This video is obvious Russian propaganda designed to highlight Putin’s toughness for western audiences. There are two things that stand out as kind of odd in this video. The first is that we never see Putin actually fire the tranquilizer gun. The second; everyone in the video is about the same height as Putin so that he doesn’t appear small. According to IMDB, Vladimir Putin is only 5′ 5″.
Tag: Vladimir Putin
What do Vladimir Putin and Napoleon Bonaparte Have in Common besides Being Short?
What do Vladimir Putin and Napoleon Bonaparte Have in Common besides Being Short?
Putin is a master chess player, and he’s manipulating the world from behind-the-scenes in a way unparalleled since perhaps Napoleon. Putin likens his position to that of a modern day czar, and he will stop at nothing to consolidate that power and anyone who stands in his way is going to be killed.
Now is the time for an official US policy of assassination. It would save countless lives.
This is the Must-Read editorial of the day.
The farther Russia’s tanks roll into Georgia, the more the world is beginning to see the reality of Vladimir Putin’s Napoleonic ambitions. Having consolidated his authoritarian transition as Prime Minister with a figurehead President, Mr. Putin is now pushing to reassert Russian dominance in Eurasia. Ukraine is in his sights, and even the Baltic states could be threatened if he’s allowed to get away with it. The West needs to draw a line at Georgia.
No matter who fired the first shot last week in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, Moscow is using the separatist issue as an excuse to demolish Georgia’s military and, if possible, depose its democratically elected government. Russian forces moved ever deeper into Georgia proper Monday. They launched a second front in the west from another breakaway province, Abkhazia, and took the central city of Gori, which lies 40 miles from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. These moves slice the country in half and isolate its ports, most of which Russia has bombed or blockaded. Moscow dismissed a cease-fire drawn up by European nations and signed by Georgia.
Russian bombers have also hit residential and industrial areas, making a mockery of Moscow’s charge that Georgia is the party indiscriminately killing civilians. Russian claims of Georgian ethnic cleansing now look like well-rehearsed propaganda lines to justify a well-prepared invasion. Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of tanks, ships and warplanes were waiting for Mr. Putin’s command.
While the rape of Chechnya was brutal, this is the most brazen act of Mr. Putin’s reign, the first military offensive outside Russia’s borders since Soviet rule ended. Yet it also fits a pattern of other threats and affronts to Russia’s neighbors: turning off the oil or natural-gas taps to Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, and even to NATO-member Lithuania; launching a cyberassault on Estonia; opposing two antimissile sites in NATO members in Eastern Europe that couldn’t begin to neutralize Russia’s offensive capabilities.
Our emphasis on NATO here is no coincidence. The Georgia invasion is a direct slap at the Western alliance. Tbilisi, like Kiev, has been pushing for NATO membership. Mr. Putin decided to act while some alliance members, led by Germany, dallied over their applications. Georgia was first. Ukraine, which has been pushing Russia to move its Black Sea fleet’s headquarters out of the Crimea, could be next.
The alliance needs to respond forcefully, and it can start today. NATO officials have granted Russia a special meeting before deciding what to do about Georgia — though we don’t recall Russia briefing NATO about its plans in the Caucasus. The meeting is an opportunity to relay to Moscow that Georgian and Ukrainian membership is back on the table and that the alliance is considering all options for Georgia, from a humanitarian airlift to military aid, if Russia doesn’t withdraw immediately.
Mr. Putin is betting that the West needs him for oil and deterring Iran’s nuclear ambitions more than he needs the West. He’s wrong — not least since his “cooperation” on Iran consists of helping Tehran stall for time and selling the mullahs advanced antiaircraft missiles. Russia also needs the West’s capital and especially its expertise in developing its oil and gas fields at least as much as the West needs Russian energy supplies.
The U.S. and Europe need to make all of that clear. Forcing Russia to veto a strong condemnation of its own actions at the U.N. Security Council would be one way to turn the pressure up. And speaking of pressure, where are all the peace protesters during this war? They can’t all be in China.
As for the U.S., this is perhaps the last chance for President Bush to salvage any kind of positive legacy toward Russia, amid what is a useful record elsewhere in Eurasia. While Mr. Bush has championed the region’s fledgling democracies, he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice badly misjudged Mr. Putin. Now would be a good moment for Mr. Bush to publicly acknowledge his misjudgment and rally the West’s response.
John McCain had the Russian leader pegged better, which speaks well of his foreign-policy instincts. The Republican Presidential candidate has long said that Russia should be booted from the G-8 and yesterday he outlined a forceful Western strategy on Russia that stops short of military action. Barack Obama has in the past indicated support for the Georgia and Ukraine NATO bids, but the Democratic candidate has yet to explain in any detail how he would respond to the current conflict.
There’s one other way the U.S. could hit Russia where it hurts: by strengthening the dollar. The greenback’s weakness has contributed greatly to the record oil prices that have in turn made Russia flush with petrodollars and fueled Mr. Putin’s expansionist ambitions. Crude prices continued to fall yesterday, below $115 a barrel, and further deflating that bubble would do more to sober up an oil-drunk Kremlin than would any kind of economic sanctions.
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Vladimir Putin’s Russia isn’t the former Soviet Union, bent on ideological confrontation around the world. But it is a Bonapartist power intent on dominating its neighbors and restoring its clout on the world stage. Unless Russians see that there are costs for their Napoleon’s expansionism, Georgia isn’t likely to be his last stop.
Putin Secretly Divorces His Wife and Marries Russia’s Sexiest Athlete Alina Kabaeva
A more accurate headline for this article should be: “Vladimir Putin, in the early stages of his mid life crises, leaves his wife for woman 30 years younger than him”.
Putin secretly divorces his wife and marries rhythmical gymnast Alina Kabaeva?
A recent issue of Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper said that Russia’s outgoing President Vladimir Putin was going to marry a girl who is 30 years younger. Furthermore, the newspaper wrote that Putin secretly divorced his wife, Lyudmila Putin, in February of the current year. With reference to rumours, La Repubblica wrote that Putin was going to remarry on June 15, Whit Sunday.
His new wife will be Alina Kabaeva, the rhythmic gymnast, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics and obtained numerous European awards, the newspaper said. According to the newspaper, “Russians consider Kabaeva to be sexier than Sharapova and Kournikova.” After the Olympic Games in Athens Kabaeva gave up sport (read article) and decided to try her hand at cinema.
La Repubblica underlined the authenticity of the news. According to the newspaper, “Putin divorced his wife in a St. Petersburg registry office.” The only disclaimer was voiced by Kabaeva’s press secretary, but it sounded so unconvincing as if it had been motivated by fear to unlock some mystery, since Putin still remains the most powerful personality in Russia.
Also read: Alina Kabaeva tops the list of Russia’s most popular athletes
The newspaper concluded that Putin’s plan concerning Kabaeva had been implemented long ago: Kabaeva became deputy head of the State Duma Committee on Youth Affairs and chaired the supervisory board of the National Media Group – Russia’s new media-holding owned by Yury Kovalchuk, who is a close friend of Putin’s. It was not incidental that Russia’s state-run TV channels and newspapers highlighted the story of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni – their story is similar.
Russian, Italian and French blogs have been inundated with comments on the allegedly forthcoming wedding of Putin and Kabaeva, Moskovsky Correspondent newspaper wrote with reference to a Moscow-based company that specializes in organizing solemn events. A tender for organizing this wedding has been reportedly announced. The wedding is due on June 15.
Photo gallery: Alina Kabaeva, the most flexible body of Russia
The Moskovsky Correspondent article dedicated to the forthcoming wedding of Putin and Kabaeva was published on April 11 and received an extensive coverage in the European media. Italy’s La Repubblica, Poland’s Wyborcza and Austria’s Die Presse have already covered the story with numerous pictures of Alina Kabaeva.
The most abstract article on the topic was posted on the website of Germany’s Der Spiegel: “No matter what she touches – a mace, hoops or the fate of Russia’s youth, the 24-year-old Olympic champion always astonished people with her ideal elegance and sports achievements. Russians extol her enormously. Now Moscow is visibly agitated about the widely rumoured wedding. It was the day when Putin agreed to lead United Russia. Before that the president’s personal life was kept secret, but now it hit the headlines. The former KGB spy allegedly divorced his wife and is going to marry the young athlete. The wedding is due on June 15 in the Konstantin Palace in St Petersburg’s suburb of Strelna.”
In an interview with Spiegel Online, the Moscow-based event-organizing company Karnaval-Stil (Carnival-Style), which was mentioned in the above-mentioned article, disclaimed its involvement in the organization of Putin’s wedding. “We learnt it from the Internet as well as you did,” stated the company’s Director Sergey Tylkin. “We would be greatly honoured to organize such a wedding, but it absolutely nonsensical.”
Meanwhile, the Kremlin declined any comments. Alina Kabaeva’s spokesman refuted any allegations of the wedding.
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