May 2008 Archives

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The Wages of Slaves

Filed under: Russia

At the current dollar-ruble exchange rate of 23.5:1, the sum of 7,000 Russian rubles amounts to $297.87.

That's the average monthly wage of a petrochemical worker in Russia's Sverdlovsk region, just west of the Urals on the border of Siberia. The major metropolis of Yekaterinburg is located there.

For four 40-hour work weeks, that translates into a shocking average hourly wage of only $1.86. So much for the notion of economic recovery in Vladimir Putin's Russia. These are the real wages earned by the vast majority of real Russians across the country, offset by a tiny clan of super rich who exploit the unwashed masses as has always been the case in Russia.

But little enough, you might think, so that managers at such a plant would consider their workforce cheap at twice the price, and be rolling in profits. Yet if that were so, why would workers at the Lobinsky plant have declared a hunger strike in protest of wages that are four months overdue?

Kim Zigfeld · May 29, 2008 4:17 PM · TrackBacks (0)

Statesman McCain

Filed under: Russia

Recently, Republican presidential nominee John McCain declared that he wouldn't provoke a new nuclear arms race with Russia if he becomes president. Instead, McCain stated, he'd actively pursue a strategic arms limitation treaty with Russia.

In response, an idiot named Ilan Goldenberg, writing for Democracy Arsenal, stated: "McCain's basic plan is to slap the Russians smack across the face and then ask them for a favor. Somehow I don't think that will work."

A favor? Apparently, Mr. Goldenberg thinks that it isn't in Russia's interest to agree to nuclear arms limitation, but only (or at least much more) in America's interest. That's the exact opposite of the truth. America, with the far bigger economy, can far better afford a nuclear arms race than Russia can. In fact, many believe that the strategic arms race initiated by Ronald Reagan with his "Star Wars" proposal is what drove the USSR into bankruptcy and collapse. The idea that the U.S. must convince Russia to do it a favor by agreeing to nuclear arms limits is ridiculously ignorant, and indicative of the utterly failed foreign policy of the left that we have seen so many times before, from JFK at the Bay of Pigs to Jimmy Carter in Iran.

By "smack across the face," Mr. Goldenberg is apparently referring to McCain's policy of seeking to exclude Russia from the G-8 as it has been excluded from other international organizations for lack of democratic credentials. The lunatic left can't decide whether this idea is silly, because the other members would never go along, or dangerous and offensive to Russia. It can't be both, of course, but that doesn't stop the morons of the left from still trying to have it both ways.

Goldenberg at least has that part of it correct. If America tells the G-8 it has to choose between the U.S. and Russia, that America will pull out if Russia isn't booted out, then Russia will go. It's just that simple. And if Russia didn't go, then America could pull out and thereby simply liquidate the G-8 as a significant international presence.

To suggest that it's somehow inconsistent for Senator McCain to favor both nuclear arms negotiation and direct confrontation on other fronts is quite simply stupid. It's not inconsistent, it's statesmanship -- a concept so foreign to these freakish left-wing oddballs that they obviously have trouble recognizing it. The battle America must fight with Russia isn't a nuclear one. Russia lost its superpower status long ago, and McCain understands that. If there will be a military confrontation, it will be a conventional one, on the ground in places like Georgia, Ukraine and Estonia when Russian troops invade. McCain obviously understands the need to beef up American and NATO military capacity in regard to such confrontation, and the risk of getting blinded by the illusion of nuclear deterrence.

But much more important, the real battles will be economic and moral ones, where nuclear arms will be completely useless. McCain knows that we must fight Russian influence in places like the UN and G-8. He knows we must face down the new harshly anti-democratic ideology of the Kremlin, and we must confront the creeping weaponization of Russian energy resources, which it seeks to use as a lever of imperialism. We need to realize that nuclear weapons won't help us win those battles, and McCain needs to make clear to American voters that he won't allow confrontation with Russia to result in a dangerous instability of nuclear armaments.

If those on the left really believed the things they say about nuclear arms, they'd be holding parades of praise for McCain on every American street. But instead, all they want to do is desperately search for ways to attack him. Perhaps that's why Democrats haven't re-elected a president with a majority of the popular vote since the time of FDR.

John McCain is saying we can confront and defeat neo-Soviet Russia, stand up for American values around the world, and do it all without inflicting another nuclear panic on the world's children. He's right on the money, reconfirming that he's by far the best choice to become the next president of the United States.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 29, 2008 7:16 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Put a Tyrant in your Tank

Filed under: Russia

"Anyone inclined to celebrate Big Oil's recent misfortunes had better hold off on the champagne. For however badly the Western firms may have behaved, the new global oil barons could one day leave environmental and social activists nostalgic for the bad old days of ExxonMobil."

Read all about it.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 28, 2008 8:05 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Democrat Doings in Denver

Filed under: Russia

If Democrats are doing so well, why can't they raise the money they need for their convention? Republicans are having no problems.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 28, 2008 2:08 AM · TrackBacks (0)

How hard do YOU work?

Filed under: International Institutions

The 30-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has published a report that surveys its members to see which ones work the hardest. The table above shows the results. The OECD's historical data indicate that the average American worker worked only 1,797 hours in 2006 compared to 1,825 in 1993 -- a drop of 28 annual hours or the equivalent of more than three additional days off. Many other countries in the group posted similar results, and nearly one-third of the group posted more annual hours than the United States (though the U.S. is still a bit above the group average).

Looking for Russia? Don't strain your eyes, it's not there. The OECD is a group that strongly espouses democratic values as a precondition of membership, and Russia has yet to qualify. OECD observers routinely condemn Russian elections as undemocratic and more recently have simply been denied access to the country.

Forbes has further details about the survey.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 23, 2008 3:22 PM · TrackBacks (0)

Another Brutal, Humiliating Defeat for Putin's Russia

Filed under: Georgia

In a devastating embarrassment for Vladimir Putin's foreign policy, Georgia held elections this week and delivered stunning knockout blow to Russia's efforts to retain influence and control in the former Soviet republic.

In parliamentary elections that were judged as "good or very good at 92 percent of the 1,500 polling stations visited" by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Georgian voters supported the party of the pro-West president Mikheil Saakashvili (shown above) by a landslide margin. The OSCE found that the quality of Georgia's elections had improved markedly from the last outing: "These elections were not perfect, but since I was here in January for the presidential election, concrete and substantial progress has been made," said Joao Soares, head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly mission.

Saakashvili's party dominated its pro-Russia opponent by a stunning margin of nearly three to one. The people of Georgia spoke loud and clear, saying that they wanted no part of their country's Soviet past and domination by the Russian Kremlin. Instead, they overwhelmingly favor alliance with the West, NATO membership and an independent course. Faced with repeated neo-imperialist efforts to unseat him, President Saakashvili has responded courageously and even heroically by simply calling election after election to let the people decide and winning each and every one.

Let's be clear: The United Opposition Movement headed by former presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze is a real opposition party, harshly critical of Saakashvili and seeking to oust him from power. It was allowed to campaign aggressively and it won a large number of seats in Parliament. No such thing occurred last December in Russia. By contrast, not one single seat in Russia's new parliament is held by a party opposed to the dictatorial rule of Vladimir Putin.

It's more than a little telling that Russian "president" Dimitri Medvedev's first state visit after becoming "president" was a trip to China. Russia's relations with its former Soviet neighbors in Europe are imploding like a house of cards (just ten days ago, Russia received a similar poke in the eye from it's "little brother" in Serbia), and rather that seek to repair them it appears the Kremlin has simply given up hope and is trying to shore up its Far Eastern front.

Good luck with that, Mr. Medvedev. Do you really imagine the Chinese don't realize the racist contempt in which they are held by Russians? Do you really think you can appease the Chinese the way Stalin tried to appease Hitler, and thereby prevent China from annexing huge swaths of Russian territory to house its massive population (now ten times larger than Russia, but with less than one-third the national territory)?

Russia's foreign policy under Vladimir Putin has amounted to total, abject failure. Putin has provoked a new Cold War with the world's only superpower, alienated and polarized Western Europe with energy terrorism, poisoned its relations with former Soviet bloc friends and left Russia standing utterly alone in the world, without alliances or even constructive working relationships of any kind. Russia's only fellows are rogue regimes like those in Syria, Iran and Venezuela.

And there is nothing at all surprising in this. Though the complain about "encirclement" by the outside world, the people of Russia bring their troubles on themselves by choosing to be governed by a proud KGB spy raised on the mother's milk of propaganda and paranoia that brought down the USSR.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 23, 2008 5:44 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Democratic Doings in KY and OR: Sexist Media?

Filed under: US Elections

I might be the very last person on the face of the Earth who would wish to see Hillary Clinton become the president of the United States. I don't even want her to get the nomination of her party, because I see her as being a more dangerous, mainstream candidate than Barack Obama. But that doesn't make me any less disgusted by the manner in which she is being treated by the American media.

Last night, she obliterated Obama in the Democrat primary in the state of Kentucky in the same manner she had done in West Virgina last week, crushing the frontrunner 65-30. Yet, not only does the front page of the New York Times website this morning not report that fact, it carries a huge photograph of Barack Obama under a gigantic headline stating: "Obama Declares Bid Within Reach." You have to dig around in the paper's coverage to find out how badly Clinton whipped him in the bluegrass state. The fact that Obama could lose two states in a row this badly shows that his support is fundamentally hollow and fraudulent.

As shown in the graphic above from CNN, Obama was once again rejected by white voters in Kentucky by an overwhelming margin, polarizing the races rather than unifying them as he claims in his mission statement, the same thing that happened in North Carolina. Except it's getting worse.

In a ridiculous bit of propaganda, Obama pointed out that he now has a majority of the available regular pledged delegates. He doesn't remember to tell you how many of them he won in caucuses that won't be repeated in the general election, nor does he manage to tell you how utterly he's being repudiated by mainstream white voters in the aftermath of the Wright scandal. He omits the fact that he lost eight of the ten most significant electoral states and ignores his bonecrushing recent losses despite his clear frontrunner status. He trumpets his win in the other primary last night, Oregon, but he doesn't mention how he was humiliated there by being caught red-handed totally unfamiliar with the state's chief environmental issue, nor does he remember to tell you how he'd been similarly nabbed claiming America has 57 states (he must have been thinking of his beloved Organization of the Islamic Conference). Nor does Obama note that counting all the votes in both primaries last night, Clinton defeated him by a massive net margin of 150,000 votes.

It's well within Clinton's doable reach to deny Obama a majority of the available delegates, which includes a large portion of superdelegates, and thus force a brokered convention where anything could happen, including neither one of them getting the nomination (did somebody say "Al Gore to the rescue"?). Yet, the apparently sexist media insists the contest is over and the first female contender should just shut up and go away.

Outrageous. Once again we see how truly misleading the word "democratic" is when applied to this party. One supposes that it's predictable that since black men got the vote before women of any color, they will have a presidential candidate before women do -- but the blatant sexism being practiced here is truly revolting. Thankfully, Hillary is having none of it. You go, girl.

Michelle Malkin has a simply devastating inventory of Obama's ridiculous misstatements over the past few months. If you can read it and still support him, you're a candidate for the nut house.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 21, 2008 5:33 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Watching Edward Lozansky

Filed under: Russia

The latest addition to our "articles" section in the sidebar is about the efforts of Kremlin henchman Edward Lozansky and his ragtag group of Russophile collaborators to undermine U.S. security and help Vladimir Putin rule Russia for life.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 21, 2008 5:22 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Kozlovsky is Free

Filed under: Russia

Oleg Kozlovsky (shown above) emerged from a Russian prison Monday evening emaciated from a ten-day hunger strike to protest the blatant illegality of his arrest. He was whisked away to a restaurant by his compatriots at Oborona to toast his freedom (and fatten him up).

In what must have been a satisfyingly sweet moment of retribution, his dessert was served by the Washington Post, which published Kozlovsky's op-ed delivering a blistering critique of the Kremlin's gulag-like stability and calling for grass-roots opposition.

Take that, Mr. Putin! No wonder you need to jail this young man. Just imagine how many op-eds he would have published today if he hadn't been in prison!

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Kim Zigfeld · May 19, 2008 5:16 PM · TrackBacks (0)

Nemtsov Battles for the Soul of Russia

Filed under: Russia

My latest installment is running now on the Pajamas Media mother blog, a review of Boris Nemtsov's heroic treatise laying bare the fundamental failure of the first eight years of Vladimir Putin's dictatorial rule over Russia. Comments over at PM offering support for Nemtsov's effort and courage would be appreciated.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 17, 2008 8:22 PM · TrackBacks (0)

Russia -- Holocaust Denier

Filed under: Ukraine

The latest addition to our "articles" section is a review of the most recent disgusting display of neo-Soviet propaganda from Russia, yet another effort to deny the mass murder of Ukrainians by Russians during the World War II era. Russians apparently think they know Ukraine's history better than Ukrainians do, and then they are shocked and offended when Ukrainians prefer to associate with NATO and the EU rather than Russia. And so it goes in the neo-Soviet nightmare. Comments are open on the post for those who can exercise the privilege responsibly.

NOTE: Our post about Russian humiliation in Serbia has been picked up by uber-blogger Michelle Malkin. Too cool!

Kim Zigfeld · May 16, 2008 5:52 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Putin Takes a Seat, and a Pen

Filed under: Russia

It's necessary now to put both the word "former" and the word "president" in quotation marks when referring to Vladimir Putin. He stands accused of rigging his elections (both by purging the ballot form and stuffing the ballot box) and therefore can't be considered a properly chosen "president," and rather than leaving government after his term as "president" ended he chose to assume the position of prime minister, vastly expanding the powers of that office. Thus, he's still ruling Russia, and by no means as a freely chosen president but rather as a conspiratorial dictator.

The New York Times reports that in announcing the appointment of the members of his new government, Putin "sat at the same place at a table that he used as president for these performances. Dmitri Medvedev, officially the president, sat in a chair that viewers have come to regard as for subordinates." The ministers were all Putin's former flunkies; Medvedev will not be allowed to bring in any new faces. As the Times states: "The announcements reinforced the image that Mr. Putin will retain a grip on power and the direction of policy in Russia."

The Associated Press reports: "When Boris Yeltsin left the Kremlin eight years ago, he gave Vladimir Putin the pen he had used to sign important documents and decrees, a gesture symbolizing the transfer of power to Russia's new president. When Putin left the Kremlin, he took the pen with him."

The Wall Street Journal reports: "If, as is widely expected here, article 32 of the law on government is amended to transfer authority over the military and security services and the foreign ministry to the prime minister, Mr. Putin will have the authority to continue to rule Russia regardless of the president. Postcommunist Russia can thus be ruled in reality (as opposed to appearance) by someone not elected as president, even in flawed elections."

Since being sworn in a week ago, Medvedev has spoken in public for a total of less than 20 minutes. Putin surrounded himself with cabinet ministers who are hard-line former KGB spies, taking them away from the presidential administration and leaving Medvedev "adrift" and powerless. The Telegraph reports that Dmitry Oreshkin, a Russian political analyst said: "The centre of power has been unquestionably transferred to the White House."

Blogger Robert Amsterdam reports that even funnyman David Letterman understands the apocalyptic outrage taking place in Russia:

On the May 12th Late Show with David Letterman, they did a short funny bit replaying clips of all these different news anchors (and of course Hillary Clinton) caught mispronouncing Medvedev's name. Then, right when the bit ended, Letterman looked into the camera and ad-libbed -- "You know it doesn't even matter because he's just one of Putin's cronies . . .," while shaking his head in cynical disapproval. The surprising comment was greeted with silence from the crowd, while his hype man in the band Paul Shaffer quipped, "Is that you speaking here? Because you usually don't go political . . . " And from there the show continued on without further comment.

Ouch. Way to go, Dave, that's telling it like it is! We are getting more leadership on Russia from a stand-up comic than we are from our president, it seems.

Anyone who uses the term "former" or "president" in regard to Putin is betraying not only democracy but the meaning and purpose of human language itself.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 14, 2008 6:26 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Memo to John McCain

Filed under: US Elections

DON'T DO IT!!!

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Kim Zigfeld · May 14, 2008 1:06 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Letters

Filed under: Letters

RE: At Last, NATO Pushes Back Against Russian Aggression

Dear Publius Pundit:

You might highlight this line:

"...Naturally, we rehearse our counteractions."

He implies the Western response is an attack, notes that his crews are playing war and are on a hair trigger, then delivers the above line ensuring that no one can misunderstand that he is threatening our fighters.

You are right to hammer these provocative monsters. Keep at it.

Best,

Brian

* * *

RE: Myanmar's Russia Connection

Dear Publius Pundit,

Here's something else to keep in mind when exploring Russia's relationships with energy-rich states: Russia has huge reserve of oil and natural gas, and any jump in the price of these commodities will first and foremost raise energy revenue that the Russian government receives. Since the resource-driven economic boom is the primary reason why Putin's support is so high (another being those oh-so-convenient Chechens), maintaining high energy prices are key to Putin's ambitions for the Russian state.

This preoccupation with energy, though, leads the Russians to do some pretty treacherous things. For example, in the late 1990s they allegedly trained Ayman al-Zawahiri (bin Laden's sidekick -- or perhaps the true leader of al-Qaeda). Just a few months later, al-Zawahiri's terrorist group was incredibly interested and well-informed of plans by Americans to build a natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan and ease the Russian's quasi-monopoly in the region. Later, al-Qaeda attacks American embassies in East Africa, which was believed by many to be a provocation of the US, trying to get them to enter Afghanistan. Though there was no invasion, the oil pipeline was shelved shortly after the attacks. Interestingly enough, all of this is right about the time when the price of oil starts skyrocketing -- in early 1999 the price of oil had fallen to about $12 per barrel, but has increased fairly regularly ever since, to the point where it is now 1000% of the price that it was less than a decade ago. Much of this increase in prices was no doubt due to the ramifications of US policy in the Middle East in response to periodic attacks by al-Qaeda.

And Burma is not the only place where we see Russia abetting regimes that have been drawing the ire of the United States: Iran, too, has been helped by Russia in developing something (at minimum nuclear power, and at most nuclear weapons) that doesn't seem to benefit Russia much at all. Iran (like Burma) is a relatively poor country that wouldn't seem to be in the position to pay lots of money for expensive nuclear reactors, especially given its own enormous energy reserves. Security interests don't seem too great, since both Russia and the US have enough weapons to inflict more damage than they'd ever want, and an attack on Russia by any country is pretty unthinkable. And Russia, by supporting the regimes, is putting itself at risk of being criticized. So what's in it for Russia? An American invasion of Iran -- with the world's second-largest reserves of natural gas, and third-largest reserves of oil -- would surely send the price of oil skyrocketing past $200 a barrel, and that couldn't be bad for Putin. Just something to think about.

Sincerely,

Stephen Smith

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Kim Zigfeld · May 13, 2008 5:50 PM · TrackBacks (0)

Stunning Defeat for Russia in Serbia

Filed under: Russia

The pro-West party of Boris Tadic (shown above) has delivered a stunning, brutal defeat to the reactionary, pro-Russia forces of the radical Serbian nationalist Tomislav Nikolic, outpolling them by a 25% margin in the weekend's parliamentary elections. Spurning Russia despite the recent tumult and polarizing, paranoid rhetoric from Russia over Kosovo, Tadic boldly declared: "The citizens of Serbia have confirmed Serbia's European path. Serbia will be in the European Union. We have promised that, and we will fulfill that."

It's one breathtaking defeat after another for the failed KGB regime of Vladimir Putin. First NATO moves decisively towards missile defense and admission of Ukraine and Georgia (both countries have recently repudiated ties with Russia in national elections), and now Russia can't even hold on to its "little brother" Serbia. At home and abroad, Putin's policies bring only misery and humiliation to the people of Russia, the same neo-Soviet bitterness with which they are already well acquainted. They should have expected nothing else from the "election" of a proud KGB spy. They reap what they have sown.

Kim Zigfeld · May 11, 2008 7:21 PM · Comments (8) · TrackBacks (0)

At Last! NATO Pushes Back against Russian Aggression

Filed under: Russia

For many months now, Russia dictator Vladimir Putin has been aggressively menacing Western targets with Soviet nuclear bombers. Time after time (February, August, October), the U.S. and U.K. have scrambled fighter jets to ward off Russian strategic weapons flying perilously close to Western air space. Now, at last, NATO is giving Russia a taste of its own medicine.

NATO isn't uncivilized enough to actually buzz Russian targets with nuclear bombers. Russia has initiated that process unilaterally, and NATO is wise to retain the moral high ground, making Russia look like the barbarian it is.

But, as the International Herald Tribune reports, NATO is making clear and strong efforts to demonstrate its military potency, pushing back hard against the neo-Soviet onslaught. The paper states:

Russia's air force chief on Saturday accused NATO fighters escorting Russian bombers on patrol flights over neutral waters of violating safety rules. Air Force chief Col.-Gen. Alexander Zelin said NATO aircraft were approaching Russian bombers too closely and too often, creating risky situations. "They approach our strategic bombers at unacceptable distances and at unacceptable intervals, conduct various maneuvers around them and violate flight safety rules in every way. It is not a misuse of the word 'attack' because our partners are training for combat actions, reaching the point of an attack. I must confess that this is quite unpleasant and even dangerous. Naturally, we rehearse our counteractions." Zelin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as telling reporters Saturday.

What an amazing crybaby! Russia has relentlessly and unilaterally provoked and probed the West with dangerous nuclear weapons, and now when the West defends itself aggressively Russia is "shocked, shocked" by our actions. This is neo-Soviet hypocrisy laid bare, exactly the kind of have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too craziness that brought down the USSR.

Go NATO! Give 'em hell!

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Kim Zigfeld · May 11, 2008 7:30 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Paraipan on Lebanon

Filed under: Middle East

Publius Pundit contributor Manuela Paraipan has a piece running over at the Foreign Policy Association on the recent events involving Hizballah forces in Lebanon. She writes:

Is this the beginning of the end for Hizballah? It may very well be so if the army splits and the clashes go beyond Beirut. While Hizballah threatens the government, a group of Lebanese lobbyists are in the United States asking the UN to put Lebanon under Chapter VII. If and when that happens, Hizballah will be buried, but it may take Lebanon with it too.

Check out the rest over at FPA. Required reading for those concerned about the tinderbox in the Middle East.

Kim Zigfeld · May 10, 2008 10:18 AM · Comments (6) · TrackBacks (0)

Russia's Putin in Full Neo-Soviet Frenzy Mode

Filed under: Russia

In the lead-up to Russia's comical-yet-obscene parade of obsolete, creaking Soviet-made military hardware through Red Square last week, the dictator Vladimir Putin declared that his nation would soon surpass the United Kingdom in terms of GDP. Putin stated: "Russia is currently standing in seventh place in the world. According to international experts, it can climb another step as early as this year and overtake Britain."

It's possible this is the most repugnant and ridiculous falsehood Putin has ever told, and that's really saying something. A statement so misleading, on so many levels, could only come from a proudly ignorant and fundamentally dishonest KGB spy like Mr. Putin.

Kim Zigfeld · May 10, 2008 7:03 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Democrats, Betraying Their Ideals

Filed under: US Elections

Ellen R. Malcolm, the founder and president of Emily's List (which promotes female candidates for government office), has a wonderful column in the Washington Post explaining how, by trying to drive Hillary Clinton out of the primary race, the Democrats are betraying their supposed core beliefs regarding diversity and social justice -- to say nothing of ignoring the fact that Barack Obama is far from sewing up the nomination and that most of his success has been due to dumb luck. For political expediency, the liberal MSM is trying to drive Hillary out of the race prematurely, and in so doing they show their true colors.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 10, 2008 1:55 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Pop Quiz

Filed under: US Elections

This organization has 20 members.

It's obviously sexist, because only seven of its members are women, nearly twice as many are male -- even though women are a majority in the population of the nation where this organization operates.

It's also obviously racist. Only 1 member is black, 19 are white -- even though dark-skinned people make up more than 15% of the population in the nation where this organization operates. So minorities are under-represented by a factor of three, even more oppressed within its confines than women. Zero Hispanics. Zero Asians.

What organization is it? Answer after the jump.

Kim Zigfeld · May 9, 2008 3:30 PM · TrackBacks (0)

He's Mr. Lucky

Filed under: US Elections

When the history of the 2008 Democrat presidential primary is written, if Barack Obama is the nominee then two key facts will been seen to explain his victory.

First, the North Carolina primary. A red state that went for George Bush in a massive landslide in 2004 (56-43) was allowed to play the pivotal role of destroying Hillary Clinton's hopes for the White House, history will say, and in determining who the Democrats would use to challenge the Republicans in the general election. Obama's victory came because although he was crushed by Clinton among white voters 50% of the state's registered Democrat voters are black, they turned out in droves on election day, and over 90% voted for Obama, a disturbingly Soviet-like majority, to say the least. North Carolina got this position of authority, of course, by sheer happenstance, luck of the draw.

Second, the Florida and Michigan primaries that weren't. Clinton has totally dominated Obama in all the top-ten electoral states except Georgia and Obama's home state of Illinois, sweeping him in all the top three states. There's no reason whatsoever to think that domination wouldn't have continued in both Florida and Michigan, but these two top-ten states chose to violate their party's rules and hold their primaries out of sequence, nullifying their votes. Had they not done so, Clinton might already have sewn up the nomination. Again, sheer random fortune controlled the outcome.

It doesn't quite add up, does it? The candidate who claims to be a racial unifier divides to conquer, articulating his campaign in stark black-and-white terms. Republicans choose for Democrats and Democrats, who screamed to high heaven in 2000 about counting every vote, totally ignore 20% of the ten most significant states in the land, treating places like Detroit and Miami as if they didn't even exist.

Is this how Obama proposes to govern our nation for four years? Dumb luck, mixed with racial polarization? Hmmm . . .

Now think about how every single one of the recent Democrat presidencies have crashed and burned. Clinton, impeached. Carter, one term. LBJ, not even nominated for second term. JFK, blown away, what else do I hafta say?

Does anyone else see a pattern here?

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Kim Zigfeld · May 9, 2008 7:10 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Oleg Kozlovsky, Arrested Again!

Filed under: Russia

On May 18th, Russia's opposition forces are planning to gather and establish a "National Assembly," which will become a shadow parliament following the true practice of democracy. The Assembly is the brainchild of dissident leader Oleg Kozlovsky, among others, and he was scheduled to play a leading role in the proceedings.

So it hardly comes as a surprise that on May 6th he was arrested by plainclothes police, processed by a kangaroo court and sentenced to 13 day in jail -- meaning he'll be released the day after the Assembly proceedings conclude.

Read all about it on Oleg's new English language blog.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 8, 2008 9:51 PM · TrackBacks (0)

Myanmar's Russia Connection

Filed under: Russia

The New York Times reports that casualties in the Myanmar typhoon, originally reported as being in the hundreds by the psychopathic military junta that rules the country, will likely top a ghastly 100,000. The horrifying scene on the ground is shown in the photograph above.

And that's not the worst of it. The junta, unwilling to allow large numbers of foreigners into the country as a key vote on an important referendum on a proposed constitution backed by the military is days away, is obstructing relief efforts. It has dispatched an outrageously small number of helicopters to deliver food supplies and prevented shipments of emergency supplies from entering the country. This means that tens of thousands more may perish from disease and starvation while the regime fiddles away. Thousands of bodies have been observed floating in the flooded delta of the Irrawaddy River.

The Times reports that "the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said that the United Nations should invoke its 'responsibility to protect' civilians as the basis for a resolution to force delivery of aid to Myanmar, even if over the objections of the military government there." But the regime continues to thumb its nose at the West, laughing at such threats, just as it did when the West protested its barbaric crackdown on protesting monks several months ago (their Facebook page has more than 300,000 members).

Where does the government of a tiny, relatively powerless country get the bravado necessary to flout the authority of the Western world? Well, from the same place that other such entities, from the terrorist rogue regime in Palestine led by Hamas to the lunatic Hugo Chavez in Venezuela to the bloodthirsty fanatics who govern Iran.

They all get it from Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Did you know that in May of last year Putin's Russia agreed to build a nuclear reactor for Myanmar's junta? A reactor just like the one they also agreed to build for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran (a man who says his country has no gays)? Just as was the case in Iran, Russia ignored the pleas of the outside world to refrain from subsidizing the malignant junta in Myanmar and giving it reason to flout international authority.

And did you know that in return Myanmar favored Russia with rights to exploit its mineral resources? Given these ties, it's hardly surprising at all to see Russia turn a blind eye to the atrocities unfolding in Myanmar every day in terms of human rights.

All around the world, Russia is forming relationship with rogue states that abuse their citizens and abrogate the basic values of democracy. It's behaving, in other words, exactly as if it were a reincarnation of the USSR -- and that's not surprising, given that Russia is ruled by a proud KGB spy.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 8, 2008 6:33 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Democratic Doings in North Carolina: Annals of Obama the Race Baiter

Filed under: US Elections

It seems that the risk of Democrat voters coming to their senses has passed. As shown above via CNN, in last night's North Carolina Democratic primary, Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton by more than 13 to 1 among black voters, and Clinton beat Obama by nearly 2 to 1 among white voters. In other words, instead of unifying the races in North Carolina, Obama is polarizing and alienating them, and trading on that division to win the nomination. Black turnout surged and carried Obama to victory by a wide margin. In North Carolina's Forsyth County, for instance, ten times more absentee ballots were received than in a normal election and more than half of them were from black voters. The Winston-Salem Journal reports: "Nearly 500,000 people statewide voted early or cast an absentee ballot before the primary -- more than half the overall number who voted during the 2004 primary."

Six primaries are yet to be contested, with 217 delegates available. Then there are roughly 750 "super delegates" who are two-thirds decided and split evenly between the two candidates, with one-third undecided. So that means about 475 votes are in play. Obama must win 226 of those to clinch the nomination, or just under half. If Clinton can win about 55% of the remaining votes in play, she'll deny Obama the nomination and they'll proceed to a brokered convention.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 7, 2008 8:09 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Letters

Filed under: Letters

RE: Inflation Continues to Ravage Putin's Russia (April 9th)

Dear Publius Pundit,

As someone with a postgraduate university degree in political and economic subjects, who works in risk analysis advising major companies on investments in Russia, I absolutely had to go against my better judgment and comment on this article. it is woefully ignorant and shows a lack of intellectual rigour to attempt to attribute inflation to Putin -- you might as well blame the leader of almost every East European (and the occasional Western) country where inflation is rampant. The reality is that inflation is hitting everyone hard due to global economic issues I won't bother to detail here (you must be aware of them yourself), not to mention oil money etc. Secondly, to suggest that Putin is incapable of any social or economic reforms because he isn't an economist is a blatant misunderstanding of the political system. How many heads of state are trained economists? I guarantee that you can count them on one hand. in any case, you seem to have conveniently forgotten the significant reforms Putin introduced during his first term, and the flat tax (only a distant dream in America) which continues to be praised in the Western media. in fact, contrary to your insinuations, the obvious explanation for inflation is that it is taking place because the economy is doing well, not poorly: as Reuters reported, in 2006 "GDP reached $1 trillion in nominal terms, propelling Russia into the world's top 10 economies". Finally, to compare Putin and Mugabe is simply untenable, and typical of US commentators' inclination to portray Russia in an unjustifiably negative light -- whereas most of the country's problems stem from the various impractical recommendations made by Western institutions and the rapacious gangster capitalism that inevitably took hold after the total destruction of the previous system. Putin is not an ideal leader, but he has not done exclusively bad things as somany so-called 'pundits' would like to believe. I hope that in future you will think twice about misinforming the public with your clearly biased and strident opinions.

Very truly yours,

Anna Marron (vervana@googlemail.com)

Publius Pundit responds after the jump.

Kim Zigfeld · May 7, 2008 1:07 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Putin Invades Georgia

Filed under: Russia

Vladimir Socor of the Jamestown Foundation reports that "from April 29 through May 3, Russia sent additional troops to Georgia's Abkhazia region on the pretense of 'peacekeeping' and ostensibly on behalf of the Commonwealth of Independent States." In fact, however, the claim of international action is a sham. Socor reports:

This operation has been a purely Russian one from 1994 to the present. Since 2002 CIS meetings have abandoned even the pretense of discussing this operation, let alone prolonging its "mandate." Nor did Moscow seek CIS member countries' approval of the CIS-labeled Russian troop deployment since April 29. Similarly, Moscow had not bothered to consult with CIS member countries last month when it officially removed the 1996 CIS economic restrictions on Abkhazia. Russia had hardly ever observed those CIS restrictions in practice. The CIS in any case is not authorized to mandate peacekeeping operations. Moscow has not consulted with any CIS country before its latest deployment of Russian troops under the CIS label. No CIS country would willingly approve Russia's move.

So it's a unilateral Russian action, and it's massive and shockingly offensive to international norms. Socor writes: "Georgian and international media showed footage of tanks and other armored vehicles, artillery and troop columns crossing--and, thus, violating--the internationally recognized Russia-Georgia border, staging a show of force in downtown Sukhumi and stationing themselves apparently near the Abkhaz-Georgian demarcation line."

It's not "peacekeeping" in any way, shape or form. Socor points out that "peacekeeping" operations "require consent by the sovereign state on the territory of which they are deployed" and Georgia hasn't consented. Moreover, Russia has refused to provide for the safe return of refugees after ethnic Georgians were cleansed from the region with Russian support in 1994, another basic violation of the peacekeeping mandate. And Russia has "mass-distributed Russian passports to residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia" and then claimed a right of intrusive protection of its own citizens, thus becoming an active party to the conflict rather than a neutral peacekeeper.

Socor concludes:

Georgia has considered several times in recent years the possibility of exercising its sovereign right to declare this "peacekeeping" operation illegal and demand its termination. Anxious Western governments advised Tbilisi each time to refrain from doing so. But they have failed to offer any alternative options. Georgia followed the advice of its Western partners each time, though never ceasing to call for the transformation of Russian "peacekeeping" into genuine international peacekeeping. It seems that Georgia has been very poorly rewarded for its forbearance.

Do you dare to imagine Russia's reaction if NATO tanks and troops crossed the Russian border and took up a similar "peacekeeping" role in Chechnya? It's simply inexplicable how Russians can demand that the world stay out of Chechnya and yet feel itself free to inject Russian forces into Georgia whenever it sees fit. A powder keg is brewing in Georgia and the Western governments are about to light the fuse. If they don't immediately send a message loud and clear to Russia that it must respect Georgian borders, there will be an explosion.

Putin has two goals in Georgia: First, to destabilize it internally so that it does not qualify for NATO membership. Second, to nibble away at Georgia's frontiers until Georgia is forced to respond militarily, then to invade and re-annex Georgia as a part of Russia, just as it was in Soviet times. After that, Ukraine will be the next target as Putin, a proud KGB spy, systematically seeks to recreate the USSR.

The world has seen all this before. As the saying goes: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!"

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Kim Zigfeld · May 6, 2008 6:03 AM · TrackBacks (0)

A Call for Olympic Divestment from Russia

Filed under: Russia

My latest installment on Pajamas Media is a review of the recent litany of failure by Russia in attempting to prepare for the Sochi Olympiad in 2014, games which should never have been awarded to Russia in the first place, as I've previously argued on this blog. Isn't it about time the world wised up and divested these games from Russia before it's too late? Russia is no more qualified or fit to host the Olympics than it is to sit on the G-7, and if we allow it to do so then we must be prepared to suffer the consequences.

I, for one, am not.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 4, 2008 7:18 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Rushbo and Billary Under the Sheets

Filed under: US Elections

Things are getting interesting in the U.S. presidential election cycle this year. Rush Limbaugh and Hillary Clinton are in bed together, just for starters.

People are attacking the pair for the same reason, they don't want to support their parties' frontrunners. Rushbo says John McCain isn't conservative enough, and Billary says Barack Obama is to liberal -- indeed, maybe to just-plain-crazy. People are telling them to just step aside and let McCain and Obama do battle. They warn that if they don't, the result could be their worst nightmare, the election of their rivals to power.

These critics are, of course, totally un-American and seemingly traitors to their own causes. Is Barack Obama really such a weak candidate that a primary challenge from Hillary can deny him the nomination? If so, what kind of president would he be?

Can John McCain really be laid low in a general election against freakish agents of disaster like Hillary or Obama just because a radio talk show host won't support him? If so, McCain has far bigger problems than good old Rushbo to worry about.

It's amazing how some Americans believe in democracy only insofar as it doesn't deny their own personal choices. The whole point of democracy is to validate the choices of others, both because others might be right and because others have "natural rights" you can't take away even if they are wrong.

And it's highly ironic here that by far the worst offenders are the so-called "Democrats" on this issue. Many of them, placing partisan politics over the values of democracy, are trying to drive an actual candidate out an ongoing race. Rush Limbaugh, of course, isn't running for anything, so attempts to censor him are hardly comparable. Hillary has won all three of the largest states in terms of electoral votes, and cruised to an double-digit victory in the most recent contest. That makes recent screeds like Tim Noah's in Slate travesties of democratic values. Hillary is closer to catching Obama than he is to winning the nomination. She's far more electable, and she has millions of ardent supporters. Support for the two candidates in Congress is evenly divided. To argue that the race is already over is an outrage and those who suggest it are pure partisan hacks, betraying America and her core values.

Perhaps we need truth in advertising laws for political parties? Or, at least, for their names?

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Kim Zigfeld · May 4, 2008 1:26 AM · TrackBacks (0)

Our Truth is Marching On!

Filed under: US Elections

These should be be best of times for the leftists, and yet they are the worst of times.

Recently it was announced that George Bush has a higher unfavorable rating than any other president in American history (though his favorability number remains higher than both Truman and Nixon at their lowest ebbs). American leftists would love to celebrate, but they can't.

They are mired in a pathetic primary collapse, unable to select a nominee and faced with a brutal brokered convention followed by wholesale defections in the general election.

Worse, their key talking point ("it's the economy, stupid") is taking on water fast. The most recent data shows the jobless rate is down and the dollar and stock markets are both up. GDP growth is measurable, no recession -- and all despite the radical upswing in gas prices, a breathtaking testament to the power and resiliency of the American economy.

And then came Britain.

In local council and London mayoral elections, British conservatives scored a massive victory, ousting the reviled communist mayor of London Ken Livingstone and grabbing the lion's share of the council contests. In other words, the right showed itself to be every bit as resilient as the American economy.

And that's to say nothing of the recent onslaught of sex scandals involving high Democrat office holders, which has most recently laid low the Attorney General of Ohio.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 3, 2008 6:47 AM · TrackBacks (0)

The Land of the Slaves and the Home of the Craven

Filed under: Russia

Freedom House has released its 2008 report on worldwide press freedom. The United States ranks #21 on the list (classified as "free") , while Russia ranks an appalling #170, tied with Kazakhstan, Sudan and Yemen and more repressive than Venezuela and Afghanistan. Russia is classified as "not free." Only 22 nations on the entire planet, out of 195 under review, have less press freedom than Vladimir Putin's Russia. Only 33% of the reviewed nations are classified as "not free," and Russia is among them. Only three nations out of 33 in Eastern Europe have lower scores for press freedom than Russia (Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan). Ukraine and Georgia are both much higher-rated, and Russia's arch nemesis Estonia is #1 at the top of the group. Russia is in the bottom 10% of its own region, not even a leader there much less in the world.

Russia can be credited with one truly amazing achievement in press freedom in 2007. It got even worse than in the prior year, when it was already one of the worst in the world. With so little room for decline, truly Herculean effort was undoubtedly required by Mr. Putin to find those last remaining vestigial remnants of freedom and exterminate them. In 2007, Russia ranked #164, so it's position has fallen precipitously in just one year, down 6 places when there was virtually no room left to drop. In 2006, Russia's ranking was #158 and in 2005 it was #145, virtually unchanged from 2004, when it was #147. So, in just the period covering Putin's second term in office, Russia has lost 25 positions on the world press freedom index, dropping a whopping 17% during that time. And Russia was already classified as "not free" when it started out that period.

There are no words which can express the ghastly spectacle of Russia's dictator claiming to be outraged that the Western World views his nation as "a little bit savage" and expecting to be seated at such tribunals as the G-7 while maintaining a barbaric record on repression of journalism such as Freedom House has documented. One expects to hear such lunatic ravings from the "mind" of someone like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, but one doesn't. Only from Russia does this kind of jaw-dropping hypocrisy emanate -- and as a result we have seen Russia's system of government totally collapse not once but twice in the past century (three times if you count the transfer of power by Boris Yeltsin to the KGB in 1999).

The Russia report (see page 175 of the PDF document explaining the findings) states: "Media freedom continued to decline in Russia as the Kremlin further restricted independent news reporting and public dissent while preparing for a stage-managed parliamentary election. Vladimir Putin's authoritarian, corrupt and lawless style of rule appeared set to continue at the end of his second term. Although the constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, Kremlin has used the country's corrupt and politicized criminal justice system to harass and prosecute independent journalists. Throughout 2007, journalists faced dozens of criminal cases" for publishing stories the Kremlin did not care for."

"Authoritarian, corrupt and lawless." Ouch.

Even though Russians purport to crave international recognition and respect, their every action betrays exactly the opposite desire -- to become an object of scorn and ridicule in the civilized world. The report refers to Russia as "one of the most dangerous countries in the world for media" and neither Russia's government nor its people did or demanded anything to make it safer next year.

Russians expect to be treated with due respect as equals by the United States, despite America's vastly greater economic and military attainment, yet Russians refuse to treat such nations as Georgia and Ukraine as anything other than servile colonies expected to do Russia's bidding. Russia expresses outrage at the "Russophobic bias" shown by independent organizations like Freedom House when they routinely condemn Russian barbarity, yet Russia's response is never to make clear efforts to improve the rating. Instead, Russia chooses to adopt the Soviet-era practice of trying to point out weaknesses in other countries, as if that might excuse Russia's self-destruction. That practice led the unreformed USSR to implode less than 100 years after it was created; if Russia follows the same practice, it should expect the same fate.

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Kim Zigfeld · May 2, 2008 8:46 AM · TrackBacks (0)