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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia now looks like a gangster state, led by a vindictive and ruthless thug.
2006-11-30
Note this is UPI and SpaceWar.com making the claim.
Whatever the truth behind the bizarre murder by radiation poisoning of former Russian intelligence Col. Alexander Litvinenko, he has managed in death to tarnish the image of his country and its leaders. Russia now looks like a gangster state, led by a vindictive and ruthless thug.

Yet most of the governments of the West shrug this aside and continue to do business as usual. Earlier this month, the United States signed a protocol with Russia that will ease its way into the World Trade Organization. Last Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Helsinki trying to negotiate a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the European Union. Had it not been for the objections of Poland over a Russian ban on Polish meat exports, a new free trade deal between Russia and the EU would very likely have been under way.

"We have looked at the problems of the world with, probably, I would not make a mistake if I said, the same eyes," commented the EU's top foreign policy official, Javier Solana.
Posted by:3dc

#11  "Russia now looks like a gangster state, led by a vindictive and ruthless thug."

And this is different from the old days how, exactly....?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2006-11-30 15:33  

#10  Precisely, Zen. Thay like having us occupied with muzzie crazies. It keeps the heat off of them. Same deal with China.
Posted by: mojo   2006-11-30 14:50  

#9  Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union it has always amused me to hear people whinge about how "The Russian mafia this" or "The Russian gangsters that".

I just smile and say how all that really happened is they merely took off their uniforms. Other than that, there has been little if any change, save for the worse, if that is even possible.

RasPutin's blatant triangulating with Iran has been disappointing but I'd sure hope that no one thinks it was entirely unexpected. When it comes to hard currency, Russia works both sides of the street like a jonesing crack whore.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-11-30 12:33  

#8  There are two leadership doctrines that are popular today, centralized or decentralized. That is, if the "big boss" is the center of things, that the purpose of the organization is to back the big boss, then it is centralized. If the "big boss" represents the organization, and executes based on his judgement the group consensus, then it is decentralized.

In a nutshell, Mafia bosses, Bill Clinton, and Putin are in the former category. They see the purpose of the entire system is to support them, and what they want, goes. Loyalty is to the big boss, not the system.

The other form of leadership is much harder, but often gives far more satisfactory results. The leader is just the greatest among peers, and though his is the final decision, he avoids going against the consensus of his near-peers. All of them serve the system instead of the man. And they make far fewer rash, if emotionally satisfying, decisions because of it.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2006-11-30 10:19  

#7  Russia now looks like a gangster state, led by a vindictive and ruthless thug.

And the description differs from Stalin how?
Posted by: Procopius2K   2006-11-30 10:10  

#6  Same here latest j2re no problem with FireFox and JAVA. Preview always works for me. I do get some wonky PHP effects sometimes however.

Russian Mafia Government croupt? Never heheh.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2006-11-30 07:25  

#5  Rantburg uses java? News to me. And I am running the latest and greatest JAVA from Sun on Linux+firefox.

Now non-portable/nagigator_dependant JAva-script that could be a problem.
Posted by: JFM   2006-11-30 06:02  

#4   Zenster - preview doesn't always work in firefox on linux. Don't know why but I have lost posting that way.

Likely due to poor java support in Linux.
Posted by: badanov   2006-11-30 04:33  

#3  Zenster - preview doesn't always work in firefox on linux. Don't know why but I have lost posting that way.
Posted by: 3dc   2006-11-30 03:04  

#2  HHHHHHMMMMM, so the US-Allies destroy 7000 bad guys yet we are not only allegedly losing but we are the ones being portrayed as the "true" Baddies; Its the Russians themselves who let slip that their oil resources, etal. will run low in circa 20-25 years, similar to the Iran-yuns; and thirdly, by this definition of "Statecraft" the US Dems are by definition NOT engaged in Statecraft = National Interest becuz "personal feelings" agendas is how they won 2006.

As for "Colossal political defeat" of the USA > see NEWSMAX > JOHN L. PERRY article HISTORY'S GRACE PERIOD = People expect and want "great things" from America, that a key premise of the BUSH DOCTRINE is to HELP STRUGGLING NATIONS ACHIEVE AND SUCCEED TO AMERICAN = PSEUDO-AMER STANDARDS VIA LOCAL DEMOCRACY, NOT US-ONLY/SPECIFIC CONQUEST-CONTROL, and that NO ONE, NOT EVEN AMER'S ENEMIES OR MOST OF THEM, CAN AFFORD, DESIRE, OR RISK AMERICAN DEFEAT IN THE WOT.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2006-11-30 02:47  

#1  Note this is UPI and SpaceWar.com making the claim.

Methinks this is where the highlighting probably should have ended.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-11-30 02:26  

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