Historic First in Russia

In a historic move, Russia has elected its first black politician. Jean Gregoire Sagbo was elected to the town council of Novozavidovo, located about 65 miles north of Moscow.

In response, Sagbo's opponents have begun demanding to see his birth certificate.

Monsters in the Daylight

A New Reason You Should Be Scared Out of Your Wits

Poland has signed a deal allowing the U.S. to place missiles within its borders. Although the American government insists that the missiles will be purely defensive in nature, the Russians are, well, somewhat less than thrilled at the prospect. In fact, Moscow is warning of a possible military response. One Russian general took the warning a step further, saying that Poland may face nuclear retaliation from Moscow.

Poland also happens a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) member. The U.S. also has additional defense treaties with the former member of the Soviet block, which means that if Russia does launch some sort of military action, we will be obligated to respond in kind.

And since the Bush administration has a policy of not talking to America's enemies because it counts as appeasement, it's unclear where this standoff leaves the nations involved.... Or the rest of the world.

Somehow I felt a lot better when we were only worried about nukes from Iran.

Be Scared. Be Very, VERY Scared.

Here's a pretty good summary of what led to the war between Georgia and Russia. While the time line of some events remains fuzzy, it's pretty apparent that Georgia has to bear most of the responsibility for provoking Russia.

That's not to say that Russia is innocent in this mess. They were clearly spoiling for a fight, and much of their heavy equipment arrived in South Ossetia with suspiciously fast speed. However, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili must also bear much of the responsibility for repeatedly ignoring the advice of other western leaders and blundering his way into what some suspect was a Russian trap.

Meanwhile, what exactly was John McCain thinking last week when he declared that today we are all Georgians? Does that mean he would have been willing to go to war with Russia? More importantly, why didn't he wait until he had more facts about exactly what had happened? After all, the last time a United States President jumped to conclusions and led us into a war without fully understanding the situation at hand, over 4,000 American soldiers died (and still counting), tens of thousands were wounded, hundreds of thousands of civilians perished in the crossfire, and the entire Middle East ended up becoming even more unstable.

I'm sure the fact that McCain is personal friends with Saakashvili, and the relatively minor detail that McCain's top foreign policy adviser was until recently a paid lobbyist for the government of Georgia, has absolutely nothing to do with McCain's trigger-happy attitude.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that four years of McCain would be like another four years of Bush.

Makes Me Proud to Be an American

That's Telling Him

Sole Man

Calling Rhett Butler

Russian forces have launched a series of attacks on the small Republic of Georgia. At dispute is a small region called South Ossetia, which is claimed by Georgia but whose residents want independence. Russia has gotten involved because this is a great opportunity to show the world that it still matters.

Hundreds of Georgians are already dead, and it remains unclear what the outcome is. Georgia is allied with the U.S. and has been seeking membership in NATO--which is another reason Russia has gotten involved.

While the dispute is centered on Ossetia, there are indications that the conflict may end up engulfing other regions of Georgia. If that happens, there is also a chance the fighting will spread to neighboring Alabama and South Carolina.

Rice On The Importance Of Preserving Democracy

Dissension within the Bush White House continues to mount. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a longtime Bush loyalist, is the latest to speak out against the President. Said Rice:

"In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development.... Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary."

WOW!!!! Harsh words, indeed. She then went on to say that the government has amassed so much central authority that the power-grab may undermine its very commitment to democracy.

What? Oh, wait, sorry. My mistake. She was actually talking about the Russian government under Vladimir Putin.

Putin On The Ritz

President Bush is to meet with Russian leader Vladimer Putin later today. Putin has been using increasingly aggressive language and threatening a new arms race since Bush proposed putting American missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic as part of a "defensive shield."

Hope Bush brings a geiger counter to check the sushi.

Why Europe Is F*cked

After several days of deteriorating relations between the United States and Russia, President Bush has sought to calm things down by saying that "Russia is not going to attack Europe."

This is reassuring coming from the same man who told us that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, that there was a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda, that repeatedly told us we were turning the corner in Iraq, that uttered the words "you're doing a heck of a job, Brownie" to the director of FEMA even as bodies floated in the streets of New Orleans, and can barely speak coherent English.

Pass The Sushi... And The Geiger Counter

In a rather high profile incident last fall, a Russian citizen living in England died of radiation poisoning. The case quickly mushroomed into one of international intrigue as it became apparent that Alexander Litvinenko, a well known critic of Russian President Putin, had been intentionally killed. British authorities investigating the death quickly began to uncover a trail of radiation contamination, including hotel rooms, a sushi restaurant, and airliners.

All the evidence pointed to a guy named Andrei Lugovoy (NOT to be be confused with some guy named Lugosi). Lugovoy, like Putin himself, was a former KGB agent. This further increased speculation that the Kremlin was behind the hit. A few ago, after additional investigation, Britain issued a warrant for Lugovoy's arrest.

Yesterday, Lugovoy held a press conference in Moscow and denied all involvement. According to him, the real killers are still in England.

Right. No doubt playing golf with the real killers of O.J.'s wife.

Putin On The Hits

Fifty three year old Paul Joyal was shot and seriously wounded in the driveway of his home last home. Unfortunate, but things like that happen in this world of ours. Most people would just shrug it off as a robbery gone bad.

What makes Joyal's case unusual, however, is that he is a renown expert on Russian politics and a longtime critic of Russian President Vladimer Putin. He also served as a staff member of the United States Senate's intelligence committee. Interesting, you say, but so what? Well, add to that the fact just four days before getting shot, Joyal appeared on Dateline NBC and accused Putin of being behind last year's death of Alexander Litvinenko from radiation poisoning.

Needless to say, all this has led to rampant speculation that Joyal was targeted for "termination" by Russian agents because of his big mouth. And if that does turn out to be the case, it will mean that no one anywhere in the world will dare criticize the Russian leader.

Um.... Have I ever mentioned how much I admire Putin? I think he's a wonderful human being, and quite possibly the greatest leader ever to walk the Earth. I would never, ever say anything critical about him. Really. I love the guy.

Heck, I'm not ashamed to admit that I want to bear his child.

Several, in fact.

It's A Gas.... Or Maybe Not

Last week Russia cut off oil supplies to Belarus as part of a trade dispute. Since that same pipeline also carries oil to the rest of Europe as well, the move effectively cut off the rest of the continent from Russian oil as well. Russia claims that its problems with Belarus are purely over the price of oil, but other observers say that what the Kremlin--and by extension Russian President Vladimer Putin--really want is more control over Belarus' politics.

The Russian trade minister, in what seems like a risky move, now admits that this dispute with Belarus has greatly damaged Russian relations with western Europe.

WHOA!!! That sounds like a roundabout way of criticizing Putin. If the trade minister knows what's good for him, he'll start checking his food with a Geiger counter from now on.

Crank It Up

Are you sitting down? I'm going to briefly write about something other than Bush or Katrina....

Someone sent me a link to a rather interesting music video. While it's not in English, the song is still good, and the accompanying animation is very well done. It runs about three minutes or so.

The song is by a Russian singer named Glukoza. If you click on the links in the top left hand corner of the page you can find some photos of her, and she is absolutely nothing like the stereotypical Russian woman you might expect. Glukoza is blonde, green-eyed, svelte, drop-dead gorgeous, and doesn't even have a mustache.

Can't tell if she shaves her armpits, though.