Category Archives: Russia

Media, Politics, Russia, Uncategorized

Desperate Socialists

And socialism marches on, speaking about the dictator in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez. Affectionately called here the hemisphere’s idiot. Now he is clearing way to be president for life, ending term limits for himself by changing the constitution he made in 1999. The changes . . .

would strip the Central Bank of all autonomy, allowing the government to spend the country’s foreign reserves. The government would be given power to expropriate private property by decree, and to promote co-operatives and state enterprise.

State governors and mayors will still be subject to term limits—otherwise they might become caudillos, Mr Chávez said recently, without irony. They will be sidelined by new communal councils, dependent on the presidency. Another proposal is to reduce the maximum working day to six hours. “Now we are headed straight towards socialism,” Mr Chávez said. But first the plans must be approved by referendum.

Chavez has come a long way since the corrupted election that put him in office. Jimmy Carter will tell you how corrupt it was, even though he didn’t have the courage to tell the Venezuelan people and the U.N. the truth about it at the time he was ‘overseeing’ it. He took it upon himself to deceive the entire country. But that’s another story. So, one would expect this referendum to pass with a 99 % majority.

Here’s Chavez record on freedom. In his own words. . .

“We have broken the chains of the old, exploitative capitalist system,” said Mr Chavez. “The state now has the obligation to build the model of a socialist economy.”

He has nationalized the oil and energy industries, same with the communications industry including the press and on-air broadcast, put price controls in place on everything from food to fuel. No such thing as private property any more. The result is predictable, no food on the shelves, high (for them) fuel prices. A suppressed media that supports only the Chavez administration keeps the people ignorant and riled up.

Of course there’s no domestic media that considers this newsworthy. It’s the Desperate Socialists club of Chavez, Castro and Putin.

Fairness Doctrine, Media, Russia

Putin And Freedom Just Disagree

Intent on reliving the Cold War, Russian President Vladimir Putin is ramping up military spending in response to an anti-missile defense system proposed by the United States for the Czech republic and Poland. A system that Putin chose to not be a part of. And now Putin has kicked out the BBC from Russian FM radio. The pattern here is that to Putin, the concept of freedom is evil and dangerous. Something to be squelched at all cost.

Earlier this summer Mr Putin upped the ante by threatening to target US strategic nuclear sites in Europe. Tensions with Britain over the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko have prompted tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats, while on Friday the BBC’s World Service was thrown off Russian FM radio.

As far as freedom of speech goes, Vladimir Putin (Russia) and Hugo Chavez (Venezuela / Citgo) are fully on board with the Fairness Doctrine and execute (no pun intended) it perfectly. And the domestic media doesn’t so much as shrug its shoulders over it. Doesn’t fit the template. The left wants the fairness doctrine as the tool that will effectively gag the right when it comes to radio. Secretly, they’re jealous at the way Putin can do it. They both have similar views on freedom of speech. Which is, if we agree with it then its OK. If we don’t then its hate speech, or in Putin’s case, treasonous speech. There is no debate, just shut them down. That’s the purpose of the so-called Fairness Doctrine.

In true liberal fashion, the Fairness Doctrine goes like this. Because we can’t beat them in the marketplace or the arena of ideas, we’ll get the government to take our side and force them to put us on their airtime. That’s not my idea of freedom of speech.

Media, Russia, Uncategorized

Mind Control, Russian Style

You really need a sense of humor to read Vladimir Putin’s paper, Pravda. Pravda is the equivalent of the daily KOS when it comes to the rhetoric and theories. Like this one, “Russians have psychotronic weapon to zombie people” in the science section.

But that’s only half the story. You have to know why Russians need psychotronic weapons.

In the USA researchers work on psychotronic effect and employ oriental psychophysical systems, hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming, computer psychotechnologies and bio-resonance stimulation in their studies. They seek every opportunity of manipulating human behavior. Israeli researchers conduct similar studies to help people reveal their new potential through self-regulation, changing their consciousness and improving the psychical body potential for athletes. What is more, they also make secret technologies for programming human behavior that are based on mathematical simulation of the Kabbala symbolism.

Aside from sounding ridiculous, on page three the expert admits it.

Boris Ratnikov says that he has never had a chance to hold such a weapon and has no idea how it may look at all. But he supposes that modern technical resources allow making this weapon these days as all theoretic materials necessary for the production have been completely developed.

And this is the kind of media that President Putin wants his people to see.

Pravda link

Immigration, Media, Politics, Russia, United Nations, War On Terror

UN Does Human Trafficking Too! And Putin Is Not Pleased.

Two (Russian) United Nations employees were busted for visa fraud. They were essentially writing letters of special permission for certain people to enter the country to ostensibly attend a special meeting or some diplomatic business at the UN. Neither happened, the people just came over.

Noteworthy in this news article is the fact that the MSM here in the US is mute on it. A google search right now shows a Reuters, VOA, and foreign media outlets. No NYT or LAT, no WaPo, no CBS, NBS, or ABS. Definitely does not fit the template.

The Reuters article is the most complete. Two are from Russia. And you ought to see how Pravda reports this. This is the Putin media talking with a Michael Moore twist. That’s President Vladimir Putin, the guy who put democracy in Russia into reverse.

update: The link to the Pravda story is gone. The story isn’t on the server, if the error msg is to be believed. Lesson here is, when it comes to Putin’s press, better capture it because the link won’t be there when you return.

What you missed is the whole tone of the article is different. As though it is a different story altogether. In Putin’s version, it is just trumped up charges on Russian citizens in order to further the anti-UN fervor in the US as an excuse to get out of the UN. And it goes on from there, tinfoil hat and all.

Putin characterizes the US negatively in such a way that he’s not speaking of an ally of Russia. He seems to use this topic as a means to launch on to other attacks. Like James Carville with hair. There is no anti-US reporting in the other Russian media accounts of this story. Well, not yet anyway. The other Russian media’s versions of this story are nothing of the sort of the Pravda version. They are all using a shorter version of the Reuters story.

From here it looks like Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to create some anti-US sentiment in his country. Why would this be? It is what he would need to justify (to the Russian people) his recent arms escalation and unwillingness to participate in a cooperative missile defense arrangement in that part of the world. That is presuming he gives a wit about the Russian people. Seems to me Putin has his sights on eliminating most, if not all, of the freedoms the Russian people are supposed to be able to enjoy. A ‘free’ media in Russia is on the endangered species list.

UPDATE: 8/8/07, the link is back but Putin and references to Putin are gone. His picture is gone. All of that was on the original story. For starters, here is the headline and sub-head.

USA arrests Russian UN officials to slander the organization

American authorities have been looking for a reason to get rid of the UN and obtain the absolute freedom

Politics, Russia, War On Terror

Putin Out Of Balance, Disturbed

Russian President Vladimir Putin still insists that Russia is at odds if not still at ‘war’ with the United States and wants nothing of this missile shield. After bragging that their successful tests of a multi-warhead nuclear missile would defeat the missile shield that the United States has in mind for Poland and the Czech Republic, you can expect that Putin will be banging his shoe on the desk about this at the G8 Summit next week in Germany. This, after the Bush administration, and Bush himself, encouraged Putin to join in on the shield and participate. After all, we are allies remember? The cold war is over, isn’t it? Apparently not, since Putin’s response now is that he will aim his missiles at Europe.

Putin is out there saying

The missile shield only creates the theoretical illusion that one is protected, but the possibility that a nuclear conflict is unleashed is actually greater . . .

and

“The strategic balance in the West is disturbed,” said Putin, adding Russia had to create a system to counter U.S. weapons.

Putin is to world peace what the Democrats in Washington are to the war on terror, which includes Iraq. I think it’s Putin who is disturbed and out of balance.

Russia, Uncategorized

Putin At It Again

Russian President Vladimir Putin is showing signs of delusion again, this time by comparing U.S. policies to that of Nazi Germany.   I don’t know who he reminds me of most, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, or Kim Jong Ill? 

The comments were the latest in a series of sharply worded Russian criticisms of the foreign policy of the United States — on Iraq, missile defense, NATO expansion and, more broadly, United States unilateralism in foreign affairs.

 This guy is going the wrong way on a one way street.

Russia, Uncategorized

NASA To Roskosmos, Thanks But No Thanks

When trouble knocks on your door, don’t let it in.  So NASA says no thanks to Russia’s offer to pool resources to do a joint moon exploration project.  NASA is reportedly taking this project on without international partners.  Russia’s space agency head Anatoly Perminov said . . .

We were ready to cooperate but for unknown reasons, the United States have said they will undertake this programme themselves.

Here’s an ‘unknown reason’ for ya.  Putin’s latest clamp on freedom where he says that “the United States was to be portrayed as an enemy.”  His words.  That’s the message radio broadcasters got after being taken over by the State, among other things.  I in no way know that Putin’s ‘enemy’ statement had anything to do with NASA’s response.    IMHO, I couldn’t throw him far enough, even on the moon’s surface, to trust him.  Putin’s enemy fixation sort of blows the whole trust thing out the window for me.

Media, Politics, Russia, Uncategorized

Putin's Russia, AINO, Ally In Name Only

1 Comment

Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to squash freedom, yearning for those good old communist days.  This time it is the press and he gives them his template.  Portray the United States as an enemy.

MOSCOW, April 21 At their first meeting with journalists since taking over Russia’s largest independent radio news network, the managers had startling news of their own: from now on, they said, at least 50 percent of the reports about Russia must be positive.

In addition, opposition leaders could not be mentioned on the air and the United States was to be portrayed as an enemy, journalists employed by the network, Russian News Service, say they were told by the new managers, who are allies of the Kremlin.

Russia, Uncategorized

Has Putin Gone Astray?

Or has he always been that way?  Freedom seems to be a concept that is giving Russian President Vladimir Putin some heartburn lately.  He is beginning to look to me like another Gorbachev.  That is, as a president who missed an opportunity to lead his country to a freedom inspired and people inspired sort of government.   He lost his election to the will the people who preferred Boris Yeltsin.

MOSCOW (AP) – Riot police beat and detained protesters as thousands defied an official ban and attempted to stage a rally Saturday against President Vladimir Putin’s government, which opponents accuse of rolling back freedoms Russians have enjoyed since the end of Soviet communism.

Will Vladimir Putin likewise miss a similar opportunity?  Yes, he will follow Gorby’s footsteps and begin to reign in whatever freedoms the Russians have.  Which would be a huge mistake with bad consequences for the world.

Police beat protesters

Kasparov freed after rally