Putin spankin his old friend George...

[memyselfI]

Things look like they could get nastier with Russia too. I guess the Cowboy diplomacy, DUHbya's lack of personal international political experience, and the reliance on neocons for policy creation has really made the US safer in the long run...NOT. :shake: The second comment is very telling...



Putin, in a barbed reply, said: "We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly." Bush's face reddened as he tried to laugh off the remark. "Just wait," Bush replied about Iraq.

Putin also said Russia would not take part "in any crusades, in any holy alliances" — a remark seemingly intended to win points with Arab allies. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said he was perplexed by the comment.

[FringeNC]

I don't think it was wise to go after Putin like we did. A few years ago I was in St. Petersburg, and in a lot of ways, it was freer than much of the West. Casinos everywhere, bars open all night long, hot scantily-clad chicks running all around...all and all, a rather fun place to visit.

Russia is hardly the police state that many on the right and left imply.

[Adept Havelock]

I don't think it was wise to go after Putin like we did. A few years ago I was in St. Petersburg, and in a lot of ways, it was freer than much of the West. Casinos everywhere, bars open all night long, hot scantily-clad chicks running all around...all and all, a rather fun place to visit.

Russia is hardly the police state that many on the right and left imply.

Correct, it's now a borderline "Criminal" state, with organized crime the #2 power broker in the country, right behind the army.

And yes, going after Putin was quite idiotic. Of course, he's a former senior member of the Komitet, and hasn't changed his stripes all that much.

BTW- He already has a democracy like Iraq. It's called Chechnya.

[FringeNC]

Correct, it's now a borderline "Criminal" state, with organized crime the #2 power broker in the country, right behind the army.

And yes, going after Putin was quite idiotic. Of course, he's a former senior member of the Komitet, and hasn't changed his stripes all that much.

BTW- He already has a democracy like Iraq. It's called Chechnya.

How is the mob asking for shakedown money any different from being forced to pay taxes? It's simply that the mafia undertakes some of the function of the state. The state failed at protecting businesses, so now it's privately done.

I never feared for my safety.

The problem in Russia was a lack of institutions to enforce laws, enforce property rights, collect taxes, etc. I cut Putin some slack because it's impossible to have a free-market economy without the underlying institutions that protect property rights.

Also, in China and Russia, almost everyone is poor other than the entrepreneurs. This creates a lot of potential social strife. I think China and Russia purposefully propagandize the U.S. as an evil force to unify their populations. (Similar to what Arab countries do with the Jews, but different in way: unlike Russia, virtually everyone is poor in a country like Egypt. The governments attempt to blame the Jews for the sorry state of the Arab world.)

[Adept Havelock]

How is the mob asking for shakedown money any different from being forced to pay taxes? It's simply that the mafia undertakes some of the function of the state. The state failed at protecting businesses, so now it's privately done.

For starters, a majority voted for the representatives that enacted that taxation. No one voted for the criminal syndicate. Nice hyperbole, but if you can't see the difference between legal taxation by a representative government and blatant criminal shakedowns.... :shake:

I never feared for my safety.
In St. Petersburg? I'm not surprised. It's a cash cow of the former USSR, and there is much more effort put forth by the authorities to protect Westerners there. Those I know that have worked for any amount of time in Moscow or the other cities tell a very different story. You sure as hell don't go around Vladivostok alone in the evening if you are a Westerner.

The problem in Russia was a lack of institutions to enforce laws, enforce property rights, collect taxes, etc. I cut Putin some slack because it's impossible to have a free-market economy without the underlying institutions that protect property rights.
You may be willing to cut a former Komitet some "slack". I'm not. This POS worked hand in hand with the Stasi for over a decade. He hasn't changed his stripes, and is still trying to undercut the reforms that old drunk Yeltsin and Co. put in place. Yeltsin's brains must have been completley pickled by the time he tapped Putin to replace him. I've always wondered what the old KGB guy had on Yeltsin that gave him that kind of leverage over him.

One of the fundamental problems in Russia is that during the great sell-off of state assets, there was little to no effort to keep them from being looted by a few former party oligarchs, or the criminal element. That said, in post-USSR Russia, they were the only ones with any amount of money.

That, and a serious lack of anything remotely approaching a democratic tradition in their entire history. That's why they are throwing away a fledgling democracy for a slow but steady return to authoritarianism. Historically, it's all they've ever known all the way back to the Kievian Principalities. :shrug:

[BucEyedPea]

Correct, it's now a borderline "Criminal" state, with organized crime the #2 power broker in the country, right behind the army.

And yes, going after Putin was quite idiotic. Of course, he's a former senior member of the Komitet, and hasn't changed his stripes all that much.

Yep...he can't be trusted either.
He's snake.
But it was idiotic.

BTW- He already has a democracy like Iraq. It's called Chechnya.

And his own version of a crusade there.

[BucEyedPea]

Casinos everywhere, bars open all night long, hot scantily-clad chicks running all around...all and all, a rather fun place to visit.

Sounds like Vegas and parts of America I might add.

[Joe Seahawk]

Casinos everywhere, bars open all night long, hot scantily-clad chicks running all around...all and all, a rather fun place to visit.

Russia is hardly the police state that many on the right and left imply.


http://jerhad.typepad.com/jerhad/images/hillary_8.jpg

[Adept Havelock]

Sounds like Vegas and parts of America I might add.

ROFL

Comparing Putin (or any member of the Komitet for that matter) to snakes seems a bit harsh...to the snakes. ;)


Why do Komitet men always work in a Troika? Easy. One who can read and write, one who can do math, and one to keep an eye on the two subversive members of the intelligentsia.


Two former schoolmates met in the street.
"Where do you work?"
"I am a school teacher. And what about you?"
"I work for the KGB."
"Oh, and what are you doing at the KGB?"
"We unearth those who are dissatisfied."
"You mean, there are also some who are satisfied?"
"Those who are satisfied are dealt with by the Division for the Fight Against the Embezzlements of the Socialist Property."


A hotel. A room for four with four strangers. Three of them soon open a bottle of vodka and proceed to get acquainted, then drunk, then noisy, singing and telling political jokes. The fourth one desperately tries to get some sleep; finally, frustrated, he surreptitiously leaves the room, goes downstairs, and asks the lady concierge to bring tea to Room 67 in ten minutes. Then he returns and joins the party. Five minutes later, he bends over an ashtray and says with utter nonchalance: "Comrade Major, some tea to Room 67, please." In a few minutes, there's a knock at the door, and in comes the lady concierge with a tea tray. The room falls silent; the party dies a sudden death, and the conspirator finally gets to sleep. The next morning he wakes up alone in the room. Surprised, he runs downstairs and asks the concierge where his neighbors had gone. "Oh, the KGB has arrested them!" she answers. "B-but... but what about me?" asks the guy in terror. "Oh, well, they decided to let you go. You made Comrade Major laugh a lot with your tea joke."

[Lurch]

Russia has little room to talk, given its own difficulties building a democracy. And their own problems in Chechnyia.

[recxjake]

Things look like they could get nastier with Russia too. I guess the Cowboy diplomacy, DUHbya's lack of personal international political experience, and the reliance on neocons for policy creation has really made the US safer in the long run...NOT. :shake: The second comment is very telling...

shut the **** up you stupid hairy armpitted liberal baby

[Lurch]

shut the **** up you stupid hairy armpitted liberal baby
Eh, I bet she shaves her pits, but I bet she has a thick bush with heavy undergrowth.

[mlyonsd]

Things look like they could get nastier with Russia too. ...

As well they should.

[memyselfI]

Eh, I bet she shaves her pits, but I bet she has a thick bush with heavy undergrowth.

You must have a really sad life to be left spending time thinking about the length of my bush. :shake: I hope things turn around for you...

[Lurch]

You must have a really sad life to be left spending time thinking about the length of my bush. :shake: I hope things turn around for you...

I dated ME/Terrorist country chicks before. I didn't have to think about it. They were hot. Now a threesome with you and Ann Coulter. That would be hot.

[memyselfI]

I dated ME/Terrorist country chicks before. I didn't have to think about it. They were hot. Now a threesome with you and Ann Coulter. That would be hot.

I'm not M.E. Not interested.

[Lurch]

I'm not M.E. Not interested.

Damn, there goes my fantasy.

[Radar Chief]

Russia has little room to talk, given its own difficulties building a democracy. And their own problems in Chechnyia.

Only thing that matters is that he got a “burn” on teh Debil.

[BIG_DADDY]

I'm not M.E. Not interested.

The only thing she has an interest in is a strap on and ****ing you in the ass.

[Iowanian]

you should leave her alone bd.....if Israel attacks Syria, she's going to have to send her family to defend the motherland vs the Zionist occupiers.

That prospect has to be weighing heavily on her mind.

Well, at least her arse is weighing heavily on her neck.