June 17, 2011 — Contents

FRIDAY JUNE 24 CONTENTS

(1)  EDITORIAL:  Russia’s 2011 Report Card

(2)  EDITORIAL:  A Bastard Named Surkov

(3)  EDITORIAL:  Russian Technology Unbound

(4)  Russia Gives Steel the Business

(5)  CARTOON:  Whither Medvedev?

NOTE:  In her latest column on the mighty Pajamas Media megablog, LR publisher and founder Kim Zigfeld urges the U.S. Congress to JUST SAY NO to the nomination of Michael McFaul as the next U.S. Ambassador to Russia.  We could not agree more. It’s time for the Republican Party to put up or shut up.

NOTE:  The Russian military honors an infamous war criminal, murderer and rapist. Is anyone surprised?  Not La Russophobe.

NOTE:  LR wishes a fond farewell to Paul Goble, one of the greatest Russia bloggers of all time, who has suspended his blog due to “family medical matters” and may not return. We wish Paul and his family all the best and cannot express in words the value he has contributed to the world’s understanding of Russia.

EDITORIAL: Russia’s 2011 Report Card

EDITORIAL

Russia’s 2011 Report Card

Using the typical scale for applying letter grades to students (90-100% correct is an “A” and 80-89% correct is a “B” and 70-79% correct is a “C” and 60-69% correct is a “D” and anything below 60% correct is failing), we have once again prepared Russia’s national report card based on an array of international tests and evaluations imposed over the last twelve months.

The tests come from a stunning array of international experts, ranging from the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation to the ultra-liberal New Economics Foundation, and everything in between from the Committee to Protect Journalists to Transparency International.  No matter who does the scoring, Russia doesn’t receive one single grade as high as a C minus.  In fact, Russia’s highest grade is  D-, and in 13 tries it only managed one of those.  One D and twelve Fs, more than half of which reflect a score of less than 25%, meaning that three-quarters or more of world nations are better than Russia.  Russia only makes the top half of the world in a measely two categories.  Time for the dunce cap, Russia!

Here are the results beginning with Russia’s best results and scrolling down to its very worst (with the letter grade after each subject, followed by Russia’s “percent correct” — i.e., the percentage of countries that Russia’s score was better than — and its class rank):

EDITORIAL: The Rat Bastard Named Vladislav Surkov

EDITORIAL

The Rat Bastard Named Vladislav Surkov

That’s Vladislav Surkov you see standing at the lectern in the photograph at the left, the bright red lectern emblazoned with the word “NASHI.”  Nashi, meaning “us Slavic Russians,” is the Putin youth cult founded by Surkov several years ago to emulate the Hiterjugend created in Nazi Germany. He fondly refers to his creation as  the “combat detachment of our political system.”

From the lectern Surkov told the Nashi cultists to “train their muscles” in preparation for the upcoming presidential elections in Russia which in his words “must be won by [Dmitri] Medvedev, [Vladimir] Putin and United Russia.”

EDITORIAL: Russian Technology Unbound

EDITORIAL

Russian Technology Unbound

Imagine an eagle soaring proudly around the earth in orbit at supersonic speed.  Suddenly, the evil Hubble Space Telescope comes into view.  The eagle’s eyes glisten with sparks of bravery, it turns its back on the devilish American craft and a powerful red-white-and-blue laser beam shoots out of the eagle’s buttocks, blinding the telescope and rendering the demonic Americans helpless.  Their own national symbol has laid them low!

Who in the world could be capable of putting forth such amazing technology to advance the fight against the evil empire that is the USA?  Only Vladimir Putin’s Russia, that’s who!

Nikolai Maximov and Russia’s Steel “Business”

John Helmer reports:

In European folklore, will-o’-the-wisps are lambent flames seen flickering over bogs and fens, and known by many different names and stories. Usually explicable as methane igniting, in some Baltic mythologies the will-o’-the-wisp is believed to signal buried treasure. In others, the ignition is believed to be the trick of a mendacious imp intent on leading unwary travellers to misfortune.

In the history of the Russian steel business since 1990, just two men have gone bankrupt while trying to create steelmill empires, and including them, four groups have collapsed. Considering how small their indebtedness was compared to the likes of the steel majors – Evraz, Severstal, Mechel – they might think of themselves as plucky, but unlucky.

CARTOON: Whither Medvedev?

The signs on the wall are help-wanted advertisements.

Source: Ellustrator