Vladimir Putin » Undiplomatic

9 February 2009 Charles J. Brown
01:44 pm

Putin on the Ritz

This is just too funny (h/t, via email, our buddy Midwest):

An Abba tribute band says it has performed a private concert for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Bjorn Again says it was paid £20,000 to play the gig 200 miles (320km) north of Moscow on 22 January.

Bjorn Again’s manager Rod Stephen and other band members said Mr Putin danced to Abba hits and shouted “Bravo!” The PM’s spokesman denied the claim. Mr Putin - a former KGB spy who has a black belt in judo - is known in Russia and the West for his macho image. . . .

The four-member group says Mr Putin and about seven other guests, including a woman, were present at the concert, but they sat on a sofa veiled by a curtain.

“It was the smallest audience we have ever performed to but Mr Putin was really enjoying it, shouting ‘Bravo’ and clapping with the others,” Aileen McLaughlin, who performs as Abba’s blonde Agnetha Faltskog, was quoted as saying by the Times newspaper. “He [Putin] was dancing along in his seat to Super Trouper and raised his hands in the air during Mamma Mia when we asked the audience to,” she said.

Be sure to watch the BBC video, which features a panel discussion with two members of the tribute band and Alexander Nekrassov, who’s described as a “former advisor to the Kremlin.” He might want to start carrying a radiation detector after this.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a foreign policy interview that featured someone in knee-high go-go boots. Best moment: Nekrassov speculates that those in the Kremlin who listen to hard rock like “Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple” will not be happy that Putin was dancing to Abba songs on the anniversary of Lenin’s death. Shot pans to Bjorn Again members who smile and nod knowingly — as if they are quite familiar with the ins and outs of Kremlinology.

When Ms. McLaughlin says that Putin raised his hands in the air during Mamma Mia, this will give you an idea of what she meant (warning: bad audience singing toward the middle):

No wonder Putin’s spokeman is vehemently denying it. We’re talking about some serious white-boy-booty- shaking. And it’s not like “Mamma Mia” is exactly a good career move. I mean just look at what it did to Pierce Brosnan.

I can’t help contrasting this with Obama, who didn’t need a lace curtain to hide the fact he was grooving to the various artists performing at the inaugural bash (or, for that matter, with Ellen Degeneres).

Then again, sometimes even American Presidents could benefit from concealing their dancing:

Thank God our long national dancing nightmare is over. Maybe Bush and Putin can go on Dancing with the Stars together.

Forget Bush v. Gore — Palin Forgot about Exxon v. Baker

Apparently, the worst is yet to come for Sarah Palin. According to a number of sources, CBS will air the last part of its interview with her tonight. It’s not good news for the McCain campaign

Of concern to McCain’s campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin’s interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing. The Palin aide, after first noting how “infuriating” it was for CBS to purportedly leak word about the gaffe, revealed that it came in response to a question about Supreme Court decisions.

After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases. There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence.

Every school kid learns a few Supreme Court cases. Roe v. Wade is one, but so are Marbury v. Madison, Dredd Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, even Bush v. Gore.

She. Didn’t. Freaking. Know.

But just for a moment, let’s give the Sarahnator the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was sick the week her high school civics class covered the Supreme Court. Maybe the Alaska Independence Party got a law passed prohibiting any mention of Supreme Court cases in Alaska’s school curriculum. Maybe none of the six colleges she attended offered an American History class (or maybe she didn’t take any).

Even then, there’s a small problem: Exxon v. Baker, from June of this year:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reduced what had once been a $5 billion punitive damages award against Exxon Mobil to about $500 million. The ruling essentially concluded a legal saga that started when the Exxon Valdez, a supertanker, struck a reef and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989.

And it’s not like Sunshine Sarah didn’t know about it:

Public officials in Alaska are reacting strongly to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday to slash the $2.5 billion damage award to Alaska fishermen to $508 million, nearly 20 years after the Exxon Valdez disaster. . . .

Gov. Sarah Palin [said,] “I am extremely disappointed with today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Palin said. “While the decision brings some degree of closure to Alaskans suffering from 19 years of litigation and delay, the court gutted the jury’s decision on punitive damages.”

Palin added, “It is tragic that so many Alaska fishermen and their families have had their lives put on hold waiting for this decision. My heart goes out to those affected, especially the families of the thousands of Alaskans who passed away while waiting for justice.”

Palin said the decision today undercut one of the principal legs of deterrence for those engaged in maritime shipping in Alaska waters. She called on state and federal agencies to be vigilant and firm in regulating such activities.

This was a huge deal in Alaska, generating bipartisan outrage. Palin was right in the middle of it. According to a friend who does public relations for progressive organizations, Palin appeared at several events to express her outrage over the decision.

Clearly she’s panicking. She is so discombobulated, so completely freaked out that she can’t even remember the biggest Supreme Court case to hit Alaska in many years. She isn’t stupid. She’s cratering.

Either that, or Katie Couric scares the living crap out of her. That doesn’t exactly reassure me that a President Palin could stare down Hu Jintao or Vladimir Putin.

Thought for the Overnight

John McCain said he had looked into Vladimir Putin’s eyes. Good for him.

But why was he so unwilling to look into Barack Obama’s? Was he unwilling to show a level of respect he gave to someone he regards as an enemy of the United States?

Putin a New Spin on the Campaign

Heh.

Make sure you read the small type at the bottom. . . .

All that’s missing is Also Sprach Ahmadinejad Alaska Zarathustra

Hat tip: Boing Boing

Life under House Arrest in China: Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like for those standing up to the ChiComs, if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be under house arrest, watch this extraordinary samizdat videos from Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan, two Chinese human rights activists who also are husband and wife. Hu currently is in jail and Zeng is constantly harassed.

You can find more here and here. A version that shows the highlights of all four videos can be found here.

Today, there’s word that Hu and Zeng may be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize:

This year’s Nobel peace prize will most likely be awarded to a Chinese dissident to highlight China’s human rights record in the wake of the Olympic Games, according to experts who closely follow the workings of the award.

A likely candidate to receive the prize, the winner of which will be announced on October 10 in Oslo, is Hu Jia, a Chinese activist who has campaigned on democracy, the environment and the rights of HIV/Aids patients. Hu is serving three-and-a-half years in jail for “inciting to subvert state power”.

“The prize will go this year to a Chinese dissident and I believe the most likely [recipient] will be Hu Jia, perhaps together with his wife [Zeng Jinyan],” said Stein Toennesson, director of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, and a close observer of the peace prize. “He has become the most well known Chinese dissident now and it has been a very long time since anyone [related to China] has won the prize.” The last occasion was the Dalai Lama in 1989.

The list of those nominated is always fodder for entertainment. This year’s list includes 164 individuals and 33 organizations. No Jerry Lewis, but believe it or not, Vladimir Putin was nominated. So was the Esperanto language. I know a certain professor friend of mine in St. Louis who will be delighted to hear about the latter.

In all seriousness, let’s hope that this is not merely a rumor, but the truth. Human rights activists in China are all but forgotten, swept aside by the glitz and glamour of the Olympics.

Sarah Palin’s Excellent Adventure

In case you missed it yesterday, the Sarahnator and her tannin’ bed are heading to New York City to visit Dr. Joel Fleischman to meet with strange people who talk funny (no, not other Alaskans):

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will meet with foreign leaders next week at the United Nations, a move to boost her foreign-policy credentials, a Republican strategist said. Republican candidate John McCain plans to introduce the Alaska governor to heads of state at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, although specific names weren’t yet firmed up. “The meetings will give her some exposure and experience with foreign leaders,” the strategist said. “It’s a great idea.”

Oh yeah, a great idea. Just stu-freaking-pendous. Maybe McCain advisor John Bolton can take her up in a helicopter and they can try to shoot the top ten stories off the UN building.

Nothing like using foreign governments to score a few political points. And hey, if Obama can go to Berlin, why can’t Palin go to Turtle Bay?

Uh, because she doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about?

I can see it now.

Hi Vladimir and Dmitri, my name is Sarah. Vlad, you gotta come to Alaska where we can go huntin’ together. Shootin’ moose is a lot more fun than that little kitty you killed a few weeks ago. And have I mentioned that I can see you guys from my house?

Oh, and if you ever mess with Georgia again, this lipstick-wearin’ pitbull is gonna bomb the living crap out of ya. If you thought messin’ with Texas was a pain, just wait ’til you have a snowshoe shoved where the sun don’t shine.

I’m sure that will go over like a ton of nukes.

Party Like It’s 1938

McCain campaign advisor, New York Post columnist, and paleocon Ralph Peters, during an American Enterprise Institute discussion yesterday on the Russian-Georgian conflict:

The Russians, on whom I have wasted far too much of my life, are drink-sodden barbarians who occasionally puke up a genius. And we should make no mistake. Vladimir Putin is one such genius. As this brilliantly planned and executed operation illustrates, he is the most effective leader in the world today, certainly of any major country. No one else comes close.

Obviously the ruthlessness helps. He is just uninterested in international law, precedent etc. and for now, for Russia he’s great. In the long run he may be very negative factor for Russia but for now he’s riding very very high.

[snip]

We’ve done this before. The message we’ve sent to our allies yet again or would-be allies, would-be clients yet again is america won’t come through for you, especially if you don’t have oil or gas. We did this to the Hungarians in 1956. We encouraged them to rise up, and they rose up and we did nothing.

In 1991 with the Shia in Iraq we encouraged them to rise up and they did and we let Saddam’s troops slaughter them. And we have been cheering Georgia on, free-wheeling democracy, go get ‘em, and in the pinch, we failed them utterly…

We’re faced with a resurgent major power, not super power, with imperialist megalomaniacal ambitions led by the most effective and, I would argue, the most brilliant leader in the world today, outclassing everyone I can see. Ladies and gentleman, I find this terribly reminiscent of the 1930s.

Those wacky wacky neocons. They always want to party like it’s 1938.

You know, I understand the urge to want to revel in history, pretend you’re Churchill, and portray your opponents as appeasers, but come on, folks. Wasn’t it just a few months ago that you were claiming that Iran was the new Nazi Germany? Make up your minds already.

Hat tip: The Swamp

One of These Things is Exactly Like the Other

Pop quiz: Kosovo is to Iraq as Iraq is to. . .

Georgia.

As Matthew Yglesias and other analysts have noted, the Kosovo conflict set a dangerous precedent because the United States (with the backing of most of Europe) intervened without getting authorization from the Security Council under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. At the time, liberal internationalists cheered the move, believing that the danger of ethnic cleansing and perhaps genocide took precedence over a Security Council resolution.

The only problem was that it created a precedent for other unilateral intervention. Four years later, when the Bush Administration invaded Iraq, many of the same folks who defended the U.S. action in Kosovo found the neocons making the exact same arguments.

Now, the Bush Administration is getting a taste of the same medicine it so gleefully dished out back in 2003. The Administration finds itself trying to explain why Russian action in Georgia is somehow not the same as what the United States did in Iraq.

Let’s face facts here, folks. There is no difference. Well there’s one difference: Georgia has a democratically elected government. But in the context of contemporary international politics, that clearly doesn’t mean much.

Time to play compare and contrast. Today, Dubya said the following [emphasis added]:

I am deeply concerned by reports that Russian troops have moved beyond the zone of conflict, attacked the Georgian town of Gori, and are threatening the Georgia’s — Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi. There’s evidence that Russian forces may soon begin bombing the civilian airport in the capital city.

If these reports are accurate, these Russian actions would represent a dramatic and brutal escalation of the conflict in Georgia. And these actions would be inconsistent with assurances we have received from Russia that its objectives were limited to restoring the status quo in South Ossetia that existed before fighting began on August the 6th.

It now appears that an effort may be underway to depose Russia’s* duly elected government. Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century.

[snip]

Russia’s actions this week have raised serious questions about its intentions in Georgia and the region. These actions have substantially damaged Russia’s standing in the world. And these actions jeopardize Russians’ relations — Russia’s relations with the United States and Europe. It is time for Russia to be true to its word and to act to end this crisis.

Now here’s what then-Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the time of the invasion of Iraq [emphasis added]:

Today the United States started a military action against Iraq. Already there are human victims and destruction. . . . Let me stress from the beginning that military actions are taking place contrary to the world public opinion, contrary to the principles and norms of international law and the Charter of the UN.

Nothing can justify this military action — neither accusations of Iraq of supporting international terrorism (we have never had and do not have information of this kind) nor the desire to change the political regime in that country which is in direct contradiction to international law and should be determined only by the citizens of this or that state.

[snip]

The military action against Iraq is a big political mistake. I have already referred to the humanitarian aspect. But the threat of the disintegration of the established system of international security causes at least as much concern.

If we allow international law to be replaced by “the law of the fist” whereby the strong is always right and has the right to do anything and in choosing methods to achieve his goals is not constrained by anything, then one of the basic principles of international law will be put into question, and that is the principle of immutable sovereignty of a state. And then no one, not a single country in the world will feel secure. And the vast area of instability that has arisen will grow and cause negative consequences in other regions of the world.

It is for these reasons that Russia insists on early termination of military actions. And we are still confident that the central role in resolving the crisis situations in the world, including the situation around Iraq, must belong to the UN Security Council.

I would like to stress that Russia is committed to trying to bring this situation back to a peaceful course and to achieve genuine solution of the issue of Iraq on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions, a solution that would take into account the legitimate interests of the Iraqi people, respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of that country.

Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet pot. The only fundamental difference here is that Putin framed things in terms of international law and the role of the UN, while Bush framed things in terms of Russia’s place in the world and its relationship with the United States and Europe. (Leave it to our distinguished President to allow his soul brutha to come up with the stronger argument.)

That said, somebody needs to throw these words back in Putin’s face. And Medvedev’s too. What hypocrites.

Sadly, as a result of our Iraq adventure, it can’t be the United States.

Vladimir Putin is Ruining My Vacation

How’s that for a ridiculously self-referential headline? Take that, Telegraph UK!

In all seriousness, more on the Georgia-Russia conflict soon.

Tape-Delayed Blogging the Opening Ceremonies

Three words: Triumph of the Will.

Yes, it’s pretty cool to watch 2008 drummers beat the drums in, the footsteps come from Tiananmen, the floating rings, and so on. But tell me how any of this differs from Leni Riefenstahl?

And I don’t know who the commentator is who’s co-hosting this with Bob Costas and Matt Lauer (som guy named Josh? Anyone know? I came in at 8:00), but if he says one more thing about how intimidating the Chinese are, I’m gonna hurl.

Oh god, cute children. I hate mass gatherings of cute children.

And what is up with Bush and Putin yakkin’ it up? Are they soulmates once again?.

WTF. The children just handed the ChiCom flag to goosestepping soldiers. And the NBC commentator started yammering about the state being the guarantor of the children. Uh, okaaaaay.

The scroll was cool. So were the giant printing blocks. The “Confucian scholar” dancers with the brooms on their heads didn’t do anything for me. And the constant reference to harmony — and Josh talking about how important it is today was so annoying that Matt Lauer did not let it pass unnoticed.

Sorry Joshua, but harmony also means jailing and torturing those who don’t go along.

Did Josh just say that the Great Wall kept out Barbarians? Sheesh. Is this guy an NBC employee or a wholly owned subsidiary of China.

They finally identified the lackey: Joshua Cooper-Ramos. Dude should move to Beijing.

And the commercials are just awful.

Comrade Joshua again: “Great individual accomplishments rely much more than on the individual alone.”

Enough.

Putin on the Ritz

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