Putin dissolves govt.

[WildCat]

I do get the sense at times that he thinks no one is noticing!

And he's right, no one does notice. Or at least very few give a damn.

 

[Matteo Martini]

I keep not understanding why America and Russia are spending so many hundreds of billions for arms per year, while they could spare the money with just a treaty..

 

[Policenaut]

It's all leading up to Cold War 2 and the remake of Rocky IV.

 

[Zep]

I saw "Putin dissolves government" and that immediately conjured up pictures in my mind of all of these politicians tied up with rope and suspended together over a big vat of hot acid, slowly being lowered in...

 

[Puppycow]

And he's right, no one does notice. Or at least very few give a damn.

Well, Russia is a sovereign state. It seems like there is little we can do in any case. Even if we weren't so distracted by Iraq.

 

[NoZed Avenger]

I keep not understanding why America and Russia are spending so many hundreds of billions for arms per year, while they could spare the money with just a treaty..

Russian leader dissolves government . . . must . . . get . . . America . . . into topic . . . somehow . . . .

 

[Matteo Martini]

Russian leader dissolves government . . . must . . . get . . . America . . . into topic . . . somehow . . . .

Becoming irritated when I speak about you??

Changing my post from:
I keep not understanding why America and Russia are spending so many hundreds of billions for arms per year, while they could spare the money with just a treaty..

to:
I keep not understanding why Russia is spending so many hundreds of billions for arms per year, while they could spare the money..

Then the answer will be:
As America is also spending so many hundreds of billions for arms per year..

 

[Childlike Empress]

Russia's new premier has bite
By John Helmer
http://atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/II15Ag01.html

The very end of the article:

Alfa Bank, controlled by oligarch Mikhail Fridman, issued a similar piece of wishful thinking. A report issued by Alfa Bank analysts says: "A new government was expected; Zubkov wasn't. While Zubkov has a reputation of being personally close to President Putin, at this point we think it unlikely that he will emerge as the eventual nominee of Putin's support party, United Russia. His purpose is more likely to put the government in safe hands while the eventual candidate is fully vetted and placed in position."

Alfa strategist Ronald Smith said, "If Zubkov proves to be anything more than a placeholder, the most likely policy change, given his background, would be an intensified campaign on corruption and/or tax evasion. While such an outcome could prove beneficial for the economy over time, in the near term the most obvious outcomes would be quite negative for specific companies and businessmen who might fall afoul of new policies, particularly in the natural-resource extraction industries" (oil and gas, gold, etc).

For the world's biggest mining companies, and for business people and politicians in Asia who have begun to think of the oligarchs as co-investors and friends, this is advice to look behind the smile - Zubkov's teeth are sharp.

For Information about the Alfa Group, i recommend Dave Emory's two part series "Alfa Males":

Part I stream download
Part II stream download

 

[platypusking]

Have to comment on the second story first of all as it contains one of the funniest but seriously meant quotes I've read for a long time:





That's it Col-Gen Rukshin - you go for the green endorsement! I can see it now at the next arms fair:

"Dad of all bombs - as recommended by Green Peace"

I wonder if the factory that makes them is also "carbon neutral"?

Reality just got that much closer to being a Kubrick movie. That's freakin scary.

 

[Policenaut]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,510426,00.html

I found this quote interesting:
"In a country in which 66 percent of citizens -- and an even larger percentage of women and rural residents -- actually want Putin to continue to play an "active political role," there is no need for anyone to stuff the ballot boxes. "People like his ideas," Putin loyalist Vladimir Yakunin offers by way of explanation of the president's enduring popularity."

You would think Russians would have learned from the past regarding keeping one person in power. Before they may not have been able to stop it but now they seem to be enabling it.

 

[Darth Rotor]

They´re going for the "why build a guided bomb where you select through which window pane it enters a building when instead you can build a bomb that flattens the whole neighborhood at once?" school of thinking. Not particularly subtle, but it gets the job done.

Unless operating under conditions of air supremacy, or distinct air superiority, you won't find that bomb landing much of anywhere other than target ranges for photo ops.

Contrary to Julio Douhet
Mass bombing has had its heyday
The bomber doesn't always get through
Unless the Russkies
Have built B Twooskies
This Father of Bombs won't hit you.

The reason is dear old friend SAM
Who in both Sinai and Viet Nam
Showed that war in the air
Swug first to attack
Then to knocking 'em back
That bomb is for show, not le guerre

In short: Shoot the Indian, not the arrow, and the problems with arrow wounds go away.

I saw "Putin dissolves government" and that immediately conjured up pictures in my mind of all of these politicians tied up with rope and suspended together over a big vat of hot acid, slowly being lowered in...

You tease!

DR

 

[geni]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,510426,00.html

I found this quote interesting:
"In a country in which 66 percent of citizens -- and an even larger percentage of women and rural residents -- actually want Putin to continue to play an "active political role," there is no need for anyone to stuff the ballot boxes. "People like his ideas," Putin loyalist Vladimir Yakunin offers by way of explanation of the president's enduring popularity."

You would think Russians would have learned from the past regarding keeping one person in power. Before they may not have been able to stop it but now they seem to be enabling it.

Thing like two term limits are fairly recent. In theory UK prime ministers can hold their position untill they lose an election and/or die.

 

[Darat]

Technically you don't have to win any election to be a UK PM....

 

[geni]

Technically you don't have to win any election to be a UK PM....

It is quite hard within the modern political setup for a lord to act as Prime Minister.

 

[Darat]

True but you don't even need to be a Lord.

 

[Chaos]

Unless operating under conditions of air supremacy, or distinct air superiority, you won't find that bomb landing much of anywhere other than target ranges for photo ops.

Contrary to Julio Douhet
Mass bombing has had its heyday
The bomber doesn't always get through
Unless the Russkies
Have built B Twooskies
This Father of Bombs won't hit you.

The reason is dear old friend SAM
Who in both Sinai and Viet Nam
Showed that war in the air
Swug first to attack
Then to knocking 'em back
That bomb is for show, not le guerre

In short: Shoot the Indian, not the arrow, and the problems with arrow wounds go away.

Your rhyming sucks, but other than that, you are essentially correct. However, in those places where this bomb is likely to be used - such as Chechnya - the Russians usually enjoy the most distinct air supremacy imaginable.

 

[Dr Adequate]

Thing like two term limits are fairly recent. In theory UK prime ministers can hold their position untill they lose an election and/or die.

And being dead isn't always a problem, so long as you keep away from holy water.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Your rhyming sucks, but other than that, you are essentially correct. However, in those places where this bomb is likely to be used - such as Chechnya - the Russians usually enjoy the most distinct air supremacy imaginable.

The intended rhyme scheme is AABCCB and DDEFFE. I think the meter is a bit off. I didn't spend much time on it, I admit.

As to the Russians using it on the Chechyns, I am trying to see the downside to this, and it is irrelevant to my point. Their various adventures and misadventures in Chechnya were never an exercise in restraint.

DR

 

[Chaos]

The intended rhyme scheme is AABCCB and DDEFFE. I think the meter is a bit off. I didn't spend much time on it, I admit.

Poetry is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

As to the Russians using it on the Chechyns, I am trying to see the downside to this, and it is irrelevant to my point. Their various adventures and misadventures in Chechnya were never an exercise in restraint.

DR

The downside is, the non-exercise of restraint is breeding terrorists at a ferocious rate, as the people of Beslan and those who once visited a certain Moscow theatre can attest.

 

[Dr Adequate]

Poetry is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

A poster, by nature Chaotic
confessed: "Though you'll find it quixotic,
for verses that rhyme
I won't give you a dime
but I do think that goats are erotic.

Your meters sublime you can keep,
they just bore me and put me to sleep.
Don't ask why or wherefore ---
the rhythm I care for
is banging away at a sheep."