Again and again and amazingly again, the enemies of Vladimir Putin find themselves dead or poisoned. Anna Politkovskaya, Putin critic and journalist, recently found herself murdered. That is nothing new for Russia. In the past 15 years, 246 journalists have been killed there, and none of these murders has been investigated and solved in a normal way. Viktor Yushchenko President of the Ukraine, a critic of Putin was mysteriously poisoned, while he was running against the Putin endorsed candidate. Putin tried to rig that election. The killing of Politkovskaya has elicited a sense of The Cold War. In Putin’s KGB days, people simply disappeared. Enver Ziganshin, the chief engineer of BP Russia, was shot to death in Irkutsk on September 30. Andrei Kozlov, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who was leading a campaign against financial fraud, was assassinated on September 14. Putin has recently been using energy as a tool of blackmail. Breakaway regions in Moldova and Georgia exist only because of the Kremlin’s backing. What have been The Bush Administration's reactions to this and the response to all the help Putin is giving the US in dealing with N. Korea, Iran and the rest of the world’s thugocracies?A cheery Bush Administration announced that the more normalized Russia of Putin is being welcomed to the World Trade Organization. The signing was timed to take place before a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush, who both took part in the APEC summit, on Sunday. George Bush was seen leaving for the meeting wearing his kneepads.
And, I almost forgot to mention. Some more unpleasantness in this morning's Telegraph.
Leading Russian critic of Putin's regime is poisoned in London
By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter and James Glover, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:47pm GMT 19/11/2006
Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into an audacious attempt to murder – using a deadly poison – a leading Russian defector at a restaurant in London.
Alexander Litvinenko defected to Britain six years ago
Alexander Litvinenko, a former colonel in the Russian secret service and a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, was seriously ill under armed guard at a London hospital last night.
Mr Litvinenko, 50, who used to work for the Federal Security Bureau (FSB, the former KGB), fell ill after meeting a contact at Itsu, a sushi restaurant in Piccadilly. The woman journalist claimed to have information on the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, 48, the outspoken journalist who was killed at her Moscow apartment last month.
A close friend of Mr Litvinenko said last night: "Alexander has no doubt that he was poisoned at the instigation of the Russian government." He has been living at a secret address in London with his wife and son because he feared he might be targeted by political opponents.
The Telegraph
Did I sneak one in before Rufus?
ReplyDeleteShale oil extraction developed by an Israeli company? Stay tuned for a new post titled "The Amazingly Coincidental Bad Luck of The Enemies of Exxon-Mobil"
ReplyDeleteVey good ... very good.
ReplyDeleteWell, Mr Putin merely has to wait. Mr Kissinger, today, tells US and the World that "Iran despises weakness" and there is but one way forward:
ReplyDelete"... So long as Iran views itself as a crusade rather than a nation, a common interest will not emerge from negotiations. To evoke a more balanced view should be an important goal for US diplomacy. Iran may come to understand that it is still a poor country not in a position to challenge the entire world order.
Today the Sunni states of the region are terrified by the Shi’ite wave. Negotiations between Iran and the United States could generate a stampede towards pre-emptive concessions, unless preceded or at least accompanied by a significant effort to rally those states. In such a policy, Iran must find a respected, but not dominant, place. A restarted Palestinian peace process should play a significant role, which presupposes close co-operation among the United States, Europe and the moderate Arab states.
Iran needs to be encouraged to act as a nation, not a cause. It has no incentive to appear as a deus ex machina to enable America to escape its embarrassments, unless the United States retains an ability to fill the vacuum or at least be a factor in filling it. America will need to reposition its strategic deployments, but if such actions are viewed as the prelude to an exit from the region, a collapse of existing structures is probable.
A purposeful diplomacy towards Iran is important for building a more promising region — but only if Iran does not, in the process, come to believe that it is able to shape the future on its own, or if the potential building blocks of a new order disintegrate while America sorts out its purposes.
Peace is in the hands of the Iranians, if they'd just see the light. They will not, reading Senator Biden's piece seals the deal. There is bipartisan support to negotiate Iraq's future in Tehran.
Onward Christian Soldiers, indeed.
or is really Texas Hold 'em that Mr Bush believes he's playing?
If anyone really cares tnis piece by Peter Baker a Washington Post Staff Writer has extensive comments from Kenneth Adelman.
ReplyDeleteMr Adelman seems to have been a key player, back in the day.
"... The weekend after the statue of Saddam Hussein fell, Kenneth Adelman and a couple of other promoters of the Iraq war gathered at Vice President Cheney's residence to celebrate. The invasion had been the "cakewalk" Adelman predicted. Cheney and his guests raised their glasses, toasting President Bush and victory. "It was a euphoric moment," Adelman recalled. ..."
Putin is correct in killing the Jihadi and Leftist corruption trying to undermine operations in Chechnya. The problem is not identifying who the Jihadis and their apologists are, that's the easy part. The problem is having the political aegis to do what is needed about it.
ReplyDeleteWonder why WaPo, or even you, rat, find it so odd that people would celebrate a victory?
ReplyDeleteEven though it turned out to've been only an interim victory, the guys were happy it had been achieved in good time @ less-than-expected loss.
We were all--you, me, Cheney, Adelman, and hundreds of millions, maybe a few billion, others--were also equally relieved and jubilant at the time.
Now WaPo comes in with this portentious framing, as if everything went wrong, and went wrong as a result of elements pre-ordained and darkly conspiratorial.
On what basis other than hindsight-as-applied-to-politics, I wonder.
The guy in the London hospital is a shithead, Mat?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Buddy. I'm not familiar with specifics in this case.
ReplyDeleteIf the Russians were involved in the incident, it seems to me this was a polite warning given to Mr Litvinenko to keep his nose out of Russian affairs and mind his own business. If the Russians wanted him dead, he would have been dead.
ReplyDeleteI have to profess a certain admiration for the guy. He's our rival, maybe enemy, but he does not pussy-foot.
ReplyDeleteRussia can be more useful as an ally than Iran Syria or Pakistan ever could be. Glad to see that as least India is now considered in that light.
ReplyDeleteUSA has nothing to offer, except glitching the NATO expansion eastward.
ReplyDeleteI chose that, buddy, not because they were in celebration, but because of who was in the room.
ReplyDeleteThe level of access and influence Mr Adelman had, that is what is illustrated by that quote. Many folk would not know Mr Adelman from Adam, if not for the reference.
It's going to get worse, buddy, before it gets better.
All the signs point to reconciliation with Iran. Mr Kissinger and his Saud clients carry a lot of White House weight, weekly meetings/ briefings by Mr K.
Mr K the Institutional memory of the Republican Party. Big part of their problem, really.
Maybe part of the Solution too.
ReplyDeleteWould Mr K sacrifice Israel, for US?
Negotiate an end to the War on Terror. Just like the General President did, in Warizistan.
ReplyDeleteIt's all good now.
Peace in our time.
There's a lot of very smart science going on in Russia. IBM, DuPont, etc., opening a couple of research labs in Russia would build a lot good will. NATO (see Turkey) already proved its worth..
ReplyDeleteRufus, I sent this earlier to Buddy:
ReplyDeleteASH NAZG DURBATULÛK,
ASH NAZG GIMBATUL,
ASH NAZG THRAKATULÛK,
AGH BURZUM-ISHI KRIMPATUL.
Break the hold this Toluene Ring has on you! Ethanol and biomass fuels are the future.
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteEvery house in Israel has a solar panel. That's been the case for the last 30 years.
And, don't forget Solar. It's just now starting to "Break Through."
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile Seattle just broke all records for rainfall in November, on the 16th, with half the month still to go.
California's problem with wind power is, it's most needed to cool with, and that ain't the time the winds blow.
ReplyDeleteRufus, bet some big oil lobbyists think different?
ReplyDeleteTime to start another ME war. :)
ReplyDeleterufus wrote:
ReplyDeleteT, I posted an article last night concerning the lumber industry in the North West. They're starting to realize that they can make a fortune off of Forest Bio-refineries. They will be producing Billions of dollars worth of electricity /biogas/ biofuels, etc off of the waste that they've been throwing away.
That's gotta be better than what their doing now, after four cuttings, taking all that nitrogen out of the land in the form of big logs for export to Japan, now the only thing that grows is little crap alder sticks, which they pinch off with a funky machine when the trees ain't even old enough to vote and make toilet paper out of 'em.
Mətušélaḥ
ReplyDeleteRussia can never be a trusted ally, no way ,no how.
They can only be a tool. There is absolutely no evidence anywhere in their history that shows they could be a trusted ally.
Too extend that, alliances are all temporary and turn when the moment offers. That goes for the USA too.
DR,
ReplyDeleteIt is troublesome to read you quoting the Washington Post.
Not a reliable source.
rufus said:
ReplyDeleteOnce again, Folks, "Half of the Scientists that have ever lived are working, Today;
The problem is that half of those are working for the government, chasing grant money for whatever the hot topic du joir is. If the federal government was cutting checks for Worldwide Flood research, grad students would be scouring Turkey for Noah's Ark as we speak.
OPEC in the past has always cut alt energy off at the knees, just when it's about to break-out.
ReplyDeleteBuddy, isn't Iran part of OPEC? ;-)
ReplyDeletegot to have a battery breakthru somewhere, for them rainy days.
ReplyDeleteHey, catch this, LATimes gets warlike, all of a sudden.
link
For all of you out there who believe that Islam rotates on it's oil and that to gin up an alternative fuel source would obviate Islams threat to the world, please explain the thousand years of agression toward all other religions when they didn't have a drop of oil?
ReplyDeleteImplacable foes need killing and no amount of alternate fuel sources is going to change the tenets of Islam as a killing religion.
ReplyDeleteSnuff 'em out, snuff'em out, way out.
Boola , boola
rufus--that's great news, that E85 story. The only thing holding back another floodof capital is that fear, tho, of OPEC manipulations. Even one or two of the big financial houses are seeing 45 or lower. One of 'em even sez, a spike under 20, tho it won't stay.
ReplyDeleteSo, the flood of alt energy cap & secondary offerings seem to be on hold, for now, waiting for bellwethers like OIH to break down.
I believe this is coming faster than we would have believed
ReplyDeleteHope, Pray, & Invest. the sooner to f**K off the OPECs.
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteThe question remains unanswered. What about the thousand years of agression by Islam a priori oil?
I'm 100% behind alt fuels but that's not gonna stop Islam.
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteAlso I am with Buddy's thank you on providing a wealth of knowledge on the world of energy OTHER than oil.
I wish I'd had Buddy's insight to create a separate file and retain each of you posts. I have started.
You have done those who read these pages a great service and I mean that sincerely. Keep up the good work.
Here, here!
ReplyDeleteWell then, habu, Mr Adelman will be all over the bandwidth with a demand for a retraction, disputing the substance of the quotes.
ReplyDeleteHe has not, of late.
What is an accepted source, habu?
I find most sources to be a mix of fact and fiction. I do not think I'll selfcensor the input, to only the habu approved.
"Possums by Starlight" is a noted think-tank outlet, tho, you have to admit, rat.
ReplyDeleteI think it's associated with the Hoover Institute, and possibly some of the other vacuum-cleaner institutes.
ReplyDeleteAlso you can trust the Mayo Clinic, for top notch sandwich-spread research.
ReplyDeleteOf course, buddy, all the possum clan are to be taken seriously.
ReplyDeleteTheir input, while not matching rufus's in quality of information, has a certain sense of Style that is compelling, to the general public. Servicing an entirely independent series of nods and pods throughout the continuity of the sub grouping
The Mayo Clinic does wonders for property values. Here, in AZ, the ambulance takes Emergency patients to the nearest hospital. Those North Phoenix real properties that are in the Mayo's zone, there is percieved value amongst the Senior Citizenry and those others that appreciate being dropped off at the Mayo Emergency Room, as compared to some of the other area hospitals.
ReplyDeleteI was nodding along with that post, til i got to the "nods & pods" part. Then i quickly quit, looking around furtively.
ReplyDeleteAwe shucks, you guys are right. I mean the WaPo has been known for it's veracity and unbiased reporting. They always quote the entire interviews. What was I thinking, oh I guess it was a flashback to Janet Cooke days. Or was it their unbiased coverage of the Clinton Administration, WhiteWater,Gennifer Flowers,The Vietnam War,SDI. I must have been out of town during that. Oh but they were right on with the Reagan administration, Iran -Contra coverage. Niger and the yellowcake, with Valerie and her hubby. A story with no story, made up news. Their continued unbiased reporting from Iraq..yep quote 'em first.
ReplyDeleteYeah best go right ahead and lead with them.
Just ignore The Washington Times, Human Events, The Hill, Townhall,W.F. Buckley,David Horowitz...cause they have to wade through the bull shit to get to the truth to be published in a day or two later.
Oh, don't forget the Birth of the Beast, Watergate, which really WAS a third-rate burglary. Woodward & Bernstein, Redford & Hoffman, Frick & Frack.
ReplyDeletehere, this is *really* funny--be sure and click the word 'traditional' under the second pic, so you can see the anti-BMW guy.
I've cited and quoted all those you've mentioned, habu.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, if Mr Adelman objects, I'm sure we'll hear.
Mr Pearle disliked the timing of the Vanity Fair article, but did not dispute the substance of it.
Very quickly the US strikes at Ramadi and the other outlaw enclaves in Anbar, forcing the Insurgency underground, or not.
If they not there will be no change of status, in Iraq in four to six months. If the US attacks the Shia, enmass, the ISF will become worse than questionable, as we attack their soldiers civilian Clans.
Of course, buddy, all the possum clan are to be taken seriously.
ReplyDeleteCheap shot at the P-tater when he wasn't even in the action.
I do believe my 1:33 came straight from ME not P-Tater. Of course oblique attacks are fair game.
"Possums by Starlight" was just too good not to migrate over from BC.
ReplyDelete"Servicing an entirely independent series of nods and pods throughout the continuity of the sub grouping"
ReplyDeleteHow could I possibly be as obtuse?
His word is gospel, his syrupy sarcasm dripping from every post, fully satisfied that all thinkers in the civilian-military running the Iraq situation are wrong on a daily basis.
Must be nice to be so prescient as to be delphic in mortal form.
damn, habu--take no prisoners. i wasn't even toe-tagged yet and now you've kilt rat, too.
ReplyDeleteBuddy that cheap shot wasn't taken by you but the indubitable Rat.
ReplyDeleteBuddy, you weren't in the reticle, ever.
ReplyDeletethanks--I'll take a reprieve, wherever i can get it--they are few and far between down here in the harshlands.
ReplyDeleteout here where they call the wind Maria
ReplyDeleteand the dust is so dry it can't get no dria
dust is so thick, rufus, the other day i picked up a hat off the ground, and there was a guy under it. he said, "help me get my horse out, wouldja?"
ReplyDeleteit's broken ground around here, rufus--I'm on the Balcones Fault, along the Edwards Uplift--the upthrown side of the great texas inland sea from the cretaceous era. water can be as close as the Frio, or as deep as the Trinity, depending on the cross-faulting. my two wells are 100 yds apart, one went to 80' for first water, and it is sweet, and the other to 300' for first water, and it is sour. my place is along the Devil's Backbone. rain that fall on the east end of the house goes to the gulf via the Colorado River, and rain on the west part goes via the next over watershed, the Guadalupe River. And it ain't a big house--it's just on the ridgeline.
ReplyDeleteNice views, but lucky to raise a cow/calf unit on less than 20 acres, 30 lately. The 80s, when I moved here from the green Victoria, Tx, area, turns out to've been the wettest decade since the 50s, sigh.
Well, habu, since we know that you're a less then a totally reliable seer. I have to take my visions where I can get them.
ReplyDeleteAs to Delphic, wow! that's where those vestial virgins hungout, right? Counted in their number, puttin' a fox in the hen house.
Boy oh boy, I'm gettin' closer to nirvana, to be sure.
i always thought it was "vestigial virgins"
ReplyDeleteNeither well produce worth a damn, do they, buddy?
ReplyDeleteStorage tanks and subsystems or do you run off the pump well?
I bet the former.
This little box anin't got no spell check option
ReplyDeleteright--you have to have a cistern, not less than 5 or 600 gallons, with a float shut-off, and then a pressure pump & p-tank off the cistern.
ReplyDeletebefore LBJ brought in the electric, all the old folks used windmills where they could. but, the wells are low volume, the only irrigation is in the bottoms, pumping out of dammed up creeks. strictly for a little hay or truck, nothing commercial.
ReplyDeleteno, "vestigial" is "unnecessary", like an appendix. "unnecessarily virgin" was the wisecrack--
ReplyDeletei guess you're up in that 100"/yr greenbelt, rufus?
ReplyDeleteiron ore, you must have good impermeable clay down a ways under that sand. my cousins all live in that red dirt/piney woods country, in North Louisiana. That's the Wilcox outcrop, i think, the geologists call it.
ReplyDeleteThe Vestal Virgins take a “vow” to be in pure mind and body at any time of the day or night. They were attuned to listen to the God-Voice within.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're one lucky guy.
GREAT maps, every sort, courtesy of the University of Texas: your state, mapped in every way measurable.
ReplyDeleteThere never were but a handful of the Vestal Virgins, in Ancient Rome. If she messed up (took a lover), the punishment was to be buried alive, in her room.
ReplyDeleteAlbert Einstein, 1932
ReplyDeleteThere is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.
Ken Olson, president of Digital Equipment Corp. 1977
There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home
H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
Who wants to hear actors talk?
Thomas J. Watson, chairman of the board of IBM.
I think there's a world market for about five computers
Marechal Ferdinand Fock, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre
Airplanes are interesting toys, but they are of no military value whatsoever
Gotta step out there before you can be wrong.
yeh, Johnson Grass does well here, too. crappy stuff.
ReplyDeleteyeh--pale green with yellow (or, "yeller") stripes. Citrens. good fer shotgun clay pigeons.
ReplyDeleterufus
ReplyDeleteThey just say (in circumspect language, of coure,) that they're sick of A rabs, and terrorists, and the whole damned bunch, and they'd rather buy corn from an American Farmer and pay a little bit more.
Of course, at the airport, Ahmed "The Scimitar" Abdu-r-Razzāq ibn-Muzzammil and his buddy Hassan "The Scorpion of Allah" Sulaymān al-Ġhālebḧ get waived right through while farmer Gus "Oilcan" Hamilton gets stripped down to his long johns and has dobermans sniffing his travel-size speed stick deodorant suspiciously.
buddy, late 60s: "Computer Programming? What the hell kind of sh*t is THAT?"
ReplyDeleteFamous Airport Last Words: "Hey, watch me screw around with this security lady".
ReplyDeletewell, you & pop did y'all due-diligence. it's that driver who orta be meloncholy.
ReplyDeletethat produce biz is gambling like las vegas never heard of.
ReplyDeleteSeven course meal at the EB & Grill:
ReplyDeletePossum and a six-pack.
well-grilled possum is best, tho you seldom can get more than name, rank, and serial number.
ReplyDeletei wouldn't really eat a possum, tho i have et gator tail and rattlesnake. both very good, too.
ReplyDeleteYou've eaten them, you just didn't necessarily realize it. Snake, Possum, Aardvark, and Mole (SPAM).
ReplyDeletegame is sure best well peppered. possum is just one step too far--must be the grin.
ReplyDeletespam--fried, with eggs & cheese and taters (if you have the time) topped with piquante sauce. diced into any good veg stew over rice--all quick and tasty.
ReplyDeleteempty spam cans are great nuts & bolts sorters, too, being square and thus space-efficient
ReplyDeletethe secret is, dice and pan-fry crispy.
ReplyDeleteLOL--yep, wouldn't want to live forever too long.
ReplyDelete