Clipmarks | Russians Clips

Sarah Palin

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:21:48 GMT

clipped by: ikino22

The faux Sarah is Lisa Ann, who "will be nailing the Russians who come knocking on her back-door." In another scene -- a flashback -- "young Paylin's creationist college professor will explain a 'big bang' theory even she can't deny!"

The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin XIV: What Trade Missions To Russia?

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 04:35:02 GMT

clipped by: Jorjor
clipper's remarks: She's not a barracuda; she's an eel.

Clip Source: andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com

By now, the pattern is familiar. Palin responds to a question she fears reveals something she wants to conceal and lies:

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We -- we do -- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where -- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is -- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there.

There is no evidence of her conducting any trade missions with Russia:

I spent some time on the Governor's Web site seeking more details about her trade negotiations with Russia. There's a press release about Gov. Palin's meeting with a trade mission from the Yukon, but nothing about Russia anywhere in the archives.

Tags: politics, election, palin

Global freeze kills Nordic tiger

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:37:50 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: The banks made the country wealthy and when they died so has the country. Banks have proven our dependence on them lately. Many will go back to cash under the bed.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

ICELAND might be called the first national casualty of the global financial tumult. Its currency, the krona, is in free fall. Foreign exchange markets are effectively closed — for Icelanders who need to travel abroad, dollars or euros are nowhere to be found.

The stock market has shut down until next week. The Government has been placed in the role of international beggar, asking Nordic neighbours, the Russians and perhaps the International Monetary Fund for emergency loans.

For an estimated 100,000 Icelanders — a third of the population — who owned shares in the nation's three major banks, savings have been wiped out in a single, tumultuous week by events thousands of kilometres away.

"What can we do? This is not a simple matter — this is a national tragedy," said Vilhjalmur Bjarnason, a professor of business at the University of Iceland.

He owned stock in all three banks. "I was planning to use this money for my daughters, who are handicapped,"

Tags: banks rule

Afghanistan Unwinnable?

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:15:28 GMT

clipped by: oscarrob
clipper's remarks: Ask the Russians about winning a war in Afghanistan. It reminds me of the Mony Python sketch - "Not much fun in Stalingrad?"

Existing strategies probably don't allow "victory" because of our myopia on drugs and the hearts and minds of the populace.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's commander in Afghanistan has said the war against the Taliban cannot be won, the Sunday Times reported.

"We're not going to win this war. It's about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that's not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army," he said.

Tags: afghanistan, war, war on terror, taliban

Is this about Putin or Palin?

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:04:28 GMT

clipped by: oscarrob
clipper's remarks: This sounds like the Chinese or Russians not Americans in an election year. What's up with that? If you can't stand the heat ...

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Reporters weren't permitted to wander around inside Coachman Park in Clearwater to talk to Palin's audience, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

When reporters tried to leave the designated press area and head to where the crowd was seated, an escort would dart out, confront him or her and say, "Can I help you?" and turn the person around, Times staff writer Eileen Schulte wrote on the paper's Web site. When one reporter asked an escort, who would not give her name, why the press wasn't allowed to mingle, she said that in the past, negative things had been written, Schulte reported.

Tags: palin, press, campaign

By bus from Ossetia to Ingushetiya, round the feuding fringe of Russia's empire

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:25:11 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

By bus from Ossetia to Ingushetiya, round the feuding fringe of Russia's empire

“Climb aboard, make it quick!” Machat, his mouth filled with gold, is eager to collect the fare before his bone-crunching minibus bucks forward. For 30 roubles, less than a euro, you can travel in his battered van from the once and (perhaps) future battlefield of Ossetia down the road to inspect the swelling insurgency of Ingushetia.

The journey, which begins at Vladikavkaz bus station, takes one through sandbagged checkpoints, past spotty soldiers who fiddle with the safety catches on their guns, and on to the M29, the road that fringes the northern foothills of the verdant Caucasian mountains, into what the Russians believe is bandit country. The M29 may sound as if it is dotted with Little Chefs. In fact it is Europe's Kidnap Highway.

Tags: russia, georgia, ossetia, chechnya

Gorbachev comeback no threat to Kremlin: analyst

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:18:10 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Just in time for the 21st century version of "Cold War".

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

He is loved by the West and loathed by the East and he is making a political comeback.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has teamed up with Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev to form a new political party in Russia, provisionally named the Independent Democratic Party.

Some are calling it Glasnost revisited, others says Gorbachev's new party may not get off the ground. (AFP: Attila Kisbenedek)

A spokesman for the one-time Soviet president says Mr Gorbachev's intention is not to win seats in the parliament, but to provide an alternative platform for young Russians interested in politics.

But Alexey Muraviev, an analyst on Russian strategic affairs at Perth's Curtin University of Technology, says he suspects Mr Gorbachev's deeper desire is probably to regain some political respectability within Russia.

He says the new party is likely to have the backing of the Kremlin.

Tags: politics

What else can a farm boy from Canada to do

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:20:25 GMT

clipped by: dakotayii

Clip Source: www.stlyrics.com

Warren Zevon - Hit somebody (the hockey song) Lyrics
Album: My Ride's Here

He was born in Big Beaver by the borderline
He started playing hockey by the time he was nine
His dad took the hose and froze the back yard
And Little Buddy dreamed he was Rocket Richard
He grew up big and he grew up tough
He saw himself scoring for the Wings or Canucks

But he wasn't that good with a puck

Buddy's real talent was beating people up
His heart wasn't in it but the crowd ate it up
Through pee-wee's and juniors, midgets and mites
He must have racked up more than three hundred fights
A scout from the flames came down from Saskatoon
Said, "There's always room on our team for a goon

Son, we've always got room for a goon"

There were Swedes to the left of him
Russians to the right
A Czech at the blue line looking for a fight
Brains over brawn--that might work for you
But what's a Canadian farm boy to do
What else can a farm boy from Canada to do
But what's a Canadian farm boy to do

Tags: lyric

On the future of Russia and Georgia

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:45:44 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy
clipper's remarks: Commentary from Clint Douglas

Clip Source: voices.washingtonpost.com

In the first place, by all accounts, the Georgian army conducted itself poorly in their brief conflict with Russia last month. Many troops panicked and fled well before they even had contact with the advancing Russians. If history is any guide (which it is, on occasion) the Russians will not respect the Georgian's fighting ability for this reason alone, while on the other side, the young men of Georgia will no doubt long for the day when they can restore their national honor. This, compounded by the fact that Russia effectively stole South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is loudly proclaiming that he will re-unify the country, almost guarantees another war. We should consider this fully before we decide to re-arm Georgia.

I am very sympathetic to Georgia's plight and its desire to get out from under Russia's thumb. But, painful as it might be to its citizens, they have to understand that the lost provinces are not coming back.

Tags: russia, georgia

How could Bush be surprised by Russian reaction?

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:03:51 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy
clipper's remarks: Did the Bush administration think Russia would never react no matter how much they were prodded?

Clip Source: www.allvoices.com

The new Russia made its debut on the world stage on August 8, with a massive counter-attack in response to an attempt by Georgia, Washington's closest ally in the Caucasus, to seize control of the pro-Russian breakaway province of South Ossetia.

The Russian thrust extended well into Georgia and in the Washington version of events, this was an unprovoked attack by big bad Russia on poor little Georgia.

The United States has moved steadily into Russia's sphere of influence since the Soviet Union collapsed, breaking a promise by two American presidents, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, not to expand NATO into the territory of the former Soviet Union.

Today, St. Petersburg is 60 miles from NATO member Estonia. Under the Soviets, the nearest NATO member was more than 1,000 miles away.

it is not difficult to see why the Russians feel encircled. Six former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe and three former Soviet republics are now members of NATO.

Tags: russia, russian-georgian war, us

Russians: US, Israel to use Georgia for Iran attack

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:52:05 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Claim US and Israel exchanging massive military aid for right to use airfields for Iran bombing

Clip Source: www.payvand.com

US Plans to Use Georgia for Attacking Iran: Russia's NATO envoy

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Russia's envoy to NATO said that the US plans to use airfields in Georgia for a war on Iran.

Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin said Russian intelligence had obtained information indicating that Washington had launched "active military preparations on Georgia's territory" for an air strike on Iran.

"The reason why Washington values (Georgian President Mikheil) Saakashvili's regime so highly" is that he has given permission to the Pentagon to use its airfields, he said.

Other reports suggested that the Georgian airfields could also be used by Israel for an attack on Iran.

Israel had supplied Georgia with sophisticated Hermes 450 UAV spy drones, multiple rocket launchers and other military equipment that Georgia, as well as modernized Georgia's Soviet-made tanks that were used in the attack against South Ossetia.

Israeli instructors had also helped train Georgia troops.

Tags: iran, georgia, israel

A Reasurring Thought

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:26:13 GMT

clipped by: powerof2
clipper's remarks: You mean like the one he won in Vietnam, or the one he's winning in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

It's all Shiites and Sunnis to John McCain. So what's your problem? We're told that Lord Raglan fought the entire Crimean War believing the Russians were the French. And that worked out okay because, uh, everyone under his command died.

"I know how to win wars! I know how to win wars!" -- John McCain 7/15/08

World Favors Labels

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:51:07 GMT

clipped by: AainaA
clipper's remarks: Talk about Civilization when the EU, and the world are more inclined to live in the Dark Ages instead of unveiling the 21st century Mind

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Antisemitism and Islamophobia rising across Europe, survey finds

"Great Britain stands out as the only European country included in the survey where there has not been a substantial increase in antisemitic attitudes," the survey found.

Antisemitism has more than doubled in Spain over the past three years, with a rise from 21% to 46%, the survey of almost 25,000 people across 24 countries found, while more than one in three Poles and Russians also had unfavourable opinions of Jews.

In the same period antisemitism in Germany and France also rose - from 21% to 25% in Germany and from 12% to 20% in France among those saying they had unfavourable opinions of Jews.

"Opinions of Muslims in almost all of these countries was were more negative than are views of Jews," analysts said. While Americans and Britons displayed the lowest levels of antisemitism, one in four in both countries were hostile to Muslims.

Russia’s Armed Forces Advancing, Blindly

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:43:38 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Russia makes some good equipment, such as air-defence systems. The infusion of money helps it exercise its atrophied military muscles. A growing proportion of soldiers are volunteers (known as kontraktniki), who are more disciplined than much-abused conscripts. The slow move to a smaller, all-professional army in place of the million-strong, largely conscript force is made more urgent by Russia’s demographic decline.

The forces that invaded Georgia were largely made up of professionals. Despite problems in keeping them supplied, they were for the most part better behaved than the South Ossetian militiamen who looted and destroyed Georgian villages. The Russian army seems to have fought better in Georgia than it did in either of the post-Soviet wars in Chechnya, the now-subdued breakaway province across the border from Georgia. Indeed, the forces sent into Georgia included the Vostok battalion, made up of pro-Kremlin Chechens.

.....continued

Clip Source: www.economist.com

A more aggressive Russian army is still no match for NATO, but is strong enough to scare some neighbours

The Russians lost their most senior commander in the field because, by their own accounts, they did not know where Georgian units were. Russian forces lacked surveillance drones and night-vision equipment. Radios worked poorly, and commanders resorted to using mobile phones. Troops barely co-ordinated with the air force, which lost several jets (among them a Tu-22 strategic bomber)

What Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, has called a “punch in the face” for Georgia may have been an attempt to demonstrate the restoration of Russia’s military power. But it also exposed the poor results from Russia’s recent surge in defence spending.

The first of its new Borey-class nuclear submarines launched last year is useless because its planned intercontinental ballistic missile, the Bulava, designed to outwit anti-missile defences, has been plagued by test failures

Tags: russia, defense spending, borey-class nuclear submarine, nato neighbors

Russian Vodka Smugglers Build Secret Booze Pipeline

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:48:41 GMT

clipped by: David M Ewalt
clipper's remarks: Prosecutors say the pipeline was used to pumped at least 6,200 litres of vodka into Estonia. That's 1,637 gallons, and it's enough booze to warrant about $57,000 euros in duty taxes.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

TALLINN, Estonia (AFP) - Eleven suspects have been charged over a smuggling operation to pump vodka from Russia to Estonia via a two kilometre (one-mile) underwater pipeline, Estonian prosecutors said Tuesday.

"It might sound weird and unbelievable but it's a very real criminal case," Mari Luuk, spokeswoman for the Estonian Viru Circuit Prosecutor's Office told AFP.

She said the 11, who included Russians and Estonians, were likely to go on trial soon and faced up to five years in prison if convicted.

The illegal pipeline was submerged in a water reservoir located between Russia and Estonia near the north-eastern Estonian border town of Narva.

The operation was profitable as the price of vodka in Russia is nearly one third cheaper than in Estonia, a member of the European Union since May 2004.

Tags: russia, estonia, vodka, smuggling