Возврат в СССР? (Return of the USSR?)

Dark days for the rebellion.

And it was even legit.....I wonder if Yanukovich's American political consultant was an Obama '08 lackey?

Just goes to show you my previous arguments for economics uber alles. The terrible economic morass that Ukraine is in was enough to keep the western minded Ukrainians from voting in large enough droves to offset this travesty. This will be compounded when Moscow relaxes it's stringent energy costs that has frequently been a point of contention between the two countries; a solution that Yanukovich has promised he will solve. For many, the choice whether to get affordable electricity in winter vs Western style competition was a major factor.

What does this mean? For starters, I could say it is a perfect example of the inability of "the march to democracy" to be an inevitable process ; but Putin himself proved that in 2000 (as well as Hitler in the 30's). The next democratic target for Russia will be Georgia. Obviously, Georgia will be a tougher nut to crack due to the massive displeasure over Russia, but it could still assist those politicians that want to take a less confrontational stance with Putin (Interesting article that discusses the displeasure of Yanukovich over Georgian observers and an opposition Georgian MP who sounds a little appeasing of Yanukovich's concerns and seems to imply some sort of willingness to warm up to Russian's Ukranian lackeys ). I think if we're going to exploit any of the gains since the end of the Cold War Obama needs to remain committed to propping up the Georgian government and to do everything to satisfy security concerns by those within Russia's "Near Abroad" (a concern especially felt by the Baltic States during the ABM fiasco). Romania's announcement to hold intercepters is a good start, but we still have a long way to go to undo the lost of confidence .

Obama K's On Democracy

STRIKE ONE

When Russian troops invaded Georgian territory in September 2008, the future leader of the free world said

“I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict. Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war. Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected. All sides should enter into direct talks on behalf of stability in Georgia, and the United States, the United Nations Security Council, and the international community should fully support a peaceful resolution to this crisis.”

Darn those pesky Georgians always harassing the poor Russians!

STRIKE TWO
When Iranians took to the streets en masse to protest the fraudulent elections, and paid in blood for it, the leader of the free world said,

"It's not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling," he told reporters on Tuesday."I do believe that something has happened in Iran where there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures towards the international community. How that plays out over the next several days and several weeks is something ultimately for the Iranian people to decide."

I guess he meant it was for the Iranian people with the guns to have an honest and earnest discussion with the Iranian people without guns on what the outcome of the elections should be.

STRIKE THREE - Democracy's Out!
When the Honduran Legislature and Supreme Court requested that the military remove the executive leader, who had demanded another term in opposition to the country's constitution, the leader of the free world said,

"President Zelaya was democratically elected, he had not yet completed his term," he said. "We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the President of Honduras, the democratically elected president there."

President Zelaya wishes to follow Presidents Castro and Chavez in the Latin American 'President-for-Life' style of rule. Doubtless the leader of the free world wishes to emulate these role models for dicatatorship and adopt this style of rule himself.

The people of Honduras however, feel differently about this:

Click on the picture. The people are requesting that Obama defend their constitution and freedom and to not help the next Chavez. The Honduran people themselves have some deluded idea that the leader of the free world actually cares about their democracy, when it threatens the type of ruler he identifies with. I want to help, but feel pity for these guys.

Obama's words betray a man who doesn't believe in the principles of this country. Who is not confident in standing up for what America values. The words above wouldn't have come out of Reagan, Bush, or Kennedy's mouths. Democracy isn't what someone who knows what's best for others (ie a modern liberal) believes in. He/she believes in a benevolent dictatorship where those that know best tell those that don't what to think, what to do, what to believe. Those that know what's best for others don't want or need to hear what the others actually think themselves.

To be fair here, none of these situations are cut and dried. Obama sharpened his tone to a certain extent towards Russia and Iran when public opinion turned against him. The Honduran Legislature and Supreme Court may have proceeded a little hastily in removing their president. But, at best he is goaded into saying some mealy-mouthed nothings in support of Democracy. These are not the words of the in-your-face fighters for freedom mentioned above, who automatically know who is on the side of freedom and democracy and who is not.

These are the words of a communist-sympathizing community organizer whose sympathies lie outside of American values but who must keep an eye on the polls.

Disgusting.

Devil Comes Down To Georgia: Update

Finally before I leave, how 'bout a look at where our past observations have gone? We don't shy away from facts at Robinson Talking Points. I was raving like World War V was upon us in Devil Comes Down To Georgia (for ref: WWIII = Cold War, WWIV = War Against Militant Islam). Who was going to blink in early May? Clearly the West, who didn't have a chance against a determined Putin. Well, what has been happening? The US press has ignored it completely. The London Telegraph has an article by a Russian writer who claims both sides have ratcheted up tension in advance of the long-scheduled, small-scale NATO exercise, but that Russia is making a big deal of it as an excuse to bulk up their troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Well, ominous, but no WWV.

In searching for more stories, I stumbled on an Estonian paper Eesti Elu or 'Estonian Life', that has a good, honest article on it. Looks like the exercise is carrying on but WWV isn't happening, but the Russians are still increasing their troops in the area.

Another article discussed a topic I find interesting but never see talked about: the status of the city of Kaliningrad, Russia, or what was formerly known as Koenigsberg, Prussia. This 'exclave' of Russia is sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic coast. It used to be the capital of Prussia, and was the heartland of the German military class, the Junkers, that were the driving force in unifiying Germany. I always wondered why Kaliningrad didn't break away from Russia at the end of the cold war, but never heard anything about it. Well, this article at least discusses the fact that changing the name back to Koenigsberg is being debated, which is a small first step towards independence. Evidently the Russians have kept this exclave stocked full of troops, but now they can't afford to keep them there anymore, and...what a coincidence...we see an effort to change the name of the exclave now that the Russian troops are leaving.

The Devil Comes Down To Georgia

Here we go! Vlad is back, itching for an excuse with Georgia, saying to Obambi, "what's it gonna be, boy?" This is high stakes stuff: NATO has scheduled an excercise with Georgia in early May, so Vlad steps things up right before. Talk about effin' balls. We're gearing up to go in to work with our potential new NATO member and he's saying, "dudes, this is MY turf". If we mean business we need to face Russia down, but at the same time they've deployed the Black Sea Fleet! This is more high stakes than the first invasion because we are actually gearing up to go to Georgia, which we weren't doing before. Dang...these would be exciting times if the West had a leader with any balls, but, since we don't, this humble reporter is predicting Game Over for our brave but probably foolish friends in Georgia. I don't even think we should try to pick a fight with Russia in Georgia, but now would be the time to go full-speed-ahead with the anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic, but Obambi has already preemptively de-nutted the West's ability to respond in this way. What a dink.

I've got to say, I wish Vlad The Impaler were our President (assuming he supported Free Market Capitalism and Invidivual Rights of course). This is what a real leader of a powerful nation does for his country.