[marden]

Let's Look At Russia & Putin For A Minute

Putin is helping to arm North Korea, Iran and Venezuela.

Putin is getting rid of left wing media critics by poisoning them or shooting them.

And Bush is chummy with this guy??? I think something is wrong with this picture.

Posted on Fri, Dec. 01, 2006

Putin's regime is reason to worry
McClatchy-Tribune News Service

(MCT)

The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Thursday, Nov. 30:

X X X

It sounds like a plot from a spy thriller, but the death of a former KGB agent - recently poisoned in London - should prompt a reassessment of our relationship with Russia and the increasingly authoritarian Vladimir Putin.

The murky case bears Moscow's fingerprints. The victim, Alexander Litvinenko, was a critic of Putin. He died after ingesting a large dose of polonium 210, a substance normally used as part of the triggering device for atomic weapons.

This is the latest in a series of thuggish episodes involving critics of Putin, who has steered the post-Soviet Russian state away from democracy toward his own brand of authoritarianism.

Putin has avoided some of the hallmarks of communism, such as forced collective farms, mandated atheism and the overheated rhetoric of class warfare. But he has asserted tight control over the government and he has seized power over important parts of the economy, including the oil industry and media outlets.

Nongovernmental organizations have been marginalized. In May, Russia's last popularly elected governor was arrested. There has been a series of mysterious killings, most of which remain unsolved.

Putin's regime has signed major arms deals with Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, and Moscow is delivering advanced surface-to-air missiles to Iran to help that country protect its illicit nuclear weapons program.

Up to now, Washington and other Western governments have largely ignored the implications of all this. But at some point, we must accept the obvious - that Vladimir Putin's government is no friend of the West - and change our policy accordingly.

http://www.belleville.com/mld/bellev...l/16140127.htm

[ShortcutToMoncton]

**** it, let's invade Russia too. They're not so democratic after all!



greg

[Dakar²]

I thought they were one of our allies in the WoT? (As of a year or two ago?)

[Nai no Kami]

That Ivan Drago fight was staged, to make the USA have a belief of superiority and underestimate the Russians. Also, Comunism didn't fell. It's in disguise. It's all a façade. Those concealed AK-47s are loaded and ready to fire. The USA should preemptive strike Russia. All in the name of the purity of our bodily fluids. They will come. And it will be the end.

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by Dakar² 

I thought they were one of our allies in the WoT? (As of a year or two ago?)

Yup. In fact, Bush finds Putin personally to be just a swell guy:

"I looked the man 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," Mr Bush said.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

...and in the meantime, Putin has been publicly and actively reducing democratic freedoms and creating a "false democracy" with considerable personal powers.

Clean 'em out, I say. With the trash. With Iran – it's like two birds, with a single stone!

greg

[King Bob On The Cob]

The US doesn't have the economy that it did during the cold war where we simply outspent the Russians to kill their economy.

Note to the rest of the world: The US isn't going to save you this time.

[subego]

The way things are going here, I'm sure we'll get along great. Let's see, our current line is...

"The state is the primary instrument for protecting the proletariat from the dangers of the world"

I'm sure Putin and the rest of the Soviets Russians, know all about this.

When is everybody going to realize that these neocons act more like communists than anything else?

[Moderator]

Look...Bush looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul. That's all I need to know.

[PER3]

Gotta be suspicious of a guy that would get chummy with Bush...

...or a guy who would use a quote from some hillbilly yellow-press newspaper as the basis for his "argument".

[Atomic Rooster]

I think Bush will bring his own lunch the next time he visits Putin.

The steak had a green glow last time.

[marden]

Originally Posted by PER3 

Gotta be suspicious of a guy that would get chummy with Bush...

...or a guy who would use a quote from some hillbilly yellow-press newspaper as the basis for his "argument".

Gotta be suspicious of a guy whose location is listed as Moscow who wouldn't have already posted a thread on any of the matters involving Russia so far and when one IS posted all he can do is criticize the source of the information.

Why not post what you think is a more credible source instead of trying to discredit what my source says?