Mother Russia!
Putin is one sneaky little bastard.
This isn't your run-of-the-mill slide a blocked nominee into an important international position while the senate is still recovering from jet-lag from their flights home for the recess. This goes deeper than that.
http://nytimes.com/2005/08/03/international/europe/03russia.html
Putin has barred ABC news and its affiliates from reporting in Russia, including Chechnya. Good. Beacuse when there are gross human rights violations and regular instances of terrorism from both sides, it's best not to let the rest of the world know what's going on.
Putin is actually kind of smart. With the War on Terror, Bush has provided him with the perfect opportunity to do whatever he wants, including:
~ eliminating elections for regional governers so that he now appoints said governers as he see fit, without any imput from the people.
~Stealing the SuperBowl ring off the finger of the Patriot's owner by saying, "That's a nice ring, can I see it?" then putting it on, walking away and saying thanks over his shoulder. As an Eagles fan, I find this hysterical, but it's still not right, diplomatically speaking.
~This latest step of barring journalists. As the article discusses, he's upset because ABC did an interview with a rebel Chechan leader who is responsible for heinous terrorist attacks, including the Breslan (sp?) school incident last year. Ok....but ABC also interviews Al Qadea insurrgents who have committed offenses of terrorism against American civilians and troops. It never hurts a situation to get all of the information into the open.
This is a bonafide rant, but politics is pissing me off lately. Roberts? At least tell us where you stand on the most important issues of the day. Bolton? Don't even get me started. Putin? grrrr.
This isn't your run-of-the-mill slide a blocked nominee into an important international position while the senate is still recovering from jet-lag from their flights home for the recess. This goes deeper than that.
http://nytimes.com/2005/08/03/international/europe/03russia.html
Putin has barred ABC news and its affiliates from reporting in Russia, including Chechnya. Good. Beacuse when there are gross human rights violations and regular instances of terrorism from both sides, it's best not to let the rest of the world know what's going on.
Putin is actually kind of smart. With the War on Terror, Bush has provided him with the perfect opportunity to do whatever he wants, including:
~ eliminating elections for regional governers so that he now appoints said governers as he see fit, without any imput from the people.
~Stealing the SuperBowl ring off the finger of the Patriot's owner by saying, "That's a nice ring, can I see it?" then putting it on, walking away and saying thanks over his shoulder. As an Eagles fan, I find this hysterical, but it's still not right, diplomatically speaking.
~This latest step of barring journalists. As the article discusses, he's upset because ABC did an interview with a rebel Chechan leader who is responsible for heinous terrorist attacks, including the Breslan (sp?) school incident last year. Ok....but ABC also interviews Al Qadea insurrgents who have committed offenses of terrorism against American civilians and troops. It never hurts a situation to get all of the information into the open.
This is a bonafide rant, but politics is pissing me off lately. Roberts? At least tell us where you stand on the most important issues of the day. Bolton? Don't even get me started. Putin? grrrr.