Re: Putka is really frothing.

On Nov 21, 8:18 am, Eugene Holman <hol...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <qk18k3h2qv17haieci5h90om057466p...@xxxxxxx>,

Maris <lat...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:23:26 +0200, Eugene Holman
<hol...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

but reminding Moscow of thus by rubbing its face in the mud
is the surest way to evoke a robust and, from the Russian standpoint,
suitable response.

But Russia is not the USSR so it shouldn't see any equivalence should
it? should it?

Russia is not the USSR, but, like the USSR it is the biggest and only
center of power in Eastern Europe. Unlike the USSR, Russia has learned
to manage its economy relatively efficiently, and that in today's world
you need guns, money, and something to sell to the world in order to be
taken seriously as a major power.

I have to admit that I am surprised at the pace of Russia's economic
recovery, I had suspected that it would take another decade. In any
case, I do not see it as a bad thing if power and wealth in Europe are
more evenly distributed between the West and the East, that is to say,
between the EU and Russia. Particularly, of course, if both partners
realize that their continued power and prosperity are largely based on
smooth and mutually beneficial bilateral relationships. President Putin
seems to have a point, I would argue, in trying to cajole former Eastern
Europe and the United States to move beyond Cold War thinking and
positions. Russia is not the USSR, but it can easily be made to suffer
the paranoia that characterized the USSR.

Regards,
Eugene Holman

I think Russian recovery is based on the oil/ natural raw resources
money, similar to Saudi Arabia. Is this a Putin's achievment? I do not
know, but I think it has a lot to do with the world oil prices and
instability in the Middle East.

Mr. Putin tries to sell Russia as a 'normal' country to his Western
partners. Some of them happily close their eyes and ears and go along.
The fact is that Russia is not on par with other G8 countries -
neither in human rights nor in 'average' population income. If Russia,
why no China in G8?

I think in the Baltics people are 'once burned and twice shy' and they
keep in mind that 'those who do not remember the errors of the past
are deemed to repeat them'.

In the 30s and 40s Russia was a 'good guy' that helped to defeat
Germany, yet many of similar problems persisted back then as well -
fabrication of history, suppression of freedom of expression, human
rights abuses, and of course the standard slogan 'those who are not
with us are against us' (especially true in the Baltic and Georgian
context now) ...

EZ
.

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