Monday, September 23, 2013

Putin: Russia to reopen Soviet-era Arctic military base - Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a teleconference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi, September 16, 2013. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin


(Reuters) - Russia is reopening a Soviet-era military base in the Arctic, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, part of a drive to make the northern coast a global shipping route and secure the region's vast energy resources.
Two decades after abandoning it, Russia has sent 10 warships behind four nuclear-powered ice breakers to the base on the Novosibirsk Islands, a show of force as it resumes a permanent naval presence in the thawing region. 

Mike Nova comments: Build your new bright happy life according to your own "лекала" - patterns; but por favor not the Mr. Lukashenko style: not by the stolen patterns and not with the stolen goods and ideas (mostly the American ones), as you usually do... Come on "Pravda", get real!

Mike Nova comments: 

Build your new bright happy life according to your own "лекала" - patterns; but por favor not the Mr. Lukashenko style: not by the stolen patterns and not with the stolen goods and ideas (mostly the American ones), as you usually do. 

Related Links: 

ОТВЕТИТ ЛИ РОССИЯ МАККЕЙНУ? "ТОЧКА ЗРЕНИЯ" ПАВЛА ПОДЛЕСНОГО: 

Кроме того, Маккейн заявил, что желает гражданам России только самого лучшего, а именно свободы и другого президента. Если читать между строк, то та самая лучшая жизнь, которую желает увидеть в России пожилой сенатор, должна строиться на американских лекалах. Pussy Riot, дело Магнитского, оппозиция - темы, которые затронул Маккейн в своем письме. 

Mike Nova comments: The rest of this "interview" is incredibly boring. 

лукашенко лекала - GS:

На том же Всебелорусском народном собрании в 2006 году Александр Лукашенко с высокой трибуны посоветовал руководителям легкой промышленности… воровать. «Кто, Сергей Сергеич, мешает нашим великим руководителям концернов, извините меня, украсть эти лекала за рубежом?», – без зазрения совести подал идею Сидорскому глава Беларуси. Премьер-министру оставалось лишь смущенно улыбаться. Застеснялась даже газета «Советская Белоруссия»: в отчете с Всебелорусского народного собрания слово «красть» она заменила на «купить». 

лекала translation - GS 

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P.S. I was not able to publish this comment in "Pravda" because it requested "authorisation", which implied not only learning everything about me and about my Facebook-friends (I agreed to this), but also "to post to them on my behalf" and "to manage my account". The same request was made in attempts for "authorisation" with Twitter, YouTube and other accounts. Quite naturally, I declined. 
And now talk about the "control" and the "Big Brother": come on "Pravda", get real! Do you still live in 1937, 1954, 1984 or 2013?
This "Pravda" is really a very sad case: practically no one in Russia or abroad reads it. Mr. McCain's article is probably the best thing that has happened to this "newspaper" in modern times and I think they should appreciate and love him at least for this: that people paid some attention to this "publication" (in some opinions,  just "Surkov's parody of the original paper") at all! 

Related Links: 

Pravda - From Wikipedia

"Pravda is witnessing hard times and the number of its staff members and print run has been significantly reduced." 

-

Russians tow Greenpeace ship

» Russians tow Greenpeace ship
23/09/13 15:12 from CNN.com - World
The captain of a Greenpeace icebreaker carrying 30 activists protesting Arctic drilling has declined a demand made at gunpoint by Russian authorities to sail it toward the Russian port city of Murmansk, a Greenpeace spokeswoman said Frid...

Jailed member of Russia's punk band goes on hunger strike | Life in a Russian Prison By MASHA GESSEN - NYT - Free Pussy Riot!

» Jailed member of Russia's punk band goes on hunger strike
23/09/13 11:33 from Reuters: International
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A jailed member of Russia's Pussy Riot punk band said she was starting a hunger strike on Monday to protest against "slave labor" in her penal colony and said she had received a death threat from a senior prison offici...

Member of the female punk band ''Pussy Riot'' Nadezhda Tolokonnikova looks out from a holding cell as she attends a court hearing to appeal for parole at the Supreme Court of Mordovia in Saransk, July 26, 2013. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin




Life in a Russian Prison



Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.
Sergei Karpukhin/ReutersNadezhda Tolokonnikova.
MOSCOW — “I am declaring a hunger strike starting Sept. 23. I refuse to take part in slave labor in the camp until the penal colony authorities start to conduct themselves in accordance with laws and start treating women inmates like people rather than cattle.” After a year-and-a-half behind bars, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has given up her struggle to keep the peace and has declared war on her jailers.  But only after they threatened to kill her.
Tolokonnikova is one of two members of the punk group Pussy Riot who are serving two-year sentences for lip-syncing and playing air guitar for 40 seconds in a peaceful protest in the largest Moscow cathedral. Ever since they were transported to penal colonies a bit less than a year ago, Tolokonnikova and the other jailed Pussy Riot member, Maria Alekhina, have assumed different roles in public, when they have spoken out, and in their private behavior behind bars.
Alekhina has become a vocal advocate for prisoners’ rights, a sort of jailhouse lawyer who has exposed numerous violations, filed copious complaints, and, in May, held an 11-day hunger strike that succeeded in changing conditions in her penal colony. But the authorities at the colony got the last word by securing her transfer to a different part of the country.
Tolokonnikova has also been an effective public speaker even while incarcerated, but she has spoken out on politics and freedom in general rather than prisoners’ rights. When I visited her three months ago, she insisted she simply wanted to have the time behind bars to go faster, and breaking up the monotony with court hearings or protests only served to slow time down. She did not want to discuss many of the details of penal-colony life, at least as long as she was there — to avoid more attention from the prison administration. And there were other things that neither she nor other women inmates want to discuss, because they are humiliating.
Tolokonnikova not only tried to adjust to life in the penal colony but she even tried to heed the criticism levied at her by colony representatives during a parole hearing. She was criticized for never taking part in such activities as beauty or singing contests, so she signed up to sing — only to be stymied in her attempts to go to the clubhouse to rehearse. Whatever she did, it seemed, the harassment would only intensify.
Three weeks ago, she finally had had too much. She had been suffering from severe chronic headaches, a lifelong ailment exacerbated by the long hours working while sitting down. Chronic sleep deprivation was affecting her as well as the other inmates. On Aug. 30, Tolokonnikova went to see the deputy director of the penal colony, and asked him to guarantee all women on her work shift eight hours of sleep a night.
“This would mean reducing the workday from 16 to 12 hours,” she writes in a letter from prison that was released on Monday. The deputy director answered that he would cut the shift even further: to the legally mandated eight hours. This, however, would mean that the women would be unable to fulfill their daily production requirements (they sew police uniforms) and would be penalized by having their privileges taken away and, quite possibly, beaten.
“And he concluded, ‘If they learn that this happened because of you, then I can tell you that things will never be bad for you again — because things are never bad in the afterlife.’ ”
“Over the next few weeks conditions in the factory grew intolerable,” writes Tolokonnikova. “Inmates who have ties to the administration have been pushing others to take care of me: ‘You have been penalized by having your tea, food, bathroom and smoking privileges taken away for a week. And this will go on forever if you don’t start acting different toward new inmates, especially Tolokonnikova — the way you were treated when you were new. Were you beaten? Yes you were? Were your months ripped apart? Yes, they were. Go ahead, beat the crap out of them. You will not be punished for
that.’ ”
Tolokonnikova realized that the only way to protect herself was to go public. She has filed complaints with police and judicial authorities saying that she has been threatened with murder. She has declared a hunger strike, demanding, among other things, a transfer to a different colony. And she has written a four-page letter detailing the conditions in the colony, including those no one ever describes.
“Life in the colony is constructed in such a way as to make the inmate feel like a filthy animal who has no rights. The barracks have washrooms, but in the interests of punishing and reforming inmates, the administration has created a single, colony-wide washroom that fits five people and the entire population — 800 people — have to go there to wash their private parts. We are not allowed to do this in the washrooms in our barracks, because that would be too convenient. The colony-wide washroom is invariably crowded and the gals with their basins step all over one another in a rush to wash.  … We have the right to wash our hair once a week. But this bath day is frequently canceled because the water pump has broken or a pipe is backed up. Sometimes our barracks could not wash for two or three weeks running.
“When the pipes get clogged, urine bursts forth from the washrooms and feces fly. We have learned to clean the sewage pipes ourselves, but the results do not last long: the pipes get backed up again. The colony does not have a cable for cleaning pipes. We can wash our clothes once a week, in a small room with three faucets from which cold water drips.
‘‘It is probably also in the interests of reform that inmates are given only stale bread, only milk that has been diluted with copious amounts of water, only rancid porridge, and only rotten potatoes. All this summer they kept bringing wholesale quantities of sacks of slimy blackened potatoes, and this was what we were fed.’’
She also wrote that she should have gone on hunger strike months ago.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Learn first what America is! - Letter to "Pravda"

9.23.13 - Update: 
The comments of: 
14:58 21 сентября, 
17:41 21 сентября, 
and 17:19 21 сентября 
were deleted by "Pravda" without any explanations. 
Interesting. 
I do not have any further comments at this point, except, maybe just to repeat that old adage: actions speak louder than words. 
"Будем надеяться": Let us hope that the "dialogue" will continue but in a proper and civilised fashion and that no one will try to take the others for the easy dupes (I think that we certainly do not do it). 

9.21.13 - Update: 
This post was eventually published as a comment on the page hyperlinked below and evoked some very interesting responses from some anonymous (although I do have some idea who it is) mad Facebook pussycats and Twitter accounts without names and faces (both opened for this specific purpose, on 9.21.13), which, I think, reflects the depth of social psychopathology among "Pravda" commentators paid by the KGB or recently rehired (maybe, also for the same specific purpose and as a reward for the past "achievements") by some "higher-up" sources. Please, read these responses (most likely, they are from the one and the same "person"); it is quite enlightening. 

Mr. Editor:
In the article:
"Американцы считают, что Маккейн в статье говорит о США, а не о России" (http://www.pravda.ru/news/world/20-09-2013/1175018-mccain-0/, in translation, "The Americans think that McCain in his article talks about the USA, not Russia" - I could not find this page in English on your site, strangely enough; was it intended mostly for your gullible Russian readers?)
there are names of some people, who as you claim, send their comments or responses to your paper.
Who are these people? How do we know that these responses are genuine?
Why there are no connections to their Facebook or Twitter pages?
I would not be surprised if these responses are manufactured by you with the purpose to confuse readers and that they are nothing more than falsifications.
For example, the name of "Nava Nova", which appears on the top of this list should not be confused with my blogging or pen name: Mike Nova, which appears in my blogs: RUSSIA and THE WEST (http://east-and-west-org.blogspot.com/), Mike Nova (http://mn-3.blogspot.com/) and others. My real name is Michael Novakhov, and I never hid or concealed neither of these names in my writings and comments, including the comments in "Russian Journal" starting from several years ago; I did not and do not have any reasons to do that. I suspect that this name "Nava Nova" was placed there specifically to create a confusion with my blogging name. If the responses that you publicised are real and from the real people, please present the proofs of it and present the connections with their other pages on the Internet, just like most other publications do, including the same "Russian Journal" and establish this as a matter of your general policy. If you are not able or willing to do this, then it can be assumed that these responses are fictitious, and it will also confirm, that contrary to the name of your paper, "Pravda" or "The Truth", there is no a grain of truth in whatever you publish and you are the same liars and manipulators, as you were in Soviet times. 
By the way, "America" is spelled exactly as it is, with the "c", not "Amerika", as it appears on your front page. Learn first the correct spelling and learn first what America is, before publishing your lies and nonsense. Even in this incorrect spelling you manage to exude your poison or just showing your ignorance, or trying to "rusify" the name and your understanding, or rather, misunderstanding of our country. This will not happen: you are not and will not be able to "rusify" America; this misspelling might just betray your own conscious or unconscious dream or desire: to "americanise" Russia, from which she will greatly benefit.
Absolutely sincerely and directly, Michael Novakhov

I tried to send this letter to "Pravda" several times, but their email connection simply does not work, generating the "error" response: "Ошибка при отправке сообщения". 
Nothing works in Russia, except for her criminal state and for her criminal enterprises; the whole Russia is one huge "error response", very unfortunately for her perpetually suffering people; just like there had never been and there is no now any "truth" in "Pravda". 




facebook_100006161706609 в 14:58 21 сентября
уебан  во  всем своем безвкуссии, собственно  лицо тому подтверждение... Интересно   дети такие же дебилоиды или все таки от соседа??? будем надеятся  его жена была предусмотрительна в плане зачатия  и уберегла род  от копирайта этого   задолбыша
  • Mike Nova в 17:41 21 сентября
    "будем надеятся" should be written "будем надеяться". Learn to speak and write the great Russian language, уёбок (as in "закрой свой рот ебучий уёбок сын ты сучий")! Будем надеяться that Haldol will help you with your mad logorrhea, this is your last hope, pussycat.
    • Mike Nova в 17:19 21 сентября
      Take your Haldol, pussycat; put it in your tap water.


    Twitter_576950237 в 12:10 21 сентября
    Die out of your poison!! All the world knows ameriKans are zombies and stupid robots. The US of AmeriKa is a state of devil ,false and shit! Wait a little,you will be destroyed soon!!!
    Russia was ,is and will be always.
    Spit onto you.
    • Mike Nova в 17:21 21 сентября
      Twitter account without a face, commentator without brains: very symbolic of modern Russian "socium (социум)".


      First Posted on 9/20/2013 05:56:00 PM     Last Update on 9.21.13

    Thursday, September 19, 2013

    Senator John McCain: Russians deserve better than Putin | McCain slams Putin in opinion piece for Pravda | Putin's New York Times Blunder - By Buck McKeon

    McCain slams Putin in opinion piece for Pravda

    ASSOCIATED PRESS



    Republican Sen. John McCain is accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of corruption, repression and self-serving rule in an opinion piece for Pravda that answers the Russian leader's broadside published last week in an American newspaper.
    In an op-ed headlined "Russians Deserve Better Than Putin," McCain singles out Putin and his associates for punishing dissent, specifically the death in prison of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The Russian presidential human rights council found in 2011 that Magnitsky, who had accused Russian officials of colluding with organized criminals, had been beaten and denied medical treatment.
    McCain also criticized Putin for siding with Syrian President Bashar Assad in the 2½-year civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.
    McCain insists that he is not anti-Russian but rather "more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you today."
    "President Putin doesn't believe ... in you. He doesn't believe that human nature at liberty can rise above its weaknesses and build just, peaceful, prosperous societies. Or, at least, he doesn't believe Russians can. So he rules by using those weaknesses, by corruption, repression and violence. He rules for himself, not you," McCain wrote.
    The senator submitted the editorial to Pravda and was told it would be posted on Thursday. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the editorial.
    McCain assailed Putin and his associates for writing laws that codify bigotry, specifically legislation on sexual orientation. A new Russian law imposes fines and up to 15 days in prison for people accused of spreading "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" to minors.
    On Syria, McCain said Putin is siding with a tyrant.
    "He is not enhancing Russia's global reputation. He is destroying it. He has made her a friend to tyrants and an enemy to the oppressed, and untrusted by nations that seek to build a safer, more peaceful and prosperous world," the Arizona senator said.
    McCain also criticized the imprisonment of the punk rock band Pussy Riot. The three women were convicted of hooliganism after staging an anti-Putin protest inside a Russian Orthodox Church.
    The article by McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, comes just days after the U.S. and Russian officials reached an ambitious agreement that calls for an inventory of Syria's chemical weapons program within a week, and its complete eradication by mid-2014. Diplomatic wrangling continues, however.
    Last week, Putin blamed opposition forces for the latest deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria and argued President Barack Obama's remarks about America were self-serving in an opinion piece for The New York Times. Putin also said it was dangerous for America to think of itself as exceptional, a reference to a comment Obama made.
    McCain was not the first U.S. lawmaker to respond to Putin. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., wrote in an editorial for the Moscow Times about the suppression of the Russian people and the disregard for basic human rights. 




    Senator John McCain: Russians deserve better than Putin

    19.09.2013
    Senator John McCain: Russians deserve better than Putin. 51143.jpeg
    When Pravda.ru editor, Dmitry Sudakov, offered to publish my commentary, he referred to me as "an active anti-Russian politician for many years." I'm sure that isn't the first time Russians have heard me characterized as their antagonist. Since my purpose here is to dispel falsehoods used by Russia's rulers to perpetuate their power and excuse their corruption, let me begin with that untruth. I am not anti-Russian. I am pro-Russian, more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you today.
    I make that claim because I respect your dignity and your right to self-determination. I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government. I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few. You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just. I make that claim because I believe the Russian people, no less than Americans, are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
    A Russian citizen could not publish a testament like the one I just offered. President Putin and his associates do not believe in these values. They don't respect your dignity or accept your authority over them. They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten, and banish organizations that defend your right to self-governance. To perpetuate their power they foster rampant corruption in your courts and your economy and terrorize and even assassinate journalists who try to expose their corruption. 
    They write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn. They throw the members of a punk rock band in jail for the crime of being provocative and vulgar and for having the audacity to protest President Putin's rule.

    Sergei Magnistky wasn't a human rights activist. He was an accountant at a Moscow law firm. He was an ordinary Russian who did an extraordinary thing. He exposed one of the largest state thefts of private assets in Russian history. He cared about the rule of law and believed no one should be above it. For his beliefs and his courage, he was held in Butyrka prison without trial, where he was beaten, became ill and died. After his death, he was given a show trial reminiscent of the Stalin-era and was, of course, found guilty. That wasn't only a crime against Sergei Magnitsky. It was a crime against the Russian people and your right to an honest government - a government worthy of Sergei Magnistky and of you. 
    President Putin claims his purpose is to restore Russia to greatness at home and among the nations of the world. But by what measure has he restored your greatness? He has given you an economy that is based almost entirely on a few natural resources that will rise and fall with those commodities. Its riches will not last. And, while they do, they will be mostly in the possession of the corrupt and powerful few. Capital is fleeing Russia, which - lacking rule of law and a broad-based economy - is considered too risky for investment and entrepreneurism. He has given you a political system that is sustained by corruption and repression and isn't strong enough to tolerate dissent.
    How has he strengthened Russia's international stature? By allying Russia with some of the world's most offensive and threatening tyrannies. By supporting a Syrian regime that is murdering tens of thousands of its own people to remain in power and by blocking the United Nations from even condemning its atrocities. By refusing to consider the massacre of innocents, the plight of millions of refugees, the growing prospect of a conflagration that engulfs other countries in its flames an appropriate subject for the world's attention. He is not enhancing Russia's global reputation. He is destroying it. He has made her a friend to tyrants and an enemy to the oppressed, and untrusted by nations that seek to build a safer, more peaceful and prosperous world.
    President Putin doesn't believe in these values because he doesn't believe in you. He doesn't believe that human nature at liberty can rise above its weaknesses and build just, peaceful, prosperous societies. Or, at least, he doesn't believe Russians can. So he rules by using those weaknesses, by corruption, repression and violence. He rules for himself, not you. 
    I do believe in you. I believe in your capacity for self-government and your desire for justice and opportunity. I believe in the greatness of the Russian people, who suffered enormously and fought bravely against terrible adversity to save your nation. I believe in your right to make a civilization worthy of your dreams and sacrifices. When I criticize your government, it is not because I am anti-Russian. It is because I believe you deserve a government that believes in you and answers to you. And, I long for the day when you have it.

    » John McCain aims broadside at Vladimir Putin with reply editorial - The Guardian
    19/09/13 12:56 from world - Google News
    The GuardianJohn McCain aims broadside at Vladimir Putin with reply editorialThe GuardianHe has made her a friend to tyrants and an enemy to the oppressed, and untrusted by nations that seek to build a safer, more peaceful and prosperous...

    Read also:

    Сенатор Джон Маккейн: "Россияне заслуживают лучшего, чем Путин"

    19.09.2013 | Источник:

    Правда.Ру


    Я верю в величие российского народа и его стремление жить в обществе справедливости, открытых возможностей и иметь правительство достойное его устремлений и принесенных жертв. Когда я критикую ваше правительство, я делаю это не потому, что я настроен против России. Я делаю это потому, что вы заслуживаете такое правительство, которое верило бы в вас, уважало вас и было бы вам подотчетно. Я надеюсь увидеть тот день, когда это произойдет.

    Когда редактор "Правды.Ру" Дмитрий Судаков предложил опубликовать мой комментарий, он назвал меня политиком, "выступающим с антироссийской точкой зрения уже много лет". И действительно, российские граждане уже не в первый раз слышат обо мне как об их противнике. Поскольку моя цель сегодня разрушить фальсификации, используемые правителями России для сохранения их власти и оправдания коррупционности, позвольте мне начать с исправления этой неправды. Я — не антироссийский. Я пророссийский, более пророссийский чем тот режим, который плохо управляет вами сегодня.
    Я заявляю это потому, что я уважаю ваше достоинство и ваше право на самоопределение. Я верю, что вы должны жить в соответствии с предписаниями вашей совести, а не правительства. Я верю, что вы заслуживаете возможности улучшить вашу жизнь, живя в стране, где экономика процветает и создает блага для многих, а не только для кучки власть имущих. Вы должны жить в правовом государстве, где законы ясны, справедливы и применяются последовательно и беспристрастно. Я заявляю это потому, что я верю, что люди в России не менее, чем американцы наделены нашим Создателем неотчуждаемыми "правами на жизнь, свободу и стремление к счастью", как гласит американская Декларация Независимости.
    Российский гражданин не мог бы опубликовать заявление, подобное тому, которое я сейчас сделал. Президент Путин и его окружение не верят в эти ценности. Они не уважают ваше достоинство и не признают вашу власть над ними. Они наказывают несогласие и арестовывают оппонентов. Они манипулируют вашими выборами. Они контролируют ваши средства массовой информации. Они преследуют, угрожают, и запрещают организации, защищающие ваше право на самоуправление. Чтобы сохранить свою власть, они поощряют процветание коррупции в ваших судах и в экономике, терроризируют и даже убивают журналистов, пытающихся разоблачать их коррупционность.
    Они пишут законы, устанавливающие непримиримость в отношении тех, чью сексуальную ориентацию они осуждают. Они сажают в тюрьму участников панк-рок группы за преступление, которое состояло в том, что ее члены были провокационными и вульгарными и имели дерзость протестовать против правления президента Путина.
    Сергей Магнитский не был борцом за права человека. Он был бухгалтером в московской юридической фирме. Он был обычным русским человеком, который сделал нечто необычное. Он разоблачил одну из крупнейших в Российской истории краж частных активов государством. Он верил в торжество закона и считал, что никто не может быть выше закона. Из-за его взглядов и мужества он оказался в Бутырской тюрьме, где его держали без суда, где он был избит, заболел и умер. После смерти над ним провели показательный процесс, напоминающий процессы сталинской эпохи, и, конечно, он был признан виновным. Это было преступление не только против Сергея Магнитского. Это было преступление против российских людей и вашего права на честное правительство, правительство достойное Сергея Магнитского и вас.
    Президент Путин утверждает, что его цель — восстановить величие России как в глазах сограждан, так и на мировой арене. Но какими средствами он восстановил ваше величие? Он дал вам экономику, которая почти полностью базируется на нескольких природных ресурсах и будет подниматься и падать вместе с ними. Ее процветание не будет длительным. А пока оно будет сохраняться, эти богатства будут во владении кучки коррумпированных власть имущих. Капиталы бегут из России, которая при отсутствии правового государства и диверсифицированной экономики воспринимается слишком рискованной для инвестиций и предпринимательства. Он дал вам политическую систему, которая поддерживается коррупцией и репрессиями и недостаточно сильна, чтобы допустить несогласие.
    Как он укрепил международные позиции России? Взяв в союзники России самые агрессивные и угрожающие всем тирании. Поддерживая сохранение у власти сирийского режима, убивающего десятки тысяч собственных граждан, и не допуская даже осуждения этих зверств Организацией Объединенных Наций. Его отказ принимать во внимание уничтожение невинных, тяжелое положение миллионов беженцев, растущую вероятность большого пожара, способного распространить свое пламя на другие страны, должен стать предметом мирового внимания. Он не поднимает репутацию России в мире. Он разрушает ее. Он сделал Россию другом тиранов и врагом угнетаемых, ей не доверяют народы, которые стараются сделать нашу планету более безопасной, мирной и процветающей.
    Президент Путин не верит в эти ценности потому, что он не верит в вас. Он не верит, что на свободе человеческая природа может подняться над своими слабостями и построить справедливое, мирное и процветающее общество. Или как минимум, он не верит, что это могут сделать граждане России. Поэтому он правит, используя эти слабости, с помощью коррупции, репрессий и насилия. Он правит для себя, но не для вас.
    Я верю в вас. Я верю в вашу способность к самоуправлению и в ваше стремление к справедливости и миру открытых возможностей. Я верю в величие российских людей, которые тяжело страдали и смело боролись с ужасными невзгодами, чтобы спасти свой народ. Я верю в ваше право создать цивилизацию, достойную ваших стремлений и принесенных жертв. Я критикую ваше правительство не потому, что я антироссийски настроен. Я это делаю потому, что я верю, что вы заслуживаете правительство, которое верит в вас и подотчетно вам. Я надеюсь увидеть тот день, когда это произойдет.
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    Putin's New York Times Blunder



    In his much-discussed op-ed in The New York Times last week, President Vladimir Putin has made a curious case to the American people and the international community about the conflict in Syria. Using flowery language about internationalism, diplomacy and compassion, Putin made a few reasonable points, but by and large he drew entirely the wrong conclusions about the nature of the Syrian conflict and the lessons he should learn about the U.S. response.
    Putin wryly characterizes his opposition to Western involvement in Syria as a benevolent appeal of empathy for the innocents and respect for international law. Putin has warned that the violence in Syria would be worsened by U.S. intervention. He humbly omitted Russia's role in that affair: in the millions of tons of equipment, ammunition and arms that he has sent to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. These weapons have killed far more Syrians than chemical weapons. With more than 100,000 Syrian civilians killed, the blood of scores of innocents is on Putin's hands.
    The readers of Putin's op-ed know irony when they see it — especially when it's Putin who is urging Americans to observe the rule of law.
    Putin speaks grandly on the importance of the United Nations and chides the U.S. for failing to seek UN Security Council authorization for humanitarian interventions. Of course, the U.S. has not been alone in seeking this authorization to deter the Assad regime — and other tyrannical regimes like it across the globe — from committing more crimes against humanity. It is Putin and his Chinese counterparts who have blocked this avenue. The world continues to wait for leadership from Putin or the Chinese Communist Party when it comes to human rights.
    My suspicion is that Putin's sudden inspired confidence in the UN isn't so much warmhearted goodwill as it is a place where he has a veto over Western strategic interests. After all, I imagine the Security Council was as surprised as I was to see Putin's tanks rolling towards Tblisi, Georgia in 2008.
    I acknowledge that U.S. humanitarian interventions are controversial and often unpopular. We have seen successes and failures. With that said, I welcome any humanitarian comparisons between the Western intervention in Libya and Putin's intervention in Chechnya.
    To be fair, Putin did get one thing right. Neither the U.S. nor Russia is interested in seeing a fundamentalist Islamic state emerge from Syria. But with that said, he is spinning a tall tale that the American people don't buy and the international community shouldn't believe.
    The Americans who read Putin's op-ed are not dupes. They are aware of the suppression of the Russian people, the intimidation of journalists and the wanton disregard for basic human rights. In addition, they are able to identify irony when they see it — particularly when it is Putin who is making a spontaneous appeal for humanitarianism and the observance of rule of law.
    But it is difficult to overlook his glaringly obvious strategic aims. Putin is trying to achieve two simple objectives. First, he wants his puppet Assad to remain in power, and he wants the Russian Navy to have the ability to park their ships at the five heavy piers in Tartus, Syria. Second, Putin wants to mischaracterize the resolve and nature of Americans, suggesting that the U.S. is in decline and rules without a rudder.
    Western intervention would likely mean a degradation of Assad's tools of terror. Putin knows that the U.S. may have its challenges, but we have no equal when it comes to destroying a dictator's tools of war. All Putin can do is be a spoiler. No wonder Putin would be interested in bringing any Western initiative before the UN, where he has veto power — his only true measure of great-power status.
    Putin miscalculated when he tried to mask his self-interest with benevolence. He also miscalculated in achieving his second objective, using a surreal blend of hypocrisy and convenient ignorance of the facts. No one should confuse U.S. reluctance to use force at this time in Syria with a reluctance to defend our national security or to use all means necessary to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
    U.S. President Barack Obama may well not have persuaded Americans that Assad's use of chemical weapons in the midst of the Syrian civil war affects our national security. Likewise, many members of Congress remain unconvinced that the limited military action he proposed would achieve the aims that Obama outlined. Some say that the uncertain outcome of military action with such limited goals isn't worth the strain on U.S. military forces. But this is a temporary failure of leadership, and the current circumstances are unique. Demonstrate to us that vital U.S. interests are at stake, and we will act decisively.
    History is on our side. Putin may be a fair-weather UN fan. So be it. But make no mistake: It is the U.S., not the UN, that has provided the strategic framework for stability and peace since World War II.
    That responsibility will continue for decades to come — with or without the approval of Putin.

    Buck McKeon is a Republican U.S. representative from California and chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services.





    Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/19/3636149/mccain-slams-putin-in-opinion.html#storylink=cpy