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EUROPE

A Respectable Russia

Vladimir Putin's war has intensified the debate over his nation's future.

By Owen Matthews | NEWSWEEK
Published Aug 23, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Sep 1, 2008

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  • Posted By: MrLatvia @ 09/05/2008 8:32:55 PM

    Comment: What everyone seems to forget is that Russia (whether it's called The Soviet Union, the USSR, Czarist Russia or the Gulag Republics of PooTinstan) IS and always has been a Terrorist Nation - in the 20th century it was the leading Terrorist State on the planet... remember?
    As I've said all along, Bush attacked the wrong area of the world with Weapons of Mass Destruction - duh - look who's sitting on a pile of them right next door to Europe. The 3 Stooges (Chairman Poo Tin, Dim Medvedev and a plaster-cast statue of Stalin) took on Georgia because it only has an army of 37,000 (compared to Russia's 1.1 million). Georgia is also a key in the Caucasus region - the roots of Europe... like the Chechens, the ancient Colchis & Iberian kingdoms influenced all the primary roots of European civilization. Anyway, Stalin's plan when he was a ???commissioner of the minorities??? way back in the 1920s was to eliminate ALL the tribes of Europe & replace them with Homo Sovieticus. Ya know what I mean? It's astounding that since the second Russian occupation of Chechnya (which Chairman Poo Tin ordered in 2000) the Russians still have been unable to eliminate (& conquer) those tough mountain peoples. Ingushetia (a captive nation inside Russia) has asked for help to "liberate" it from Russia - is that a hint to the EU or NATO? Or maybe Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania should become Nuclear Powers and ???liberate??? the oppressed minorities inside the federation? Did Russia open the doors (unknowingly?) to "liberating" its own captive nations by recognizing the so-called ???independence??? of Abhkazia & South Ossetia and creating "buffer zones" inside sovereign Georgia? Or is that a trap? No one has been allowed into the newly "independent" zones of occupation under complete Chairman Poo Tin control??? what is going on there? Are the army hordes being massed there for a total onslaught on Europe??? Paris??? Berlin??? Rome??? will the veterans of the Chechen genocide be allowed to rape, plunder & ravage the Continent? I mean, where else can they go? Iran? China? Let's see what kind of "buffer zones" the Chinese will carve out of Siberia... come on European Union or NATO even - get your act together and "liberate" Yakutia or Ingushetia or Chechnya or one of the other captive nations. Question the legitimacy of this rule by those 3 Stooges. Genocide is at your doorstep Europe - so what are ya gonna do about it?

    • Posted By: streetwise @ 09/08/2008 1:10:43 PM

      Comment: "I will not start the third world war to please you"
      (english general "Rambo" Jackson to his american direct superior, who was ordering him to attack russian paratroopers in Pristina, Kosovo)

  • Posted By: streetwise @ 08/28/2008 4:28:06 PM

    Comment: Comment: "Perhaps, Russia, if it were a man, is incapable of loving and being loved. It doesn't know how to: court; persuade; be romantic; win hearts; show affection".
    If USA are so persuasive, how comes 70 (not 16) % of Ukrainians are against NATO ?
    And somebody has said this is not important .
    Democracy...

  • Posted By: Trooper101st @ 08/28/2008 7:46:03 AM

    Comment: The Ukraine better think twice about NATO membership. NATO is a paper tiger, its European members lacking the will to fight. Just look at who is fighting in A-stan and who WILL NOT. Stay outta NATO Ukraine, save urself a lotta trouble. You think the Germans will ACTUALLY fight? Wat a joke...

  • Posted By: vicphil @ 08/28/2008 4:46:20 AM

    Comment: Russia greatest enemy is itself. For many years, it has not changed its character. Why do its former sweethearts (republics) "divorced" him and "married" another man in the WEST. Perhaps, Russia, if it were a man, is incapable of loving and being loved. It doesn't know how to: court; persuade; be romantic; win hearts; show affection. IT HAS A HEART OF STONE. Respect is supposed to be earned but Russia demands. What kind of upbringing did Russia have?

    • Posted By: prishsh @ 08/28/2008 2:53:04 PM

      Comment: "Perhaps, Russia, if it were a man, is incapable of loving and being loved. It doesn't know how to: court; persuade; be romantic; win hearts; show affection". aga, for sure. but Russia, like most of men, knows how to f*** everybody's ass.

  • Posted By: MoCuishle119 @ 08/27/2008 5:26:32 AM

    Comment: I agree with system7. But now the problem is that with a weakened economy and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, US can't spend as much money to sponsor its allies as it used to. And this time, Georgia's leaders just did not realised this and still counted all on US and Europe.

  • Posted By: MoCuishle119 @ 08/27/2008 5:24:11 AM

    Comment: UK and US should put down the Cold-War theory first and then to talk about "respects". Otherwise it's no surprise to see the BBC title its report as "A Cold-War Warrior" to name Russia's president.

  • Posted By: sdsunandfun @ 08/27/2008 2:26:21 AM

    Comment: We bombed Serbia and Russia bombed Georgia. What is the difference?

    • Posted By: streetwise @ 08/27/2008 8:43:20 AM

      Comment: Comment: We bombed Serbia and Russia bombed Georgia. What is the difference?
      -
      NATO bombed Belgrade for days, Russia NEVER bombed Tbilisi...

  • Posted By: nawawimohamad @ 08/27/2008 1:19:57 AM

    Comment: The US is playing with fire that could burn everybody. The US must stop this nonsense because it has lost so many wars and is not in a position to fight anymore. The US was defeated in Vietnam. The US and its allies cannot even defeat the rag-tag Talibans and the few ill-equiped, ill-trained and ill-organised al-Qaeda in Afghanistan while the scenario in Iraq is uncertain. The US military also faced the same defeat in Georgia. The US is also not able to face Iran. The only conclusion I can make is that the US administration consists of a bunch of lunatics.

    • Posted By: Trooper101st @ 08/28/2008 7:53:52 AM

      Comment: You are real smug aren't you? When the US decides to hit the tribal areas with a rain of ruin from the air, ur T-ban/AQ cockroaches will scatter. If Iran continues with its nuclear program, led by thier INSANE president, they will get bombed to dust. Now that there are a few combat brigades available for A-stan, watch how ur muj get knocked off by the dozens. Rhyno 1 BCT, 101st AB

  • Posted By: Glenno @ 08/26/2008 8:23:42 PM

    Comment: Maybe if Europe stop following the cold war tactics of United States and we can start treating Russia like a friend and a partner, then Russia would not be pushed up to a corner and forced to act defensive. Putin warned the world in February 2007 in Munic (read speach) about the consequences of continuing containment and encirceling of Russia. NO US MISSILE SHIELD IN EUROPE, GET US TROOPS OUT OF EUROPE!!!

  • Posted By: Questions2 @ 08/26/2008 9:53:32 AM

    Comment: Proposition: Russia???s objective is to rule the world.
    Proof: Russia seeks to restore itself to Soviet Union size by the admission of Russian leadership (calling the fall of the Soviet Union the greatest catastrophe in the 20th century, promising to protect its interests in any country by any means, including military). Russia, like other countries and people, prefers more to less. If given the choice between the Soviet Union territory and that plus one other territory Russia will choose the second option. In a choice between Soviet Union plus one and Soviet Union plus two countries again the second choice is made. Iterating this argument we get that Russia would most prefer to rule the entire world.

    • Posted By: System7 @ 08/26/2008 11:16:40 PM

      Comment: You have a good fantasy. Russia has clearly recognized the _independence_ of Abkhazia and S.Ossetia, not the inclusion into the territory of Russia despite at least one of them asked for the inclusion. If you compare Russia in 1908 and in 2008, then you will see that Russia has lost much territory. Hence we can say Russia's objective is to loose its territory. Anyway, Russia has the biggest territory in the world. Why must it try to become bigger? Russia does not want to rule the world, it wants to take part in ruling the world. Let's build peace.

  • Posted By: Questions2 @ 08/26/2008 9:53:13 AM

    Comment: Georgia was the lightning rod for Eastern Europe. Russia focused its economic, propagandistic and military bullying on Georgia, lightening the pressure on countries of Eastern Europe. In the 1990s Russian military planes were flying over the Baltic states and Russia was imposing trade sanctions on them. After the Rose Revolution in Georgia this activity shifted there. Now that the lightning rod is broken Eastern European countries should expect a lot more economic and military trouble from Russia.
    An old anecdote from the post-communist countries: An American, a German and a Russian are boasting in a bar. The American says: ???On my farm I drive a Ford, when I go to work I drive a Lincoln and when I go abroad I drive a Cadillac.??? The German answers: ???When I am at home, I drive a Volkswagen, at work I drive a Mercedes and in other countries I drive a BMW.??? The Russian says: ???I drive a Zhaporozhets at home and a tractor at work.??? ???And when you go to another country???? the others ask. ???When I go to another country I drive a tank,??? the Russian answers.

    • Posted By: System7 @ 08/26/2008 11:42:37 PM

      Comment: I think some contries of the Eastern Europe like Georgia, Poland, and the Ukraine imitate hysterics about Russia because it is useful for them to get more money and other "help" from "sponsors" like the USA and Europe. This hysterics is a mask only but the mask has put down roots into their souls. We must neither imitate hysterics nor be in hysterics. Let's be peaceful.

  • Posted By: Tan Boon Tee @ 08/26/2008 1:02:04 AM

    Comment: Perhaps Russia has sent a clear message to the world (notably to the West) that it is redeeming itself after the collapse of the Soviet Union followed by its uninvited subtle humiliation. Russia craves for respect for the state and its people.

    The Russia???s intrusion of Georgia came at the time when the US signed its missile defence treaty with Poland. This constitutes a rather unusual warning to the US not to meddle with East Europe. Putin has been adamant in wanting to push and establish Russian influence over its neighbors. NATO continues to weigh the grave situation. Vice President Cheney is flying to Georgia for serious discussion. The US is considering economic sanction against Russia. All these bode poorly for a fragile peace in the world, let alone in the East Europe.

    Meantime China, after a successful Olympiad unsurpassed, is monitoring the predicament carefully. Beijing will be most comfortable to stay neutral to watch the eventual geopolitical development gradually unfolded in Europe.

    Will this be the prelude of the resurrection of the notorious Cold War? No more war please, has the world not seen enough of the ugly conflicts?
    (Tan Boon Tee)

    • Posted By: System7 @ 08/26/2008 7:56:26 AM

      Comment: I'm for peace too. There is a Russian proverb: "Bad peace is better than a good quarrel."

  • Posted By: tshirt5 @ 08/25/2008 9:37:20 PM

    Comment: Ukraine started in Russia, they have always been and will always be the same. Just because Ukraine was occupied by the Polish-Lithuanian state for a while does not change its soul.

  • Posted By: tshirt5 @ 08/25/2008 9:36:13 PM

    Comment: Russia started in Ukraine, Russia and Ukraine are one. Just because Ukraine was occupied by the Polish-Lithuanina state for a bit does not change it's soul.

  • Posted By: dzyuba @ 08/25/2008 4:28:43 PM

    Comment: Ukraine is Russia and Russia is Ukraine. Has always been and will always remain. One history, one culture, one people. ONE!

    • Posted By: diderotvoltaire @ 08/25/2008 4:49:56 PM

      Comment: Ukrain remembers the genocide in the 30's.

      Ukrain has a majority of Catholic and has nothing to do with this post-stalinist Russia which has not even succeeded to stay democratic

      • Posted By: St. Petersburger @ 08/27/2008 6:00:00 AM

        Comment: For your information - Ukraine is an Orthodox country. It will never be Catholic.

      • Posted By: St. Petersburger @ 08/27/2008 5:56:01 AM

        Comment: What do you know about democarcy in Russia? Clearly nothing. Most of the Russian population is firmly behind Medvedev and Putin on this one. That is tru democracy. And stop harping on the claims of Ukrainian "genocide" in the 1930s. Russians suffered from hunger just as much as any Ukrainians. And it would behoove you to remember that the "genocide" was ordered by a Georgian!!

      • Posted By: System7 @ 08/25/2008 11:31:04 PM

        Comment: You write "this post-stalinist Russia". Recall that Stalin was Georgian by nationality. We can say "the genocide in the 30's" was made by the Georgian, an not only in the Ukraine but in the whole Russia too.

  • Posted By: dzyuba @ 08/25/2008 4:27:16 PM

    Comment: Ukraine is Russia and Russia is Ukraine. Has always been and will always be! One history, one culture, one people! ONE!

  • Posted By: diderotvoltaire @ 08/25/2008 4:23:41 PM

    Comment: What a shame that Valery Gergiev, directs this symphony at this place , at this time! Stalingrad and resistance of Leningrad were to fight nazis. But he plays at the same day, at the same moments than an ethnic cleansing was operating - that Georgians houses were burned and their owners send out of South Osetia where they belong. It is exactly what Russia today - a corrupted almost nazi state. Russia is becoming the ennemy of the West - we have the urgent need to contain it.

    • Posted By: vladro @ 08/27/2008 10:46:47 AM

      Comment: Poor superdemocratic Georgians! Just passed by and dropped a little bit of heavy superdemocratic bombs, artillery shells and missiles on sleeping Tshinval and occasionally killed about 2000 civillians, including pregnant women and children. Triffles! And savage totalitarian Russians gave them a kick and that made a whole "civilised" world to drop tears about Georgians heavy destiny. Right?
      Wak

    • Posted By: System7 @ 08/25/2008 11:35:03 PM

      Comment: Hey, watch the American TV less. I don't recommend the Russian TV too. Let's build peace.

  • Posted By: Emilda @ 08/25/2008 3:40:27 PM

    Comment: There is an interesting suggestion from Steve Levine. The Russians have a big weakness. The West should keep in mind Russia's Achilles Heel while dealing with Putin and Medvedev. Levine knows this area, having covered wars in Chechnya, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan as well as the Soviet-Afghan war: http://oilandglory.com/2008/08/russias-achilles-heel.html

  • Posted By: Emilda @ 08/25/2008 3:38:59 PM

    Comment: There is an interesting suggestion from Steve Levine. The Russians have a big weakness. The West should keep in mind Russia's Achilles Heel while dealing with Putin and Medvedev. Levine knows this area, having covered wars in Chechnya, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan as well as the Soviet-Afghan war: http://oilandglory.com/2008/08/russias-achilles-heel.html

  • Posted By: SergeyTk @ 08/25/2008 1:56:58 PM

    Comment: In Ukraine 60% population - Russians, (not 17%)
    so many dont want NATO

  • Posted By: SergeyTk @ 08/25/2008 1:55:50 PM

    Comment: In Ukraine 60% population - Russians :) you have old data (not 17%)
    so many ppl dont want NATO

  • Posted By: atyden @ 08/25/2008 1:26:29 PM

    Comment: The West has a major responsibility for the tragedy in South-Ossetia.
    Nobody misses the criminal communist soviet regime that vanished so rapidly.
    The Union fell apart with no time to give a thought to the fact that the boundaries of the republics where defined in a world quite different from today???s post-soviet reality.
    Suddenly many Russians woke up as neglected minorities in new countries.
    The Baltic States dream of the time before the Second World War and don???t grant their Russian-speaking minorities citizenship. The Crimea was given to Ukraine by stroke of the pen by Chrusjtjov. Even the other parts of South Russia, once conquered by Potemkin during the reign of Catherine the Great, became part of Ukraine.
    Abkhazia and South-Ossetia, given to Georgia by Stalin, is kept there by force.
    The big losers are the Russians and we accept because of old-time fear of Russians or by some sort of contamination of thought, where we place the blame for crimes of Stalin and the communist regime on the Russians.
    We used Russia???s weak period and paved the ground for a rebound.
    We are appalled when Putin sees the collapse of the Soviet Union as a disaster, but it is possible to understand that something got lost in the process. That union was not defined by ethnicity or religion and it had a working language.
    We don???t want to understand the Russians feel misunderstood and bullied and we are surprised when the West???s inability to understand breeds nationalism and isolationism.
    We don???t want to understand that Russia feels threatened when the United States wants to put missiles in the Czech Republic and inflates Saakasjvili so that he feels strong enough to invade South-Ossetia.
    What will we say when the communist regime in China falls and the country splits into its ethnic parts?
    Are we more prone to let the peoples decide by their own then, than when Abkhazia and South-Ossetia wants to seek its one future?
    Anders Tydén, Lidingö, Sweden

  • Posted By: atyden @ 08/25/2008 1:25:40 PM

    Comment: The West has a major responsibility for the tragedy in South-Ossetia.
    Nobody misses the criminal communist soviet regime that vanished so rapidly.
    The Union fell apart with no time to give a thought to the fact that the boundaries of the republics where defined in a world quite different from today???s post-soviet reality.
    Suddenly many Russians woke up as neglected minorities in new countries.
    The Baltic States dream of the time before the Second World War and don???t grant their Russian-speaking minorities citizenship. The Crimea was given to Ukraine by stroke of the pen by Chrusjtjov. Even the other parts of South Russia, once conquered by Potemkin during the reign of Catherine the Great, became part of Ukraine.
    Abkhazia and South-Ossetia, given to Georgia by Stalin, is kept there by force.
    The big losers are the Russians and we accept because of old-time fear of Russians or by some sort of contamination of thought, where we place the blame for crimes of Stalin and the communist regime on the Russians.
    We used Russia???s weak period and paved the ground for a rebound.
    We are appalled when Putin sees the collapse of the Soviet Union as a disaster, but it is possible to understand that something got lost in the process. That union was not defined by ethnicity or religion and it had a working language.
    We don???t want to understand the Russians feel misunderstood and bullied and we are surprised when the West???s inability to understand breeds nationalism and isolationism.
    We don???t want to understand that Russia feels threatened when the United States wants to put missiles in the Czech Republic and inflates Saakasjvili so that he feels strong enough to invade South-Ossetia.
    What will we say when the communist regime in China falls and the country splits into its ethnic parts?
    Are we more prone to let the peoples decide by their own then, than when Abkhazia and South-Ossetia wants to seek its one future?
    Anders Tydén, Lidingö, Sweden

  • Posted By: System7 @ 08/25/2008 9:46:39 AM

    Comment: Russian sources say Georgia concentrates military forces on the bound with S.Ossetia.

  • Posted By: luba @ 08/25/2008 8:29:44 AM

    Comment: - The madam Smith, at you a happy family?
    - About yes! At me four sons and the fine husband!
    - and where they now?
    - My younger John, - in Iraq, the Second son Mike, - in Afgane the Third son Bill in Kosovo now Well and
    senior Peter gathers to Iran.
    - and where your husband?
    - Travels all over the world with lectures: How to stop Russian from intrusion into other countries.


    Michael Grusha Hamburg Germany

    • Posted By: streetwise @ 08/25/2008 11:30:35 AM

      Comment: Nice...and instructive...

  • Posted By: St. Petersburger @ 08/25/2008 7:00:09 AM

    Comment: Why are the only alternatives either joining the West or going "over to the dark, anarchic world of rogue states"? It appears that Russia will do neither, and will command respect for its own nationally supported choice. This kind of analysis just underscores the West's complete lack of understanding of Russia. What's more, the West doesn't want to understand Russia - it would rather affix a label.

  • Posted By: System7 @ 08/25/2008 5:59:40 AM

    Comment: Don't let politicians, journalists, and "analysts" heat the situation. These people get the more money the more heated the situation. Let's do something for peace between the USA, Russia, and Georgia. And don't call me mad: let's dream about friendship between the USA, Russia, and Georgia.

  • Posted By: Glenno @ 08/24/2008 11:56:31 PM

    Comment: What other options have we left the Russians with? They have shown that they can live in peace with their neighbours, so why this NATO encirclement of Russia to "contain Russian influence in the area"?
    Russias response to Poland is logic, they are allowing the Americans to use their soil for a rocket shield that can give US first strike capabilities. If Russia built a rocket shield on Cuba the US would threaten Cuba with an attack to resore balance as well

    • Posted By: FREETHINKINGAMERICAN @ 08/25/2008 5:18:50 AM

      Comment: Glenno : Spot on. You have got to the heart of the matter.

  • Posted By: Trad @ 08/24/2008 10:48:59 AM

    Comment: It might seem the first mistake, was allowing Vladimir Putin to not be swept out. In the media (at least what we see) he is the de facto president of Russia.

    It does appear mistakes were made on both sides in Russia and Georgia. But it is somewhat astounding to see the rhetoric from Russia turn, so quickly, back to the cold war era.

    Russia has had a lot of twists and turns over the years. It appears that Russia is headed for another one, fueled by an economic expansion the country had to have. The Russians are a wonderful people, now propelled again by a change in leadership back to the old ways. Their comments towards Poland recently are very disturbing. Almost the only good thing is the Russian stock market reaction toward the conflict. Perhaps Russian and foreign investors (and Russian newfound wealth) will moderate Russian actions in the future.

    Ms. Nemtsova got it right.

  • Posted By: Braes @ 08/23/2008 1:49:32 PM

    Comment: Your social studies teacher should have marked you A+. This, Anna, is very good.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 08/23/2008 2:25:51 PM

      Comment: Misposted here somehow.

 
 
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