 |
| #12 "No one will do better from the coming collapse of euroland than Putin" Ummm no. Russia has every interest in an economically strong, but politically weak Europe. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-05-09 18:18 |
| #11 asan old sovok trained in Soviet protocol and thinking places enormous value on diplomatic "face", prestige and so on. Think of the mafia concept of "respect," and you have a good analogue. You play the diplomatic game with absolute correctness in order to prevent it becoming a weapon. President Obama lost the game with everyone the minute he peremptorily returned Winston's bust. The rest is mere detail -- who will insult us next, and how badly. The representative of the United States being grouped together with a place-holding crown prince (does anyone actually think Prince Charles will ever actually be promoted, damaged goods that he is?) is quite a slap on its own, let alone a disinvite to something all the other kids are going to. But then, our dear Secretary of State stood in front of everybody in Moscow being lectured -- whether by President Medvedev or Prime Minister Putin, I don't remember -- and didn't say boo. This is why smart presidents don't hire amateurs to head State or Defence. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-05-09 16:31 |
| #10 Yeah, big surprise! Russia is not our friend, will not ever be our friend. Roosevelt knew that, Reagan even knew that. Obama needs to put down Ebony and pick up a frikkin' history book. |
| Posted by: Ay Chihuahua 2010-05-09 14:56 |
| #9 "Putin has zero respect for Barry and Biden." Geez, will wonders never cease. Something we can agree with Putin about. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-05-09 14:43 |
| #8 And Joe Biden said: "It's a big fvcking deal!" Guess it is Putin still calling the shots. No one will do better from the coming collapse of euroland than Putin. Russia wrote the book on crises. Makes Rahm Emanuel looks like an amateur. "The Russian doctrine is "Engineer the crisis and reap the goodies." You are right lex: This bunch is clueless. They actually thought that being way left would endear them to dictators throughout the world. GWB also had a blind side with regards to Putin. Fortunately that romance didn't last long. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-05-09 14:25 |
| #7 Obama told Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, he was unable to attend but had confidently offered Biden as his replacement The Chicago way meets the Cheka way. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-05-09 14:08 |
| #6 Putin has zero respect for Barry and Biden. None at all. The chances that Russia will help us on Iran-- hell, the chance that they will not actively aid Iran in every way they can-- are zip, zilch, nichego. |
| Posted by: lex 2010-05-09 12:38 |
| #5 This recent photo of Joe may explain part of of the difficulty. Link |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-05-09 12:35 |
| #4 Also, re Biden and Barry, note that Putin as an old sovok trained in Soviet protocol and thinking places enormous value on diplomatic "face", prestige and so on. Think of the mafia concept of "respect," and you have a good analogue. From his and Russia's standpoint, this is more than a "snub." It is a major policy pronouncement: a neo-USSR is coming, headed by not the party but a criminal state-capitalist class that's perfectly attuned to our era global oligarchs. Putin is signaling that he and his criminalized state perceive a major opportunity to extend their power in the near abroad, beginning with an anschluss with Ukraine-- he's already called for merging the Russian and Ukrainian energy sectors-- and the stans, and an escalation of the bullying and cowing of Germany and western Europe. Are the Baltic states next? |
| Posted by: lex 2010-05-09 12:18 |
| #3 No one will do better from the coming collapse of euroland than Putin. He can't believe his good luck: soaring oil prices, a fat budget surplus, and best of all, a completely clueless and supine US president who is determined to let him have his way across the former USSR. Putin's personal fortunes are soaring, his power within Russia is unchallenged, his and his fellow thieves' ability to bully the near abroad has never been greater, and what remains of the West will be even more distracted and compliant than before-- especially his cat's paw, Germany. Win-win-win-win, as Tommy Boy Friedman would say. |
| Posted by: lex 2010-05-09 12:11 |
| #2 Well, now we know who the real smartest people in the room are. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-05-09 12:09 |
| #1 IDIOTS mumblemumble mumblemumblemumbleGODDAMN RESET BUTTONmumblemumblemumble |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-05-09 12:06 |
