Another random factoid: Vlad Tepech (i’m to lazy to get the slavic spelling, sorry folks) was said to be Stoker’s model for Dracula. However, Tepech himself never went by that name. His father, also Vlad, used the nickname Dracul, meaning dragon, which was actually a reference to the Serbian Order of the Dragon, to which he belonged. His royal house also bore that name from that point on.

They view us as a bunch of terrorists for supporting Israel and the Shah of Iran for our own political ends as well as trying to influence their internal politics and push their socieities into sin a debauchery. For Russia they see the crimes of Afghanistan and Chechnya. In nearly all cases, both sides held substantial blame for the outcome.

And while a massive crackdown may quiet them for a while, until we resolve the roots of our problems, it will just be a game of ‘whack-a-mole’ beating down a threat in one place only to have it pop up elsewhere. There are plenty of ungoverned territories throughout the world to house baddies of all political and religious persuasions. You will not stop them with guns. You probably won’t even slow them down.

It was already corrected once, but as a for your information service to RusArtist the ‘commie czar’ comment is (I presume) a reference to a sign held by the so-called tea bag protests in the US. We have appointed advisors for various purposes in the US referred to as Czars, a tradition that goes all the way back to president Eisenhower. Many people are angry about so many appointments (though there are no more now than there were, several have just been dubbed czars now that didn’t carry the name before). And one person, who very much doesn’t understand Russian history, held up a sign protesting against the ‘commie czars’. The media grabbed hold of it and ran with it to such an extent that it has become almost the catch phrase for those who wish to criticize the teabaggers (as if their own chosen name isn’t problematic enough). And there you have it, the root of the ‘commie czar’ comment. So, in effect, your criticism of them was fulyl in agreement with their own criticism of the uneducated masses.

I hope I’m not putting words in your mouth, mabsba. I just thought I’d inject a little back story into it for the sake of sanity.

Okay, I gotta invoke Godwin. Hitler fixed the German economy and made Germany a safe place (well, for most Germans, anyway) as well. I make the comparison not to say Putin is Hitler reborn. He very much isn’t. What I am saying is that doing good things for a country doesn’t exclude the possibility of doing bad things.

I’ll give Putin and Russia credit for carrying on with the political process and allowing it to go forward democratically. And he has certainly bowed out of the limelight a bit. Medvyedev is definitely the headliner in Russia now, as well he should be.

But I’m not a fan of changing the process for selecting local leaders from elections to appointments or changing the voting from direct candidate elections to elections for parties as he did in 2004. The system he changed to is legitimate and is common throughout the west as well. What was troubling is that it definitely consolidated power with Moscow and it was done without much input from the Duma, which is definitely the behavior of a dictator. Since then, at least with internal politics, he hasn’t misbehaved as much. But for a few tense months in ’04 I was seriously concerned that Russia would shift back to a Soviet-era system minus, perhaps, the Marxism. His KGB pedigree, while no guarantee of trouble, certainly lent a shade of worry on any criticizable action as well (Just as Bush Sr.’s CIA past and Cheney’s questionable legal suggestions and defense activities under Ford caused me serious pause).

“to get insulted by stupid americans who dont know a thing about politicts or global affiars.”

I don’t? I’m actually quite well read on politics and global affairs. And I make a particular point of reading up on news of nations other than my own from sources outside the US. I’m not usually one to boast about my own credentials, but you left this one wide open:

“HE IS NOT PRIME MINISTER ANYMORE.”

As someone who considers him/herself more educated than us stupid americans, tell me, who is the current prime minister of Russia? (Hint: He’s a former KGB agent and the predecessor of Medvyedev as president) He stepped down as president when his term was up and reworked the role of Prime Minister to bring a little piece of his old power with him.

Vlad may not be a dictator, per se, but he has certainly engaged in some rather dictatorial behaviors. And whether or not Russians like him is irrelevant. They liked Lenin and Stalin, too. And Americans loved Bush Jr. post 9/11.

Do you mean the part of the office that you took out when you tried to park after you got fired the first time?

*texts Capt Wow*
ZOMG you totally put-out for Put-in!!!

*sends some Lemon & White Chocolate biscuits*

Enjoy!

And although it’s true Russia is in a sad state right now, other countries have been in a worse state and recovered…you can, too.

Hopefully, the Russian government will not be coaxed by the dhimmified West into giving up some of its territory for Sharia statelets; this will not cause them to calm down, be quiet, and keep to themselves forevermore. Rather, such appeasement will only encourage them to niblle away outside thier borders, to seek to grab more land away from the Infidel (who, under Islamic thinking, don’t have any right to own anything – much less territory – anyway.)

It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again – Islam has bloody borders. It always did, and it always will, for as long as it’s allowed to exist. It’s far worse than the old Communist ideology, and even Nazism, when it comes right down to it – because it can get away with being an untouchable “religion”, free from criticism, protected by feel-good dhimmis who like to think they’re wonderful by tolerating the intolerabale.

Let’s hope that, at least in this case, Putin can be the iron man psycho bastard he’s put up to be.

BTW, no one tries to ‘shut anyone down’ here unless they’re total jerks, which I don’t think he was.