EDITORIAL
The New Warsaw Pact
It’s not clear whether Barack Obama doesn’t know who Nikolai Bordyuzha is or doesn’t care and that’s disturbing, because Bordyuzha is the proud KGB spy who is the spokesman for the new Warsaw Pact.
The constituents of this terrifying group (here is a photo of their assembled foreign ministers, a true rogue’s gallery), known as the Collective Security Treaty Organization, are Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Armenia. There used to be nine members, but Georgia and Azerbaijan both bailed out in 1999, leaving seven. Bordyuzha, a Russian KGB officer, is the General Secretary.
The ragtag assembly of nations that comprise the CSTO include the worst dictatorships of post-Soviet space, and the organization’s charter is essentially the same as that of the Warsaw Pact: mutual defense from the horrific dangers posed by the forces of democracy.
And just as was the case with the Warsaw Pact, the CSTO is rapidly turning into a mutual aid society for the repression of domestic dissent.
Last week Boryuzha told Bloomberg: “The events in North Africa opened our eyes to many things. We must reflect on what happened there and develop means of defense. The whole crisis-response system that was improved a year ago is focused on avoiding threats to security and stability. First and foremost, that’s internal problems”
Defense from, in other words, the popular will.
The CSTO intends to create “a mechanism to assist the legitimately elected leadership of a country to protect constitutional order,” according to Bordyuzha. By mechanism, he means blunt trauma.
What he means by “legitimately elected” is harder to say.
Does he consider Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has held power for twenty years and who wins “reelection” with 95% of the vote and no opponents “legitimately elected”? Given a bit more time, he may well match Stalin’s longevity. Perhaps Stalin too, come to think of it, was “legitimately elected” in the eyes of the CSTO membership.
How about Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, whose dark regime George W. Bush once openly called a “the last dictatorship in Europe”? Legitimately elected?
Was Russian President Dmitri Medvedev legitimately elected in 2008? The conclusively documented ballot fraud and the fact that former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov was not even allowed to put his name on the ballot tend to imply otherwise. Not even the most ardent Russophiles I know make any claim that Russia’s leadership is legitimately elected.
Are there legitimate elections in Uzbekistan according to the CSTO? Islam Karimov, the only ruler the state has known since the breakup of the USSR, was “reelected” with 88% of the vote in 2007. International observers said the “election” was “held in a strictly controlled political environment, leaving no room for real opposition, and the election generally failed to meet many OSCE commitments for democratic elections.” Uzbeks, at least, can still vote with their feet. Over three million have fled the country in recent years.
Tajikistan? President Imomali Rakhmon, though still a baby compared to Karimov, has held power for 18 years, the same amount of time Leonid Brezhnev clutched his authority, and the country has never held an election judged free and fair by international observers.
Armenia, where opposition activists hold mass demonstrations and openly proclaim they are inspired by the Arab Spring, and Kyrgyzstan, which has actually had meaningful elections approved by international observers, are the most liberal members of the CSTO. But how liberal could they really be if they maintain their membership in an entity like the CSTO and support statements like those made by Bordyuzha?
Still, using the standard set by Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, none of the other five members of the CTSO have legitimate elections. Conversely, if the other five members are legitimate then Armenia and Kyrgyzstan are dangerously out of control, and likely to first feel the wrath of the CTSO’s new Gestapo-like stormtroopers.
Meanwhile, President Obama remains silent. He chooses to ignore the creation of new anti-American Warsaw Pact organization, and chooses to ignore the eradication of American values in this segment of post-Soviet space. He does this because he wishes to use the illusion of “good relations” with Russia to score political points in the next election cycle. The world has seen such short-sighted policymaking before, and it has always led to disaster.
La Russophobe 
“We have peace in our time.” Such blarney.
The Warsaw pact failed dismally in the past, so too will this one latest one.
I ask what’s new? Nothing, as history keeps on repeating itself ad nauseum, but sadly without the current Russian dictatorship learning anything from it. Hence the downfall of this one will likewise also happen, but it will be much sooner then Lilliputin and his gang of gangsters expect.
One only has to look at the millions of intelligent Russians, who are voting with their feet and deserting this latest neo soviet (cum fascist) ‘paradise’ for greener and freer pastures beyond their current Russian borders. A brain drain that Russia can ill afford to loose.
Roll on history, your unpredictability is awaited with interest, as good will one day triumph over evil!
Not even the most ardent Russophiles I know make any claim that Russia’s leadership is legitimately elected.
I claim that it is legitimately elected.
That’s because you are retarded.
Blatantly rigged elections, and the media only giving the government side of the story, along with any opposition candidate that has a chance being barred from running.
Nice.
Thank God you are just a Berkeley shirt lifter Anatoly, so your opinions matter for little.
Andrew, you come from Georgia, right? I believe you should not throw stones, huh?
This new WArsaw Pact is truly a total humiliation for russia – imagine belarus, uzbekistan, armenia these military giants fighting NATO with russian military hardware – it is as humiliating as the DOG FOOD eaten by the russian army PRICELESS INDEED….
Saakashvili (president) told Burdzhanadze (then a prime minister, I believe) that Russian army only has bunch of rusty tanks. Guess what? History shows he ate his tie.
dymasza, that so called video of President Saakashvili ‘eating tie’ was beyond embarrassment – you stupid russian goons should do a better job in ‘doctoring’ digitally that video – could’t you find a better software????? It is almost as bad as that pathetic attempt to remove the ‘flying shoe laces’ on mr gargarin’s shoes you know THAT gargarin who lost the space race to a dog and a monkey….I remember your ‘victorious, heroic, drunk russian soldiers stealing food, toilet seats and black and white tv sets from the Georgian population. It was all over the western world….
Oh, so the BBC signal with Mishiko eating his tie was “doctored” by Russians? And we even can make Gagarin’s shoe lace to not come undone back in 1961? Wow.
Now I really want to remind everyone you are a Pole. So – no need to worry about your mental health.
We have to remind that you are – ruskiye barakhlo – are so stupid and primitive that you should really, all of you russians, go back to your gulags where you marched like pigs to the slaughter houses …you aren’t humans you are amoebas…..
Hug you tight, my dirty Polish hatemonger:)
You prove hatemongering is bad by doing it?
I prove it’s ok by hugging a hatemonger.
dymasza, poczemu w rosiiii vsio graznye i obosranye, eto, kaneczno, glavnaya chast ‘velikoy ruskoy kultury’
ure soo cjt, my h8mongr;)
Dimwitry,
I know it’s extremely hard for Russophiles like you to tell the truth! but to say that Saakashvili “ate his tie” is a blatant lie, comrade. But then you excel at zeroing on small unimportant subject matters and trying to turn them into big things, why is this so comrade? Is that your communist brainwashing?
And guess what? History has shown Saakashvili as a more honest and decent ruler then your beloved Putin.
Do pray and tell us what your beloved Putin is going to do with all the palaces and billions he is misappropriating in his own name, all at the people’s expense. After all he came into this world penniless and he will depart this world penniless when Satan decides it’s time to summon him to Hades to sit beside all the other vile communists, you know Stalin, Dzerzhinsky, Yagoda, Yezhov, Andropov etc, etc.
Sure thing, unimportant war, and surely a very decisive Georgian victory, right?:)) Go home, dear.
Sure, sure Dimwitry and in your irrelevance you forgot to mention the price of eggs in China.
But you are wrong – (your only strong point) – again, for the following reasons.
Do tell me to go home, as I spend the outright majority of my time there (especially when I’m on the internet looking up and reading this magic blog called LaRussophobe – ‘soooo’ unlike those lying trash rags RT.ru and Pravda.ru) and it is a large two storey brick building, not a hole in the mud that is your abode. In the meantime do have another big swig on your ‘somogonka’ you will be back in your haze induced fairy tale dream world. Right comrade?
Do compare the two countries of Georgia and Russia. As the former is on the right track to becoming a true democracy where the people will be well off, while your beloved neo soviet (read fascist) Russia is returning to the dark ages of communist oppression, downtrodden and living a life of subsistence. Right again, comrade? And while on this subject why don’t you mention the millions of Russians that are voting with their feet and forsaking your beloved Russia. An intelligentsia brain drain that Russia can ill afford to lose – so like the Jewish brain drain that Nazi Germany could ill afford from that other Dictator’s, i.e Adolf Hitler, paradise.
Heil Lilliputin, to you comrade! as after all that is what Saashkavili calls your hero. Because to me he (Ka Ge Bist Lilliputin) is just a liar, thief and murderer. More right again comrade?
Do try to reply to these points, point by point please. I am all ears!
Could you please name the these “points” themselves, more briefly?
dymasz, dymasz, Shouldn’t we leave Monsieur Putain in peace, so he could concentrated on raping the little boys…….
Russian army ‘dog food whisteblower’ Makeyev jailedA Russian army major who alleged his men had been fed dog food has been jailed for four years for beating up two soldiers in a separate case.
Igor Matveyev was immediately arrested and sent to serve his sentence after the trial in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.
Matveyev said the case against him had been fabricated after he posted videos of allegedly re-labelled dog food.
He said it had been substituted for food stolen from his soldiers.
His defence lawyer said she would appeal against the verdict of the military tribunal.
Just two days before the verdict, Matveyev, a major in the Russian interior troops, told the BBC’s Russian Service he was innocent but expected to be unjustly convicted.
Russia is plagued by corruption and fears have grown in the past decade that the security forces have become a law unto themselves.
Bloggers reacted angrily to Friday’s verdict, which was one of the themes most discussed on the Russian internet. “From dog food to lawlessness,” wrote one, while another wrote that it was “jail for the one who talked about the dog food, not the one who gave it to soldiers to eat”.
‘Tinned beef’
The major was sent to the reserves immediately after he posted the videos online in May, addressing himself to President Dmitry Medvedev.
The beating case, in which he was accused of assaulting two non-commissioned officers, was launched shortly afterwards.
Matveyev was stripped of his rank and banned from working for the state for three years as part of his sentence, Interfax news agency reports.
Military officials have denied Matveyev’s allegations which centre on the claim that dog food was re-labelled as ordinary tinned meat and supplied to his garrison.
In one video, he shows a large warehouse of cardboard boxes appearing to contain tinned food.
At one point, he holds up a tin marked “beef”. Under the torn label can be seen a different one, which he says is dog food.
The major accused his military superiors of allowing theft and corruption to flourish in his garrison.
Military officials in the region confirmed that some abuses had taken place but said they had been dealt with before Matveyev posted his videos.
In court, the regional commander of interior troops, Viktor Strigunov, denied any soldiers had been fed dog food.
An attempt by Matveyev’s unit to sue him in a civilian court was rejected.
12 Prime Minister’s cronies reach out to school canteens
05.09.2011
A massive scandal has broken out in Moscow. Several days before the start of the new school year, directors of dozens of Moscow schools (we have confirmed information about forty) received an odd directive: sack all their catering personnel and dismantle all the equipment. The reason was that the tender to provide school meals had been won by a company called Сonсord, but its triumph turned out to be a failure. On 30 August, with a day and a half to go to the beginning of the school year, representatives of the unfortunate schools were summoned to an office where the owner of Сonсord, restaurateur Prigozhin, told them: something has gone wrong, bring back your cooks and dishwashers until further notice.
So, beginning from 1 September, thousands of Moscow school pupils were left without meals. Was there a dressing-down from Mayor Sobyanin? Or perhaps feeding schoolchildren is no longer a public concern?
None of the above. The answer is simple. Prigozhin is an untouchable. He has close links with the Prime Minister, who once worked at St. Petersburg City Hall. By the way, he owns a restaurant in Government House on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment.
So, the Primer’s cronies have reached public catering? Perhaps the next step might be to reach out for mice? Where is a state corporation that produces mousetraps?
The scandalous past does not prevent Evgeny Prigozhin, the well-known St. Petersburg restaurateur – who is conquering Moscow and has recently taken up hotel, building and tourist businesses –from living comfortably. He has trials behind him and is involved in several fresh scandals over construction projects in St. Petersburg.
13 years ago, he opened his first restaurant on a boat called New Island. He fed and gave a ride on this boat to IMF President Michelle Camdessus and the then Interior Minister Sergey Stepashin, President Yeltsin and Prince Albert II of Monaco (for whom he personally cooked pelmeni stuffed with vodka and a sorbet of yellow tomatoes) and later Vladimir Putin, together with Japanese Prime Minister Mori and with US President George Bush.
In October 2009, it transpired that an elite private restaurant on the 12th floor of the White House was treating government members to delicacies on the cheap. This was confirmed by the Prime Minister’s press spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Unofficial reports say that the restaurant is run by the company Сonсord, Prigozhin’s brainchild.
His business structures keep employees of the Foreign Ministry, the Moscow offices of Sberbank and Vneshekonombank from starving to death and regularly throw banquets at the Kremlin and cater to guests of international summits.
Evgeny Prigozhin first tried to feed children in St. Petersburg and then the Leningrad Region last year. The children’s parents described his services as dismal. Starting from this September, Сonсord meals are not served in any school in St. Petersburg and the firm has been banned from some schools in the Leningrad Region.
As far back as late 2007, federal officials (involved in the National Education Project) set about improving catering in educational institutions in 14 of the country’s regions. They decided to introduce so-called “innovative on-board lunches” for Russian schoolchildren.
In April 2008, a tender to provide “on-board meals” for 85 schools that lacked canteens of their own was announced in St. Petersburg. There was immediate talk among market participants that the winner would be none other than Сonсord Management and Consulting. There was a lot of envy because the budgets of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region today allocate almost 2 billion roubles a year for school meals, a sum that attracts many suppliers. They reckon that the monthly turnover for the winner would be at least 100-150 million roubles.
The rivals were proved right: in September 2008, Сonсord Management and Consulting Limited won the tender. The first school catering centre in Russia was launched at Yanino (Vsevolozhsky District of the Leningrad Region) on 20 October 2010.
Starting from last autumn and until this spring, Сonсord meals were delivered from Yanino to schools in St. Petersburg (no more than 40) and the Leningrad Region (no less than 80). Evgeny Prigozhin refused to give our correspondent more exact figures.
Thirty-two schools in Vyborg and the Vyborg District (Leningrad Region) said they had no need for any novelties in their canteens. They were perfectly happy with the public catering centre that had fed their pupils for several years. Even so, in December 2010, the district administration signed a contract with Сonсord to supply frozen meals to several schools that had no canteens of their own.
The price of a meal increased from 54 to 70 roubles and the taste and quality of the food provided to children in the Vyborg District left few people happy.
“Do you want us to stage a protest rally? We will”, the parents of children at local schools threatened at a meeting with the representatives of Сonсord on 24 February 2011.
“We don’t want to listen to you. We reject Сonсord because their food is tasteless. And it is stale.” The women’s shouts not only drowned out the businessmen’s objections: in March 2011, all the Vyborg schools terminated their contracts with the company.
Beginning from the new school year, CupCold meals are not being supplied to any schools in St. Petersburg.
Commentary
Evgeny PRIGOZHIN, founder and co-owner of the Сonсord group of companies:
This year we will provide ready meals to 270 schools in the Northern and South Eastern Districts of Moscow. We opened a production facility in Klyonovo (Podolsk District, Moscow Region) a month ago. We will start delivering meals to schools from 1 September.
To all schools regularly?
Because we have been made responsible for all the technological processes, things are not, unfortunately, going without a hitch. There are problems with power supply or other things… Perhaps there will be problems at some schools for a few more days. But I think that, by 10 September, we will resolve all the problems. I am now at the production centre. Deliveries are in full swing. Simply the preparation time was too short. The tender for providing school meals was held just two weeks ago.
Do you blame the bureaucrats?
Bureaucrats are not to blame. What do they have to do with it? Tenders are always held at this time of year.
Was it the case that you were short of time?
We were not short of time. We were just a little short of time in some places. But, as of today, all the equipment has been installed in schools. We are working actively to get it going. In some places it will probably take a few days.
Plumbers never synopsize.
dymasza, in case you are high on afghan heroin or dead drunk on contaminated russian samogon;
Here are the the latest ‘achievements of russia you missed:
Four planes a DAY drop from russsia’s skies during the peace time – it is more daily casaulties than during the Battlle of Britain – Poland is being vindicated for the murder of Polish President without lifting a finger – by russia’s total idiocy, barbarity, obscenity and total stupidity these daily humiliation of russia in front of the world is truly priceless.
Russian army already 50% not only muslim but central asian – Poland tries to imagine this so called russian ‘army’ defending ‘imperial russia’s’ interest
Polish people were delighted to see the last day of ramadan celebration in moscow – SEA OF MUSLIMS THAT TOOK OVER THE WHOLE RUSSAIN CAPITAL – anyway almost 80% of moscow’s population is muslim and growing.
Russia’s ‘successes in the Middle East e.g., Libya, Syria etc. the most recent a cancellation of a 4 billion US$ contract for delivery of junk russian military hardware and this is just the beginning.
China calls russia a slowly sinking ship – I wonder why, dymasza, DO TELL….
Shorter posts could make me want to read, really. Be simpler:).
dymasza to make it simple so you could understand – this is a trunkated version of my comments – russia is drowning in it own excrements .
Sure thing, and pigs have wings, and you are going to fly one of them soon to a world of no recession.
dymasza bednaszka, you can keep the head in the sand but it will NOT change the situation in russia that IS DROWNING IN ITS OWN EXCREMENTS- remember the ramadan celebration in moscow those millions of muslim that took over [TEMPORARILY FOR A TIME BEING] your ‘russian capital’ or is it a capitalist propaganda. dearie…do tell…
When you use capsing, your posts read like:
“mccusa IS DROWNING IN ITS OWN EXCREMENTS [TEMPORARILY FOR A TIME BEING].”
Don’t use capsing, dude.
dymasz, dymasz, without ‘capsing’ – let me express delight and pleasure of EVERYBODY civilized who watched the ‘end of ramadan’ celebration in moscow – that sea of muslims – that prophetic scenes of moscow being slowly taken over by the central asian muslims. How do you call that, dearie???…
Ещё раз тьфу на тебя, придурок ты слабоумный.
LA RUSSOPHOBE RESPONDS:
Translation: “Once more I spit on you, clueless moron.”
Kleine Schwaine – translate that cra..p – really, dearie, russians should drop that stupid cyrillic alphabet – no wonder so called ‘russian language’ becomes a local dialect fast – pass this news to mr. rogozin and his pathetic attempt to spread all over europe that ‘sobaczyi yazik’……..
hey dymasz, dymasz, another good news from russia a nuclear russian submarine collided with the fishing boat off the coast of pacific ocean – what went wrong dearie was it a foggy weather and they couldn’t see each other … DO TELL…
MC, when I say “no capsing” I mean “no capsing at all, not a word”.
If you make your posts clear and short enough, there’s no need to capse – and make the rest of your post look insignificant.
dymasza, bendaszka, those insults in your local dialect mean one thing, of course, you agree with EVERYTHING I SAY ABOUT RUSSIA. SPASIBA RUSKIYE BARAKHLO…..
Mcusa, you can’t speak Russian, why do try to?
По крайней мере, он должен быть в состоянии рассказать нам что-нибудь о туалетах. не так ли?
Close shave at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport
permalink email story to a friend print version Published: 13 September, 2011, 19:31
Close shave at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport (RIA Novosti / Anton Denisov)
TAGS: Russia, Accident, Vehicles
A tragedy has been narrowly averted at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport where an airbus carrying 299 passengers collided with a lighting tower.
The incident took place at 13.30 Moscow time. The A-330 passenger plane belonging to the Vladivostok Avia airlines had already landed and was taxiing along the runway when one of its wings scraped the tower.
“Luckily, there were no injuries onboard or among the Vnukovo staff,” the airport’s press secretary said. “Neither the plane nor the light tower were harmed.”
An anonymous source, however, told Interfax that the light tower was seriously damaged.
“The plane’s wings are made of composite materials, which helped to avoid grave harm,” the source stressed. “The lighting tower was quite tall, but the wing took all the heat, so no-one was hurt.”
The airport is now functioning normally; no flight delays have been reported. The Russian Aviation agency has launched an investigation into the incident. Currently, the plane is banned from flights.
The incident has already attracted a lot of public attention in the light of the Yakovlev Yak-42 passenger plane crash that killed 44 people. The majority of victims were members of the local ice hockey team.
Vnukovo is the oldest of Moscow’s three operating airports. In 2010, the airport handled 9.46 million passengers. Apart from public facilities, it is equipped with a VIP hall which is used by many political leaders and other high-profile visitors to Russia. The Russian President also uses Vnukovo.
Always repost a whole article, it’s the shortest way to victory:)))
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