“… He explained that “it is possible that in late October it will scare Americans into voting for McCain and abandoning Obama.” …”

The Russians must be really scared of McQueeg if they wish to scare American voters into voting for Obama.

This illustrates one of the advantages McQueeg has in these dangerous times: he’s unpredictable and seemingly unhinged at times. This makes him an extremely dangerous opponent. There is no question he is an American Nationalist. The Russians will likely tread carefully with McCain as President, unlike they are now throwing their weight around against Europe, Georgia and other former Soviet republics.

Consider how they would react to Obama who refers to himself as a “citizen of the world” and touts his willingness to sit down and talk with anyone without precondition to resolve things, and who constantly “refines” his stated positions whenever he thinks it will buy him some political advantage. Russians and other belligerents see that as weakness and see Obama as a pushover.

No wonder Obama has gotten the “stamp of approval” from appeasers in Europe and megalomaniacs like Nasrallah, Adhmenidijad, Chavez, and Zawahiri.

I am still trying to figure out what Putin and the Kremlin accomplished by invading Georgia at this particular time.  I understand their long term goal of retrieving all their former Republics and creating a new Soviet type Union.  And in the old divide and conquer scenario they had completely infiltrated South Ossetia and the other area? and Georgia was screwed if they tried at all to get their territory back.  I understand their want to control the trans Georgia pipeline.

BUT WHY right now?  If they want Obama in as the next President, someone they can certainly walk all over and dominate, then 90 odd days before the American elections certainly played into McCain’s strength and Obama’s weakness – and Obama has so far shown just how worthless he is in an international crisis.

Russia may convince the MSM and liberals that it was all Georgia’s fault, but anybody with an ounce of common sense knows that Russia’s response was from a nation that had been planning to go into there for a long while.  That response does not happen overnight.  Since they already had their so-called “peace-keepers” in South Ossetia and that other area? manipulating the area to their advantage and against Georgia’s – they could have made their pounce 90 days later and helped Obama rather than McCain.

Now the Russians have hurt Obama, strengthened McCain, and obviously once again, like the old Soviet Union, their word and signed cease fires are as good as anything the Palestinians sign, so each day they commit attrocities and run around destroying things in Georgia, Obama’s argument that diplomacy is the answer is NOT the answer and liberalism suffers in an ongoing international crisis.

Now they could end this, like they say, and at least get completely outside Georgia, except for South Ossetia and that other area? and the incident could actually fall enough below the radar to not be a problem for Obama in November.

But then what would Russia accomplish, since even a moron can see they plan on holding Georgia and annexing it – so they need to drag this leaving thing out a while and until after our elections before they take complete control and annex – but each day they remain is an international incident that is not going to go away until after they make that next move.

And then to add insult to injury, and what has to not only REALLY piss off Bush, the Joint Chiefs, and almost every single member of the armed services, and believe me – every single Patriotic American – they got into the shipping containers that held AMERICAN military equipment and are parading them around with Russian drivers so everyone in the world can see the Americans humiliation.  That is easily seen as one gigantic slap in the face.  In fact, even Bush at this point is coming off as a big whoose.  If McCain can have enough smarts to do this right, he may get voters now that would have been Obama’s.

We have a problem, a big problem with Russia and Putin – and the world knows this, Americans know this, and since the Democrats emaciated our military under Clinton, even further than the first Bush declined it, we are limited on a military response and Putin is rubbing our noses in this every day he keeps it on the world stage.

The only response, since we can not stop them militarily (and that could lead to results we do not want in the present anyway), is to slap them back just as mightily as we can and END diplomacy with a nation that has NO Honor.  Bush should be doing this, but if McCain tells Americans he will if Bush doesn’t, he should immediately sever all diplomatic relations – expel all Russian diplomats from America AND the UN (on American soil).  Russia needs to know that we are now their sworn enemies, though we are not at war.

But what still baffles me – why they did not wait 90 days to start this and help Obama get into the White House – they got to know that McCain has no love for the Russians – the Soviet Union, Russia and Putin now, have steadily behind the scenes been helping those that wish America harm -so to blatantly do this at this time makes no sense.

Putin’s Russia reorganized government is a disappointment. With the way Russia, in returning to the old ways of Soviet Union operating under the Communist system of government, and maintaining to dominate neighbor nations by military force, it may be imminent time to prove to the Russian leaders that America is still the leaders of the free world. Putin has allegedly taken perhaps billons of dollars for himself, rather than the Russian citizens. We must not allow Russia to dominate their neighbors by spreading Communism by military force. Oh, there will be many Liberals on Capitol Hill who may be pleased, as there seems to be many Liberals who hate America. One way for America to confirm we are still leaders of the free world is to show and prove that our precision targeted bombs can hit, and destroy each and every one of the Russian tanks which are parked in the uninvited and unwanted state of free Georgia.

Jack, I think the Russians made their move (certainly planned and prepared for many months) into South Ossetia and Abkhazia in reaction to an ill-conceived and ill-timed move by Saakashvili to demonstrate his authority over South Ossetia. It’s likely Saakashvili was goaded by Russian or Russian-backed Ossetian provocateurs, but it’s also likely the Russians moved before they had planned to. Seizing military equipment supplied by the US to Georgia serves the Russians in many ways in addition to the humiliation factor.

What are Russia’s long-term goals? It’s no doubt to seize the means of transportation of the hydrocarbon riches of the various “stans” around and east of the Caspian Sea to make those former Soviet republics dependent on Russia; it also serves as a choke, real and threatened, on Europe’s access to those hydrocarbons. Europe depends on Russia for as much as a quarter of their energy imports. The shutoff of gas through Ukraine 2 winters ago was signal and a test of reactions.

Oscar, I don’t think the Russians are reverting to the old Communist system. They are moving to a Fascist system more like the US Mafia of the 1920s and 1930s. They also seem to be taking a lot of cues from the “crony capitalism” they see practiced in the US… except their politicians don’t hide their commercial interests—they display them and use the court systems as their “muscle.”

Russia and China – - and it has nothing to do with Communism – - are probably the only two countries in the world that the U.S. should be worrying about!

It’s ridiculous to continue to be bent out of shape by “Communism” paranoia – - while most of America’s politicians, bureaucrats, and Big Businesses are kissing the economic butt of Communist China!

What is happening in Russia today is a continuation of the politics that have dominated that tortured country since the fall of the Czar in 1917.

The philosophic origins of communism were developed when monarchs ruled the earth. The industrial revolution did two things to undermine that state of affairs.  First was the emergence of the “working class”.  Concentrated in urban areas, industry workers commonly lived hand-to-mouth lives in squalid close quarter conditions where discontent festered and spread.

While peasant farm workers of the day did not exactly live lives of luxury, in many respects they were far better off because their living conditions were healthier and considerably less controlled than that of the factory worker. It is not hard to understand why those early factory workers were plagued by discontent.  They worked long hours, six and seven days a week and more often than not, in hot, smelly, dangerous, dirty conditions where they were treated like galley salves. There was little hope because children were pressed into work almost as soon as they could walk.

Over sixty years of observing communists countries and listening to Maxist apologists, I can only conclude that communism was a ruse from the get go.  In retrospect, it seems to me that intellectuals like Karl Marx and Fredrick Ingles saw the discontent of the working class as their ticket to power in a world where breaking into those circles peacefully was not an option for “commoners”.  Revolution was the only path to power for those not of noble birth. 

The trick was to turn the discontent of the masses into a revolutionary army dedicated to more than overthrowing the incumbents, (that would just lead to chaos.  The army had to be dedicated to handing power to those who promising “change”, “hope” and a land of milk and honey.

Communism promised the downtrodden equality with their high-born oppressors.  “From each according to their ability; to each according to their need.”  It promised a dreamworld.  One fine day there would, in the words of John Lenin’s Imagine, “be no countries”, “nothing to kill or die for.”

That was and still is the false promise,  Ah, but there would of necessity be a transition period of undefined length when there would have to be a dictatorship so all vestiges of the bourgeois (read middle class) would be eliminated. 

In the history of communism, has there ever been a country under its domain that made through the dictatorship period to the promised land?  Not that I know of. 

The “hope” the promise of “change” was, and still is a damnable lie; a means to con the gullible and discontented into handing power to clever, ambitious, ruthless manipulators

The primary difference between the communist dictators and the monarchs they deposed is the monarchs had a more-or-less stable means of passing power from generation to generation.  Our own Republic has that in common with monarchies except that we pass power through the ballot rather than genetics.

Passing power from one leader to the next has always been a messy affair with the “communists” because theirs is a system where might makes right.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the communist regime in the Soviet Union collapsed not long after, what followed was a period, not unlike other periods of regime change in the old USSR, albeit far more public and dramatic.  From the outside looking in it looked like the Russians were becoming democratic.  Power was being shared. For the insiders, the power sharing is just a phase while during which contenders consolidate their positions and eliminate competitors until a single leader is left.

What is happening in Georgia should not surprise us.  I say that not just in a philosophical or academic sense, but because our security apparatus keeps a close eye on our enemies and potential enemies.  The United States and our closest allies are highly practiced at and equipped to observe the inner workings of the powers on the Asian continent. Hardly a soldier in Novokuznetsk poops unnoticed.

So, it’s no surprise that the Bear is out of hibernation.  It’s just what can we do about it?

All politics are about power.  Control the world’s sources of energy and you control the world. 

Saddam made a run. We took him down.  The Iranians are positioning for a grab and we’re grappling with them.  Now the thugs in Moscow are making an overt move. 

Militarily, we are stretched thin.  Renew the draft and you’ll have protesters on the street that will make the Viet Nam anti-war movement look like a picnic. So rebuilding a counter military force in Europe is probably not in the cards.  We are also in an economic straight jacket of our own making.  The tables have turned.  We are in a similar position that the Soviets were in when Reagan spent them into the poorhouse. 

There’s not much time to get it right.

Our enemies have to be held at bay while sufficient independent sources of energy are developed to free us of their grasp.

The struggle doesn’t end there, but if we can’t get to that point soon, all else is mute.

Once a Commie, Always a Commie…

“Once a Commie, Always a Commie…” – tim

More like: Once a thug, always a thug.

Georgia attacked Ossetia. Osettia has always wanted independence. Thousands were killed in S.Ossetia. Many different people reported atrocities in Ossetia. I saw Putin listening to the refugees. He said he heard enough and sent millions of dollars in aid. Putin took care of the refugees. Georgia just killed them while Saakashvili chewed his tie on CNN.  All the media reported “RUSSIA ATTACKED GEORGIA AND WON’T LEAVE!!! WHO’S NEXT?!”. The press had it wrong. Georgia clearly was at fault. Russia attacked to protect S.Osettia. Only Fox News reported the little girl who clearly thanked the Russians for coming and her Aunt blamed the Georgian government. They were many Ossetians who complained that Russia took too long to repsond. I know the media is biased but I was shocked the reporting in the West was so terrible. Why not just report Georgia is our trusted friend and Russia is evil and forget about the Ossetians who were killed? I am an American/ex-Marine.

David,

From reports I’ve read and heard, you may be right – on one level, the Georgians did kill innocents in Ossettia, but just as you don’t get the whole picture reading the headlines, you don’t get all the facts from subheads either.

Ossettia was widely reported to be a “breakaway province”.  It was also reported that Georgia sent its military in and atrocities were committed, so , yest there’s fault to go around and a handy justification for Russian reaction.  Next it was reported that Russia’s response was “disproportionate”, i.e. a full scale invasion.

There are also reports that the Russians have been setting the stage for invasion for some time.  Examples include positioning an invasion force along the Georgian border well in advance of Georgia’s move on Ossettia.  Also, years of moving ethic Russians into the area, and the sophisticated jamming of Georgian communications and Internet sites (emanating from Russia).  These are all fairly clear indications that the invasion was well planned. 

Let’s put the scene in perspective.

The breakup of the USSR left extremely important military, economic and R&D;assets on their southern and SE flanks out of Kremlin hands. Think of the rich oil fields, refineries, coal deposits, natural gas, pipelines and other energy and manufacturing assets along the Caspian Sea coast.  Much of the old Soviet space and related military R&D;was spread across the Stans.  Georgia and the Ukraine provided vital access to warm water ports on the Black Sea.  Remember, once the Soviets got unlimited access to the Med after the Cuban Missile Crisis,  they were able to counterbalance NATO on the southern flank plus they were positioned to cause, and did cause, a great deal of mischief in the Islamic world. 

Now that the Russians are flush with petro-cash and have upgraded their military (hardware and software), and we are tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan, the timing is right for them to make a move – especially since its too late in Bush’s term for him to do anything rash. 

If Russia is going to be a world power again, they have to have those assets back and now is the time to make a move. 

There is a whole lot of disinformation floating around – some from surprising sources, Dave.  In the long run I trust that the US (while certainly capable of making boneheaded moves) is not out to enslave anyone; in fact, just the opposite.  A free world is in our best interests.

Semper Fi and Hooah!

To David – #10:

I agree that it seems Georgia may have initiated military action against the South Ossetians as a result of the ostensible desire of the South Ossetians to be reunited with their northern conterparts under the Russian flag.

Wouldn’t the simplest, fairest and most democratic resolution to the matter be to simply allow the South Ossetians to vote on whether they wish to be a part of Russia or a part of Georgia?

you really are obsessed with this commie thing cliff.
remember: shiny side out with the foil.
you assclown.
you have as much validity as…
jeez, this is harder than i thought it would be.

okay, i got it:
the guy on the tv in a 60s cartoon show, like the flintstones. and just as archaic.

sorry guys.
ronnie ‘original senile’ raygun is dead.
no matter how much ‘commie hunting’ you do, he ain’t coming back.
just move along…

PART TWO
Of course, and you quote me correctly, I fervently support Barack Obama and hate and despise George W. Bush and John S. McCain. But how could that be surprising since I have stated that I am a Republican? As a young immigrant, I was taught by President Reagan what the Republican party stood for: individual liberty, moral authority, honest and just economic policy, fiscal responsibility, competent and prudent foreign policy, and American leadership in the world. Should I elaborate what George W. Bush has done with each of those principles? Have you ever thought what Reagan would have said about George W. Bush’s Presidency? And how could you suggest that we Republicans vote for John McCain, the only person recorded in history whose hand President Reagan refused to shake! And you are suggesting that this person should be our next President?! Indeed, Reagan knew that there is more to the US Presidency than staged provocations and blatant misinformation campaigns.
Now the Bush administration caused Georgia to attack a sleeping town populated by Russian citizens to provoke Russian military response so as to boost McCain’s hawkish foreign policy “credentials”. As Pat Buchanan said in the interview I referenced above, had Georgia been a member of NATO, the United States would have been contractually obligated to go to war with Russia, a situation known as WWIII. This provocation is thus an extremely serious crime. 
Finally, here is a personal note. At the beginning of George W. Bush’s first term, I informed the Department of State about $20M stolen from the US-funded Defense Enterprise Fund (“DEF”), whose mission was to convert former Soviet producers of weapons of mass destruction. My letter is here. As soon as the State Department got my letter, I was blacklisted for jobs and all my accounts were frozen. As I and my family (I have a wife and two young daughters) was being murdered (please note the word I have chosen), the Department of State reluctantly conducted several investigations of my allegations. It found out that my letter of concern was truthful, and on target as far as the estimate of money that had been stolen. It found out that the project I was responsible for was the only one with no money being stolen, misused, or unaccounted for. It found out that DEF lied to the US Congress when it stated that its work had allowed 3370 former Russian WMD scientists to be employed in peaceful pursuits. For a while, the new figure was 1250, but I would not let go, and now the official figure is “there has been a clerical error”. In fact, DEF has lost its entire $67M US grant and has not converted anybody. As a DEF employee, I spent three years trying to prevent that from happening, and then was made to lose everything I had just because I felt it would be important for the US Congress to know the truth.
I wanted to protect your family, Mr. Kincaid, and families of other Americans from weapons of mass destruction. I am not happy that I did so at the expense of my family, but I can assure you that had I known in advance that the Bush government would try to crash me, I would have done it anyway. Similarly, I was paid only $30 per month for working as Expert on privatization and democratization for the Russian Ministry of Economics. I was literally going hungry in 1993-94. But that is nothing in comparison with an opportunity to advance our great American values and to make sure that one day Russia and America would be friends and allies.
If President Reagan were alive today, he would have gladly shaken Obama’s hand, and maybe even my hand, but he would not have shaken George W. Bush’s hand just as he did not shake the hand of John McCain.
Your work in Accuracy in Media is very important. These past eight years have been a tragic period in our history. We have got the Republican party stolen from us, we have got our economic well-being severely shaken, and we have had a tragic Iraq war. I wish you every success as you work to reverse the trend and restore decency and fairness in politics.   
Respectfully,
Matthew Maly
Moscow, Russia
+7 916 084 7807

Dear Mr. Kincaid:
My name is Matthew Maly, and I am writing to thank you for describing my work at Russia Today Television Network in your August 19, 2008 article “Russian TV Sounds Like Soviet TV”. Your representation of my person and my views is accurate, but very incomplete.
First, a few words about Russia Today. The first sentence of your article says, “Have you ever heard of Gloria La Riva of the Party for Socialism and Liberation?”, and then you go on to imply that Russia Today only interviews various leftists, such as Alexander Cockburn. But only last weekend Russia Today interviewed Pat Buchanan (an excellent interview that I highly recommend) and Richard Armitage. And here is an exclusive interview with Henry Kissinger. As you can see, Russia Today offers a balanced mix of guests, whose views and political affiliations span the entire political spectrum.
Having appeared on Russia Today live seven times, I can tell you that there is no censorship: I am told the topic of the conversation in advance, and I give to the editor the questions that I wish to be asked – this is it. Live on air, I can say whatever I like, and indeed the opinions I express are exclusively my own. I have never been pulled off the air or cut off: whatever I said was broadcasted. I should also say that I have never been paid by Russia Today, directly or indirectly; there is no grant or contract of any kind. 
Russia Today is indeed state-owned, and to the extent that its reason for being is to inform the international viewer about the situation in Russia, it is a propaganda outlet. But since it is so, it makes your characterization of Russia Today as “leftist” all the more surprising. Indeed, for the last twenty seven years, Russia has not been a “leftist” state. In the eight years of Putin’s rule, the influence of the Communist party and other leftist parties has been reduced to precisely zero as the Comminist party has only token representation in the Russian Parliament, has no Governors, and no Mayors of a city of any size.
Putin’s regime was compared to that of Singapore as it is authoritarian, paternalistic, and based on the free market. Today’s Russia’s political landscape is dominated by one party, United Russia, and this party is anything but leftist. I must say that I fully agree with Putin’s gradual approach to democratization: it takes years for people to be able to assume the responsibilities that come with democracy. It is precisely the dimwitted, doctrinaire introduction of the “instant democracy” in Iraq that caused the civil war and the problems we have there. 
Putin clearly preferred Bush to Kerry and Sarkozy to the French socialists, so, again, your emphasis on the left is very surprising. You certainly would not find in any official Russian pronouncements and in any media coverage here any preference for Obama. Indeed, I personally am certain that McCain’s recent belligerent remarks notwithstanding Medvedev and Putin prefer McCain.
Russia is definitely engaged in a geopolitical competition with America as Bush has taught everyone that America cannot be trusted. As President, George W. Bush succeeded in destroying the American economy and the American standing in the world, and that gave Russia an opening. Just compare America’s standing in Germany during the Clinton years and now. Putin clearly sees that McCain would be as good a President as his Annapolis grades indicate and, unfortunately, wishes that on America.
Now, about myself. I was born in Russia and emigrated to the US in 1979, US citizen (and a registered Republican) since 1985. I graduated from Columbia and received a Master’s Degree in Sociology from Yale. I have indeed lived in Russia since 1992, having returned on the Yale grant to help Russia’s transformation to democracy and market economy. As you indicate, I worked for the Russian government (on privatization) and advised political campaigns (of Russian parties, whose ideologies are closest to the Republican creed, such as Yabloko).
So, it would be a great mistake to characterize me as leftist or anti-American. If you want to dispel this notion, just read my Plan for Iraq, or indeed my book, Russia As It Is: Transformation of a Lose/Lose Society. To make it a more interesting read for you, I’ll give you a $100 for every “leftist” sentence you find there, and I am doing so with certainty, as you won’t find any.

I certainly agree with the idea expressed in #12 that it’s time to drop the “commie obsession” thing.  It has nothing to do whatsoever with developing better and more responsive government in this country.

And, I would guess that Kincaid’s financial advisor probably has plenty of Cliff’s 401k funds invested in Communist Chinese manufacturers.

People interested in politics and lucky enough to have multi-channel TV really OUGHT to watch RUSSIA TODAY and the Iranian-funded PRESS TV to see and hear some stuff the MSM doesn’t feature.

Sure there’s propaganda out there but I recall CNN being shamelessly manipulated by the DoD during the 2nd Iraqi war … I was in Oman at the time.

Lets be honest: ain’t nobody listening to SW Radio these days – Beijing, Pyongyang and everyone else is still – amazingly – broadcasting but who the fudge is listening ?

[...] Russia’s invasion of Georgia. All of this plays into Moscow’s hands. In a column entitled, “Russian TV Sounds Like Soviet TV,” we noted that “It is preferable, for Russian propaganda purposes, to use foreigners, [...]

[...] of this plays into Moscow’s hands. In a column entitled, “;Russian TV Sounds Like Soviet TV,” we noted that “It is preferable, for Russian propaganda purposes, to use foreigners, [...]