EDITORIAL: A New Low in Obscene Russian Barbarism

EDITORIAL

A New Low in Obscene Russian Barbarism

This is going to be our shortest editorial ever, just one sentence with no need for further comment from us, yet perhaps it is our most horrifying ever:  59% of Russians surveyed have no idea what happened in Pikalyovo, and only 16% of them are fully familiar with the cutting of a major national transportation artery by workers unpaid and starving, causing “prime minister” Putin to rush to the scene on an emergency basis.

NOTE: In our Monday issue, we’ll have four editorials and an original essay by Dave Essel focussing on Vladimir Putin, the man, the failure, the international paraiah.  The issue will go live on the web on Friday, we will not publish on Sunday but will allow the Monday issue to run two cycles. It’s that important. Don’t miss it.

EDITORIAL: Putin in a Proper Pikalyovo

EDITORIAL

Putin in a Proper Pikalyovo

Vladimir Putin is nervous. Very nervous. Not only can’t he manage to call his counterpart from Ukraine by her correct name, or even by her Russianized name, or even by a female name, he called her by his name.  Ouch. Shades of George W. Bush.

Why so nervous, Mr. Putin? Are you in a Pikalyovo?

He is indeed. The events two weeks ago in the “montown” of Pikalyovo outside of St. Petersburg betray the fundamental weakness of the Russian economy under dictator Putin, and the mismanagement by ham-handed proud KGB spies that created that weakness.

Putin’s Poison Pill

Yet another crazed, self-destructive economic “idea” from Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, from the Moscow Times:

When Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s helicopter touched down in Pikalyovo last week, it was clear that a remedy for the city’s pain was at hand.

It is uncertain how long the cure might last, but observers are sure that it might turn out to be poison for the government. Putin, they said, made a risky gamble by setting the precedent of doling out more than 40 million rubles ($1.3 million) to force Pikalyovo’s plants to pay their 4,000 unemployed workers.