Vlad Putin Praises Russian Treachery

Vlad Putin Praises Russian Treachery

On first meeting then-President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in 2001, President George W. Bush said of Putin that, ”I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. He added, “I was able to get a sense of his soul.”

Putin has proven himself straightforward, but trustworthy? I don’t know what Bush detected in his soul but the former head of the USSR’s secret police, the KGB, could be described as trustworthy only from a Russian perspective.

Appointed Prime Minister by figurehead President Dmitry Medvedev, Putin has shown repeatedly that he’s a lowlife but outdid himself and shamed his country by boasting about the USSR’s thievery during the Cold War.

Beset by mass demonstrations opposing his campaign for reelection as president on March 4th, Putin has been stirring up anti-Americanism reminiscent of his KGB days. Although a repugnant campaign tactic, that’s almost understandable in view of the decline and fall of the Russian empire, the obvious effect of that collapse on the Russian people, and their need to focus on something other than their loss of superpower status.

However, Putin arousing old animosities is far from bragging about his nation’s treachery.

In any war, hot or cold, every country resorts to underhanded methods to gain an advantage. Few nations brag about them. Using as an excuse for the USSR’s massive theft of America’s nuclear secrets after WWII, Putin said it was done because Russia didn’t want the United States to be the sole atomic power on the planet.

Contrary to historical record, the thievery wasn’t conducted so that the USSR could have a shot at world domination. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=14257.)

The Katyn Curse

The Katyn Curse

Sixteen days after the Germans invaded Poland from the west, the U.S.S.R. invaded from the east, capturing tens of thousands of Poles including thousands of ethnic Polish military officers who were then interned in the Kozelsk POW camp, 12 miles west of Smolensk, Russia, in the Katyn forest.

In April, 1940, the executions by the NKVD began and when it was over, some 21,768 Poles were dead, including about 8,000 officers at Kozelsk as well as over 13,000 others of the Polish intelligentsia, police, industry leaders, landowners, lawyers, minor government officials, and priests. (Statistics taken from Wikipedia.)

It was for the 70th anniversary of that mass slaughter by Russian Communists that Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his entourage of 88 people from similar walks of life were traveling to Russia on a commemorative, mournful journey when their ancient Russian-built airliner crashed in thick fog, near the Katyn forest.

The irony of that crash, Polish elite of 2010 dying near the site of the murders of thousands of the Polish elite in 1940, is too rich to be overlooked.

As Poland entered a 2-week period of national mourning, Russian President Medvedev and Premier Putin expressed heartfelt sympathies for the Polish losses and speculation began that the elite passengers had insisted the pilot land the plane despite warnings not to do so in the fog.

All aboard, including the 88 passengers and 8 crew were killed on impact: http://bit.ly/cpJTQk

Without trying to mitigate the loss to Poland and to the Polish state . . .
(read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1624)

MINOR STORIES ABOUT INTERESTING TIMES

May you live in interesting times is an ancient Chinese aphorism and, for better or worse, we seem to be living in very interesting times. Whether our times will be times to remember fondly is another matter entirely.

None of the following stories come close to matching the newsworthiness of the debacle in Illinois where Governor Rod Blagosomething had a rude awakening this morning and was carted off to the hoosegow for being what is traditional for Illinois governors, a crook: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=40546.

However, they all have to qualify as being interesting for various reasons.

BLACK GOV ON BLACKS

Governor-By-Scandal David Patterson of New York made a witty, racist remark at the Gridiron Dinner the other night in New York. During the gag-filled occasion, he said, “Once you go black you can’t go back”: http://www.politico.com/blogs/anneschroeder/1208/Gov_David_Paterson_at_the_Gridiron_He_said_what_.html?showall. His quip was a reference to the election of the nation’s first black president and his own ascendance to the governorship by virtue of previous Governor Spitzer’s inability to keep his zipper zipped. Okay, it was meant in jest, I suppose, but imagine the uproar had a white governor made an equivalent remark. Think Senator Trent Lott and Rush Limbaugh. Double standard, anyone?

A DAY WITHOUT A GAY

Back in the old days, Americans who like to protest would do it actively by sending a letter of complaint or by taking to the streets and marching and chanting and waving placards. Protesters still do that of course but gay protesters are adding a new wrinkle....

(Read the rest of this article at http://genelalor.com/.)