May 27, 2009 — Contents

WEDNESDAY MAY 27 CONTENTS

(1)  EDITORIAL:  Russia Today Declares war on USA

(2)  EDITORIAL:  Russia, Nation of Pigs

(3)  Pasko on Russian Barbarism in Siberia

(4)  Russia Extinguishes the Olympic Flame in Sochi

(5)  Russian Unemployment Soars, Retail Sales Plunge

NOTE: Posts 1-4 today represent an extraordinary indictment of Russian society, exposing its barbaric contempt for civilized values ranging from women’s rights to criminal justice, from journalism to athletics.  Post #5 shows the devastating reality that the Russian government has not, as it promised, given Russians  economic stability in exchange for the loss of civil society. Russia has, in other words, received from Vladimir Putin the worst of all possible worlds.

EDITORIAL: Russia Today Declares war on USA

EDITORIAL

Russia Today Declares war on USA

If the KGB regime of Vladimir Putin is looking to “reset” relations with the world’s only superpower, rather than to ratchet up cold-war tension, it sure has a funny way of showing it.  Dripping with anti-American poison,  a recent RT item on Kremlin-controlled propaganda network Russia Today recently threatened that Russian hackers would cause satellites to drop out of the sky on Los Angeles at will if America wasn’t careful.

EDITORIAL: Russia, Nation of Pigs

EDITORIAL

Russia, Nation of Pigs

Russian women who drive subway trains don’t dare dream of the day when they might be allowed to sue their employer for sexual harassment or gender discrimination in terms of their working conditions or pay.  That’s because in order to sue about such things you have to first be employed, and a Russian court ruled last week that women aren’t allowed to drive subway trains.  They are, the court said, genetically inferior to men and therefore to be excluded from such professions as might expose themselves or others to physical injury.

Russia is a nation of male chauvanist pigs and, as far as can be seen, it’s proud of it.

Pasko on Barbarism in Siberia

Hero journalist Grigori Pasko, writing on Robert Amsterdam’s blog:

I recently visited Yekaterinburg. The city is literally flooded with police in reflective vests. The word «security» is heard time and again on the streets. On the television, all the news shows begin with a report about how the capital of Sverdlovsk Oblast is preparing for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Human rights advocates Sergey Beliayev and Vladimir Shakleyin told me about the preparation of a rally in defense of Alexey Sokolov.  Shakleyin is the lawyer of Yelena Maglevannaya, who was successfully sued by the prison authorities of Volgograd Oblast for a 200,000 rubles because she published investigative articles about cases of torture and abuse within the prison system.

Russia Extinguishes the Olympic Flame in Sochi

Writing in the Wall Street Journal Jane Buchanan of Human Rights Watch condemns Russia’s assault on freedom of speech and property rights in Sochi:

“We are not against the Olympics, but why should the Olympics violate our rights? Can you tell the International Olympic Committee that I am Russian, I am not against the Olympics? They are taking our property for a temporary parking lot. There is no information. No one will answer us. We wait for answers and we worry.”

— A Sochi resident facing Olympics-driven eviction from her home,

April 24, 2009

MOSCOW — A delegation of the International Olympic Committee has just visited Sochi, the Russian Black Sea resort town and future Olympic host city, to assess the status of preparations for the 2014 Winter Games. Jean-Claude Killy, the three-time Olympic skiing champion who chairs the International Olympic Committee’s coordination for the Sochi Games, spoke glowingly of the Sochi authorities’ “open and constructive” attitude. “The Russian diamond is shining more and more with each passing day,” Mr. Killy gushed.

Many Sochi residents would disagree.

{Click the link to read the rest, showing how the Russian government is violating the very principles of the Olympic movement as it builds the Sochi site for the 2014 games in total disregard of the civil rights of the local residents}

Russian Unemployment is Soaring, Retail Sales are Plummeting

The Kremlin has admitted Russia will have at least an 8% economic contraction this year, four times worse than it predicted at the beginning of the year. The rising ruble, tied to the price of oil threatens to wreck Russia’s domestic industry. The results are disastrous. The Wall Street Journal reports:

Russian unemployment has reached its highest level this decade as thrift replaces a culture of consumer spending, official data released Friday showed. The number of unemployed in Russia rose to 7.7 million in April, or 10.2% of the total labor force of 75.2 million, data from the Federal Statistics Service, or Rosstat, showed. Around 3 million workers have lost their jobs since late summer. Russia’s economy has been dragged down by lower oil prices and decreased access to short-term capital.

{Click the link to read the details, showing that the Russian economy is on the cusp of another major downturn}