EDITORIAL: Why now, Mr. Medvedev, why now?

EDITORIAL:  

Why now, Mr. Medvedev, why now?

Last week any intelligent Russian citizen had just one question in response to a pair of orders emanating from their so-called “president”:  Why now, Mr. Medvedev, why now?

First, in response to the crash of an airliner that killed an entire Russian professional ice hockey team, Medvedev ordered the airline shut down.  But intelligent Russians were asking:  Why didn’t you shut them down before the crash, Mr. Medvedev? Why did you wait so long?

Then, in response to growing civil unrest, Medvedev authorized the Russian Gestapo to utilize water cannons, tasers and tear gas on peaceful opposition protesters who fail to disperse upon the illegal order of the authorities.  Intelligent Russian citizens were asking:  Why now, Mr. Medvedev?

Medvedev the Liar

Ariel Cohen, writing on the National Interest website:

In late August, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev appointed Georgy Poltavchenko governor of St. Petersburg. Poltavchenko has served as presidential envoy to Russia’s central-administrative district since 2000. More importantly, he is a loyalist to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and a KGB veteran. He replaces Valentina Matviyenko, another Putin confidante, who has moved on to chair the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament. Sergey Mironov, the former speaker of the Federation Council, is out. All this game of musical chairs has little to do with either President Medvedev or significant democratic developments. Rather, it demonstrates how Putin is rearranging his insiders.

Medvedev the Marginal Man

Hero journalist Pavel Felgenhauer, writing for the Jamestown Foundation:

Russia has been hit by a number of manmade disasters. The worst is the sinking on July 10, of an old Bulgaria riverboat on the Volga River in Tatarstan. The Bulgaria was built in Czechoslovakia in 1955 and was rundown by age and neglect with one of its two main engines out of order during its last voyage as it took families on a one-night stopover weekend tour from the Tatar capital Kazan down the Volga River to the countryside. Tickets were cheap and the Bulgaria was returning to Kazan on July 10 overloaded with some 208 people on board. The official capacity of the Bulgaria was 140, there were 148 registered passengers, 25 unregistered and 35 crew: 99 women, 66 men and 43 children. The boat sunk in broad daylight, suddenly going down in three minutes without warning. Only 79 survived: 29 women, 39 men and 11 children. Divers had by July 14 recovered 105 bodies from the Bulgaria that is on the riverbed 18 meters deep – trapped in the hull, since there was no time for any orderly evacuation. The captain of the Bulgaria, Alexander Ostrovsky, went down with the ship (RIA Novosti, July 13).

EDITORIAL: Closing the Vice on Russia

EDITORIAL

Closing the Vice on Russia

Despite the best efforts of the craven Obama administration, the world is catching on to the evil that is Vladimir Putin.

To celebrate American independence day, on July 4 the Dutch Parliament overwhelmingly passed a tough sanctions bill aiming to punish all the Russian officials connected with the brutal torture and murder of attorney Sergei Magnitsky.  A similar measure is also pending in the U.S. Congress, where a newly revitalized Republican Party is at last standing up to Obama’s cowardice.

In short, a steely vice is now closing around Putin’s Russia.  Appalled by Russian barbarism, the civilized governments of Europe are now moving forward to block Russian influence and stand up for basic European values.  In America, Obama faces an ever more intense backlash against his misguided policies and stands to lose the presidency at the next election.  Even tourism to Russia is plummeting.

Putin’s days are numbered.

Medvedev, on his Knees

Victor Davidoff, writing in the Moscow Times:

Judging by the buzz in Moscow, President Dmitry Medvedev’s news conference, which was held on May 18 to an audience of more than 800 journalists, was expected to be the event of the year. The number of journalists and unprecedented format — Medvedev had not done anything like it during his presidency — all suggested that there would be an important announcement. Speculation began long before the event and ranged from the belief that Medvedev would finally announce his candidacy for president in 2012 to the rumor that he would fire Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

But in the end, the highlight of the news conference was a joke that began to circulate on the Internet while he was still speaking: “It’s clear that now there are two new political camps in Russia — Putin’s party and Medvedev’s party. Unfortunately, it’s not yet clear which party Medvedev belongs to.”

EDITORIAL: $175,000

EDITORIAL

$175,000

As of the last tax year, that was the sum in Russian “president” Dima Medvedev’s bank account.  It had doubled compared to the year just before he became “president” of the country, although his salary in the intervening three years remained constant and was far lower than he received as the top executive at Gazprom, Russia’s largest business entity.  Medvedev’s income remained, laughably, far less than that of Russia’s “prime minister” Vladimir Putin.  Two years ago Medvedev’s wife had 50% more than that in her own bank account.  Now, she has nothing. When asked what happened to the money by a Russian financial newspaper, the Kremlin refused to say.  In a recent survey, over 75% of Russian respondents said that Medvedev, like all Russian officials, was lying when he reported his income last year.

EDITORIAL: Russia’s Siamese Twin Idiots Come Unglued

EDITORIAL

Russia’s Siamese Twin Idiots Come Unglued

“You can say that the case has on the whole been solved.”

— Vladimir Putin, February 3, 2010

“No one has a right to make an announcement about the solution of this crime.”

— Dmitri Medvedev, February 3, 2010

The horrifically successful bombing of Russia’s Domodedovo airport has caused the idiotic Siamese twins who rule the country to come unglued.  It seems those who gave their lives at the airport did not do so in vain.

They are actually, openly contradicting each other. It’s sweet music to our ears.

EDITORIAL: Medvedevy the No-Man

EDITORIAL

Medvedevy the No-Man

The speech is so linguistically tentative, it’s like listening to an excruciatingly polite adjunct professor who is unsure of his material and scared his students don’t like him.

Ouch.

That was Moscow Times linguistic expert Michele Berdy on the most recent state-of-the-union speech by Russian “president” Dima Medvedev, the man the Wikileaks diplomatic leak documents refer to as “Robin” to Vladimir Putin’s “Batman.”

Nikolai Petrov of the Carnegie Center was even more brutal in his condemnation of the speech.

Medvedev means only Endless Failure for Russia

Hero journalist Yulia Latynina, writing in the Moscow Times:

It must be nice to be president. Could you imagine if every half hour Ekho Moskvy radio announced, instead of the news: “Tomorrow at this time you’ll be able to hear the news on this station. We’ve set a goal and a plan: to provide you the news. It’ll be incredible. Amazing. Fantastic. The world’s best. And, don’t forget, tomorrow. We promise.” How long could that continue before everyone stopped listening to Ekho Moskvy?

But President Dmitry Medvedev continually promises to start working and never does. Not only does everybody listen to him, they even deem his statements worth discussing.

EDITORIAL: Medvedev the Marauder

EDITORIAL

Medvedev the Marauder

Ramón Mercader

Russia’s so-called “president” Dmitri Medvedev announced feverishly a few days ago that he was sending out a “Mercader” to deal with the “traitor” who exposed the Anna Chapman spy clan under deep cover in the United States.  As a result of that scandal, of course, Russia was totally humiliated before the entire world.  We offer further insights about the debacle in a post from the head of Agentura.ru in this very issue.

Medvedev was referring to “Ramón Mercader, the secret agent sent by Joseph Stalin to kill archrival Leon Trotsky with an ice pick.”  That’s right, Medvedev was openly patterning himself after Josef Stalin, and bragging about it in public. Lest you think the world saw this as another silly Russian joke, the “traitor” was soon under FBI protection.

EDITORIAL: For Little Dima Medvedev, a Knife in the Darkness

EDITORIAL

For Little Dima Medvedev, a Knife in the Darkness

An interesting thing happened a few days ago.  Moscow “Mayor” Yuri Luzhkov was fired by Russian “President” Dima Medvedev, and the so-called Mayor was soon lashing out publicly at the so-called President.  Luzhkov, of course, is a very popular fellow in many Russian quarters, and his words carry weight.  Not a word was said about Vladimir Putin. In fact, it was almost as if Putin had planned the whole thing, just to kill two competitive birds with one stone as he prepares to become “president for life.”

And who can say that this is not precisely what has occurred?

EDITORIAL: Russian Hypocrisy knows no Bounds

EDITORIAL

Russian Hypocrisy knows no Bounds

Anyone who knows Russia even casually has heard it many times:  It’s wrong to publicly criticize government leaders, it undermines their authority and their ability to do good for people.  That’s why the state has to control all the major TV stations and newspapers, and become a national cheerleader to inspire Russians who would otherwise give up hope in dealing with the horrific problems they face every day.

It’s total crap, of course, but OK, let’s go with it.  Assuming the Kremlin is right, how in the world can it possibly justify suddenly using a massive TV campaign to attack Yuri Luzhkov, the Mayor of Moscow, last week?

EDITORIAL: Arkady Dvorkovich, Lying Bastard

EDITORIAL

Arkady Dvorkovich, Lying Bastard

Arkady Dvorkovich: Pretty scary looking, huh?

Writing on Huffington Post last week Arkady Dvorkovich, the chief economic adviser to Russia’s sham “president” Dima Medvedev, spewed forth a torrent of shameless lies and distortions about Medvedev’s record on technology innovation.

Dvorkovich listed seven specific alleged achievements of the Medvedev regime, each one more specious and dishonest than the next.  Here his what he said in his own malignant words:

EDITORIAL: What Russians mean by “Democracy”

EDITORIAL

What Russians mean by “Democracy”

“I categorically do not agree with those who maintain that there is no democracy in Russia, that it is ruled by authoritarian tradition.  Russia, without a doubt, is a democracy. Yes, it is young, immature, imperfect, inexperienced — but it is democracy. We are at the very beginning of the path.  They tell us about parliamentary democracy. Our Kyrgyz friends have taken the path. But for Russia, as, I am afraid, for Kyrgyzstan as well, parliamentary democracy is a catastrophe.  Nothing needs to be radically changed. Not because it is not allowed, but because there is no need”

–Russian “president” Dima Medvedev, speaking at the “World Political Forum” in Yaroslavl, Russia on September 10, 2010

What does Mr. Medvedev understand from the term “democracy,” which he takes no trouble to define? If it does not include a “parliament” with rival political parties, then what pray tell does it include?  Everyone knows that Russia’s direct presidential elections are shamelessly rigged, so obviously they too are not part of Medvedev’s definition of “democracy.” What is?  What aspect of Russian society is any way democratic?  Governors and mayors are directly controlled by the Kremlin, there is no parliament, no contested presidential elections, no opposition parties, no critical national media.

Perhaps a clue can be found in an AP report which stated: “Anyone who says that Russia has a totalitarian system is ‘either lying or has a terrible memory’ he said. Medvedev said protests were ‘normal’ but had to take place ‘within the limits of the law.'”  So, it seems that when Medvedev utters the word “democracy” he means “not totalitarian” or “not Soviet.” As long as Russia is not as repressive as it was in Soviet times, then, it’s enough of a democracy that, in Medvedev’s opinion, it needs no radical change.

That is sick and perverse.  The “president” of Russia, supposedly a “lawyer,” does not even begin to comprehend the meaning of democracy or rule of law. He believes his country is such a basket case that it is making all the progress it can simply to avoid being a worst-case scenario right now, today.

CARTOON: Medvedev, and Counting

At the top is the word: “President.”

Source:  Ellustrator.

EDITORIAL: Russia’s Jackass “President”

EDITORIAL

Russia’s Jackass “President”

Last week, the farcical spectacle of Russian politics became even more ludicrous.  And Russia edged that much closer to the abyss from which there can be no return.

Even as Vladimir Putin took the wheel of a fire-fighting aircraft to “prove” he remains the same superhero who single-handedly “saved” Russia from collapse, when asked his puppet “successor” Dima Medvedev said he had no idea who the candidates for “president” of the country would be in 2012, giving rise to howls of derision from Putin’s flunkies.  Finally, Russia’s top doctor said there was no health risk to Russians resulting from the massive cloud of smog hovering over their homes as a result of the national wave of wildfires, not even if that smoke was radioactive.

It could not be more clear, then, that Medevedev is not the master of his domain, that he does not even have the requisite authority to decide if he will seek reelection — just as we have been saying since his first took “power” two years ago. It could not be more clear, by his own words, that the Medvedev presidency is simply a shameless fraud being perpetrated on the sheep-like denizens of this benighted country.

Nor could the failure of the policies of Medvedev’s lord and master Vladimir Putin, whose incompetence is now palpable.

Putin, Putin, Uber Alles!

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Reporting from Moscow — From the smoke of the wildfires engulfing the Moscow region and the embarrassment of this summer’s spy scandal, Vladimir Putin is reemerging as Russia’s most powerful man and, experts say, a candidate to reclaim the presidency a little more than a year and a half from now.

For more than two years since term limits forced him to give up office and take the prime minister’s job instead, Putin and his protege, President Dmitry Medvedev, have seemed to be in lockstep. One could see a television report on Medvedev meeting with business owners followed by one on Putin talking to children in a sports stadium. Or read about Medvedev signing a nuclear arms treaty with the U.S., and Putin promising grants for university research.

But many analysts long have predicted that one of the two eventually would elbow the other aside. And in the last month, the situation has changed.

EDITORIAL: Dima Medvedev, Crypto-Fascist

EDITORIAL

Dima Medvedev, Crypto-Fascist

Medvedev poured cold water on the hopes of private media outlets when he said: “It seems to me that it does not make sense to set the goal of moving away from government media because both [private and government-controlled media] exist everywhere in the world.”  In this sense, Medvedev departs from the more liberal stance of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. As president,  Putin never publicly spoke out so directly in support of state-controlled media.

— A report from the 10th Russian-German Petersburg Dialogue forum in Yekaterinburg on July 15

Dima Medvedev is, of course, a shameless idiot and liar.  Which explains this particular remark, we cannot say. Perhaps, both.

Did you think you would live to see the day when Medvedev would be called more fascist than Vladimir Putin?  We didn’t.

But perhaps it’s the case.

Whither Putin and Medvedev?

Brian Whitmore, writing on the Power Vertical:

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s comments to French media about his plans for the 2012 presidential elections sent predictable ripples through the Moscow punditocracy.

“We will see, somewhat closer to 2012,” Putin told French journalists ahead of his visit to Paris. “Naturally, I am already thinking about this issue with President Medvedev but have decided not to make much fuss about it, not to let ourselves be distracted by this problem. What we will do in 2012 will depend on the results [of our work].”

Speaking to “Nezavisimaya gazeta,” Dmitry Furman of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Europe interpreted Putin’s remarks to mean he was leaning toward keeping the current tandem arrangement in place.

“That they will make some sort of pact and refrain from racing against each other for presidency has been clear from the very beginning… Putin’s words regarding his current job did imply that there was at least a chance that he might remain the premier after 2012,” Furman told the daily.

EDITORIAL: Medvedev the Destroyer?

EDITORIAL

Medvedev the Destroyer

The funny thing is, he does not look like a destroyer, he looks like a ginormous dweeb. What a disguise!

“Identify those involved in committing this heinous crime. Destroy the ones trying to resist. Show no mercy!”

Such are the alleged words of Russian “president” Dima Medvedev in regard to perpetrators of the March 2010 subway bombings in Moscow.

And lo and behold! Just a few weeks later the FSB reported that it had “destroyed” three of the two bombers’ accomplices, including their guide to Moscow and their guide to the bombing locations, after meeting “stiff armed resistance.”

CARTOON: Medvedev the Destroyer?

Source:  Panfilov on Facebook.

CARTOON

The "president" of Russia is Dmitri Medvedev. His last name is based on the Russian word for "bear." Get it?

Source.

Exposing the Fraud that is Dima Medvedev

Newsweek blows the lid off the “Medvedev is a liberal” myth, for all the world to see:

It says a lot about the kind of place Russia has become that just two minutes of mild mockery of the Kremlin could cause a political shock wave. But sure enough: when the state-controlled Channel One showed a short cartoon in January depicting Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President.

Dmitry Medvedev dancing together in Red Square, singing a comic duet about the big news stories of 2009, liberals rejoiced. After years of political repression, tight media control, and officially ordained Putin-worship, they saw the lighthearted cartoon as a sign that Medvedev is finally changing Russia. The cartoon followed on the heels of a number of speeches the young president has given on the ills of Russia’s rotten bureaucracy and its broken economy. He’s promised, for instance, to slash bureaucracy and reform the corrupt judiciary, to simplify regulation, and to put government services online. He’s vowed to break Russia’s economic dependence on natural resources and build a knowledge economy. He also recently ordered the firing of 10,000 cops and 16 top police officials, and warned police to stop “terrorizing” private businesses. Nasty nationalist youth movements have been shut down, and human-rights activists once squeezed by Putin have been received as honored guests at the Kremlin. Taken together, these moves have made it seem as though spring is in the air. “I believe President Medvedev sincerely intends to liberalize the system,” says Kirill Kabanov, head of the National Anti–Corruption Committee, an NGO.

EDITORIAL: Annals of a Russian Purge

EDITORIAL

Annals of a Russian Purge

It sure was amusing, and terrifying, to watch the antics of Russia’s so-called “president” Dima Medvedev in the wake of his country’s calamitous failure at the 2010 Olympic Games.

First, Medvedev petulantly refused to attend the closing ceremonies in Vancouver, hiding like a child under his mothers skirts rather than face the shame and humiliation of standing with his athletes before a slack-jawed world.  How would Russians react if the leader of the country picked to take the 2018 games refuses to be in Sochi at the closing to take the Olympic flag?  Hopefully, we’ll never know because the IOC will come to its senses and divest Russia of the 2014 games.

Then, Medvedev began calling for the heads of the Russian Olympics leadership team.  Not surprisingly, however, he didnt’ say a word about the resignation of the man responsible for supervising that team, so-called “Prime Minister” Vladimir Putin, nor did he suggest that he himself might resign.  Apparently, Russia’s so-called “leaders” don’t feel they have any responsibility for selecting incompetent and corrupt fools to run Russia’s Olympics program, and therefore need not pay any consequences when that program humiliates the country before the eyes of the world.

Dima drops another Clanger

The always-brilliant Robert Coalson, reporting over at The Power Vertical:

President Dmitry Medvedev picked up a bunch of positive press on February 18 when, apparently in response to the massive numbers of police-abuse scandals that have emerged in recent months, appeared at an Interior Ministry conference and laid down the law. Even fellow Power Verticalist Brian Whitmore and myself were mildly impressed that Medvedev had summoned the power to dismiss two deputy interior ministers and some 13 other police generals. It is the common wisdom that the Interior Ministry is one of those areas of government that Vladimir Putin keeps strictly under his thumb, so it seemed a little odd to see Medvedev making a strike so close to Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, a Putin protectorate.

Of course, the fact that Medvedev tapped Nurgaliyev to implement his as-yet-undetailed Interior Ministry reform is a pretty good clue that the changes are likely to be cosmetic. “Ogonyok” did a nice series of pieces on the ministry’s troubles and noted that “the majority of experts agree that for now the guiding tool in the matter of reforming police structures is not a systematic approach, but a “personal” one. That is, in good Soviet tradition, a reform initiative will just be used to settle political scores and/or provide the background music for a game of Kremlin musical chairs.