Obama’s Moscow Retreat
But then, like Napoleon in Moscow before him, Obama began suddenly retreating for no apparent reason. In predictable fashion, echoing the scatterbrained Jimmy Carter, he was not able to carry the whole thing off coherently. Obama was interviewed on Russian TV on the preceding Thursday, and it turned out when the program aired over the weekend that he had declined to repeat the attack on Putin that he had made to the Associated Press. Speaking with Novaya Gazeta, he refused to comment on the abusive retrial of opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was railroaded into prison several years ago just as he began making noises about running for president as a challenger to Putin.
On Tuesday, things got worse. Obama breakfasted with Putin and, while not even able to remember whether Putin was “prime minister” or “president” for the second time during his visit (Obama once said he thought Austrians spoke Austrian), heaped praise on the KGB thug saying: “I’m aware of not only the extraordinary work that you’ve done on behalf of the Russian people in your previous role as prime minister — as president, but in your current role as prime minister.” Speaking anonymously, a “senior administration official” told the New York Times that Obama was retracting his prior statement about Putin’s cold-war mentality, stating: “I would say that he’s very convinced that the prime minister is a man of today and has got his eyes firmly on the future as well.”
Extraordinary work, Mr. President? Were you referring to the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, Stanislav Markelov, and a host of other opposition figures stretching back to Galina Starovoitova and Putin’s first days in the Kremlin? Or were you referring to the obliteration of independent TV networks, opposition parties in parliament, and elected governors? Or did you mean the Russian economy’s implosion, with double-digit unemployment and inflation and three-quarters of the stock market’s value gone?
Maybe it was just because he was up past his bedtime. The New York Times reported: “Mr. Obama has seemed tired here, several times fumbling the pronunciation of Mr. Medvedev’s name and Mr. Putin’s title. Beginning a speech here, he mistakenly said he first met his wife in school instead of at the law firm where they actually met. And he misstated his younger daughter’s age.” Ouch.
Obama had a chance to redeem himself with a speech to the New Economic School, a college funded by Westerners to teach Russians something real about business policy. But the speech positively dripped with equivocation and weakness. Here’s how he chose to warn Russia not to invade Georgia for a second time this summer, as many worry Putin plans to do:
State sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order. Just as all states should have the right to choose their leaders, states must have the right to borders that are secure, and to their own foreign policies. That is true for Russia, just as it is true for the United States. Any system that cedes those rights will lead to anarchy. That’s why we must apply this principle to all nations — and that includes nations like Georgia and Ukraine. America will never impose a security arrangement on another country. For any country to become a member of an organization like NATO, for example, a majority of its people must choose to; they must undertake reforms; they must be able to contribute to the Alliance’s mission. And let me be clear: NATO should be seeking collaboration with Russia, not confrontation.
An extraordinary amount of doubletalk, surmounted by the ominous use of the term “collaboration.” Not simply cooperation but collaboration, Mr. President? Are we going to collaborate with Russian if it moves soldiers back into Georgia, or into Ukraine, or launches another brutal cyber war against them or against Estonia? If Georgia has the “right to borders that are secure,” then doesn’t that mean Abkhazia and Ossetia must be returned from Russian annexation? Obama’s equivocation makes it very difficult to say.
Obama’s effort to address the Russian people directly via broadcast of the NES speech also came a cropper. Neither of the two main government-operated national networks carried the speech, which was relegated instead to the Russian version of CNN, seen by precious few ordinary Russians. Obama’s press conference with Medvedev was also buried.
In the days before Obama arrived in Moscow, two more democracy activists lost their lives as the result of physical attacks retaliating for their work, attacks that obviously originate in the Kremlin. On top of that, the Kremlin announced it was halting its investigation into the killing of Forbes editor Paul Klebnikov. Obama thus had a second chance to redeem himself when he sat down to lunch on Tuesday with Kasparov and Nemtsov, but he flubbed that one too. It’s to his credit, of course, that he met with them at all, much less on the same day as he met with Putin himself, and the symbolism was important. But surely he could have offered at least a public and unqualified statement of support for the notion of protecting their physical safety from the Kremlin’s relentless attacks. Instead, the meeting was perfunctory and discrete; Obama allowed each member of a rather large group of important dissidents to speak for just five minutes each and made no public statement after the meeting ended. The dissidents were happy enough, however, since they’d been totally ignored throughout the Bush administration while other right-wing extremists, like the lunatic Pat Buchanan and the feral Ron Paul, have openly advocated actual collaboration with Putin’s Russia (one wonders if Obama intended to ape them with his own remark to that effect).
Lev Gudkov of the Levada polling company summed it up, saying that all freedom-loving Russians wanted Obama to speak up about the current state of repression: “I’m not talking about pressuring Russia or promoting ideas. That wouldn’t be productive, and it’s not really possible. But to call a spade a spade, I think, would be useful, because the lack of standards has created this cynical atmosphere in Russia.” That didn’t happen. It looked like it might, but it never actually did. What is bad news for Russian democracy and American interests, however, is ironically good news for Republicans. As a result of Obama’s failures, it appears that the GOP still has time to get their act together, outflank him on Russia, and still seize the leadership position.
Obama has been hopelessly weak on the missile defense shield for Eastern Europe, and he has now mumbled his way through a summit meeting.
The ball is once again in the Republicans’ court, and they should not count on having any more such opportunities. So far, nothing has been heard from key Republican figures. It is time for the Republican leadership to show us what they are made of — or to step aside in favor of some new party that may be willing to do so.
Thank you for all the rich information in your article.
I wouldn’t have much hope in the GOP ability to outflank ObaMao on this subject: the GOP is unable to call the American People to oppose the subversion of America’s “material constitution” (as the marxists say)… foreign policy is rocket science for today’s GOP.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
With his visit in Russia, Obama has given the “triangulation” term a new, sinister meaning – after some tough rhetoric in the country about his plans, in Russia he caved in in his, unfortunately already know manner (remember his pompous Iran remark “We bear wittness…”), and re-set our relationship with Russia to … what?
Apart the pathologically fawning media, I simply cannot see anyone describing his Russian adventure in good terms – he was handily upstaged by Putin and Medvedev, proved himself unable to handle tough opponents like them, his vacillation has spooked the Eastern-Europeans and Israelis alike, and America is to pay the bill.
Re-setting the Russian connection is rhetoric – nothing to reset there, Russia has its very clear interests and is pursuing them, a vain community activist like Obama’s pronouncements notwithstanding.
My impression is that what he expected from this visit is anothor burst of international gratitude, crowned by the Nobel Prize for peace – if this happens, Robert Mugabe must be rewarded in the same manner.
I simply cannot see in Obama’s enterprise anything suggesting that he furthers his country’s interests – wow! a freudian slip here – but what is actually Obama’s country, after all? The USA – I doubt it.
He is nothing but a weak failure!
Great article… until the last paragraph, then i had to laugh. Republican leadership? What? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Btw, I’m a freaking Republican!
When all his cards are on the table Barack Obama is always on the side of thugs and dictators because he is a thug and dictator wannabe.If we don’t do something he will be a thug and dictator.
Marc Malone: Might I suggest you become part of the solution instead of helping the Democrats along by using their talking points? If you see no Republican leadership on the horizon, why not suggest a name, offer up an option or put forth an opinion of who you’d like to see at the helm. Until then, using blanket statements like that (Re #4) only serves to further the liberal agenda. I’m a Republican too btw and although I see no singular person taking the leadership role, I’m going to gladly back the party as a whole until one steps forward. The other option is to continue to flog the GOP and have NO ONE step forward to steer the ship. That would be a tragedy. Either you’re with us or against us.
Obama is ill-suited for the dominance games which must underlie any dealings with Russia. Bluff-charges, posturing, bluster, and a constant vigilance for subtle signs of submission are the only way to deal productively with that culture.
This, by the way, should not be taken as a blanket aspersion on Russia or Russians, per se. It is simply the means of establishing an advantage and drilling down to the proud, hard-headed practicality in the Russian soul. Failing to do so signals that one is not a serious adversary, and negates any chance at all to wrest an alliance based on real, mutual respect.
Obama lives in an effete world of cerebral abstractions. He cannot help but be seen in the Russian mind as a charming doormat.
A question about the Novaya Gazetta. In a country where all other media outlets are said to be controlled by the Kremlin, how is it that this one media outlet, a newspaper, escapes this fate? Is it magic? Or is it permitted to be independent to provide a patina of Anglo-Saxon free speech, the “neo” for the “Soviet”? Or – is it in fact controlled by the Kremlin?
Also – Kasparov and Nemtsov: where there is no real political opposition in Russia, how is it that these gentlemen are allowed to practice their dissidence and their anti-United Russia organizations inside Russia? More magic? Kremlin doesn’t really feel threatened and benefits from the appearance of opposition? Double-agent Trust Operation with Kasparov/Nemtsov playing the part of White Generals who were secretly Bolsheviks?
What?
I only ask obvious questions here. If everything is controlled by the Kremlin, the control-expert par excellence, how is it that this little melodrama of independence is allowed to exist and cast aspersions on the regime and so on? Obviously my tone of voice suggests my own opinion of the situation but I am sincerely interested in your opinion. It seems to me though that the supposedly free would have to be very clever and lucky indeed – or very impotent and ridiculous – to play this part in neo-Soviet Russia.
“I looked [Vladimir Putin] in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul. He’s a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country and I appreciate very much the frank dialogue and that’s the beginning of a very constructive relationship.”
- George W. Bush, June 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1392791.stm
He talked about Russian ‘reset’ so much that when his people set up the teleprompter for his speech he accidentally or possible due to jet lag hit the teleprompter reset button.
Well…
The teleprompter being a machine and not knowing that it should be discussing what an A$$hole Putin is rewound all the way back one year and started throwing collaboration with Hillary and if she won the POTUS she wanted him for vice pres.
Well…
All this crap confused the Russian translator and he told Medvedev that Obama wanted to be Vice Admiral of the Russian Navy.
Medvedev had a confused look and high fived Obama and it was all down hill from there.
So…..
Now Putin has em both where he wants em-
In his back pocket.
6 AThinkingPerson
Please, PLEASE make Sarah Palin the leader of the GOP. She’s your greatest hope.
Trust me.
Putin’s laughing his @$$ off:
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2009/07/look-how-silly-russians-made-obama-look.html
Obama = Rookie
#6 AThinkingPerson – I hear where you’re coming from, but I am not loyal to the Party. I am loyal to the principles of the Party. That is not true of our own leadership. There are a few I like: Cantor; Jindal; Palin; and a few others. What they all seem to have in common is that they’re in their 40′s… the next generation. Just waiting for the Boomers to move on….
A further comment about the article: Did anyone truly expect anything different?
Blarty (Re #11): This coming from someone who voted for a Chicago thug-style politician who’s only claim to fame is as a “community organizer”? Yeah. Right.
You have the judgment of a circus peanut.
14 ATP
I say Sarah is the GOP’s greatest hope and you disagree? Don’t let the others hear your blasphemy.
Re #17 Blarty: Please, feel free to put words in my mouth there Blarty.
No comment I see on your inability to make a sound judgment then?
Marc Malone (Re #14): We’re on the same page then.
and his clown is in office.
” Before even arriving in Moscow, Obama had seemed to set a genuinely new foreign policy tone that offered the possibility of reestablishing American moral leadership.”
I am all in favor of wild-eyed optimism, and I would think that fixed foreign leaders think of American presidents as transitional. It must be a perk to curry favor in the foreign press, and how does that compare to sustaining policy?
The Russian has been Cossack-peasant, Tzar-serf,polito-worker, for a long time. Freedom and wide-open democracy took little root after the alleged end of the cold war. The demographics of population are not in their favor. Russia as a staunch ally in freedom and captalism would take generations to verify. Trust the KBG guy?
18 ATP
No comment I see on your inability to make a sound judgment then?
I’m supposed to respond to “you have the judgment of a circus peanut”?
Well… okay, but only if you first admit that you have the wisdom of a bar of soap.
14 It is not the boomers it is the younger generation who got Obama elected. A change they could believe in well they have it.
Now what?
Misspoke his kid’s age? Stumbled on pronouncing names? I knew it! Obama is actually the prototype T-1000 Skynet Android, sent to weaken the only fighting force on the planet who can stop those robot buggers from launching their revolution!
Or, of course, his stumbles could be because he is just a total unqualified hack dipshit who is WAYYYY over his head and continually looks like the genuflecting pussy that he is.
Its one of the two….
I think the premise of this article is a big mistake. The American people don’t care about Russia, the issue now is the economy where Obama is blowing it big time. If there is a foreign policy lever against Obama it’s Iran and Honduras, but not Russia.
Ah, the next premature death knell for Obama fired from the right wing. Keep firing. We expect it.
“Blarty Blarckleblart:
“I looked [Vladimir Putin] in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul. He’s a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country and I appreciate very much the frank dialogue and that’s the beginning of a very constructive relationship.”
- George W. Bush, June 2001″
Absolutely correct. George W. Bush made a fool of himself. In many respects, the Obama administration reminds me of Bush on steroids—especially regarding economic matters.
While you may be correct, my dear Arius, it’s tempting to paraphrase the aphorism often attributed to Trotsky: You may not care about Russia, but Russia cares about you.
Sheesh: That “we” business again. You are not part of a “we”. You are being hustled. You are not a part of anything. You are just part of a gaggle of prisoners waiting to go off to camps. When will you figure out that the democrat “leadership” considers folks like you to be beneath contempt. No tyranny respects those ho believes their lies.
“we expect” indeed. Obama is putting your future in jeapodry and you are cheering him one. One day you will have to face it.
This performance in Moscow was shameful and traitorous, and word is getting out.
RE #9/Blarty Blarckleblart: [...] “I looked [Vladimir Putin] in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul. [...]
1) yes, Putin is very straightforward, quite different from a guy who always “delegates” authority, always votes “present” and when something goes wrong always blames “my staff” or “my advisers” -
2) yes, Putin IS trustworthy – no one can say that he failed at doing what he promised to do –
3) Further: Blarty, when Bush went mushie with Putin, everyone was dancing in the street in America – now we are talking about re-set in relationships! But when it didn’t work that way, W showed that he has a rougher side – to your liberals’ dismay.
The problem with Soetoro is that (besides the fact that his illegitimacy is in the back of the mind of anyone he’s dealing with), he’s a marmalade guy, who just hasn’t the guts to face a dude like Putin or Ahmadinejad, or who know else. Period.
They couldn’t care less about Soetero’s personal growth story, about his views about race relationship in USA – they’re serious about they want to do and they do it.
They have no soft, guil-induced spots for him – he’s roadkill, and Barack’s Moscow retreat showed it. And this is just another episode in the train wreck that Soeoro presidency is.
Ochen harasho, Vladimir, and spasibo – maybe the dolts that make the Democrat electorate will learn something from you.
29 MooGoo . . . “You are not a part of anything.”
I’m a part of the majority of “real” Americans. You always forget that little fact. It must gnaw at you. Keep nipping. It keeps us shard.
RE 26/sheesh: [...] Ah, the next premature death knell for Obama fired from the right wing. [...]
sheeshkebob, Kim showed very well what a disaster Soetoro’s shot a re-setting the business with Moscow is.
Relax, he’s been in the office only for six months – it’ll take a bit more than that to beat Jimmy Carter.
And the liberal pundits (along with some envious conservative pundits) call Sarah Palin flighty? Inconsistent? Inept? Inexperienced? Stupid? Incompetent? After this embarrasing display by the POTUS, I’d say those folks should just clamp it.
The Obamatrons have hired the Dumber half of Dumb and Dumber.
“The ball’s in the GOP’s (spit) court”.
Right send out a couple of the panty-waist-whimp-momma’s boys to act tough.
HA!
When will people wake up? The pubbie party is dead. D E A D. A rotting corpse.
Until this is admitted the rats will rule us like midget slaves.
Good god! Did anyone expect anything else from the Apologizer in Chief? Why isn’t the corrupt U.S. media coming to his rescue? Oh, yea; Michael Jackson. Well……..!
Heh, heh; Obama takes back seat to Michael Jackson. What more proof is there to show the U.S. media is self serving and reactionary?
Unfortunately for us, we have a weak man in the position of leading our country.
He gave Russia what they wanted…and walked away with his behind in his hands. Putin was strong, obama was a sniveling (I like that word)..lapdog.
Humiliating acutally.
25. Arius:
“I think the premise of this article is a big mistake. The American people don’t care about Russia, the issue now is the economy where Obama is blowing it big time. If there is a foreign policy lever against Obama it’s Iran and Honduras, but not Russia.”
I don’t think that whether or not the American people “care about Russia” or anything else should be the criteria for what is under discussion. The American people’s “group judgment” has been abysmal in the last 12 months in case you hadn’t noticed.
Not meaning to be unkind re your comment–but I’m not impressed with “what the American people care about”–considering that over 30 million thought it was necessary to waste hours of their life staring at a gold box on tv yesterday.
Anyway, this part of the American people cares very much about Russia today. I am presently reading Anna Politkovskaya (mentioned in the article as one of the recent martyrs to freedom in Russia)…”A Russian Diary”. She died before it was published, but it documents what is happening under Putin–openly happening.
Makes my skin crawl, as his arrogance, lawlessness and openess mirror those of Col. Obama.
Famous words from a 25 year old Russian student named Kirill;
“We really don’t understand why Obama is such a star….It is like he is trying to manipulate the public.”
Well, he IS isn’t he?
# 34 quoted from fausta’s blog
It is sickening to see Col. obama perpetually pawing those with whom he appears for photo ops.
What is it about this boob that he can’t keep his hands to himself. He throws himself at everyone, and their body language in response is usually some level of cringing, as though suggesting to their own handlers, “Get this idiot off me.”
And this is what actually is going on in Moscow with journalists who dare to write and just BE what they want. She was forcefully isolated in the psychiatric clinic righjt before OBAMA came to Moscow.
more on who they are can be found here
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2232730/posts
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EMAIL from today:
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I have been released after 35 days of imprisonment in the psychiatric
clinic having been got into it in a bandit’s way, by force and treated (by injections and pills) against my wish, protests, claims, statements and the existing laws, not saying about the international standards. Force structures burst into my flat on May 28, broke the locks, called the ambulance, broke off hands and demanded not to shout so that to get into clinic instead of prison.
Also they inquired about my intentions ‘to ask for help Americans’, what I had discussed a couple of hours earlier with my Catholic priest by home phone.
That was a clinic number 3, by the name Gilyarovskiy, window-to-window with Matrosskaya Tishina prison, where Soviet dissidents were kept.
3 hours in the receptions the doctors refused to accept me having testified NO psychiatric disease and NO points in the law which allowed them powerful treatment. They said to Victor and ambulance crew: ‘You should know that your wife is absolutely mentally healthy. Stress and nervousness are not the enough reasons to hospitalize her’. But brigade was corrupted and had the ORDER from the chief psychiatrist of the Moscow city, so in 3 hours they had forced the reception to accept me.
Earlier that day we visited the toxicology department of the Sklifosofskogo Institute together with Victor with the aim to give blood tests for heavy metals (because of ecology troubles in our flat). Also I asked them to check Victor for narcotics, what was suggested by the expert from the Interior ministry investigation center who had explored our flat.
When I occasionally approached to the doctors’ room in Sklifosofskogo I heard their negotiations with the chief municipal psychiatrist with demand to arrange somehow my hospitalization. I run away at home and locked the doors. A couple of hours later Victor with militia came up, broke the door, took off all the locks, rushed into my flat, called the ambulance, broke off my hands, demanded not to shout and got me to the clinic. They had prescriptions from the chief municipal psychiatrist.
However that was NOT enough for hospitalization, and the reception of the clinic realized that that was the ORDER with political background. They, as well as the doctors in the department number 8 for violences (!), where they located me, realized: if they don’t eliminate me – so early or later I would come out – I could sue them.
Lucky release occasionally happened after my persistent negotiations with the doctors, wily tactics and fears of the doctors to be charged for illegal detaining and health damage (including spine problems caused by stress and long immobility). Victor’s interview to BBC may have made contribution.
La Roche pharmaceutical company, where my cousin’s husband works, also interfered and called the head of the 8 department many times.
Some of my foreign contacts, including diplomats, called to Victor and started to look for me, as I had disappeared from the communications.
I was provided in clinic NO diagnosis and NO documents. Chief of the department Krylova Nelli Sergueevna said she ‘was afraid that I would file a suit against her’, so she preferred – in illegal way – to give no papers.
However all tests showed ‘excellent memory, healthy mentality and excellent intellectual training and full social adequacy’.
I have always been more or less nervous, stressed (because of marriage discomfort, threats to get me into psychiatric clinic) but always mentally healthy.
Meanwhile the search was done in my flat in my absence. Many precious documents and useful papers were stolen, including technical guides to communication devices (mobiles, smart phone device at home), helpful computer options guide, some memorabilia – papers, invitations from foreign diplomats, and also things left from my father’s work. Things, papers, belongings were intermixed.
Until I get substantial support – from foreign and Russian institutions – many dangers and risks remain. I am restricted in work and getting out.
Could you refer me to an unbiased lawyer to talk out situation, elaborate behavior line, and compile documents? I would be glad to share the story’s details and ask for help.
Could you bring us together with people in Moscow who are able to facilitate that?
Could you consider my interview with any European or American TV/radio station or newspaper? That may improve my personal security situation in the time-being.
Nothing good links me with Russia, so I currently look around for leaving to Europe or America as soon as possible. I would be happy to suggest all my experience, knowledge in the fight against human rights violations, and – now certified – ‘excellent mental abilities’ to get any job in any geographic location.
Independent medical examination outside Russia also remains an urgent need, especially after awful conditions and horror treatment in the Soviet-type psychiatric clinic.
Please tell me what may be possible.
I attach my detailed CV so that you could provide possible employer with glimpse of my activity and capacities.
I analyze my situation and still can not be completely sure whether the Russian state machine suppresses me for journalism and contacts with foreigners (that sounds regularly) or squeezes from the expensive property. Russian militaries, i.e. bandits, are very much involved into illegal deals with real estate. Or the flat is a tool to eliminate us?
They hint that allegedly foreigners are also involved into our elimination from political business.
I am absolutely alone in the whole world. They might feed Victor with drugs, so he is helpless. I was imprisoned on the day when I tried to provide him medical help and tests on narcotics. A couple of days earlier a guy intercepted me near my building apartment block’s entrance and said: ‘When Russian troops stayed in Afghanistan – the drugs traffic went to America. Since Americans stay in Afghanistan – we have all the drugs here in Russia. You will be silly girl if try save those who are fed by narcotics. Useless’.
He also said that my problems come from my contacts with foreigners. That makes the state machine mad.
I was released from the clinic after the chief master demanded and got my promise not to provide medical help to Victor. Victor helped them to get me into clinic and told the doctors that I allegedly threatened him with a pistol (nothing of that kind).
I can’t fully understand which side Victor keeps. Some non-Russian sources may help to verify that. It is crucially important to make further steps. I am going to leave whether I find a job abroad or not.
I could suggest that at some moment Victor could have betrayed me in exchange for his personal safety.
Some evidences in the process of my communications make me think that special services use Victor as a channel to develop contacts with The Baltics and Ukraine. They also have used for a long time my money, flats and other resources to keep ‘the agent and point’ at my expense!
Their miscalculation is that in case of divorce they lose access to all foreign contacts which ale mostly mine – not Victor’s. And they didn’t break me up even in psychiatric clinic. So they will get NOTHING. What they try to bargain now is to threat me with black mark of psychiatric clinic so that Victor manage all my contacts with my full refuse from activity, claiming me incapacitated and turning me into housewife to serve Victor, i.e. kgb or gru intelligence point/agent. That was also one of condition of my release delivered by the chief master of the clinic in our last conversation.
However, they fully realize consequences of getting me to the repressive medicine and Victor’s role in it. Before the day of my release Victor got ALL his documents, clothes and other belongings to his mother’s flat! He (or brigade which had made a search in my apartment in his presence) also stole a big sum of money and refuse to return it.
Disgusting soviet services style!
If only you find somebody who could help, please provide them with my contacts or give me their so that initiative would come from me.
I could take risks to help Victor if only I find some back. To beat the state machine alone is silly – and mentally not healthy.
Warmest wishes,
Marina Kalashnikova,
Russian journalist,
Solidarnost Weekly (Russia)
Zaxid.net (Ukraine)
MGI News International (USA/Israel)
+7 495 680 4836 home
+7 916 222 4006 mobile
+7 916 180 2631 mobile
e-mail mskalashnik@yahoo.co.uk
e-mail marptchk@gmail.com
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Does anybody else find it hilarious that the people who were screaming throughout the Bush years that the “sheeple” need to “wake up” and the “broken, dishonest administration” needs to “admit faults” and “take responsibility” … has those blinders so firmly attached, and refuses to judge the idiot they elected for what he is?
Their only response to any article pointing out precisely how dumb Obama is, is to point out that Bush was – at worst – almost as bad. Aim high, Democrats. Aim high.
40. Meryl writes:
“What is it about this boob that he can’t keep his hands to himself[?] He throws himself at everyone, and their body language in response is usually some level of cringing, as though suggesting to their own handlers, ‘Get this idiot off me.’”
Meryl, stunning observaton. I believe there was a photo caption contest over on Hot Air were a picture of The Boy King and Medvedev strike the pose you describe.
Why, I believe that your offer might very well have taken the grand prize.
Meh.
Good God in heaven! Obviously madness has taken a large percentage of the US population. (that’s the secular view)
A dark spirit spreads its suffocating influence across the land. Seemingly good folks, ‘normal’ people, come to believe that a Stalin … a Pol Pot is just what the doctor ordered for America. Stupid cannot explain it. Evil is evident. ( the Biblical view … and probably will work for Hindus and Moslems as well)
There just is NO natural explanation for how screwed we are.
Sheesh: Are you one of the “Real” Americans who threatens to run off to Canada or Europe everytime something doesn’t go your way? That is the Liberal way. Conservative truly love this country, and are willing to stand up and fight for the US Constitution and what it stands for.
Great test- whenever there is an election, it is the Republicans that fight to make sure “all” military votes are counted, while it is the Dems who try to get ex-cons, and illigals to vote (why else would you clowns fight so hard against showing photo ID’s at polling booths?)
RE 40/ Meryl [...] “What is it about this boob that he can’t keep his hands to himself[?] He throws himself at everyone, [...]
ABBA, the 70-s: “I used to be a fatherless child -”
Mr Obama is amazingly timid under fire, suggesting his wife should be running foreign affairs (was Russia involved in the slave trade? God help ‘em!).
In fact, I’d like to see a complete role reversal regarding the presidential couple, simply because it’s so obvious who wears the pants.
At the least, America needs a constitutional escape clause.
sheesh:
29 MooGoo . . . “You are not a part of anything.”
I’m a part of the majority of “real” Americans. You always forget that little fact. It must gnaw at you. Keep nipping. It keeps us shard
——————
fireyourguns-
20% of Americans identify themselves as some form of you. If that’s your idea of “real”, well… rock on! The fact is, “real” Americans want nothing to do with you, or your leaders liberal utopian fantasia. Your democratic ship is taking on massive amounts of sour water, and will soon flounder… wear a life vest!
37. Meryl:
I think the point Arius is trying to make is that Russia is not going to be an issue the Republicans can use to regain power in the next election. With the problems in the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, and the drug wars in Mexico I think most Americans would think the Republicans are mad to concentrate on Russia. Russia might be a priority for the US right now but its definitely a secondary or tertiary priority.
But in the mind of the obsessed Russophobe Kim Zigfield, nothing is more important than Russia.
And in a slightly off-topic comment I have to say Kim Zigfield’s still reliably takes every opportunity to catch some free advertisement. No other writer on Pajamas Media self-promotes the way she does. Every single article she has written for this site has links to her work on other sites.
I just saw the Transformers sequel today: it was beginning to end loud, roaring random, idiotic, adolescent rubbish with all movement but no action, tons of scene changes but never actually going anywhere. Sort of like the stories and comments appearing in right wing blog sites like this one, especially on anything related to Obama, the economy, security, and global warming. A perfect movie — if not metaphor — for conservatives and Republicans these days.
Reset buttons are wonderful. They can be pushed by idiots. Come to think of it, reset buttons may have been designed purposedly under the principle of affirmative action, so the idiots would have better access to them that anyone else.
Too bad Obama was so busy a-bumbling in Russia, otherwise he could have teleprompted the Michael Jackson funerals.
Not a bad article other than the commentary of the so called advantage to America in the signed “framework agreement” on cutting nukes. The author obviously does not understand the current strategic balance or strategic deterrent theory. There is no reason at all to cut the US deterrent further, it is feel good foreign policy at the expense on national security. The Democrats have as a strategy to let the entire nuclear enterprise “die on the vine” through neglect. We can barely produce new nuclear weapons and there are only a handful of nuclear weapons designers that have designed, built and tested a weapon. This is a critcial weakness.
The Russians and even the British, French and Chinese are modernizing. Only the US has decided to rust away its capabilities.
to put it mildly, i am no fan of either obama or putin; but this article just does not make any sense whatsoever. what the hell is this “If Georgia has the “right to borders that are secure,” then doesn’t that mean Abkhazia and Ossetia must be returned from Russian annexation”? no it doesn’t – Abkhazia and Ossetia have as much right for independence from Georgia, as Georgia has right for independence from Russia. you cannot affirm one and deny another.
most of the rest of the article is similar light-header crap. seems like the strength of the author’s conviction is comparable only with his ignorance.
generally, putin played obama like a puppy. what a stupid idea to try to split medvedev from putin – medvedev without putin has a snowball chance in hell to live to the morning, and he knows it; any public differences between them are for the show.
Oh Bull. This is all nice until Russia invades Georgia, which they will do in the next year or two. Diplomacy is irrelevant. Dems or new GOP, you’re in wonderland if you think that anything diplomatic changes Putin and Russia.
We must be willing to support Georgian, the Ukraine, etc., and reject the easy solution that Russia give us passage of some supplies to Afghanistan.
oh nice, we have a prophet here. well, until russia actually invades georgia – as if they were that stupid – you have no point.
50.Mongo
“I think the point Arius is trying to make is that Russia is not going to be an issue the Republicans can use to regain power in the next election. With the problems in the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, and the drug wars in Mexico I think most Americans would think the Republicans are mad to concentrate on Russia.”
I agree that it would not make sense to “concentrate on Russia” as though it’s the only (or even the most serious) boiling-over pot.
I just don’t think there’s actually much danger of the Republican leadership concentrating on anything, so I wasn’t reading much into her overall point.
While Arius’ brief statement was probably not intended to marginalize/make irrelevant current political events in Russia, it seemed to me he was. While Ziegfeld may make too much of those events, I think it’s a mistake to make too little of them as well.
Thanks for your comments.
friends i strongly suggest to read this, it is chilling
russian
http://obozrevatel.com/news/2008/8/26/255012.htm
translated
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fobozrevatel.com%2Fnews%2F2008%2F8%2F26%2F255012.htm&sl=ru&tl=en&history_state0=
———————————–
Author is russian , she writes about militarization of russian ruling elite. It is very scary:
The current Russian military is not weaker than the USSR, and in some way it is even better.
Strategic nuclear arsenal on the ground.
After a massive raid of Islamist suicide bombers on the United States in September 2001, you can assume that adjacent to the circle of allies of Moscow terrorist formation also acquired strategic weight.
After a couple of days after terror attack at NATO headquarters for Brussels, where I continuously walked different meetings, we stopped for running a «real» functionaries.
He spoke about the role of «Al-Qaeda» and personally on Bin Laden: «This(9-11) was definitely beyond their intellectual capabilities».
Conventional forces to the Kremlin to keep European neighbors under attack.
In doing so, referring to the obvious superiority of conventional whole alliance, Moscow is threatening the world with nuclear first strike.
At the same time, it remains the world leader in the number of non-strategic nuclear warheads.
Multiplied by the unpredictable behavior of Russian authorities, and confusion with personal control of the «red button», all this makes the rose from the ruins of «evil banana republic» worst «evil empire».
The state machine of Russia, although inferior to the Soviet territorial scope, but is already sharing it with her on centralization.
Plus Russia free from the risk of splits in the «Union republics».
We’ll support Georgia the same way we’re supporting Honduros. 0bama won’t support an independent Georgia simply because it’s a democracy.
J.Roth no Russia was not involved in the slave trade as slavers but Mohammedans and BLACKS were/ARE but that does not stop Obambi and his ‘I HATE America’ wife licking their ars*s and airbrushing Black guilt from history.
BC how strange I saw the same movie and my conclusions are diametrically opposite to yours it was as they say all form but no substance just like your LIAR Messiah the BOGUS POTUS who is smoke and mirrors an invention of the MSM with NO REAL EVIDENCE at all to back him up . In fact the evidence of who he really is is being actively hidden by scores of Lawyers costing millions of dollars.
“like Napoleon in Moscow before him, Obama began suddenly retreating for no apparent reason”
Please forget to learn french, when you can’t interpret it correctly
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2009/07/06/jmottered_0706_2DOT.html
now, history Lecture, LMAO : Napoleon didn’t suddenly retreated, and or without any apparent reason : he retreated after having investigated an empty Moscow, inhabitants had vanished, as well as food, goods and cattle, plus Moscow was set into fire, “la politique de la terre brûlée” a strategy to make believe invadors that there’s nothing to loot, and no reasonable motive to stay there, also it was during an exceptional harsh winter. Most of Napoleon russian campain suffered of the same actions, villages were also burned on his trip.
But if you recall history, Huns used to also make that along their migration towards west
#12 Strawman, a picture that is worth of all the possible blah blah made on the meeting of the both antagonists
one can’t say that Russians don’t master protocole rules
all learnt in the brave ol schools of the ol world !
Poul, another person showing limited (or non existant) understanding of the problems in Georgia.
Untill 1994, Georgians were 47-50% (depending on the census) of Abkhazia’s population, while Apsu were 17%.
Both ethnic groups have lived in the province for all of recorded history. The remainder of the population was made up of Armenians (sided with Apsu), Pontic Greeks (Sided with Georgians) Azeri’s (Sided with Georgians) and Russians (Some sided with Apsu, some sided with Georgians).
What happened in the civil war of 1992-1994 in Abkhazia was that a small minority (Apusa) who wanted to prevent the collapse of the USSR and to join with Russia, with the active help of the Russian military and elements of the Russian government including VVS, PVO, and the Black sea fleet, ethnicly cleansed (raped, murdered, tortured, exterminated) the Non Apsu population (75% of pre war population were ethnicly cleansed by the separatists), killing more than 30,000 Georgians (mostly civillians) and forcing over 350,000 people from their homes (more than 220,000 Georgians among them).
Due to the nature of the pre war demographics of the province of Abkhazia, and the incredibly cruel crimes comitted by the separatists, including the rape and murder of pre teen girls, mass executions, destruction of ancient Georgian monuments etc, there is no way Abkhazia should have independance under the circumstances, when more than 1/2 the pre war population now live as refugees in Georgia, and are barred from returning to their homes.
Its a bit like saying the Serbs should be rewarded for their crimes in Bosnia.
They met, they talked, they left.
Blah, blah, blah.
Next stop.
Fascinating. So you think Obama should have insulted Putin to his face, and dropped nuclear reduction and, most important of all, *logistics to Afghanistan* for making a principled stand? So speaking up for democracy in all settings, no matter how impolitic is more imprtant than winning the war? Fascinating logic. Why do you hate the troops so much?
The ball is once again in the Republicans’ court, and they should not count on having any more such opportunities. So far, nothing has been heard from key Republican figures. It is time for the Republican leadership to show us what they are made of — or to step aside in favor of some new party that may be willing to do so.
Incoherent piffle.
Opportunities to present a coherent opposition to the Barackcrazy are presented every day and will continue to be presented until his single disastrous term in office is finished.
The Cap And Trade debacle is only one such item which opens up Obama to ridicule. At a time when the world has clearly entered into a period of Global Cooling, the Obama Dems want to implement anti-carbon measures which will seriously damage the American economy and do absolutely nothing to reduce the worldwide emissions of this phantom enemy. In fact by devastating the American economy in favor of the economies of countries like China and India carbon emissions will increase (not that it will have any effect at all on the weather).
Anyone expecting anything but words and weakness in his dealings with Russia is living in a dream world: the pacifist college freshman takes on the KGB
The full extent of Obama’s reckeless spending is yet to be experienced. His economy will get worse, not better over the next three years. The Obama presidency is a complete disaster and the only thing which can possibly save it is the circular firing squad of conservatives. Talk of forming a third party is insanity.
66 fnord…
So as you look down your long nose at the sweaty peasants gathered around your feet…you set up an either/or strawman argument that was being proposed by no one.
Not so impressive as you might think.
Blarty Blarckleblart on another thread wrote:
“Lotta hatred for Maureen Dowd on here. Is it because she has a real job?”
What, Blarty, you call typing insults about others a real job?
Oh, sorry, Blarty, that is your job isn’t it?
@andrew: none of this precludes abhasian right for independence. you can pile up words until next year, but the people’s right for self determination is not a “reward”, it’s unalianable fundamental right. even if they behaved badly in the past.
by your crooked logic georgians, who also ethnically cleansed many people, do not deserve to be independent from russia.
What, Blarty, you call typing insults about others a real job?
Oh, sorry, Blarty, that is your job isn’t it?
Sure is. If I work real hard, Mr. Soros is going to promote me to “cutting and pasting from other comment threads” duty.
27 David Thomson and 30 misanthropicus
Y’all need to huddle and get your Bush story straight.
To Realist: Seriously — did you ever look hard at the topics and themes of the articles appearing here and at the other right wing/conservative blog sites? It’s all pretty much random rubbish based on two things: a really, really fuzzy grasp, to put it mildly, of facts and context, probably due to getting info from really poor sources; and trying to portray Obama plus liberals and Democrats in the worst possible light by whatever means, however mean or stupid.
This this very article, the title of which is: “Obama’s Moscow Retreat –
The president showed the Russians equivocation and weakness. The ball is now in the GOP’s court.” But into the article itself, you find this jewel of an admission:
“Before even arriving in Moscow, Obama had seemed to set a genuinely new foreign policy tone that offered the possibility of reestablishing American moral leadership. Where George Bush met with and honored Putin’s homicidal goons in the White House — namely Chechnya war criminal General Vladimir Shamanov, who also led the Russian invasion and annexation of Abkhazia last August — Obama offered defiance of neo-Soviet aggression.”
Obama and Medvedev met on Monday and announced a ‘framework agreement’ on cutting nuclear weapons. The agreement works overwhelmingly in America’s favor.”
So Obama did good, but admitting that would amount to treason, so you have to spin it any which way you can to somehow still make him look bad.
Your long vilified “MSM” boogieman on its worst day (not counting Fox News, which I count as a right wing nut house) still had 10x the journalistic integrity of this BS that’s so typical than not of the so called “new media”.
The Republican Party will not bring down Obama, the American people will do it. The Republicans are still taking advice from their enemies and will continue until they destroy themselves. We need Conservatives not politicians.
Too bad we could not observe the high-fives and vodka toasts, out of sight of the media, for the arrival of the first SDS/communist POTUS and US TIC. (terrorist in chief)
The long-term funding of the Chicago New Party pays off, probably happened easier than they thought. Acorn, Hayden and ayers hooked up with soros funding.
Che-O is easy to see but how they seized the dems in congress especially the blue dogs is a mystery to be revealed.
But it is not over.
The opening to this article is a riot: Republicans could become the voice of morality by playing Cold War games? Sure, just as soon as the Republicans figure out a way to stop humping every staffer’s wife, or page boy, or toilet stall user, or elitist Argentinian journalist who crosses their paths during their lectures about Family and Sin, they’ll have that morality thing all locked ‘n loaded, ready to fight the Soviet Union, just like Ronald Reagan!
This site is perfect self-parody, I have to give it that. And you still publish this pseudonymous PR project called “Kim Zigfeld” who used to publish in Russia! magazine. Go look up the owners of that magazine–they have ties to the Kremlin, and were behind the takeover of the Russian internet. If you don’t understand Russian corruption and cynicism, you can’t understand the game that this “Kim Zigfeld” project is playing. Sorry, folks.
Noocyte – Excellent question. And, by the way, Radio Echo Moscow is paid for by Gazprom. Think about that for a while and ponder whether that makes any sense in light of what you normally read about Russia.
The fake troll Kim Zigfeld (if you look her up, you’ll find ‘she’ does not exist as anything by the fevered outgrowth of somebody’s mad imagination, just like much of what ‘she’ writes) won’t answer this question. Or any other sensible questions
“Blarty Blarckleblart:
“I looked [Vladimir Putin] in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul. He’s a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country and I appreciate very much the frank dialogue and that’s the beginning of a very constructive relationship.”
- George W. Bush, June 2001″
A lot has happened since 2001. What is Obama’s excuse
You have to remember that The One is basically a coward. When you add narcissism to cowardice, you get the absolute worst . . . a pol like Obambi.
“The narcissist is a coward, terrified of his True Self and protective of the deceit that is his new existence. He feels no pain. He feels no love. He feels no life.
The narcissist (Obambi) is aware of his propensity to lose everything that could have been of value, meaning, and significance in his life. If he is inclined to magical thinking and alloplastic defences, he blames life, or fate, or country, or his boss, or his nearest and dearest for his uninterrupted string of losses. Otherwise, he attributes it to people’s inability to cope with his outstanding talents, towering intellect, or rare abilities. His losses, he convinces himself, are the outcomes of pettiness, pusillanimity, envy, malice, and ignorance.”
The Losses of the Narcissist – Sam Vaknin
In my opinion this is a grave danger.
————————
Finding the right Tune by J. R. Nyquist
http://www.financialsense.com/stormwatch/geo/pastanalysis/2009/0710.html
To write a popular song is a trick, perhaps even an accident; for who really knows what will tickle the public? Why is one song a hit while another goes unnoticed? What makes for popularity? Is it truth, beauty or perfection? If so, then classical music would not be losing support with secular society, inch by inch. “Praise bands” would not be taking hold in one church after another. One might ask: Why did Elvis sell over one billion records? Why did the county courthouse and city hall fly the flag at half-mast on the occasion of Michael Jackson’s funeral? The answer lies in the nature of the masses themselves – and the type of media that absorb their everyday attention.
To be sure, I am not interested in popular songs. I refer to them as a metaphor for today’s political process. As we saw last year, success in politics can be achieved when a politician becomes the equivalent of the pop star. President Obama’s speeches are without classical substance – yet his popularity cannot be denied. Whatever your political persuasion, it must be admitted that America’s new leader titillates as he entices. What is the basis of this popularity? There are two primary factors at work: (1) Obama is attractive and well-suited to television; (2) the spread of certain ideas and cultural tendencies paved his way to power.
The first point reminds me of a passage from Neil Postman’s book, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Because images are primary and words are secondary on television, the medium itself turns everything into entertainment. As television has become the chief medium of politics, it is only natural that the central figure of televised politics should be likened to a pop star. Consider, noted Postman, “how you would proceed if you were given the opportunity to produce a television news show for any station concerned to attract the largest possible audience. You would, first, choose a cast of players, each of whom has a face that is both ‘likable’ and ‘credible.’”
According to Postman, some faces “are not suitable” for television. “This means that you will exclude women who are not beautiful or who are over the age of fifty, men who are bald, all people who are overweight or whose noses are too long or whose eyes are too close together.” As Postman goes on to explain, “It is frightening to think that this may be so, that the perception of the truth of a report rests heavily on the acceptability of the newscaster.” In point of fact, television, as the central medium of our time, eliminates serious consideration of issues and replaces this consideration with a popularity contest in which the attractiveness of a person – of a personality – becomes the alpha and the omega.
There is something more, as well, that relates to the second factor at work: the spread of certain ideas and cultural tendencies. Modern society has become, over time, increasingly permissive and lax. We have adopted ideas and behaviors that our grandparents would have shuddered at. And our grandparents were not stupid; for they survived the Great Depression and won the Second World War. They understood – for as long as they ruled – how to avoid another depression and yet another world war. The same cannot be said for today’s ruling generation, which itself is ruled by television (and by the permissive notions that have everywhere crept into popular thinking).
As a simple exercise, compare today’s pop star politician to a statesman. Is he more powerful, more effective than the old-style politician, or is he less effective? This week President Obama was in Moscow, and he impressed the average Russian – though the Russian government found him tedious. As one diplomat observed privately, Russia gave nothing away at the arms reduction talks, but the Americans mistakenly think otherwise. Of course, Obama wanted to finally put aside the last vestiges of the Cold War. This is hardly original. In fact, Kremlin leaders are slightly annoyed; for they are building yet another generation of nuclear weapons as an ongoing project, while the Americans let their weapons fall into disrepair. Real nuclear disarmament is out of the question. For them America is the “main enemy,” and war is being prepared. But Russia’s leaders are beginning to wonder if the Americans are a proper enemy at all.
How many American presidents have come and gone, each arriving in Moscow to put aside the last vestiges of the Cold War? The first go-round was charming. The humorless and earnest continuance of the process is like a bad tune that keeps cycling through your head. The joke in Moscow is that Putin prefers George W. Bush. The KGB looks back with nostalgia on the visits of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. “Can we get Thatcher?” Putin asked a Russian diplomat the other day. According to Thatcher’s daughter Carol, the former British prime minister has difficulty finishing sentences, doesn’t know her own address, and recently forgot that her husband Denis had passed away. But yes! Let us have Thatcher! At least she was a serious person!
President Obama wants all nuclear weapons to be eliminated in every country. The Russians cannot believe their ears. Is he stupid? Does he understand what he is saying? American military power sits on a nuclear foundation, and the U.S. president wants to remove the foundation? This catches the Kremlin short. Perhaps it’s a trick. Perhaps the Americans have a new super-weapon. On the other hand, look at how the U.S. economy is failing. Is Moscow preparing for war against the wrong country? Are the Americans worthwhile enemies at all? Whatever happened to presidents like John F. Kennedy, who championed a stronger nuclear arsenal?
The late James Burnham was not a pop star, and his take on nuclear disarmament deserves to be quoted. “The past century has been studded with proposals for partial or total disarmament. These are a derivative, in one root, of spreading pacifist sentiment. The idea of doing away with lethal weapons is, one might say, the lazy mind’s road to peace.”
Which is why this particular tune qualifies as a “hit.”
It seems only Republicans read this article. Poor Republicans-they are really a pessimistic bunch of losers. You lost the elections in 2008 and will do so again in 2012. Not even gun totting Sarah Palin will be able to rescue you.