Commentary

Oh Vladimir!- Article recommendation by Greg Strid

Oh Vladimir, why are you causing such confusion and
panic in the halls of western capitals- especially
Washington D.C.? His show of force against the tiny
nation of Georgia is ruining the vacations of many
presidents and prime ministers. “How rude of him,
what a nasty former spy he is!”, they are saying from
the South of France to the brush fields of Texas.

Mr. Putin is still ruling Russia. His new position as prime
minister was merely a lateral move to circumvent a
constitution that prohibits him from serving more than
two terms as president. (He will undoubtedly amend
this nuisance of a document, which will allow him to
become “Godfather of Russia” for all eternity.)

Yesterday’s New York Times featured an excellent article
called “U.S. Sees Much to Fear in a Hostile Russia”,
written by Peter Baker. He starts out by reporting that
Bashar al-Assad, the swanky bad-boy who heads Syria’s
largest criminal gang (some refer to it as their government),
is on a high-end weapons shopping spree in Russia.

The Syrian president’s arms procurement trip to Russia
highlights the many ways in which Putin’s gang can
cause problems for western nations- especially the U.S.
Russia already sells fancy weapons systems to a host of
countries that are on Washington’s crap list- Venezuala
(another resource rich land ruled by a thug), is one that
is a gold customer and is right in our neighborhood.

Russia can also veto U.N. Security Council resolutions,
and stall progress on halting Iran and North Korea’s
quest for nuclear weapons- actually, the North Korean
crime family already has a starter arsenal. And, to top
off the list of menacing activities, they can disrupt the
flow of oil and gas to Western Europe.

I encourage you to read this piece. With all of the idiotic
shouts and paranoid posturing going on, it is good to take
in a reasoned and fairly comprehensive piece on this subject
before deciding to head off to the bomb shelter. (You may
decide to go after all, but at least you will feel more
comfortable with the decision.)

©Greg Strid 2008

© 2008 Splendid Marbles.