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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Putin's foreign policy |
| 2006-05-30 |
| In his recent State of the Nation speech, President Vladimir Putin said that "Russia's modern foreign policy is based on the principles of pragmatism, predictability and the supremacy of international law." That seems clear-cut if you forget that recent events have shown that pragmatism overrules predictability and international law whenever it serves Putin's concept of Russia's self-interest. Various groups among his cronies press Putin with different conceptions of where that self-interest lies. A visiting Russian scholar at Chatham House (Yury E. Fedorov) recently identified the different groups trying to bend Putin's ear. (His talk, "Boffins and Buffoons," can be found at the Chatham House Web site). |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 predictability Yes, we have it down. Predictability, as in.... we can never, ever, phueching trust you! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-05-30 10:29 |
| #2 Joe, Congratulations! That was the most readable of your comments I have ever seen! Don't forget though that Russia has potentially vast reserves under the arctic ocean (as does the US, Canada and Denmark) which will become more accessible if the current warming trend continues. |
| Posted by: DanNY 2006-05-30 07:06 |
| #1 Officials within Putin's own govt. admit that Russia's oil and gas reserves will run out within 20-plus years, while the women will be basically paid little to nothing per year [ruble-wise]for having babies to save Socialist Russia from itself. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-05-30 03:26 |