Annals of Russian Failure Part I: Yet Another Conviction for Russia in the ECHR

The AFP reports that on Thursday Russia received yet another conviction for the violation of human rights, this time regarding Russia’s critical problem of environmental contamination. How much evidence of the total failure of the Putin regime do Russians need before they will replace it?

The European Court of Human Rights condemned Russia for not taking appropriate measures to protect four women against toxic emissions from a steel plant. According to the judgment, the four Russian nationals all lived within the buffer zone of the Severstal steel plant in Cherepovets, where the concentration of by-products of steel production regularly exceeded recommended limits. Vladmirovna Zolotareva and three other women launched a complaint against Russia for its failure to protect their private lives and homes from severe environmental pollution, as guaranteed in article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. During the proceedings, the Court referred to a previous case in which it had already established that the plant’s operations did not fully comply with Russia’s environmental and health standards. In that case, the court had emphasized that authorities had the option of either resettling the plaintiffs outside of the buffer zone, or reducing toxic emissions. In Thursday’s judgment, the court concluded that the Russian authorities failed to take appropriate measures to protect the plaintiffs from serious environmental hazards. The women were awarded damages ranging from 1,500 to 8,000 euros, (1,900 to 10,000 dollars) and were allotted another 800 euros for costs and expenses.

Read the EHCR’s full decision here.

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Annals of Russian Failure Part II: Exploding Missiles (again)

The New York Times reports: The navy confirmed that a test of Russia’s new submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile, the Bulava, failed when it veered off course, exploded and fell into the sea. A similar test last month also failed. The military maintains that the new weapon can evade missile defense systems.

And it can, too. If it explodes on launch, the enemy systems will never see it, now will they. Now that’s classic Russian ingenuity.

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YT and LR

La Russophobe is trying on YouTube for size. Here’s a video (hat tip to EnglishRussia) of Russian “President” Putin being offered “semichki” (sunflower seeds) by Viktor Yanukovich, then the Prime Minister (and now) of Russia, and a Kremlin stooge. The former corrupt leader of Urkaine, who Russia tried to replace with its stooge Yanukovich, shares the podium. Apparently, even Putin smells something fishy about Yanukovich, one of the first Neo-Soviet con men exposed on La Russophobe.

Here’s another one. The opening caption reads in Russian: “Just watch until the end, the first part isn’t important.” A fine encapsulation of Russian humor.

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Annals of Wacko Wally Shedd, Idiot Savant of the Blogosphere

In a further demonstration of his profound ignorance and utter disregard of pesky little things called facts, Wacko Wally Shedd praises Maria Sharapova’s recent victory at the Zurich Open as “red hot.” This illustrates that Wacko Wally, like most lunatic Russophiles, has quite pathetically low standards. To win the tournament Sharapova, ranked #3 in the world, only had to win three matches and never had to face a player ranked in the world’s top 20. She faced the world #22 in the finals, and she needed three sets to beat her. Her victory, in other words, meant nothing except that she’s quite adept at picking out tournaments to play in where she won’t face much serious opposition (well, adept at picking someone to do it for her). Some tiny little facts that Wally, as is his wont, simply chooses to ignore (next time the US basketball team squashes Trindad and Tobago, see if Wally calls them “red hot”). Not that he undertakes any actual defense of Sharapova’s game either in terms of its watchability or its technical quality. Instead, his main point of emphasis is what she’s done in the past and the fact that her T&A is spread all over Maxim magazine. No question that when it comes to selling her body for money she doens’t need, Maria’s a star.

And when discussing her recent history, does he mention how Maria was crushed at the Birmingham tournament by a player not ranked in the world’s top 75? No. Does he care to mention how she was blown off the court at the Tokyo tournament by a player not ranked in the world’s top 100? Uh-uh. Is he the least bit interested in how she barely even showed up at the Moscow tournament, in her “home” country? Nope. And does he care to mention that, to the extent Maria’s game is “red hot” its only because she moved to America when she was child and learned how to play there, making her about as Russian as democracy (and, in fact, proving Russian incomptence, the exact opposite of his point)? Of course not. Russophiles lie so ritualistically, and so few people other than other Russophiles pay attention, that to them these lies seem like the truth. It’s this fact, more than anything else, that has brought Russia to her knees. Russophiles, in short, are Russia’s worst enemy. The net result is that Wally achieves the opposite of what he wanted, to compliment Russians, and ends up showing how pathetic they are. In the field of substance abuse, this is called “enabling.” Wally’s a classic enabler of decline in Russia. Enablers kill the ones they imagine they’re helping.

La Russophobe must admit, though, that Wally’s post was amusing in one regard: Watching his tiny little peabrain struggle with the injuries that have crippled America’s triumverate of hall-of-fame greats, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Lindsey Davenport. The America-loathing Wally would have so loved to trash America, but in doing so he would be admitting that the Russians were facing no serious competition and therefore degrading the value of their success even further. Praise the Russians to the hilt and you have to let the Americans off the hook. She felt his pain. It was delicious.

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LR got a new dress!

La Russophobe’s post tags are now fully operational and posted in the sidebar. By clicking on a tag you can access all posts in that category over the past month. Older posts are still being upgraded to the new system and for now can be accessed in their usual place in the sidebar. The sidebar has also been somewhat reorganized. Any suggestions for further design changes are welcome.

Two different search engines are available on this blog. At the top of the page is the Blogger search window, which will provide the actual posts related to your search term. At the bottom of the page is the Technorati search window, which will provide you with an indexed list of posts to review.

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Riddle Me This

Guess which country had significantly greater economic growth last year:

(a) Russia

(b) Vietnam

ANSWER:

Russia: 5.9% Vietnam: 8%

Can you dare to imagine what the Vietnamese would be doing if they had gobs of oil to export? Can you dare to imagine what the Russians would be doing if they didn’t?

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