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!
del.icio.us | 
digg | 
technorati | 
stumble upon | 
furl | 
redditPutin 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.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditMemo to John McCain
Filed under: US Elections
DON'T DO IT!!!
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditLetters
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,
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditStunning 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.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditAt 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!
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditParaipan 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.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditRussia'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.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditDemocrats, 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.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditPop 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.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditHe'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?
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditOleg 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.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditMyanmar'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.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditDemocratic 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.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditLetters
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.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditPutin 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!"
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditA 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.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditRushbo 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?
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditOur 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.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditThe 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.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditObama in the Headlights
Filed under: US Elections
It seems that Real Clear Politics has nailed Barack Obama dead to rights on Jeremiah Wright. Though I despise Obama, I can't say I'm pleased about this. It could well bring calls for Obama to back out of the race, putting the more-dangerous Clinton candidacy back in play. He's bottomed out just a few weeks too soon, damn him (though perhaps leftist MSM coverage won't play broad enough and make the connection clearly enough during the primary cycle to finish him off that early)! Then again, this guy is such a dangerous freak that maybe it's better for the nation to take zero chance he will win office.
RCP points out that Wright told the New York Times in March 2007 that he had been "dis-invited" from Obama's announcement of candidacy the month before, and that Obama had told him: "You can get kind of rough in the sermons, so what we've decided is that it's best for you not to be out there in public."
So it's clear that Obama was fully aware of the outrageous, racist nature of Wright's sermons before he even announced his candidacy, and excluded Wright from the announcement proceedings for precisely that reason, in a coldly calculating manner. Boiling mad since then, Wright has now blown the whistle on the betrayal. Even if Obama denies making this statement to Wright, the fact that he was dis-invited does not change. Obviously, his lifelong pastor was not dis-invited (or simply not present) by accident, but because of a political calculation based on Wright's risk factor. And Obama never denied the New York Times quote, which should lay the whole issue to rest.
Hence, when Obama said that he didn't know the content of Wright's sermons, he simply lied. He attended them for twenty years. He's a well-educated, intelligent person. Of course he knew their content. And he traded on it for political gain. For all we know he believed it, applauded it, and still does. And then, he lied about his knowledge of it, and then he threw Wright under the bus when it became convenient to do so.
New kind of leadership? Audacity of hope?
I think not. This is a nasty enough situation that it may merit some spontaneous discussion, so I am opening the comments on this post for those who can responsibly do so and are so inclined.
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | redditA Day of Reckoning for North Korea
Filed under: Asia
A perfect storm is brewing over North Korea.
The price of the nation's staple food source, rice, is soaring on world markets due to panicked speculation (there is no actual shortage of the crop).
As a result, the Peterson Institute for International Economics now says that North Korea is facing outright famine conditions. North Korea has stonewalled on the nuclear question, alienating South Korea, a traditional source of aid in hard economic times. Now, it's neighbor to the south is demanding progress in the negotiations as a prerequisite to aid. China, facing the worst inflation rates of the past decade, has imposed strict new controls on rice exports, in effect also shutting the door on North Korea.
Some in North Korea may have believed it was "safer" to sit silently rather than confront the regime, fearing its draconian punishments. But those attitudes didn't save millions in Russia from being pulverized by Stalin's meat grinder, and the people of North Korea must now see that they cannot find safety in silence. North Korea is hurtling down the same path to total destruction that laid waste to the USSR. It is time for the people of the nation to rise and speak in its defense.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
del.icio.us | digg | technorati | stumble upon | furl | reddit