Tag Archives: Putin

Against Poodle

Count me among those who think it’s damned ridiculous for the president of the United States to have a poodle for a pet. While Bush’s Scottish Terrier’s personality was entertaining, who can forget Putin’s words to Bush when he introduced … Continue reading

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Sarkozy The Georgian Hero?

Not sure how true this is, but here’s what the London Times says about how close Putin came to over throwing the Georgian government. With Russian tanks only 30 miles from Tbilisi on August 12, Mr Sarkozy told Mr Putin … Continue reading

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Georgia’s Tapes

Who jumped first in South Ossetia has become a bit of a information war between Georgia and Russia. Today, the Georgian government went a ways toward resolving it by releasing recordings of intercepted radio traffic preceding the Russian invasion. The … Continue reading

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Four Hours to Tbilisi

Well, well. Mr. Putin held a press conference and there’s much to condemn as usual. Not the least of which is Putin’s continued delusion that Russia was invaded by Georgia. But foremost perhaps, is an education for those who argued … Continue reading

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Medvedev’s Caribbean Dream

A depressingly confused analogy from Medvedev on US aid to Georgia: “I wonder how they would like it if we sent humanitarian assistance using our navy to countries of the Caribbean that have suffered from the recent hurricanes.” (AFP) We’d … Continue reading

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Anders Aslund on the Russian Economy

After forcefully savaging the Russian invasion of Georgia, controversial Swedish economist Anders Aslund lays out ten reasons he expects an impending economic collapse in Russia. Each point is sound, although some are more problematic than others. Particularly cogent are the … Continue reading

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Georgia Cuts Loose

Saakashvili has finally severed all Georgian diplomatic ties with Russia. A bit overdue, I must say. Meanwhile, Putin, in his ongoing effort to legitimize the Russian invasion of Georgia, again compared his country’s actions to the NATO intervention against Serbia … Continue reading

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Going to Tbilisi?

Russian units are on the move again in Georgian territory, apparently in violation of the truce agreement. One Russian soldier in a large convoy shouted an ominous flirtation to a press photographer outside Gori, hopefully in jest or lust: “Come … Continue reading

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When There’s Nothing Left to Burn You Have to Set Yourself on Fire

Sorry for my absenteeism on this, guys, but I’ve barely had the time to write on Registan.net about the war in Georgia (seriously, go there for some really in-depth discussions about what is going on), and have simply neglected copying … Continue reading

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Found Him

Joshua hasn’t disappeared, he just isn’t gracing us with his opinions on the conflict in the Caucasus, but you can find them at Registan.net, here and here. Heh, Insty links to him, but describes it as peevish (Josh? Peevish? Also, … Continue reading

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Georgia vs Finland

Zbigniew Brzezinski strikes a note from our discussion on tonights podcast and compares the invasion of Georgia with Stalin’s assault on Finland. If Georgia can hold up the military end of that analogy it would be quite impressive. I am … Continue reading

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QandO Podcast

McQ, Dale and I discuss the Russian campaign against Georgia over South Ossetia. Generally I feel that our support should belong to Georgia. However, Georgia has severely miscalculated in this matter, and frankly our options are limited. At best, we … Continue reading

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Testy Times in the Bird’s Nest

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd witnessed a heated discussion between Bush and Putin over Georgia.

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Achieving International Opposition

James Traub has written a magnificent survey of the events leading up to the current war in Georgia, and the personal contest between Mikheil Saakashvili and Putin.

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Law & State in Russia

Video of Robert Amsterdam speaking at the University of Illinois about the political-symbolic nature of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s prosecution for fraud in 2005. The transformation of the Khodorkovsky trial into a grotesque perversion of justice is enormously revealing about the nature … Continue reading

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Russian Nuclear Threat Against Ukraine

Russia’s fears of NATO expansion reaching right to her western border with Ukraine, have provoked a new round of saber rattling from the Kremlin. Here’s Putin’s ominous quote, after he had just met with Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko: “It’s frightening … Continue reading

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Soviet Disney World Reborn

With the red stars back on the MiGs, criticism of the government illegal and dissident arrests again in fashion, Soviet reversion is all the rage in Russia. Jim Hill revealed a couple of days ago that apparently Disney is in … Continue reading

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