September 23, 2009 — Contents

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 23 CONTENTS

(1)  EDITORIAL:  Mr. Medvedev, Please stop Lying!

(2)  EDITORIAL:  Please Stop lying, Mr. Putin!

(3)  Putinomics Chokes Russia’s Cities

(4)  One Picture is Worth a Thousand Screams I

(5)  One Picture is Worth a Thousand Screams II

EDITORIAL: Mr. Medvedev, Please Stop Lying!

EDITORIAL

Mr. Medvedev, Please Stop Lying!

She's the only one listening, Dima. The only one. Hat tip: Robert Amsterdam.

While being interviewed by the utterly clueless milquetoast Fareed Zakaria on CNN last Sunday, Russian “president” Dima Medvedev stated:  “Whether some bosses like it or not, in the modern age of global information, there are no subjects you can conceal. You can sometimes be silent about or hold back certain things on TV, but remembering the fact that there are around 40 million Internet users in Russia today, people from across the country will learn the news within five minutes. Therefore, trying to curtail press freedom is a totally hopeless thing to do.”

He was, of course, lying.  According to ComScore, in June 2008 Russia had less than 18 million total visitors to the Internet per month.  That’s half the figure Medvedev quoted, and it’s a vast overstatment.  According to ComScore, Russia’s level of Internet penetration was a pathetic 14%, the lowest of any country in Europe. That means that a whopping 86% (that’s right, eighty-six percent), of all Russians have no monthly access to the Internet at all.  And Russia’s rate of per capita of Internet activity, because of its poverty and social repression, is far lower than in developed countries too. This means that a Russian who accesses the Internet each month spends far less time online than a European counterpart, and if you were to measure daily activity as opposed to monthly Russia’s Internet population would be far smaller than even the pathetic 18 million figure.

EDITORIAL: Please Stop Lying, Mr. Putin!

EDITORIAL

Please Stop Lying, Mr. Putin!

Last month, as Russia posted its worst-ever quarter of economic contraction, Vladimir Putin and his spinmasters were saying the worst was over. They said the economy had hit rock bottom, and would turn upwards in coming months. They said that even though Russia’s second-quarter contraction was a horrifying 10%, the contraction would radically diminish in the second half of the year, leaving Russia with an 8% recession by year’s end and growth in 2010.

It was, of course, all lies.  Though Russia’s economic contraction in July (9.3%) was less than in June (10.1%) compared to one year ago, the figures for August soared back up to 10.5%, the worst performance of the last three months.  Retail sales plunged likewise, their steepest one-month drop in a decade.

Putinomics Chokes Russia’s Cities

The San Fransisco Chronicle reports:

Three decades ago, the Yasnogorsk Machine-Building Factory stamped out thousands of pounds of steel and iron into parts for wagons, pumps and locomotives for Russia’s mining industry.

Now two-thirds of its stamping and welding machines have been shut down. The old Soviet-era equipment is rusting, and fewer than 280 employees clock in every day – from a peak of 7,000. The factory that kept this town alive since the days of the czar is on its last breath, the victim of a global recession that has shaken Russia to the core.

One Picture is worth a Thousand Screams I

Source: Ellustrator.

One Picture is worth a Thousand Screams II

On the bag is written:  “Civil liberties.”

What do you think Medvedev is saying?

Source:  Ellustrator.