January 14, 2008 — Contents

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 15 CONTENTS

(1)  EDITORIAL:  Putinomics Ravages Russia

(2)  EDITORIAL:  Exposing Russian Hate

(3)  EDITORIAL:  Suicide is Painless

(4)  Another Barbaric Race Murder in Putin’s Russia

(5)  Russia Shows the World how . . . to Commit Serial Murder

(6)  Annals of Shamapova

EDITORIAL: Putinomics Ravages Russia

EDITORIAL

Putinomics Ravages Russia

The dollar is soaring against the ruble

The Russian economy came back online last Sunday after a ludicrous period of more than a week in drunken hibernation, and the results were not pretty. The ruble promptly crashed through the 30:1 psychological barrier against the dollar, with dollar closing up 1.5 rubles at 30.5 by the end of the day. It was the 13th time in 8 weeks that the Russian government has been forced to allow the ruble to slide and the second time in that period it has been compelled to allow a plunge of more than one percent, something it usually does all it can to avoid.  The dollar has soared against the ruble by 7 rubles since late summer, nearly 30% deflation for the ruble and representing a concomitant rise in the price of foreign goods in Russian markets.

Things were, amazingly, even worse than they appeared.

EDITORIAL: Exposing Russian Hate

EDITORIAL

Exposing Russian Hate

We report today on the horrifying case of Tang Quoc Binh, just the latest in a long string of barbaric lynchings that are sweeping Vladimir Putin’s Russia.  We condemn not only the apelike clan of race murderers themselves but also those who fail to take any action to stop or even protest their crimes, and this includes the Russian government and the vast majority of Russia’s cowardly, craven, silent denizens.

An article last week in a West Virginia newspaper called The Journalrecounted how local resident Marina Yax was organizing a festival of Russian culture at the county library.  Russia food was prepared, lectures on Russian culture were given, Russian crafts were for sale and there were presentations by various residents of Russian extraction regarding their family members and their history.

One presenter stated: “I think there is a little bit of a misunderstanding about Russia. There are similarities between the cultures in Russia and the U.S., and we have more in common than we think.”

Unfortunately, as with most things involving Russia, this well-intentioned exercise was tragically and fatally flawed.  In fact, it should be counted as being among the best evidence there is of just how very different from Americans Russians really are.

EDITORIAL: Suicide is Painless

EDITORIAL

Suicide is Painless

Through early morning fog I see
Visions of the things to be
The pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see
That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please.

— “Suicide is Painless”
Music by Johnny Mandel, lyrics by Mike Altman
Theme from the feature film “M*A*S*H”

Since Russia is a nation with less than half the population of the United States (a gap that grows wider every single day), in order for Russia to have more deaths by suicide in a given year the rate of suicide among Russians would have to be more that twice as high as it is among Americans.

And that’s the case. 

Another Barbaric Race Murder in Putin’s Russia

Tang Quoc Binh, the latest victim of Russian barbarism

Voice of Vietnam reports:

Tang Quoc Binh, a 21-year-old Vietnamese student, was fatally stabbed by a group of strangers near a metro station in Moscow on January 9 when he was going home.  Binh was taken to a local hospital for treatment, but he died the next day due to serious wounds. The gangsters were said to have run away after stabbing Binh.  The Vietnamese Embassy is coordinating with the local administration and the Vietnamese community in Russia to take care of Binh’s funeral and trace the murderers. Born in the northern province of Hai Duong in 1988, the first-year student was studying at the State University of Management (GUU) in Moscow.

Russia Shows the World how . . . to Commit Serial Murder

RIA Novosti reports:

Serial killers have committed over 500 murders in Russia in the last three years, the head of Russia’s top investigative body said on Sunday.

“Russia registered over 500 serial murders in the past three years. Investigators solved 132 murders in 11 serial killer cases in 2007-2008,” Alexander Bastyrkin said in an interview published on the Prosecutor General’s Investigation Committee website.

He said these crimes posed a particularly serious threat to society because of their deliberate and inhumane nature.

In the most notorious recent case, Alexander Pichushkin, 33, nicknamed the ‘chessboard killer’ for his habit of marking off his victims on the squares of a chessboard, was convicted in 2007 of 48 murders.

Bastyrkin said that Investigation Committee was joining efforts with other federal law enforcement agencies to develop preventive measures to deal with serial killers in Russia.

Annals of Shamapova

Maria Sharapova explains herself

READ MORE COVERAGE OF MARIA’S SHOCKING EXPLOITS HERE.

The feeble Maria Sharapova, who is just about to drop from #9 to #10 in the world rankings (and who has protection from being booted out of the top 10 entirely only because #11 is her even more pathetic countrywoman Nadia Petrova) has announced she will not play the first grand slam tournament of the year, in Australia. She attempted to blame her withdrawal on a nagging shoulder injury, then admitted in fact it’s just plain cowardice:  “My shoulder is doing great, but I just started training a few weeks ago and I am just not near the level I need to be to compete at the highest levels.”  In other words:  “I might struggle so I’m going to hide instead.”