(3) The Queen Gets Up in Mr. Putin’s Face
(4) The Sunday Condemnation (See, We Told you So)
NOTE: Check out La Russophobe‘s latest installment on Publius Pundit, where she exposes the latest outrage du jour from Russia. It seems the Kremlin is going to form a commission to expose human rights violations in the West.
Posted in contents
Caution: Russian patriots at work.
The Russian White House.
The banner reads: “We don’t need a cowardly regime!”
“Say no to ‘Successors'”
Posted in russia, sunday photos
Forbes magazine has published a list of the world’s most expensive private residences, and some of them are in Moscow, highlighting once again how Russia is becoming just like it was in Tsarist times, with a tiny group of super-elite princes ruling cruelly over a vast population of peasants. How long til the next Bolshevik revolution? Remember, this in a country where the average man doesn’t reach age 60 and earns less than $4 per hours.
$100 million U.S. This property consists of an 11,700-square-foot manor house, two 4,000-square-foot guest houses and a 91,000-square-foot recreation center with a pool, Turkish and Russian baths, a gym, sauna and lounges. There is also an administration building and a reception center, the latter of which houses a movie theater and a Japanese garden. The property, listed through Usadba Moscow Residences, is just 15 miles from the Moscow city center.
$60 million U.S. Built in downtown Moscow near many of the city’s embassies, this four-story, 15,000-square-foot townhouse is currently being converted from apartments to a single-family home. Inside, there are two gardens, two indoor gyms, a 25-yard swimming pool, six bedrooms and six full and five half baths. Located in a gated community, the home also has a five-car garage and two fireplaces. It is listed through Sotheby’s International Realty.
$6 million U.S. Located 15 minutes from the Kremlin and the city’s business districts, this 3,200-square-foot apartment is a combination of two flats. The property comes fully furnished, has roof access and window views across the city. In addition there is underground parking, which in Moscow is hard to come by. It is listed through Savills International.
$1.48 million U.S. This new construction building is within the Moscow city center, in an area that’s a hotbed for developers taking advantage of the surging market. This 1,700-square-foot unit has two bedrooms and two baths as well as three balconies that take advantage of the view over the Moskva Channel and the city. It is listed through Evans Real Estate.
Posted in class warfare, russia
The Moscow Times reports on how the British monarch is thumbing her nose at the malignant little troll who creeps about in the Kremlin. You go, girl!
It was once Colonel Oleg Gordievsky [pictured below, right] of the KGB. Today it is Sir Oleg Gordievsky KGB after the queen honored the former Soviet intelligence officer by appointing him Knight Governor of the Most Distinguished Order of the Bath at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace. Others who have been invested into this ancient order have included the late Ronald Reagan, Caspar Weinberger and Sir Bob Geldof.
“I’m delighted to be able to put the letters KGB after my name,” said Sir Oleg, speaking from his top secret MI5 safe house at 25 Rosewood Villas, Cheltenham. “Even since I was a boy growing up in a crumbling pannelny dom in Nizhny Strashnov, I dreamed of such an honor. To be a knight of chivalry became the goal of my life.
“I read stories about Rapunzel letting down her silky hair from the turrets of her castle or about the heroic exploits of secret orders like the Knights of the Vine, who operated entirely at night in expensive restaurants, where they rescued priceless bottles of wine from confinement in cold, damp, badly lit cellars. Of course, that was all just childish fantasy. But in real life, to be in the KGB became my only professional ambition — a kind of complex.”
Sir Oleg entered the KGB as a talented young college graduate in the early 1970s. Despite rapid promotion, he became disillusioned with life on Lubyanskaya Ploshchad when he realized that it was never going to provide him with boxes at Ascot racecourse, Centre Court seats at Wimbledon or completely free access to the British secret service, even though the latter was explicitly mentioned in his compensation package.
So in 1985, he moved to Britain. Twenty years later, he had all three. Now he is a British KGB as well, the icing on Sir Oleg’s life cake. He is the only retired colonel in Cheltenham to have both KGBs.
“I’m over the moon,” said this now fully anglicized Russian, grinning impishly over a cup of Tetley’s Oop North tea (with milk and four sugars). “It’s almost like hearing that England has won an international soccer match.”
The rarely awarded KGB is used to honor exceptional individuals who have rendered important nonmilitary service to the queen in Britain or another member of the Commonwealth.
Posted in cold war II, espionage, russia
The Moscow Times reports on how the British monarch is thumbing her nose at the malignant little troll who creeps about in the Kremlin. You go, girl!
It was once Colonel Oleg Gordievsky [pictured below, right] of the KGB. Today it is Sir Oleg Gordievsky KGB after the queen honored the former Soviet intelligence officer by appointing him Knight Governor of the Most Distinguished Order of the Bath at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace. Others who have been invested into this ancient order have included the late Ronald Reagan, Caspar Weinberger and Sir Bob Geldof.
“I’m delighted to be able to put the letters KGB after my name,” said Sir Oleg, speaking from his top secret MI5 safe house at 25 Rosewood Villas, Cheltenham. “Even since I was a boy growing up in a crumbling pannelny dom in Nizhny Strashnov, I dreamed of such an honor. To be a knight of chivalry became the goal of my life.
“I read stories about Rapunzel letting down her silky hair from the turrets of her castle or about the heroic exploits of secret orders like the Knights of the Vine, who operated entirely at night in expensive restaurants, where they rescued priceless bottles of wine from confinement in cold, damp, badly lit cellars. Of course, that was all just childish fantasy. But in real life, to be in the KGB became my only professional ambition — a kind of complex.”
Sir Oleg entered the KGB as a talented young college graduate in the early 1970s. Despite rapid promotion, he became disillusioned with life on Lubyanskaya Ploshchad when he realized that it was never going to provide him with boxes at Ascot racecourse, Centre Court seats at Wimbledon or completely free access to the British secret service, even though the latter was explicitly mentioned in his compensation package.
So in 1985, he moved to Britain. Twenty years later, he had all three. Now he is a British KGB as well, the icing on Sir Oleg’s life cake. He is the only retired colonel in Cheltenham to have both KGBs.
“I’m over the moon,” said this now fully anglicized Russian, grinning impishly over a cup of Tetley’s Oop North tea (with milk and four sugars). “It’s almost like hearing that England has won an international soccer match.”
The rarely awarded KGB is used to honor exceptional individuals who have rendered important nonmilitary service to the queen in Britain or another member of the Commonwealth.
Posted in cold war II, espionage, russia
It’s gratifying to see the word getting out far and wide on Russia, and gratifying as well to see points we began making more than a year ago make their way more an more into the mainstream press. An editorial from the October 19th edition of the Washington Times is just one of many current examples:
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to visit to Moscow is just the latest sign that, more than 16 years after the collapse of Soviet Communism, Moscow is gravitating towards Cold War behavior.
The old Soviet obsession — fighting American “imperialism” — remains undiluted. “Keeping the relationship with Washington on the verge of a crisis and inventing an imaginary ‘American enemy’ is creating much-needed legitimacy for the current Russsian leadership, which now has only Mr. Putin’s personal popularity as its political base,” observes Heritage Foundation scholar Ariel Cohen. “The image of Russia surrounded by enemies is absolutely necessary for today’s Russian ruling class of senior secret police officers, as it positions them in the eyes of the people as the saviors and defenders of Mother Russia.”
Indeed, at virtually every turn, Mr. Putin and the Russian leadership appear to be doing their best in ways large and small to marginalize and embarrass the United States and undercut U.S. foreign policy interests. Last week, for example, Mr. Putin, joined by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, held talks in Moscow with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The discussions, known as the “2 + 2 talks,” were agreed to at a recent meeting in Kennebunkport, Maine between Mr. Putin and President Bush. To say that the Moscow talks held on Friday and Saturday went poorly would be an understatement. First, Mr. Putin deliberately forced Miss Rice and Mr. Gates to cool their heels for 40 minutes before meeting them. Then, in front of the television cameras, Mr. Putin attacked the deployment of the American component of a global ballistic missile defense in the Czech Republic and Poland.
And that’s just the beginning. The Russian strongman has threatened to retarget Russia’s missiles at Europe if missile defenses are deployed there. Mr. Putin has also threatened to withdraw from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and President Reagan (the INF treaty eliminated Soviet-era SS-20 missiles and U.S. Pershing II missiles deployed in Europe.) And he has also threatened to pull out of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty limiting force levels between the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea.
But Mr. Putin’s hostile approach has been especially pronounced when it comes to Iran and the larger Middle East, where he has repeatedly worked to undercut U.S. policy. Along with China, Russia continues to run interference in the U.N. Security Council for Iran’s efforts to conceal its nuclear weapons programs while avoiding U.N. sanctions. Although Moscow has supported earlier sanctions against Iran (after lobbying to water sanctions down), Mr. Putin invited Mr. Ahmadinejad to the Russian capital in an effort to undercut U.S. efforts to isolate Tehran in response to its nuclear weapons program and its role as a state sponsor of terrorism. On Tuesday, speaking at a conference in Tehran involving nations that border the Caspian Sea, the Russian leader warned the United States against a military strike against Iran’s illicit nuclear facilities, And along with the leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, Mr. Putin backed the right of Iran to develop so-called peaceful nuclear energy — in essence, adopting Tehran’s false assertions that it isn’t attempting to obtain nuclear weapons.
And Moscow’s willingness to run interference for Iran is just part of the troubling course Mr. Putin has been following. Moscow provided Strelets air-defense missile systems to Syria in 2005, possibly after a lobbying campaign by Tehran on Damascus’s behalf. Last summer, Israeli forces in Lebanon found evidence that Russian-made Kornet-E and Metis-M anti-tank systems had been provided to Hezbollah. In one Lebanese village, Israeli officials found markings on hardware near a Hezbollah outpost showing that the Kornets had been shipped from Russia to Syria. Mr. Putin has on at least two occasions in the past 18 months played host to Hamas boss Khaled Meshal, and he has said the Russia does not view Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations. And the Russian president has also indicated a willingness to consider a proposal by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to create an OPEC-style cartel for natural gas.
It is true that in a few cases, Mr. Putin has refrained from selling weapons like the S-300, a highly sophisticated air-defense system, to Syria. And he has clashed with Iran over the supply of uranium to its nuclear reactor at Bushehr, apparently because Tehran has failed to pay its bills on time.
But for the most part, Mr. Putin is working to damage U.S. interests, and his “anti-imperialist” policies are reminiscent of Soviet-era behavior.
Posted in cold war II, rhetoric, russia
More Russia cartoons, by way of our friend in South Africa:
And finally, another gem from the Ellustrator:
Translation: In the first frame, a gentleman sees a billboard saying: “Putin’s plan is the Victory of Russia!” He remarks: “This is a cult of personality!” In the second frame, the ghosts of Stalin and Brezhnev appear, saying: “No, it’s a tired old joke!” (The Russian word “Bayan” is Runet — Russian Internet — slang, and can also mean “cliche” or “an old story that everyone has heard a million times”). Source: Ellustrator.
Posted in russia, sunday funnies
Viewer Advisory: Contains risque language, viewer
discretion advised.
Posted in russia, satire/humor, YouTube
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