Archive for the ‘United States’ Category
Posted on June 28, 2008 - by Venik
The Makings of a Successful Foreign Policy
I just finished reading Jim Hoagland’s “Enough Rope for Russia” in the Washington Post. From time to time the mouthpiece of Republican neocons publishes nonsense about Russia and this piece by Hoagland is a particularly entertaining example. Hoagland mentions Russia’s intention to form a cartel of natural gas-exporting nations, similar to the OPEC. He also [...]
Posted on June 14, 2008 - by Venik
Bush-Sarkozy News Conference
On the stage they looked like two brothers – American Bush and the French Bush. Bush looked tired and annoyed: same old questions from the journalists and the same old answers from Bush’s policy advisers that he memorized and could regurgitate almost without mistakes. Sarkozy, on the other hand, was clearly feeling napoleonic that day. [...]
Posted on March 29, 2008 - by Venik
Russia and the US heading toward a confrontation
It seems that Russia and the US are moving toward some major headbutting in April. First, there’s the issue of Kosovo and the announcement by the US that it intends to provide weapons to the breakaway province. Russia opposes the move, saying that this would be a violation of the UN SC Resolution 1244 (which [...]
Posted on March 24, 2008 - by Venik
US Navy: 4000 dead US soldiers in Iraq is a milestone
Four US soldiers were killed in Iraq on March 23, 2008 by a roadside bomb, bringing the number of officially acknowledged US military casualties in Iraq to 4,000. It is important to underscore the “officially acknowledged” part: the Department of Defense chooses not to count all US casualties in Iraq the same way. Basically, if [...]
Posted on March 22, 2008 - by Venik
Curiosity in Training
Just a quick tidbit from today’s press digest: San Francisco Gate’s “Passport peeping – more than just curiosity?” by Zachary Coile unearthed an interesting piece of information: New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s files also were accessed last summer during a training session for an employee. The worker, a full-time State Department employee, had [...]
Posted on February 29, 2008 - by Venik
Western Journalists in Russia: Dazed and Confused
I just finished reading AP’s “Putin is leaving presidency, but Putinism is now Russia’s political orthodoxy” (Associated Press, 2008-Feb-29). It is truly amazing how little Western journalists know about Russia’s politics, economy and history. It is equally surprising how perverted the concept of democracy has become in its American interpretation. Apparently, when a government leader [...]
Posted on February 17, 2008 - by Venik
Space Arms Race is Coming
The US decided to shoot down its own old spy satellite before it crashes into Earth. The official reason: the satellite contains about a ton of toxic fuel. Very few take this explanation seriously. In the entire history of the space age not a single human being has been hurt by the falling man-made space [...]
Posted on January 31, 2008 - by Venik
Universal Health Care
I just finished watching Michael Moore‘s “Sicko“. As always Moore hits the nail on the head. In simple terms he explains a complicated problem and the main reason behind it: HMOs are robbing us blind but we are too stupid, tired, scared and depressed to do anything about it. Our doctors and politicians continue to take kickbacks from [...]
Posted on January 11, 2008 - by Venik
Presidential primaries and the idiot’s war
Like many of you, I was watching the Democratic presidential debates. They almost convinced me to vote Republican for the first time ever. The first question on the agenda: nuclear terrorism and, of course, Osama. According to the leading economists, the country is heading toward a deep recession (1). Even with the buy-out of Countrywide, [...]
Posted on December 3, 2007 - by Venik
Western press on Russian elections
I guess sometimes the desire to criticize is just too overwhelming to resist. Western journalist covering the Russian elections resemble a herd of wildebeest crossing a river, falling prey to logic and common sense. An unstoppable desire to print something scathing, and brutal, and full of appearance of righteous indignation. It doesn’t matter if the [...]
