Picture of the Day
He's so much better at this than our team.
(AP) "In combative comments that took the U.S. side aback during a photo session, Putin criticized Bush's pet project and threatened to pull out of a Cold War-era treaty that limits intermediate-range missiles."
And from a brilliant McClatchy piece on the Bush administration's "misjudgements" about Russia,
After keeping the U.S. officials waiting for 40 minutes, Putin mocked their mission in front of reporters and television cameras.
And here I thought Condi Rice was the Russian expert.
Oh, that's right, she's a Soviet expert. So useful.
And, from a later session with FM Lavrov.
(Photo credits: AP Photo/ Alexander Zemlianichenko, REUTERS/Alexander Natruskin.)
posted by mikevotes at
9:45 AM
11 Comments:
The US team was outclassed I think. Of course Putin does have something like an 85% approval rating in Russia.
By
Anonymous, at 10:14 AM
The Putin team has been great diplomatically, and the don't shy away from an "in your face."
(Right now they hold more cards because they're the swing vote on the Sec. Council regarding Iran. The Chinese won't vote no alone, they'll abstain, so the Russians are in the driving seat.)
And, yeah, anti-Americanism plays huge in Russia. It's like the restarting of the nuclear bomber runs. With missiles the way they are, it's realy an anachronism, but it scored him big points at home.
By
mikevotes, at 1:01 PM
Putin has been great for Russia. He got them out of the doldrums and restored national prestige. I think he even got the oligarchs paying taxes.
By
Anonymous, at 1:27 PM
Maybe with Putin's insult to Rice and Gates, and his open derision of US policy, it will finally sink into Bush's thick head that Putin's not his friend. But probably not.
If the US stays on its agressive course in the Middle East, the situation with Russia might get even more tense, and dangerously so.
By
Anonymous, at 1:49 PM
Anon, either they're cooperating or in exile.
....
Abi, If you think any foreign leader can change the minds of this admin, I think you're dreaming. (They might be able to force a course change of some type, but I don't see the certainty being touched.
And, the Russians have a lot of levers they can pull and they would find alot of support as the did, so, they could make things very messy for the US.
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mikevotes, at 2:08 PM
Bush has never had to go toe-to-toe with a real enemy. By that I mean something other than a near-third world country. He's able to steamroll allies and local opposition politicians -- because they're either weak or timid. But against Russia, China... even N. Korea. No. They ain't got game.
Crude and stupid is a poor excuse for tough and wise.
By
-epm, at 2:52 PM
And the real kicker to me is that we've given Russia and China the cards to play against us.
The decision to invade Iraq weakened the entire US foreign policy.
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mikevotes, at 3:42 PM
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Russian human rights activists on Saturday she wanted to help them build institutions to protect people from the 'arbitrary power of the state'.
"I think that there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin," she later told reporters.
By
Anonymous, at 4:41 PM
Yeah, also this
"In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development,"
And then this from the russian human rights folks.
"But Lokshina said the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay and allegations of abuse at the U.S.-run Abu-Ghraib prison in Iraq had dented Washington's authority on human rights.
"The United States has somewhat lost effectiveness from the point of view of its ability to criticize the Russian government," she said.
"Today when the United States criticizes, the Russian authorities say: 'Look what is happening on your patch'.""
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mikevotes, at 5:21 PM
Honestly, do they realize how stupid they look?
By
Praguetwin, at 5:03 AM
I'm never quite sure with Rice. I think she has esteem issues so I would say she thinks something is wrong.
As for Gates, yes, I think he does. From the day he came in, he seems to be biting his lip about the state of things behind the scenes.
By
mikevotes, at 6:51 AM
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