The title of this post says it all. What’s more, I’ve denounced this European appeasement in numerous commentaries. But I summarized my denunciation and presaged what this appeasement portends in “Checkmated on Crimea, Obama Plays for Rest of Ukraine” on March 7, 2014. Europeans appeasing Putin Now comes another case of European appeasement. Germany is refusing to join… Read more.
Russia
Ukraine’s China Syndrome
Reports are that Russia tried to no avail yesterday to get the UN Security Council to debate Ukraine’s complaint about Russian troops violating its sovereignty and territorial integrity behind closed doors. Conspicuously absent from these reports, however, was any reference to China being no less solicitous of avoiding open debate. This was brought into stark… Read more.
Prokhorov, Russian Owner of NBA Nets: ‘Majority of Russians think Snowden’s a traitor’
I disabled the comments feature on this weblog years ago when it became clear that most people were just using it as a message board to write snarky comments that had nothing to do with what I actually wrote. But this did not stop interested readers from using the CONTACT feature to send relatively informed… Read more.
I Said Putin Would Pardon Pussy Riot. I Was Wrong.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been so lampooned for using staged heroics to boost his He-Man (Master-of-the-Universe) reputation that you’d think he would seize any opportunity to display a genuine human touch and, no less important, a self-deprecating sense of humor. An ideal opportunity presented itself in February 2012 when his thought police arrested three… Read more.
Russia and United States in Chess Game for Syria
Much is being made of a Russian proposal to resolve the “Crisis in Syria.” In sum, it calls for Syria to turn over its chemical weapons arsenal to international demolition experts and sign the international convention against their use to avoid military strikes by the United States. Notwithstanding understandable skepticism … on both sides, a fearful… Read more.
‘Hello1937’ – Putin Turning Russia Back to Stalin Days
Yesterday virtually all major newspapers around the world featured one of two stories about Russia – both of which suggest that the recent restoration of Vladimir Putin as president marked the beginning of political repression at home and cold-war aggression abroad that are eerily reminiscent of Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror. In other words, where… Read more.
Hail, Putin! … Again
Saturday’s announcement of the scheme to restore Vladimir Putin as president of Russia was about as surprising as April’s announcement of the campaign to reelect Barack Obama as president of the United States. Actually, the only thing noteworthy about Putin’s announcement is the stupefaction pundits around the world are expressing about the way Russia’s incumbent president, Dmitry Medvedev,… Read more.
‘Putin Jokes About Ruling Until He’s 120′
Putin to rule for life Last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi chose an ominous way to bond. During a joint press conference in Moscow, Berlusconi announced funding for research that will extend life expectancy to 120. Putin quipped: So we will be prime ministers [or president in Putin’s case] until at least the age of… Read more.
Russia Elects First Black Politician
Jean Gregoire Sagbo gives new meaning to the term, Black Russian. Because henceforth when that term is uttered, the reference might be as much to him, the first black to be elected to political office in Russia, as to the eponymous drink. Granted, his election is more akin to the first black being admitted to… Read more.
Obama and Medvedev “reset” US-Russia relations
As great a celebrity as President Obama has become, I really did not expect coverage of his Moscow summit to compete with the obsessive, predatory and wholly redundant coverage of (plans for) today’s Michael Jackson Memorial. But nothing demonstrates the tabloidization of the news media quite like the fact that even coverage of Sarah… Read more.