Christ, I miss the Cold War
Some important developments in Eastern Europe. 
Recently, Vladimir Putin dismissed Mikhail Fradkov as Prime Minister and dissolved his cabinet. This was not an unexpected or terribly inappropriate move, but Putin's nomination of Viktor Zubkov over more experienced and well-known likely successors is cause for concern.
Zubkov currently runs a watchdog agency that investigates financial improprieties such as counterfeiting and tax evasion, and was involved in the epic takedown of Russian oil mogul Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was unique among his country's business oligarchs in that he ran a transparent business in order to spur Western investment, and also taking public stances against Putin--something which almost certainly resulted in the tax investigations.
Zubkov also worked under Putin in the city administration of St. Petersburg in the 1990s.
Add to all of this that the Russians exploded a new conventional bomb today. While it is non-nuclear, it is said to possess the destructive power of a nuke. The question is really about how close Putin can bring Russia to the "good old days" of Soviet power while maintaining a veneer of democracy, if he even gives a damn about that. Putin is currently scheduled to step down as President after the March elections.
In a related issue, the political situation in neighboring Ukraine (NEVER refer to the country as "The Ukraine". Ukrainians find it demeaning, as I learned the hard way while trying to seduce a lovely girl from Kiev at a party) has become ever more volatile. You may remember the presidential election there in 2004 between pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko and pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovich (who was then, and still is, Prime Minister of the Ukrainian parliament, called the Rada). Yushchenko, who had a JFK-style youthful appearance, was poisoned with a chemical that turned his face into a hideous mass of blisters and lesions. Nothing was ever proved, but the prevailing belief is that the Russian FSB (successor of the KGB) was behind the effort. Ugliness notwithstanding, Yushchenko prevailed in a close election.
Yushchenko recently dissolved the Rada and called for new elections, an action well within his power as President. Yanukovich, fearing that the new elections would result in losses across the board for his pro-Russian faction, frantically (and almost certainly with Russian backing) struck deals with enough members of parliament to suspend the elections, scheduled for September 30th.
As the law is clearly on the side of Yushchenko here, it is more likely that the elections will proceed as scheduled, but this is not a certainty. The aforementioned events in Russia suggest that Putin is prepared to take an even more active hand in Ukraine than he did in 2004, and as the United States is considerably more distracted with Iraq, nothing is certain as to the outcome of this little struggle.
Recently, Vladimir Putin dismissed Mikhail Fradkov as Prime Minister and dissolved his cabinet. This was not an unexpected or terribly inappropriate move, but Putin's nomination of Viktor Zubkov over more experienced and well-known likely successors is cause for concern.
Zubkov currently runs a watchdog agency that investigates financial improprieties such as counterfeiting and tax evasion, and was involved in the epic takedown of Russian oil mogul Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was unique among his country's business oligarchs in that he ran a transparent business in order to spur Western investment, and also taking public stances against Putin--something which almost certainly resulted in the tax investigations.
Zubkov also worked under Putin in the city administration of St. Petersburg in the 1990s.
Add to all of this that the Russians exploded a new conventional bomb today. While it is non-nuclear, it is said to possess the destructive power of a nuke. The question is really about how close Putin can bring Russia to the "good old days" of Soviet power while maintaining a veneer of democracy, if he even gives a damn about that. Putin is currently scheduled to step down as President after the March elections.
In a related issue, the political situation in neighboring Ukraine (NEVER refer to the country as "The Ukraine". Ukrainians find it demeaning, as I learned the hard way while trying to seduce a lovely girl from Kiev at a party) has become ever more volatile. You may remember the presidential election there in 2004 between pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko and pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovich (who was then, and still is, Prime Minister of the Ukrainian parliament, called the Rada). Yushchenko, who had a JFK-style youthful appearance, was poisoned with a chemical that turned his face into a hideous mass of blisters and lesions. Nothing was ever proved, but the prevailing belief is that the Russian FSB (successor of the KGB) was behind the effort. Ugliness notwithstanding, Yushchenko prevailed in a close election.
Yushchenko recently dissolved the Rada and called for new elections, an action well within his power as President. Yanukovich, fearing that the new elections would result in losses across the board for his pro-Russian faction, frantically (and almost certainly with Russian backing) struck deals with enough members of parliament to suspend the elections, scheduled for September 30th.
As the law is clearly on the side of Yushchenko here, it is more likely that the elections will proceed as scheduled, but this is not a certainty. The aforementioned events in Russia suggest that Putin is prepared to take an even more active hand in Ukraine than he did in 2004, and as the United States is considerably more distracted with Iraq, nothing is certain as to the outcome of this little struggle.
posted by Face of Spades at 4:26 PM
3 Comments:
Erie?
Awesome.
That means your just a short trip away from Duffs and the Anchor Bar and my friend Vanessa.
You might not be through with me yet. . .
Do you think Russia and China might start getting more buddy buddy? I heard a horrible rumor about Putin and Amadinijead (OMG, how do you spell OR say that!?)
Also...
Dear Russia,
You bomb doesn't scare me!
Love and radiation,
Stef
Couple things:
1. Does your Russian research have anything to do with that infamous gun runner, whose life was loosely dramatized in that stupid Nic Cage movie last year? I heard them talking about him the other night on Daily Show, how he's capitalized the most on communism falling, and I was thinking that I should write a sequel to that movie, where the drug runner gets angry at the initial movie being made, and decides to kidnap Nic Cage, and our only protection to help one of our greatest actors (... you could even call him a NATIONAL TREASURE!!! HEYO!!!!...) anyway, the only way we can protect Nic Cage is to hire a bunch of Nic Cage-impersonators to confuse them, even though the fromer KGB is very wily.
And if you're thinking that this has nothing to do with what you just wrote, and I only wanted an excuse to picture a lot of people making bad Nic Cage over-acting faces, you're right.
2. The Ukraine thing reminds me of one of my favorite Seinfeld moments: Kramer and Newman are playing an intense game of Risk... so intense that when they go to get a drink, they bring the board with pieces intact on the subway. While they're on the subway, they keep playing, and Newman offers Kramer Ukraine for something, and Kramer goes, "No way, Ukraine is weak." Suddenly, a huge scary-looking bearded guy comes up to them and yells, "I am from Ukraine! Ukraine is not weak! YOU ARE WEAK!" ANd then he smashes the board.
My coworker reminded me of that when we were making a deal with the Ukraine Vision Channel Five Television Network. Good times.
3. I also heard they were gonna pave over / bury a bunch of concrete on Chernobyl last week. Shouldn't they have done that 20 years ago, when it acutally happened?
Security code word puzzle:
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