The Real' State of the Union, 2005

Our current cheerleader for the corporate criminal class, George W. Dubya, the Dangerous Dumb-Shit' Bush---he was a cheerleader in college---gave his State of the Union address last week and his hubris was outrageous. I use the word hubris because it means an exaggerated pride or self-confidence often resulting in retribution,' and due to his ignorance and arrogance, the threat of terrorist attacks against America has grown exponentially. When I look at Bush Jr., I am reminded of Ronald Reagan and his simplistic world-view. Both of these mental midgets viewed the world as some sort of old western such as High Noon and saw themselves as Gary Cooper bravely going out to face the bad guys in a shoot-out. Both of these men have seriously impugned our reputation around the world and America has come to be considered somewhat of a dangerous joke. I submit that Bush is one of the most outlandish liars, cheaters, frauds, and killers of all time and should be ranked alongside of Hitler & Stalin. Right about now you're probably thinking I should be run out of the country for being anti-American? Well my friend, I argue that it is far easier to just blindly go along with the herd in terms of popular opinion and that I in fact am a loyal American because I take Thomas Jefferson's admonition seriously. Jefferson forewarned us that it was not only our right but our duty to hold our government accountable. Jefferson, John Adams, and others feared one branch of our government gaining too much power and this is why they established the separation of powers by creating a three-way division of power i.e. the legislative, the judicial, and the executive. Well, we have slid down that slippery slope towards an oligarchy and I posit that we have indeed arrived there. The executive has effectively usurped the overwhelming majority of the true power of our government. In fact, it's nave to even refer to it as our' government any longer. Why? Well, consider the definition of oligarchy' (a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes).

For instance, here are but a few brief illustrations of the Bush/Cheney junta or cabal which reveal we are living under an oligarchy: the presidential election of 2000 in which there was massive voter-fraud in Florida (which coincidentally was governed by Bush's brother, Jeb) and the Supreme Court took the unprecedented and anti-Constitutional action of intervening in and appointed Bush as the president; the fact that this is the most secretive administration ever in U.S. history i.e. Cheney's Energy Summit' and his refusal to disclose who attended & the fact that his refusal was backed by the Supreme Court; the intimidation and manipulation of the major intelligence agencies in order to con the U.S. public into supporting the invasion of Iraq; the almost total acquiescence on the part of Congress in going along with the Bush agenda right down the line; the repetition of voter fraud in the 2004 presidential election and the immediate abdication by the democratic' contender, Senator John Kerry; etc. etc. etc. The list goes on and on & I will highlight more examples as I piecemeal Bush's State of the Union speech.

I downloaded a copy of the complete text of Bush's address and the following is my critique or dissection of this dangerous dissimulator's rhetoric and dogma which his spin-doctors so cleverly wrapped in simplistic images and empty words and phrases designed to pull at our heartstrings in order to cloud our judgment and manipulate us. And speaking of manipulation, it is apropos to start off with this caution, perhaps the most pernicious proverb ever uttered is Ignorance is Bliss?' Why do I say this? Because the more ignorant a people are, the easier it is for the powers that be to control and manipulate them. And this is the motto of the evangelical fundamentalists of which Bush is a proud member and champion. But on the contrary, St. Jerome stated that "It is worse still to be ignorant of your ignorance." In other words, far too many Americans aren't even aware that they are ignorant. And I say this not out of a spirit of arrogance but as a matter of sad fact. Because our educational system is so extremely bureaucratized with layer upon layer of administrators all trying to hold onto their power and prestige, our children and hence, our citizenry, ranks 50th amongst approximately 150 nations that make up the United Nations. It is important to bear in mind that ignorance isn't the same as stupidity. Ignorance simply means to not know and the overwhelming majority of Americans simply aren't aware that they have been so seriously short-changed in their public education.

Furthermore, I would remind you of the dire warning George Santayana gave us; "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." In brief, because the majority of us are the products of such an inferior public educational system, we often don't make the connections or remember the events of even the relatively near-past and the corrupt politicians and corporate C.E.O.s again and again get away with ripping us off. Georgie is suppose to be an affable, bumbling Big Brother' of benevolence simply trying to bring democracy' to the world yet, he struts around the world stage like a bantam rooster, cocky and sneering. I believe his image as a down-home, good ol' boy from Texas is a total faade and this charade has been used time and time again to dupe the public into believing that they're one of us. Yeah, right! He was raised in the northeast and went to elite prep schools and got into Yale on his daddy's coattails and was a member of that ultra secret Skull and Bones Society of which John Kerry was also a member. They really think we're all a bunch of stupid morons to believe we will fall for this country boy image. Every politician that runs for president cloaks themselves in this image because it has been so effective and it dates back to Abraham Lincoln and his being born in a log cabin and being a humble man who pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. You can't even run for president in today's America unless you're a multi-millionaire or billionaire! And herein lies the problem, in order to raise the kind of money necessary to run for the presidency, a politician must make countless deals with the corporate cockroaches and they don't give money without expecting something in return i.e. protection from prosecution, sweetheart deals such as Halliburton's contracts to rebuild' Iraq after our military bombed it into the Stone Age, etc.

Now, I am often guilty of long, polemical diatribes when I get into talking about politics but I am doing so partly because I often feel on the defensive because so many people I get into heated arguments and/or discussions with, have never heard the things I accuse Bush et al of. I want to cite Noam Chomsky here because I agree with some who have declared him as among the top ten most quoted people throughout western civilization and he happens to be the only one alive. This is my crude paraphrasing of something Chomsky said awhile back on Free Speech T.V.; "the information is available but few are able or willing to put the tremendous amount of effort into researching and digging the information up." This essay is my opinion and my qualifications are the over thirty years I have spent pursuing the truth,' wisdom, knowledge, and experience. I have traveled fairly extensively, spent fourteen years pursuing & earning a bachelor's degree in English literature, worked at perhaps a hundred different jobs, been an educator for over fifteen years, collected several thousand books, and read several hundred of which while making copious notes in them, etc. And I am not saying that I possess the Truth' but simply that I feel that I have at least paid some substantial dues and therefore deserve at least to be heard, and this brings me back to Chomsky. He points out that Bush and "most politicians use terms like values' in order to avoid the issues because discussion of the issues would reveal their true policies and actions. And values' appeal to people's emotions and cloud their reasoning abilities." (my paraphrasing) For example, note how often Bush used terms like democracy' and freedom' in his State of the Union. I have also noted how fond Bush is of throwing the word tyranny' around. Consider the definition of tyranny if you will (a government in which absolute power is vested in a single ruler; oppressive power), I contend that Bush is projecting' upon all the other leaders' of the nations he doesn't like, this image of tyranny which in fact he is dangerously close to realizing in total himself. Let's now get to the meat and potatoes of his rhetorical bombast.

In the very first sentence of his speech, Bush asserts or claims that "we have been placed in office by the votes of the people we serve." Well this may be a Freudian Slip because the people he serves are the top 1% or the corporate ruling elite but on the other hand as I said, this is a lie because he was appointed by the Supreme Court and therefore it wasn't a true election. I believe this was significant and purposely chosen because in approximately half the nation's voters' minds, there is still doubt that he won the 2004 election fairly? And one thing all spin-doctors know is that if you repeat a lie long enough, most people will eventually accept it as fact or truth. In the next sentence he proclaims that Iraq is free and sovereign.' This is an incredible statement because only the most nave and woefully ignorant could look at the current state of affairs in Iraq and call it free and sovereign. Their provisional government' was hand-picked by the Bush cabal who first tried to install Chalabi as president. Then Chalabi was revealed as a bank embezzler who is wanted by the Syrian government and all of a sudden Chalabi was persona non grata and just like ol' Kenny Boy' i.e. Ken Lay of ENRON, Bush et al claimed they barely knew him. Yeah, right! Look up Bush's first inauguration,' and the picture that was splashed across the front pages of newspapers all over America and the world clearly shows Chalabi seated right behind Bush as he is giving his speech. Barely knew him? Yeah, right!

Next, Bush says that he has "renewed the commitment of our Nation to the guiding ideal of liberty for all." Hmm? He has a strange notion of liberty?' Because when I look at Afghanistan, Kabul is the only place that has some degree of law and order and only because it is heavily defended by U.S. forces. Outside of Kabul, the drug war lords rule once again just as they did before we invaded Afghanistan. Funny that we don't seem to be concerned about the fact that these war lords preside over perhaps the largest opium growing fields on the planet? The people of Afghanistan are definitely not liberated from their oppressors. And the people of Iraq are definitely not liberated and in fact have been demanding that the American military leave for over two years. The people of Iraq are often under martial law, go through check points where they are bodily searched daily, have no work, electricity for about two hours per day, live under constant fear of being blown up by either an insurgent' or an American bomb or be shot, etc. This is so chillingly Orwellian in that oppression has now become liberty.' Equally important is the fact that with the aid of the Patriot Act' which only one member of Congress even bothered to read before it was signed and passed into law, which has demonstrably gutted our . The ultra secretive and scheming Bush is now free to enter our homes and rifle through our personal belongings and lives without ever telling us and without a warrant. They can spy on our mail, our phone calls, the websites we go to, in short, they have complete freedom to spy on us whenever and wherever they please. They can and they have arrested hundreds if not thousands of Americans and held and tortured them all without ever even charging the people they abducted, giving them legal representation, or notifying their loved ones where they were being held. This is liberty?' The only liberty' is the liberty of the powerful and rich to screw us and the entire world. We are free to be subservient, an oxymoron George Orwell would have probably appreciated. Furthermore, Bush's concept of liberty' is again revealed in the fact that at all his public' speeches and/or rallies, you must first sign a document testifying that you are one of his supporters. Remember that quaint notion sometimes referred to as Freedom of Speech? Or what about the right to dissent? We salute you o glorious Fuhrer! I believe Bush's next assertion to advance that ideal (liberty) at home and around the world,' is a thinly disguised declaration of warfare against any and all who dare to stand up to him and his corporate masters?

Next Bush declares that we have a healthy, growing economy.' Oh it's growing for the top 1% of the tax bracket for whom he gave the lavish tax breaks just like his second-rate actor predecessor, Reagan did. They are enjoying obscene rates of profit but for millions upon millions of working class Americans, they are being down-sized' and their jobs are being outsourced' overseas so their poor CEOs can make even greater profit off the slave labor of indigenous people around the globe. Bush cites a statistic of over two million new jobs have been created in the last four years but of course he forgets to mention the millions of jobs outsourced.' Naturally, statistics can be manipulated by both the conservatives and the liberals and they vary greatly from agency to agency but I believe one of the most accurate statistics is that the net result of the last four years under the bushwhackers is that approximately a hundred thousand jobs have been created. But don't be mislead my friend. What the propagandists don't tell us is how many more citizens have entered the job market in the last four years along with precisely what kinds of jobs have been created?' Are they service' sector jobs i.e. flipping burgers and such? Or are they part-time' as that exemplar of capitalist greed run amok, Wallmart is so fond of because they can therefore avoid providing any modicum of medical benefits? The ugly reality is that starting most blatantly under old Ronnie Reagan, the conservative extremists have been waging a war on all unions in America and around the world wherever and whenever any of their corporate interests have been threatened.' Translation, whenever their profits are reduced or disturbed by pesky workers who ask for a fair wage so they can provide food and shelter for their families. I don't know about you but, I have been job insecure for most of my adult life. I couldn't find work for three years approximately. And I'm a college graduate. Imagine how difficult it is and has been for those millions of Americans who not only don't have a college education but many also of whom which didn't graduate from high school. Again Bush thinks that by repeating ad nauseam that our economy is confident and strong,' it becomes a fact. This is akin to Dorothy in believing that by simply clicking her heels, closing her eyes, & wishing for something, it comes true. I'm no big fan of Clinton's but when he left office, there was something like a 400 billion dollar budget surplus and now after four years of the Bush junta, we are at an all-time record high of something like a 0,000,000 deficit. I'm definitely not an economic expert but this is suppose to be a confident and strong' economy?

And then the great deceiver goes on to say that "Our generation (code for him and his creepy crime partners) has been blessed---by the expansion of opportunity, by advances in medicine" In fact, if you bear in mind that he is really referring to his inner circle, this then does indeed become a true statement. Thanks to NAFTA, GATT, and other such trade agreements along with the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, etc. which, by the way was signed by that democratic liberal' John Kerry, the greedy corporate pigs have almost carte blanche to exploit just about every square inch of the planet. Globalization' and privatization' are the camouflage behind which the Robber Barons now hide. And just as they have privatized' the hell out of South America and destroyed the economies of dozens of countries by privatizing' their water, power, telephone, etc. utilities, in this State of the Union, Bush is now seeking to privatize' Social Security so his Wall Street cronies will be able to plunder it. Of course the scheming and conniving bastards behind the Bush faade e.g. Karl Rove et al, realize that the word privatize' might scare off a good number of Americans whom aren't totally brain-dead so they cloak their intentions by calling it retirement accounts.' And as for his claim regarding advances in medicine,' is he being facetious because he has clearly stated and pursued a policy of stopping stem-cell research in order to placate his fundamentalist constituents. These anti-intellectual evangelicals were the primary reason Bush was able to dupe approximately half the American public into believing he is a man of character and principle.

Next, if it weren't so devastating in terms of the harmful consequences, it'd be almost hilarious because Bush with a straight-face tells us "we have provided tax relief to every person who pays income taxesopened up new markets abroad, prosecuted corporate criminals" Let's see, hmm? Tax relief to every person who pays' income taxes?" In reality, most of Bush's champions of capitalism have avoided paying their taxes almost entirely by opening front corporations in places like the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. And while they reap their fantastic profits from operating in the U.S. and enjoying the protections of the U.S. government and the U.S. military, they give practically nothing back. Our infrastructure is imploding and they sit back fat and sassy like Nero fiddling while Rome went up in flames. Furthermore, I heard awhile back that Bush has cut the funding for the department of the IRS that pursues corporate tax cheaters and at the same time, Bush increased the funding for the IRS department who's job it is to pursue the small-time, individual citizens who cheat on their taxes. Equal justice for all?

Secondly, Bush stated that we have opened up new markets abroad.' Yes, this is true but as I stated earlier, these new markets' were opened up via the policies and practices of the IMF, the WTO, the World Bank and etc. And what Bush neglects to inform the public of is that these markets have been opened' through brutal intimidation tactics, through bribery, and a multitude of nefarious and immoral practices e.g. Coca-Cola has hired thugs in Columbia amongst other places to threaten, beat, and sometimes even kill union organizers in their plants. Ah yes, nothing like the free market!' Next, the bush leaguer proclaims we' "[have] prosecuted corporate criminals" Yeah, right! They went after that horrible Martha Stewart who wasn't actually convicted of insider trading but of some minor infraction. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of hers but her prosecution was a joke because she was clearly a scapegoat or a sacrificial lamb and when you consider the trivial amount of profit she made compared to the likes of Ken Lay and the billions he screwed his employees and investors out of, it's absurd almost beyond belief? I'm not sure but I don't think that Ken Lay even received any jail time whatsoever? Of course I shouldn't be surprised at this turn of events because after all, back during Reagan's reign and the Savings and Loan Scandal which also bankrupted and wiped-out tens if not hundreds of thousands of Americans life savings, good old Ned Bush was the president of Silverado Savings and Loan, and he too never saw the inside of a jail cell. These pirates and ideologues keep on resurfacing over the decades and they enrich one another and pardon one another. Meanwhile, they preach to us, the public, to be honest, frugal, hard-working, and etc. By the way, ENRON was just the most glaring example of corporate malfeasance. There were dozens and dozens of corporate giants who committed the same crimes of cooking their books and manipulating the gullible public by artificially pumping up stock prices by claiming projected future earnings and etc. as assets. This would not have been possible were it not for the accepted business practices and the atmosphere of unaccountability and license to pillage and plunder the public at will.

And then Bush has the gall to lecture us that "America's prosperity requires restraining the spending appetite of the federal government." What? He and his henchmen must think us a nation of Alzheimer's patients because as I recently stated, we went from a budget surplus when Clinton left office and we are now in hock up to our eyebrows. Every snake-in-the-grass politician running for the executive office swears that he is the foe of big government and will drastically reduce its size. And every president for the past few decades has been a bald-faced liar because the actual size of their administrations has grown not been reduced. In fact, if you will recall, before we attacked Iraq, that fascist, Wolfowitz, was questioned at length about how much it might cost us to wage this war and he said about 50 billion after repeated questioning and he reassured us that other countries would contribute funding and that the oil revenues from Iraq's industry would be used to compensate our tax dollars expended. Well to date, we have spent something like 240 billion dollars and there is no end in sight. Do you see why I used the word hubris' in my opening remarks? I used it because appropriately it illustrates a vital lesson several empires' have learned the hard way. It was the ancient Greeks who learned this lesson first I believe? Then the Romans, then the British, and now it is our turn. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, we may go down in history as one of the shortest lived empires due to the greed and stupidity of presidents like Bush?

]]>

Furthermore, the bastard goes on to proclaim that he has "substantially reduce[d] or eliminate[d] more than 150 government programs that are not getting results" Yes indeed! What he wisely leaves out though is that while he is slashing the budgets of many programs that he disagrees with politically and policy-wise, he is meanwhile transferring the funds to his faith-based' programs. He also neglects to mention that one of the very first acts he did upon taking the throne was to use executive privilege to make an end run around the wishes of Congress to establish his faith-based' offices in several of the federal governments' major departments such as the Dept. of the Treasury, the Dept. of Health, Education, & Welfare, the White House, etc. etc. etc. This is clearly a gross violation of the principle of Separation of Church and State and hence anti-Constitutional. It's critically important that we wake up to the fact that King George is a true-believer' and has an agenda with the main goal of making Christianity' the official state religion and of silencing every dissenting voice. Dubya is serving two masters, his corporate masters and God. He might actually believe he is waging a holy crusade against the heathen Muslims? He slipped and used the word crusade' in a few public speeches but was inundated with criticism and promptly stopped using the word. The vile, republican reptile then goes on to chastise us that "the principle here is clear: taxpayer dollars must be spent wisely, or not at all." Can you believe the audacity of this guy? We are now the largest debtor nation in the world and if two of our major creditors call in the debts we owe them i.e. China and Japan, our economy could very easily go into a tail-spin and land us in another Great Depression perhaps more severe even than the last one in the 1930s? Another bleak scenario is that the European Economic Union may get fed up with us bullying the rest of the world and stop dealing with us which also could have catastrophic consequences for our economy. Lastly, some scholars have posited that one of the secret reasons why we invaded and will most likely occupy for decades to come is because Saddam was making overtures of switching the currency upon which oil from Iraq is currently based i.e. the dollar, to the Euro-dollar? This too would have been a serious blow to our economy.

At the same time, and in his very next breath, the Sultan of Swindle segues into "To make our economy stronger and more dynamic, we must prepare a rising generation to fill the jobs of the 21st century. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, " As some wit put it, "the No Child Left Behind Act should more accurately be called the No Childs Behind Left." Once again it's amazing how short people's memories are or how uninformed so many of us are. This miracle' act of legislation originated in Bush's former governorship of Texas. The television program aired a story sometime back which revealed that school administrators falsified data and records to make this act appear a success and Bush still goes around the country touting its positive results? Once again the wizard of oz is attempting to fool us into believing his hocus pocus i.e. because he has declared its efficacy, it is so. Additionally, just because they raise the standards' and claim that test scores are on the rise,' doesn't make it true or real. As a person who has worked in our public schools in both L.A. and Portland, Oregon in a variety of capacities and for over fifteen years, I know a thing or two about this subject in particular. Simply raising standards does nothing in terms of enabling teachers to become better teachers. Teachers need their bureaucratic paperwork to be reduced substantially, they need more rigorous training in college, they need more teaching assistants, they need better classroom furniture and environments, they need drastically better textbooks, they need to be paid at least ,000 to start and be able to advance up to perhaps 0,000 per year if they have made significant improvements in the overall educational abilities of their students. Moreover, Bush leaves out of his rhetoric the fact that due to his massive giveaways to the oil industry, the Pentagon, the rich, his cuts in federal programs designed to help cities and states pay for their infrastructures costs, along with federal programs for health, education, and welfare, along with the outsourcing' of millions of jobs, school funding has been shrinking and the results are even lower levels of excellence and accomplishment. This pretense of caring about our children's educations is a stupendous sham. Bush and his cretin friends don't give a damn about public education because their children attend the elite private academies where the Classics in history, philosophy, literature, political science, etc. are rigorously taught. This superior' class believe like the royalty' of Europe during the medieval ages that theirs is a divine right to the monarchy' i.e. they alone are meant to rule and they alone are capable of leading.'

Now Bush gets to what is the core of the truth' which lurks behind all the diatribes and polemics. "To make our economy stronger and more competitive, America must reward, not punish, the efforts and dreams of entrepreneurs (Chalabi, for instance). Small business is the path of advancement, so we must free small businesses from needless regulation and protect honest job-creators from junk lawsuits. Justice is distorted, and our economy is held back, by irresponsible class actions and frivolous asbestos claims" This last passage is so rife with lies and distortions that I hardly know where to start? Well, to begin with, this is the crux of the agenda by Bush and his gang in that what they want ideally is complete and total free rein for the megalithic corporate leviathans. Ken Lay was one such entrepreneur' as well as Chalabi whom I mentioned above. And there were and are countless other such rugged individualists whom are bankrupting their companies, their countries, and the environment. And in this process of unbridled capital accumulation, millions and billions of human beings are suffering and dying from unspeakable living conditions.' Perhaps I should remind my reader here that entrepreneur is defined thus; one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise' ? Now I ask you who actually assumed the risks' of ENRON, the Savings and Loan industry, the war against Iraq, etc. etc. etc. Yeah, Kenny Boy and the hundreds if not thousands of other corporate cockroaches pretended to accept the risk' but the end result has been that millions of Americans were the ones who paid the costs because they trusted their politicians, pundits, preachers, journalists, and corporate icons. It's imperative that we remember how pervasive the corruption was in many of the most venerated Stock brokerage houses such as Merrill Lynch.

Of course by small businesses,' Bush really means the small businesses such as Halliburton, Bechtel, General Electric, Shell Oil, etc. And these honest job-creators,' who threaten their employees that if they complain or demand better wages or job conditions, they will close up shop and go overseas. In addition, even though the majority of workers around the country have capitulated and even taken reductions in pay and benefits, they have still been down-sized' and reduced to near poverty conditions and have suffered serious depression and personal humiliation. This again is a reflection of the true compassionate conservatism' that Bush's handlers came up with as their motto. The needless regulations' Bush was referring to are trivial matters such as polluting our environment and speeding up the process of global warming, the paying of bribes to journalists' who then help spread the propaganda put out by Karl Rove, banking regulations, savings and loans regulations, campaign contributions, workplace safety regulations, the selling off of our national parks, the insider trading regulations of which Bush himself was guilty but beat the rap with the help of his recently nominated Attorney General, the manipulation of stock prices, the right for workers to form unions, etc. etc. etc. Yes, these are all frivolous' and unnecessarily obtrusive regulations on those honest job-creators.' The aristocracy demands complete freedom and trust for those CEOs who have shown us repeatedly how untrustworthy they are and at the same time they have the balls to also declare that these self-same thugs not be held financially liable to all whom they screw, bankrupt, and physically maim or kill. The fact that the majority of politicians are or were lawyers is especially pertinent here. As lawyers they know that the highest paying clients are the corporations because the corporations can write off their legal expenses as business expenses. And when you have the kinds of assets and resources that these giants have at their disposal, they can clearly afford to outwait the little piss-ants who dare to sue them for their grievances. They simply play the delay game until the little guy or gal becomes totally destitute and is forced to drop their lawsuit. Isn't it interesting that irresponsibility' and frivolous' are the adjectives applied to us as individual citizens but Bush doesn't mention the irresponsibility' i.e. deaths and wiping-out of millions of Americans pensions and/or life savings? Bush at least did get something right although he attempted to misdirect us by laying the blame on the victims rather than the culprits when he said "Justice is distorted, and our economy is held back" Even the most illiterate amongst us know the reality of our justice system i.e. if you're rich you can often get away with literal murder but if you're poor, justice is swift and brutal!

Equally important in terms of justice' and in terms of the economic devastation wreaked upon millions of Americans to say nothing of the billions of people around the globe is the farce of concern and compassion regarding the skyrocketing health costs and the simultaneous cutting of medical benefits by employers and government officials. The health care industry has possibly the largest lobbying force in Washington D.C.? Better known as the American Medial Association, they and their co-conspirators, the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) are paid by the pharmaceutical industry for instance, to rush through certain drugs which are potential great money-makers for the industry but which haven't actually been fully tested for safety or reliability and at the same time, they drag their heels when it comes to approving the manufacture and distribution of drugs which are much more affordable for the poor, the working class, and the middle class and which could do the general public great benefit as in the case of diseases like HIV/AIDS. These are monsters masquerading as men! As a result of their compassion,' diseases which had once been totally eradicated are now making a comeback and countless thousands are dying and/or suffering needlessly. I don't know if I really believe in Hell but, if there is a Hell, I hope and pray that there is a special corner of Hell that is so excruciatingly painful that it makes the rest of Hell look like the Elysian Fields and I hope that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfowitz, Perle, Hitler, Stalin, et al, spend eternity there. And since I'm dreaming or wishfully dreaming, the only other thing that would be sweeter would be that I was able to briefly visit these crustaceans and smile and spit in their faces!

Moreover, these reptiles are currently laughing their asses off at us because they via Bush's State of the Union address have once again spit in our faces. The bushwhacker and his creepy cockroach cronies are now seeking to pound the final nail in the coffin of what used to be known as public health and medical programs for all Americans. Bush wants to push health savings accounts' on us so like his scheme for Social Security accounts which will open up people's retirement safety net to the graft and corruption of his Wall Street wankers. Indeed, these pirates have the nerve to at the same time call for limiting the liability of medical corporations for such things as incompetence resulting in people's death and/or serious physical, emotional, or psychological harm. This hyena of hatred and hypocrisy then spits out another of his compassionate conservative' public relations ploys i.e. medical liability reform that will reduce health care costs and make sure patients have the doctors and care they need.' Translation---open season on everyone not rich and part of the controlling class! They are becoming as arrogant and bold as the French aristocracy right before the guillotine was invented and the French Revolution swept over France. Remember what happened to those superior' people. The more power the wealthy acquire, the sloppier they get and they begin to grossly underestimate the power of the people. Also bear in mind what Thomas Jefferson said i.e. every now and then the Tree of Liberty must have some blood spilled on it. (something like that?)

Next, the Minister of Mendacity tells us "to keep our economy growing, we also need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy." Wow! This cowardly coyote must actually believe his handlers and spin doctors' propaganda? Bush's hit team has the worst record on environmental protection of any presidency to date. They have opened up more of our forests to corrupt timber corporations who are wiping out the old growth, have cut down over 90% of the ancient and venerable Redwoods, plant tree farms for future destruction and claim they're replacing the trees they cut down, etc. etc. etc. Of course they don't tell us that it takes sometimes 10,000 years for a Redwood to grow to full maturity. They are opening up the Alaskan wilderness so we can have more oil spills like the Exxon Valdeez. They deny there's such a thing as Global Warming even though there is more than enough scientific data and research to support its existence. Bush calls his laissez-faire attitude towards air pollution the friendly skies' initiative. It just goes on and on and I can't seriously believe they can actually call themselves good stewards of our environment? What's especially pertinent is Bush's contradictory claim regarding environmentally responsible energy' when, Cheney went to the Supreme Court for protection against having to reveal who attended his top secret energy summit. This is being environmentally responsible?' If it's responsible' then why did they fight so fiercely to keep the meeting secret? Could it be that if revealed, the identities of those who participated might show that corporations like Halliburton, Bechtel, etc. were part of the plan to invade and occupy Iraq so they could position themselves to be the only corporations to profit so fantastically off the loss of American soldiers' lives, the slaughter of a people, and the gross violation of our right to know what our government is doing in our name and to profit a handful of corporations. By the way, I just found out that Bush's legislation is called "Clear Skies," not the Friendly Skies initiative. The bull-shitting bush leaguer also declared in his speech that he submitted "a comprehensive energy strategy that encourages conservation, alternative sources, a modernized electricity grid, and more production here at home, including safe, clean nuclear energy." My God! He is not only creating a generation of young Muslims who are dedicating themselves to our destruction, he also wants to turn a blind eye to all the nuclear power plants woeful lack of safety in terms of not only vulnerability to terrorist attacks but also to melt downs like we had at Three Mile Island and countless other nuclear facilities! Again, I have a good amount of experience working with radioactive materials and I'm horrified at the complete lack of concern regarding the general public's health and safety. The idea that there is or can be a safe, clean nuclear energy,' is a flagrant lie. Nuclear waste can't be stored safely and it has been leaking into places like the Columbia River for decades with devastating results. The evil ones are now storing it in Nevada primarily and the residents of Las Vegas have been exposed countless times and are living directly in harm's way and at great peril! I have an idea, why don't we make Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. all live next door to nuclear stockpiles of waste? If it's so safe' what are they afraid of? You can bet your last nickel that none on these lying & cowardly curs would never live next to such a site. The more of us that they kill off or cause to come down with cancer, the less they have to spend the taxpayer's dollars to feed, clothe, educate, or provide even a modicum of health care on.

Furthermore, this fabricating fundamentalist of free market' fascism declares that he has provided strong funding for renewable sources such as ethanol.' I recently learned while watching the television program The West Wing that ethanol actually costs more than it supposedly saves' on energy costs but because it enjoys such a powerful corporate lobby in Washington D.C., due to the massive agricultural corporations who have systematically wiped out the small farmers who used to make up the backbone of this country. I believe they also pointed out that ethanol contributes significantly to the already existent air pollution? The Ambassador of Arrogance then has the insolence to insult our intelligence even further to claim that he is attempting to make America more secure and less dependent on foreign energy.' Simply mind-blowing in his audacity, this maggot who calls himself moral, knows this is a complete sham or swindle because they invaded Iraq to control the second largest source of crude oil on the planet. It's important to not lose track of the minor fact that Bush's cabinet are almost entirely made up of former oil industry professionals who became rich in the petroleum industry. Shit, Condoleeza Rice even had an oil tanker named after her! We're suppose to swallow that now that they're in office they will turn their backs on their former bosses? Not until hell freezes over my friend.

In addition to this stroll down an amnesiac Alzheimer's fictitious fairy land we are led to believe Bush when he proclaims we must update institutions that were created to meet the needs of an earlier time. Year after year, Americans are burdened by an archaic, incoherent federal tax codeand I will work together to give this Nation a tax code that is pro-growth, easy to understand, and fair to all.' Well coincidentally, I just bought a book today called . Pro growth is simply code for letting the corporate crime lords do whatever they want to their customers, to falsify their accounting records and hence their true worth on the stock market, pollute the environment with no consequences, etc. And if they wanted to truly make tax laws easy to understand,' they would've done so decades ago. No, they like the labyrinth of our tax code so they can continue to evade paying their share of the tax burden with such convenient loopholes as opening a post office box in the Cayman Islands and then claiming it as their corporate headquarters so they aren't taxed. If you believe Bush and the skunk, Cheney care one bit about fairness to all,' you are brain-dead. Fairness to all is really favoritism for the top 1% of the country's citizens. I heard perhaps 20 years ago someone suggest that all we had to do was create a federal tax form which consisted of 3 lines i.e. name, address, & how much money you made for the year. And then everyone pays a flat 10% of their income in taxes. No exceptions! Of course they will never simplify the tax code this much because then all the corporate Benedict Arnolds would be forced to pay their fair share for once.

And then we witness Bush, the corporate cheerleader and whore pronounce that "America's immigration system is also outdated---unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country. We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our border. It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists." First of all, the present administration and most of the previous administrations that preceded it don't really give a damn about the drug trade because they have turned a blind-eye to it time and time again. And in fact, the government via the military has been an active participant in the international drug trade several times e.g. the Golden Triangle which was the opium center of Asia during our Vietnam debacle, Reagan's team of terrorists smuggled cocaine from El Salvador and Nicaragua into the U.S. in order to finance the weapons they traded terrorists for American hostages, they ignored Noriega's drug dealing empire for years as well as the Taliban's poppy fields in Afghanistan, etc. etc. etc. As for Dubya's concern for the hardworking people who want only to provide for their families,' then why do they make these poor Mexican people pay outrageous amounts of money to be smuggled across our border by coyotes who often abandon these unfortunate souls in the backs of unventilated semi truck containers to suffocate? Naturally the perjurer who poses as a pious pilgrim for the poor doesn't mention all the corporations who are making record profits off the blood, sweat, & tears of these innocent souls who risk everything to get here only to be used as subhuman wage slaves. The argument that these illegal aliens' only take the jobs that Americans won't take is only half the truth. Most of the jobs the migrant workers take pay less than a person can live on here because our cost of living is much greater than Mexico's. Additionally, the Mexican poor are used to a bare subsistence level of existence and we have been brought up to expect a much more humane level or standard of living. The greedy globalists want nothing less than to reduce the entire world's workers to the pathetic state of the Mexican downtrodden. Why? Because this means ever more profits for the filthy fiends of finance and fraud. Note also that Bush and Company are against giving amnesty to these hardworkers.' Another shining example of that compassionate conservatism. In other words, you are free to be exploited, exposed to unsafe working conditions, and near starvation wages but as soon as you become no longer profitable for your employer, get your butt back to Mexico to die in the dirt!

Equally important, don't fall for his feigned concern about terrorists crossing our borders. Terrorists are very sophisticated and enter our country and others dressed in fine suits, well-educated, and under cover of various professional guises. It's not necessary for a terrorist to swim the Rio Grande, jump fences, or hide in the desert under the cover of night. The border guard is there to simply regulate the number of poor laborers in order to keep the wages paid to these noble souls down and hence more profitable to their feudal lords. As for the bald-faced lying bastard's claim to be worried about the needs of our economy and the values of our country,' I am yet again simply floored due to his pathological lying and complete inability to be honest or deal with the facts and reality of his corrupt agenda and co-conspirators? The bush-baby doesn't give one hoot about our economy because he has clearly signaled the corporate vultures that they have carte blanche to rape, pillage, & plunder the planet and everyone one it except of course his top 1% or the elite aristocrats of the amoral. Recall the Savings and Loan Scandal' and the recent tidal wave of corruption across the boardrooms of the top 500 corporations and don't fall for this pretense of patriotism. Bush is a partisan patriot of profit and persecutor of the poor and the pitiful. By the way, don't get me wrong regarding the undocumented workers' who are taking American jobs.' I don't blame them one bit. I would do the same if I were born in Mexico or in poverty. And don't forget all those good American corporations who open up their factories right across the Mexican border so they can avoid all the inconvenient laws such as workers right to organize, environmental standards, taxes, etc. They close down shop here and ruin their former loyal employees' lives so they can become obscenely rich and they cross back into America each night to sleep comfortably knowing that they're being protected by American workers' taxes in the form of our police and military personnel. How much more blatantly do they have to rub our noses in our own excrement before we do something about this travesty of justice for not only American workers but Mexican workers and workers the world over? As an illustration of the lie Bush is perpetrating, consider that the construction jobs that Mexicans perform here often pays a measly per hr. for what typical American construction workers earn at to per hr. Of course American construction workers aren't going to settle for such a paltry and insulting wage. What are the republican reptiles of rip-off going to suggest next, a 50 foot wall of concrete the entire length of our nation's borders? Fortress America could very well be not only designed to keep others out but to trap us within as well? One giant prison. Sound far-fetched? Well note that we already have more people locked up per capita than any other country and our prison/industrial complex is thriving. I mentioned my new book on our sinister system of taxation earlier so let me now give you a few, brief bits from it to help highlight yet another facet of the swindling of America's workers and citizens.

But before I get into my new book by David Cay Johnston, let me remind you of a few things. And by the way, I don't claim to have any special insights or skills as a researcher. My chief talent is my memory and this is precisely what the corrupt politicians and businessmen hope that people don't have. I simply connect the dots from the myriad bits and pieces of history I have read and/or lived through. For instance, recall that Bush-whacker senior was the director of the C.I.A. which should really stand for the Central Disinformation Agency. Our proud and patriotic secret agents who have trained the secret police for countless dictators in how to torture their dissenting citizens. And who have instigated and assisted in plots to overthrow democratically elected leaders the world over. Yeah, our Central Intelligence Agency who didn't even know the Soviet Union was imploding until it was a fait accompli. Also remember what Bush Sr. repeatedly told us when he was president i.e. "read my lips, no new taxes." Too bad we don't have an office manned by the handicapped or the mentally challenged because they can read lips and they in their simplicity and honesty can tell when politicians are lying. Our intelligence' agencies are a sad and dangerous joke. In short, they are treacherous thugs who believe that anything they do, no matter how immoral, is okay because it's done in the name of National Security.' Well it is exactly this kind of mindset and the multitude of nefarious crimes committed by the CIA and other agencies such as the NSA (National Security Agency---which makes the CIA look like the Mickey Mouse Club) which has engendered such bitter hatred and a thirst for revenge against America around the globe. So, bushwhacker junior learned from his dad how to dissemble, distort, & deny like a professional which is what politicians excel at. And just like dear old dad who swore he wouldn't raise taxes and then did, Bush-boy jr. has lied and deceived us into believing the ever-changing reasons for our invasion of Iraq. I will never understand how so many Americans can believe in this president who is nothing short of a habitual or pathological liar? I didn't need to be run over by a bulldozer before I came to the realization that he is our enemy and also the enemy of all humanity. What does it say about the anti-Christ in the Bible, that he will come disguised as our savior? Note Bush's frequent evangelical references in his public speeches? I believe to the marrow of my bones that we are once again being assaulted by the combined forces of the church and the state as has been done repeatedly throughout history. Of course, the real power behind the church and the state is the multi-national megalithic corporations who no longer have to abide by any country's sovereign laws. No, in this world where the Robber Barons have gained power never before imagined possible, economic blackmail is the order of the day and with the threat of astronomical fines levied for blocking the free trade' of corporations, countries regularly back down on issues of environmental pollution, monopolization, and unfair trade practices.

And speaking of unfair trade practices, let's now turn to Mr. Johnston's book on how our tax system really works. "I believe that taxes are at the core of our democracy. Americans pay heavy taxes. When you add to our taxes what we pay privately for health care and education our collective burden is heavier than that of many Europeans. Many live in fear of the IRS, a fear skillfully exploited by some politicians.If you have heard about companies using a Bermuda mailbox to escape American taxes or that the IRS audits the poor more than the rich or that Enron paid no taxes or that executives have amassed untaxed fortunes or that the retired chief executive of General Electric had a free corporate jet, then you have already had a taste of some of the more shocking stories I found.I was especially surprised to find that some of the biggest tax breaks for the rich are not even in the tax code and that the IRS was unaware of many tax fraud techniques.Many who pose as conservatives in Washington, or at least whom the news media label conservatives, reject the idea of taxation based on the ability to pay. Few have had more influence over the tax policies of recent years than Grover Norquist, who runs Americans for Tax Reform.

A good tax system flows from the economic order and greases the wheels of commerce. Taxes make it possible to do business through the enforcement of contracts, maintenance of the infrastructure, protection provided by the military and education of the populace. In places without a real tax system, such as Honduras or Afghanistan, there is no widespread wealth. All rich countries have high taxes because wealthy societies have high demands for public goods. As Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.' Today, though, many want their civilization at a deep discount. Some want a free ride. There are politicians who spout law and order, but vote to handcuff the tax police.Worse are politicians who support loopholes and describe tax law enforcement as a tax increase. Representative Tom Delay of Texas, the Republican majority leader, did just that in the summer of 2004.spending money the government does not have, and financing it with more borrowing, is also unfair to honest taxpayers.

will expose how the majority of Americans are being duped into supplementing the incomes of the rich and powerful.Democracy is about individuals pursuing their self-interest in the belief that our society can achieve a common goal. Those who wash their hands of politics, do not vote and do not stay informed cede to others the shaping of society. It is this apathy that has allowed certain individuals to remake tax rules to their benefit at the expense of the average American taxpayer. We must fight these manipulations if we are to, as the preamble to our Constitution says, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.' It is my hope that the truths revealed in this book will serve as a wake-up call to everyone who believes in the principles our country was founded on." (pgs. 1-5, David Cay Johnston)

Equally important my friend is the fact that we, the vast majority of Americans, are not only paying to subsidize the decadent and unethical rich of this country, but we are also paying the ultimate price in terms of sacrificing the lives of our sons, daughters, husbands, wives, mothers, & father, sisters and brothers in wars designed and fabricated by the wealthy weasels of Wall Street and Washington D.C. Ironically, we call the owners of top managers of corporations the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and the presidency is also referred to as the Executive branch of government. And just as the executive branch of government has gained way too much power, the CEOs of corporate America and the world's other giant corporations from countries such as France, Germany, Britain, Japan, China, etc. have also garnered far too much power for any one individual to have. CEOs should more accurately be called CFOs i.e. Chief Fabricating Officer because this is their true function. They consistently lie, distort, manipulate, dis-inform, rob, rape, pillage, and plunder the earth and all its people. And this is why Bush's administration is the most secretive, scheming, and lying administration we've had since probably the days of the infamous Teapot Dome Scandal under President Taft I believe? As I have said before, Bush and his cockroach cabinet have a basically simple agenda i.e. to repeal and wipe-out every last vestige of the hard-won programs established to help the poor, the downtrodden, the physically fragile, the elderly, etc. And now they have set their sights on Social Security because it is like a juicy, ripe target for these gluttonous goblins feeding on the public like venomous vampires sucking the blood out of the body politic! Here are more of Dubya's lies and manipulations regarding Social Security:

"One of America's most important institutions---a symbol of the trust between generations---is also in need of wise and effective reform. Social Security was a great moral success of the 20th Century, and we must honor its great purposes in this new century. The system, however, on its current path, is headed toward bankruptcy. And so we must join together to strengthen and save Social Security."

No, rather we must save Social Security from you and your perverted plunderers of the public trust. Bush and his cabal are the ones who are bankrupt, they are morally bankrupt. But there is a grain of truth in what Bush says although you have to read between the lines to discover it. This administration on its current path is bankrupting America and playing a very dangerous game which could result in our complete ruin economically and could lead to anarchy and the complete breakdown of law and order in America. A word of caution my friend, you and all of us had better start preparing for how to live off the land up in the mountains. I'm not trying to be an alarmist or a fear-monger but those who are caught completely off guard will be most likely amongst the first to fall victim to the predators. And the current predators of wealth and privilege posing as simple, country folk from Crawford, Texas will not cease their campaign to reduce us all to paupers until they are stopped and held accountable for all their crimes. This mendacious moral midget masquerading as a man i.e. George Bush has the temerity to speak of honoring' the great purposes' of our Social Security system while simultaneously striving to gut it financially for the benefit of his political campaign contributors i.e. corporate gangsters inc. Just as we honor our parents by showing them respect, we honor the Social Security program's ideal by not opening it up to the plunderers of the public treasury. Isn't it amazing how Bush and his gaggle of craven conspirators can always come up with the billions they need to wage wars against nations who dare to tell the corporations to go to hell but when it comes to public health, education, welfare, and now the fictitious future dissolution of the Social Security system, they are at a complete loss as to how we're going to save this program established so that our elderly wouldn't have to live in a constant state of anxiety regarding how they would live out the remaining days of their lives? Bush's disingenuousness is so glaringly apparent that I'm totally incredulous he has the gall to even utter his pack of lies? He speaks of the great moral success' of the Social Security system when anyone who takes even a cursory glance at the history of the conservatives or the business elite can see that the conservatives have fought tooth-and-nail to block every progressive bill or piece of legislation with the aim of providing for the least fortunate amongst us! FDR's New Deal,' and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society' programs are amongst the most despised liberal programs' of the rich and affluent. Almost all of the so-called successful' and filthy rich made their fortunes by lying, cheating, stealing, and etc. yet they lecture us that we should be honest, hardworking, and always pay our taxes? The vast majority of Americans have no clue as to just how depressingly deep in international debt Bush and his buddies have plunged us. If just two of our major creditors who have loaned us billions, if not trillions, were to call in the debts we owe them, I fear we could be plunged into a Great Depression.' I'm no fan of Bill Clinton's but at least when he left office, we had a budget surplus of something like 0 billion dollars. By the way, I say I'm not a fan of his for amongst a plethora of other reasons, his wife, Hillary, used to be a lawyer for Wallmart that titan of tyranny in the workplace that is now the largest retail corporation in America. And speaking of tyrannical corporations, I believe that I heard somewhere years ago that shortly after the Social Security system was established, the government loaned millions to the Ford Corp. Remember good old Henry Ford, the Jew-hating American success story who supported not only Hitler but also contributed significantly to the undermining of our public educational system. Ah yes, the free market' system! A free ride for the already wealthy and a prison for all the rest of us. A prison wherein we are held captive in the collective darkness laughingly known as the mainstream media and where we are reduced to degrading and subhuman living conditions' and where we are occasionally tossed a few bread crumbs which the pigs of profit and piracy have accidentally dropped from their cavernous gaping holes in the masks they hide their grotesqueness behind!

Furthermore, in Bush's faade of feeling and compassion he rolls out the never disappointing tactic of whipping up the public's fear as George Orwell so brilliantly predicted. "If steps are not taken to avert that outcome, the only solutions would be dramatically higher taxes, massive new borrowing, or sudden and severe cuts in Social Security benefits or other government programs." Bush and the vicious fundamentalist Christians and free market fundamentalists of the corporate cockroach kingdom are in fact trying to turn back the hands of time to the Dark Ages. That infamous age in which the peasants only barely scratched-out an existence at the discretion of the nobility.' The church and the state were feudal lords whom the people had to pay outrageous taxes and/or the bulk of their crops and were left with barely enough food to feed their families. This is why the ruling elite don't want a truly well-educated public because they want to keep us in a dark ages of the mind as well as the spirit so we can be more easily duped and manipulated into doing their bidding. Naturally, the wealthy will not be forced to pay dramatically higher taxes---hell, they pay next to nothing already. And of course they will continue borrowing from other countries because after all, they are not the ones who are going to have to pay the loans back, it's always us, the worker drones who pay the lion's share of the bills owed. Lastly, they are going to make sudden and severe cuts in Social Security benefits and other government programs no matter what and you can take that to the bank. How? Oh, they're very resourceful and diabolically clever in their excuses for sticking-it to the rest of us at every opportunity they get.

The barracuda Bush then has the effrontery to say, "You and I share a responsibility. We must pass reforms that solve the financial problems of Social Security once and for all. Fixing Social Security permanently will require an open, candid review of the options. Some have suggested limiting benefits for wealthy retirees." Yeah, right, an open, candid review.' Open and candid as in Cheney's Energy Summit' that he fought so valiantly to keep secret and hidden from the public who pays all the bills including Cheney's salary. And no, we don't share responsibility with Bush because he and his heinous henchmen alone are responsible for their crimes against huma

By Michael Webster: Investigative Reporter Aug 15, 2008 10:00 AM PDT

Russia sent hundreds of tanks, thousands of combat solders and bombed Georgian air bases killing thousands after Georgia launched a major military offensive with the intent to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Witnesses said that the Ossetian capital was devastated thousands of civilians were reported dead in the worst outbreak of hostilities since the province won defacto independence in a war against Georgia that ended in 1992.

"I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," said Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, who had fled with her family to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia. "It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged."

The fighting broke out as much of the world's attention was focused on the start of the Olympic Games and many leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Bush, were in Beijing where it is believed Putin informed Bush for the first time about the soon to be invasion. No warning from Bush to Putin was reported.

Russia has intercontinental ballistic missiles with war heads pointed at the United States and has the capability to strike every major city in America. Both Russia and China have larger standing armies and are building there war machines much faster then the U.S., which includes their navy and air force. The U.S. has few military options to respond to the aggression in Georgia by the Russians and can only fight back with diplomatic and economic retaliation, U.S. officials say

President Bush after the fact was only able to warn Russia that its push into Georgia could jeopardize relations with the U.S. and Europe, the administration signaled that any retribution would be aimed at the Russian economy and prestige.

The L.A. Times reports that Russia's pummeling of Georgian troops has left Washington with few palatable military options, according to what administration officials told the Times. This high level source requested anonymity when discussing internal policy decisions. He further acknowledged that military aid to Georgia was off the table and sanctions against Russia were impractical, they insisted the U.S. could take longer-term economic and diplomatic measures that would hit the Kremlin hard.

Even before the crisis in Georgia, tensions between Washington and Moscow have been rising over disputes such as the independence of Kosovo, NATO's expansion toward Russia's borders and U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. In another development that infuriated Moscow, the United States and Poland recently reached a deal to install a U.S. missile defense base on Polish territory. Actions by Bush misled the country into thinking the U.S. would come to its aid, according to columnist Rosa Brooks.

Ms. Brooks in her weekly column wrote the Georgians have now been punished enough, declared Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Or maybe not. At press time, Russian tanks were reportedly rolling through the Georgian city of Gori, in violation of a cease-fire agreement. So there could be more punishment in store for the Georgians, who were stupid enough to imagine that if they picked a fight with Russia over the disputed region of South Ossetia, Uncle Sam would come riding to their rescue.

Ms. Brooks went on to say President Bush shares the blame. Once he stopped swooning over the soulfulness of "Vladimir's" baby blues, Bush seemed intent on showing Putin and other Russian leaders that he no longer gave a damn. The Bush administration supported the "color revolutions" in Russia's backyard and denounced antidemocratic crackdowns in Russia -- while making excuses for "friendly" authoritarian regimes elsewhere. The administration also virtually shut down extensive multi-issue dialogues with Russia that had been maintained by previous administrations, hammering in the message that we didn't care much about good relations with Moscow.

The administration also aggressively pushed policies that couldn't have been better designed to enrage the Russians. At the April NATO summit in Romania, Bush urged a fast track to NATO membership for Georgia.
Meanwhile, the administration singled out Georgia for the "Our Best Buddy in the Caucasus" award. The U.S. has supported the development of gas and oil pipelines running through Georgia that will challenge Russia's regional economic hegemony, and provided the fledgling Georgian republic generous economic and military aid, including an overhaul of its forces. In return, Georgia sent 2,000 troops to Iraq, and the administration pretended to be deaf when Georgian politicians crowed that their newly improved military would be perfect for teaching those pesky South Ossetian separatists a lesson.

But it's all gone disastrously wrong for our best buddies, and we're sitting on the sidelines, offering empty reassurances to the Georgians and empty threats to the Russians.

TheUSA andUSSR were the two superpowers during the cold war.

]]>

According to Wikipedia a is astate with a leading position in the international system and the ability toinfluence events and projectpower worldwide; it is traditionally considered to be one step higher than agreat power. Alice Lyman Miller (Professor of National Security Affairs at theNaval Postgraduate School), defines a superpower as "a country that has the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, and sometimes, in more than one region of the globe at a time.

After the Cold War, the most common belief held is that only the United States fulfills the criteria to be considered a superpower.Many believe that the USA has lost it's spurerpower status even before Russia attack on Georgia. Others doubt the existence of superpowers in the post Cold War era altogether, stating that today's complex global marketplace and the rising interdependency between the world's nations has made the concept of a superpower an idea of the past and that the world is now multipolar.

Salon reports that nineteen years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall effectively eliminated the Soviet Union as the world's other superpower. Less than a month ago, the United States similarly lost its claim to superpower status when a barrel of crude oil roared past 0 on the international market, gasoline prices crossed the .50 threshold at American pumps, and diesel fuel topped . As was true of the USSR following the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, the USA will no doubt continue to stumble on like the superpower it once was; but as the nation's economy continues to be eviscerated to pay for its daily oil fix, it, too, will be seen by increasing numbers of savvy observers as an ex-superpower in the making. The fall of the Berlin Wall spelled the erasure of the Soviet Union's superpower status was obvious to international observers at the time.

According to the AP Russia's military chief of staff said that Moscow could use nuclear weapons in preventive strikes to protect itself and its allies, the latest aggressive remarks from increasingly assertive Russian authorities.

Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky's comment did not mark a policy shift, military analysts said. Amid disputes with the West over security issues, it may have been meant as a warning that Russia is prepared to use its nuclear might.

"We do not intend to attack anyone, but we consider it necessary for all our partners in the world community to clearly understand ... that to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Baluyevsky said at a military conference in a remark broadcast on state-run cable channel Vesti-24.

The Russian Government released its new nuclear policy in a document entitled Concept of National Security. The document updates policy statements and indicates a heightened sense of conflict with NATO and the US on nuclear issues, and an increased reliance on nuclear weapons. It affirms a strengthened Russian policy for the use of nuclear weapons, not only in response to a nuclear attack, but also to a conventional attack.

Cooperation between the US and Russia, including the Cooperative Threat Reduction Programs to secure Russian nuclear weapons and fissile materials, have come under strain in the wake of NATO expansion, the NATO attacks on Serbia and the decision by the US to move ahead with National Missile Defense. Russia no longer maintains a 'no-first-use' policy, and is considering re-deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. The Russian Duma (Parliament) ratified START II on the basis that the ABM Treaty be maintained. Thus US plans to withdraw from the ABM are prompting Russia to maintain a number of START II missiles, and possibly even increase the numbers of warheads on some of them.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in his address to officers at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia that Russia was focused on strengthening its nuclear capabilities.

The two nuclear superpowers may be building up their nuclear capabilities. More armed conflicts are taking place in the world every year, which means the world needs more conventional arms, or better still, precision weapons with effects comparable to those of nuclear weapons.

As it draws attention to a Russian nuclear threat, the United States has accelerated its transition to conventional armed forces, lessening its dependence on its nuclear arsenal. Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John C. Rood, said as much in late May.

According to Reuters, "Moscow has boosted military spending as part of an effort to make Russia more assertive on the world stage after the chaos of the post-Soviet period. It has also tried to reform its military to create a more professional, well-equipped and mobile army.

Sources:

L A Times

Salon

RIA Novosti

Reuters

CIA

AP

Wikipedia

Science magazine reporter Kean views the periodic table as one of the great achievements of humankind, "an anthropological marvel," full of stories about our connection with the physical world.Grab A Copy Click here Funny, even chilling tales are associated with each element, and Kean relates many. The title refers to gallium (Ga, 31), which melts at 84??F, prompting a practical joke among "chemical cognoscenti": shape gallium into spoons, "serve them with tea, and watch as your guests recoil when their Earl Grey ?eats? their utensils." Along with Dmitri Mendeleyev, the father of the periodic table, Kean is in his element as he presents a parade of entertaining anecdotes about scientists (mad and otherwise) while covering such topics as thallium (Tl, 81) poisoning, the invention of the silicon (Si, 14) transistor, and how the ruthenium (Ru, 44) fountain pen point made million for the Parker company. With a constant flow of fun facts bubbling to the surface, Kean writes with wit, flair, and authority in a debut that will delight even general readers. 10 b&w illus. Grab A Copy Click here

Like big-game hunters, scientists who stalked an undiscovered element courted peril: Marie Curie and Enrico Fermi both died from exposure to dangerous elements in the course of their experiments. But besides them and Dmitri Mendeleev, the deviser of the periodic table, which looms over science classrooms everywhere, few discoverers of the elements occupy the consciousness of even avid science readers. Kean rectifies that in this amble from element 1, hydrogen, to element 112, copernicium. Attaching stories to a human-interest angle, Kean ensures that with his elaboration of the fixation a chemist, physicist, industrialist, or artist had for a particular element comes clarity about why the element behaves as it does. The soft sell about proton numbers and electron shells thus closes the deal for Kean's anecdotes about elements of war, elements of health, and elements of wealth, plus the title's practical joke of a spoon (made from gallium). Whether explaining why Silicon Valley is not Germanium Valley or reveling in naming-rights battles over a new element, Kean holds interest throughout his entertaining debut.

Grab A Copy Click here

Russia President Dmitry Medvedev and Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin dance in a new years cartoon broadcast on Channel One Russian TV. The accordion-playing Medvedev started the skit with a neat jump and shout of "hopa!" to which Putin replied: "Well done!" "Now your turn," said Medvedev. The cartoon Putin gamely hit the tambourine against his backside. "Great!" said Medvedev, admiringly. Using rhyming couplets and the elaborate wordplays beloved of Russians, the sketch gently poked fun at the situation created by the sharing of power by Medvedev and his Kremlin predecessor and mentor Putin. "I, for the second time, congratulate the people on the New Year," declaimed Medvedev, who took over from Putin in May 2008 after a meteoric ascendancy. "I know. But someone here has congratulated them nine times," pointed out the cartoon Putin. "Yes, I remember," conceded Medvedev.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Prime ministerr Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao were both present when the bi-lateral agreements were signed in China.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has as a goal during his visit to China to strengthen the realtionship between China and Russia. He also aim to adjust the increasing inbalance in the trade between China and Russia on the economic areas.

The Chinese economy is rebounding from the economic recession experienced since late 2008 and all 2009 so far and is showing signs of expansion. The Russian economy however has shown weakening through all 2009 and continue to send out negative signals with respect to budget deficit and employment rates. Their export industries are hurt very bad and there seem to be no light in the end of the tunnel for these yet. The oil and gas prices have normalized to a level less than 50% than it was at its height in 2008, which also contributes negative to the budget balance in Russia at the moment.

The Chinese Development bank has agreed upon a loan to its Russian counterpart VEB of 500 Million USD. An equal large loan was agreed upon from the Chinese Agricultural Bank to the Russian VTB.

Russia has also agreed with China on a export agreement of gas eqvivalent to 70 billion cubic meter pr year. It is not said what the terms and length of this agreement is, but one owuld assume there is a link to the loans given to the Russian banks.

]]>

Gazprom CEO Miller, will not tell how much worth this agreement is, but assuming todays gas prices paid by European clients of Russia gives us some estimate of the value of this deal.

European clients pay around USD 9 pr billion ton of gas imported from Russia.

1 ton is equal to 2.831685 cubic meters. That means that European clients pay around 3.18 USD/billion cubic meter of natural gas.

So the agreement between Russia and China has a potential value of around 222 billion USD. However, it is not believed that China will have to pay this price for gas from Russia, and it is assumed to be strongly linked to the terms of the loans given to the Russian banks VEB and VTB of a total of 1 billion USD.

The more significant side of these bi-lateral agreements is that the relationship between Russia and China will be stronger, and in international diplomacy this will be illustrated very obvious when it comes to voting in international forums like UN and so on.

In addition it will have an effect on ownership of business in Russia in the near future, as indirectly Chinese capital will fund Russian ventures and state owned enterprises.

It will be very intresting to see how this relationship develops and which effect this relationship will have upon the international arena and international commitments to cooperation.

There is a fear that the fronts between east and west can be larger in future, as BRIC counties have signaled they want more influence on the IMF structure and the capital used in its reserve currency basket.

More tension is signaled as international community has given words for less trust in the USD and wants the oil to be decoupled from the oil price in total and replaced by a new international basket currency consisting of other currencies than USD.

It is time that the international society looks closer to what power structure is built in the east and take into account that BRIC economy is driven mainly by the Chinese economy, but the bounds between the BRIC countries are being strengthened dramatically, which this bi-lateral agreement between China and Russia is an example of.

The New Russia may have finally embraced free-market capitalism, but Vladimir Lenin, founder of Soviet communism and one of the great murderers of the twentieth century, still casts a long shadow across the Russian landscape. Indeed, when I journeyed to Russia with my family last summer to research my forthcoming novel,Moscow Rules, it seemed Lenin was our constant companion. His statue still looms over the gates of the city that once bore his name, with its arm heroically extended as if poor Vladimir were forever trying to hail a cab. Streets still bear his name, as do squares, schools, parks, and sports clubs. And he still snoozes peacefully in his little rose-colored mausoleum at the edge of Red Square, a waxen figure in a bottle, well-dressed and neatly groomed.

One cannot enter a tourist bazaar without stumbling across all manner of Lenin paraphernalia, including ubiquitous metallic busts of the great man that peer inscrutably from dusty shelves. Sometimes, the head of his accomplice and successor, Joseph Stalin, stands next to him. In one market on the outskirts of Moscow, I saw a fine little statuette of Lenin seated in a chair, clearly thinking deep thoughts. I wondered what weighty matter was he pondering at the moment the artist conceived this iconic image. The annihilation of a village that would not bend to his will? The murder of a rival? Or perhaps he was thinking about killing a few meddlesome shopkeepers who didnt quite see the wisdom in submitting themselves to "the dictatorship of the proletariat."

Imagine if the scene were Berlin instead of Moscow. Imagine if, near Brandenburg Gate, there stood a hundred-foot-tall statue of Adolf Hitler with his arm raised in a Nazi salute. Imagine if one could buy a bronze-plated bust of Hitler in a flea market in the Tiergarten. Imagine if one could window shop in the Hilter-Strasse or take lunch at an outdoor caf in the Hitler-Platz. Or if one could view Hitler's body -- or his ashes, perhaps -- in a sacred tomb at the edge of the Alexanderplatz. Editorial pages, interest groups, and political leaders throughout the civilized world would surely howl with indignation and anger. And rightly so.

Fortunately, the idea of a giant Hitler statue standing in the heart of Berlin is laughable. So why is this not the case in modern Russia? Why are there no howls of righteous indignation from Western shapers of opinion over the display and sale of symbols of a murderous, totalitarian system? And why dont the leaders of the New Russia remove the statues of Lenin, change the names of the streets and squares that still bear his name, and give his poor old carcass a proper burial?

]]>

The silence in many quarters of the West is, sadly, easy to understand. During the Cold War, many of the opinion leaders in Western Europe -- the academics, the essayists and novelists, the campaigners for peace and human rights -- were too often willing to overlook the Soviet Union's inexhaustible list of crimes against humanity because they were adherents of Marxist-Leninist bilge themselves. Lenin was to be forgiven his sins because, in their eyes, his cause was just. As for Stalin, yes, he was a monster, but he was also a hero, the man who single-handedly fought Nazi Germany to a stalemate until the American and British could join the fight. Many conveniently overlook the fact that, by agreeing to the infamous Non-Aggression Pact with Hitler in 1939, Stalin was the one who made the Second World War possible in the first place.

The answer to the second part of the question is, in my opinion, far more perilous for Russias newly free neighbors and the West. Vladimir Putin, the man now running Russia, is a child of the system Lenin and Stalin created. A former KGB officer and Party member, he surely studied their writings, as a seminarian studies the sacred texts. Moreover, an estimated seventy-five percent of the senior members of his regime also came from the KGB and its successor services. Putin and his cabal surely cannot permit a full and honest exploration of the crimes of the Soviet state, because to do so would discredit the system and the organization -- i.e., the KGB -- that produced them.

Edward Lucas, a reporter for theEconomist, argues in a persuasive new book,The New Cold War, that Putin and his cronies are engaged in a carefully orchestrated effort to "sanitize" the more repulsive elements of Soviet history while honoring its achievements, which is to say, its military might and its empire. In 2005, Putin made his feelings abundantly clear when, in his state of the nation speech, he referred to the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century." And he even managed to say it with a straight face.

Let us return to Germany for a moment. Let us imagine that Chancellor Angela Merkel was a former officer of the SS rather than a former professor of physical chemistry. And let us imagine she went before her parliament and people and proclaimed the collapse of Nazi-occupied Europethe greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century. Such a remark would have produced a furious response from the German press, the German political opposition, and the German people. Germanys neighbors would have twitched with anxiety. Ambassadors would have been recalled. Editorial writers would have wondered whether the Nazi beast was reawakening.

And imagine, too, that the SS and the Gestapo, under new, benign-sounding names, were still responsible for internal German security. And that they still worked from their old headquarters buildings. That scenario, as preposterous as it sounds, is exactly the situation in Russia today. The FSB, Russia's Federal Security Service, occupies the KGBs old headquarters building in Lubyanka Square. Many Russians dont even bother to call the FSB by its new name. They still refer to it as the KGB.

While researchingMoscow Rules, my family and I were invited to visit FSB headquarters. A former KGB colonel with an amiable face and glittering eyes gave us a private tour of the building. It ended in a small, private KGB museum, where we spent several hours, carefully reviewing the organizations remarkable history. It was a surprisingly honest place, though distinctly lacking in any evidence that the Soviet Union had ever tried to spy on the United States. A particularly telling moment occurred when we paused to examine a photo album of all the KGB's leaders. There was Vladimir Putin, proudly displayed with all the great murderers and oppressors of the past. Our guide flipped through the pages, giving us highly abbreviated biographies of each chief. "He was shot," he said of one. "He was shot," he said of the next. "He was shot, too." Flipping to the next page, he paused and smiled. "Ah, this one was different," he said. "He was poisoned."

The overall message of the museum was unmistakable: the course of Soviet history would have proceeded much differently if the KGB had been running the regime instead of serving has its guardian. Now, nearly two decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, the KGB has finally gotten its wish. Putin and his cabal want their empire back, and they want to be a great power again. And they are using Russias newfound oil wealth to achieve those goals. As for taking an honest look into the Russian past, there isnt time for that. Nor is there any appetite. Lenin once said: "There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience." Vladimir Putin would surely agree. Perhaps that is why Lenin the murderer still stands at the gates of the city that once bore his name. And why Lenin the murderer still sleeps peacefully in Red Square.

2008 Daniel Silva

Find More Vladimir Putin Articles

While many people are aware of the Communist era, few actually realize just what a major impact it had on art. Art has always been about influencing people in some way or at least getting them to think about things they might not ordinarily. However, the Communist regime used it to a totally different end, bringing Russian empire culture to a new meaning entirely. Indeed, the Communist regime was not about freedom of the people, but was just another means of spreading Russian empire culture for a new Russian empire.

What kind of Russian empire culture did these Communists show, exactly? They would use posters and political cartoons to portray their leaders as powerful or heroic figures, attempting to inspire people and get people to believe in their cause. In reality people started to hate and fear the Communist leaders as they realized that this Russian empire culture was just going to lead to yet another violent streak in history. And it did just that, as many brutal deaths and horrible violence took place during the Communist regime.

However it is still important to remember just what happened during Stalinist times under this new form of Russian empire culture. Through Russian art posters and Soviet posters we can see just how they did that. Sometimes obscure, their messages are always very odd but powerful, and they might well impact us on a subliminal level that few people realize. Indeed, culture and art does just that: it affects us on a level we can't consciously see or feel. Russian empire culture has certainly always been about the spread of power, and it was no different with the USSR and the Communist regime.

Just how destructive this Russian empire culture and Soviet poster use was is easy to see, as so many deaths took place and so much brutality was rampant under the Communists. While we have to be sensitive in how we talk about what happened, we also need to acknowledge it and remind ourselves that it did indeed happen. Russian empire culture also serves to remind us of the power of human creation and how art can indeed be as deadly as it is beautiful if it falls into the wrong hands. This is what happened with the Communist regime, and could happen again if we do not consciously remind ourselves.

Ultimately it is always important to recognize the impact of art and Russian empire culture to its fullest. There is no disputing the fact that the Communist regime was powerful and knew just how to use art and posters to further its agenda. Indeed, this was a poisonous and insidious use of art and it sowed destruction throughout Russia. We must always be vigilant and sensitive in how we treat art from now on, and these Russian empire culture works of art serve to remind us of that fact. If nothing else, they remind us of just how poisonous art can be if it ends up in a political agenda as it did with the Communist movement.

More Russian Politics Articles

Russia won the bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2018 and the tourism industry in United Kingdom has expressed disappointment as it had expected to tap its potential as a tourist destination had it won the bid to host the international tournament.

Making the most of this honor, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has assured FIFA that visa norms would be waived for all foreign tourists with match tickets during the 2018 tournament.

The general perception in UK, which was one of the strongest contenders in the bid, is that the country dispelled the opportunity to host 2018 FIFA World Cup following a recent revelation by the British press (BBC and London Times) about cash-for vote scandal as a result of which two FIFA executive members were suspended and fined.

However, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said, "We go to new lands," in explanation while announcing the 2018 World Cup host in Zurich, Switzerland last week.

Amid all uproars, UK's failure is being seen as a blow to tourism. "Tourists would have come to England ahead of the tournament to see potential match venues and host cities. Now these people will be travelling elsewhere, may be even far away to Russia," Arunava Chaudhuri, a sports journalist, blogger and football consultant in Remscheid, Germany told IBTimes.

]]>

According to World Sport Destination Expo, which showcases sport tourism related products and services, sport tourism is the fastest growing sector in travel industry worldwide and it is expected to grow exponentially in the next decade.

The expo held in July this year in Johannesburg, South Africa reveled that sport tourism is likely to scale up tourist arrivals globally by 14 percent by the end of 2010, though nation-wise data showed striking variations.

According to Indian tourism ministry, Commonwealth Games that concluded recently in India fetched the country only a 9 percent increase in foreign tourist arrivals, which is much lower than it expected.

On the contrary, South African Tourism, the national tourism agency, recorded a whopping increase of 17.4 percent in global tourist arrivals in the first eight months of the year, following the FIFA World Cup 2010 held earlier this year in South Africa.

The disparities in the tourism of the two nations that hosted international sport events of equal fanfare could signal that staging a World Cup is not the only factor in driving tourist interest of a nation. Many travel experts maintain that tourism benefits of hosting a sport event are overrated.

"We are all obviously disappointed that England has been unsuccessful in its bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Despite this setback, the next ten years is full of sporting promise for England," James Berresford, chief executive of tourism body VisitEngland was quoted as saying in media.

Though the arrival of foreign tourists dipped by 2 percent in the first nine months of 2010, the next two years definitely look promising for tourism in UK. Prince William's royal wedding in 2011 and the 2012 London Olympics as well as the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in the same year will keep England in the international spotlight, Berresford said.

"World Cup is the chance to profile a country, like London is doing through the 2012 Olympics," Chaudhuri added.

Moreover, a study conducted by VisitBritain, Britain's national tourism agency, in July this year concluded that contribution of tourism to UK's economy could grow by over 60 percent by 2020. Looks like UK's loss to FIFA World Cup 2018 bid is not really a "big" loss.

More Vladimir Putin Articles

According to BBC News dated 10th December 2010, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are the only two heads of states that have questioned or criticised Mr Assange's arrest. There are no other democratic voices from any other head of states. The democratic world seems to have become an arid democratic desert, with only two lone voices questioning about freedom of expression and democracy. If there was ever a democratic silence that can be felt, it is now, on the issue of Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange. This is no ordinary political silence. It is the silence of Western Democracy that has been hurt by the exposure of what President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva calls " a diplomacy that appeared untouchable."

In exposing the diplomacy that appeared untouchablewhat are Wikileaks motives and objectives for doing so? In Wikileaks main page it is stated that "WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to our journalists. We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices." It is clear that Wikileaks:

Considers itself as a non-profit media organization that is a journalistic tool,
Is dedicated in bringing important news and information to the public,
Publishes material of ethical, political and historical significance,
Provides a universal way for revealing suppressed and censored justice.

In short, Wikileaks claims itself to be a non-profit organization that is a journalistic tool that serves the public in news and information for the purpose of justice. Wikileaks serves the public and justice. Let's now see, what are America's claims?

According to BBC news dated 29th November 2010, we can understand that:

The leaked diplomatic cables are from 1966 to 2010 and are " a huge sampling of communications between the US State Department and its embassies and consulates around the world."
The exposure of the diplomatic cables according Mrs. Clinton are " not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests, she said. It is an attack on the international community: the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity."
According Mrs. Clinton, the leaked diplomatic cables are "candid and sometimes unflattering views of world leaders and frank assessments of security threats."
According to Mrs. Clinton, "diplomats often needed confidentiality to be effective."

]]>

In short, America claims that the leaked diplomatic cables are private diplomatic messages, which are candid and frank assessments of world leaders and security threats. Its leak is against America's foreign policy and international community. So, Wikileaks and America have their own different views about the same information. But the questions are: 1) whether the public has the right of access to what is considered privileged and private diplomatic messages? 2) Whether Wikileaks has committed an illegal or criminal act in publishing the received leaked diplomatic cables for the peoples' knowledge? Who will decide?

Even before the question of who will decide on the above two questions, we now have deal with another unpleasant question. Are Wikileaks and Jean Assange being prosecuted or persecuted? Why is this question being asked? Legally, America has its rights to pursue a legal course of action through an open court and judiciary processes. If it does that without resorting to any draconian laws or instruments, then, it can at least say that it is following its famous American justice system. But before that can happen, we are witnessing some very unpleasant demonizing propagandas, labeling and heavy handed bureaucratic maneuvers which are normally practiced by dictatorships and authoritarian oligarchies.

The Telegraph, in its article dated Monday 13 December 2010, has a picture of a mean looking Sarah Palin who was quoted as saying "The founder of WikiLeaks should be hunted down just like al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders" Now, we all know that America has labelled al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders as terrorist. Thus, Sarah Palin is labelling Jean Assange as a terrorist, who should share their same fates. No matter what her political status in America, it does not give her the right to label another nationality and person as a terrorist especially when nothing has been proven.

I am surprised, that the Australians have not protested vigorously against Sarah Palin's political labeling and demonizing of one of their country man. Hey mates! Where are your Australian honors? Is this how you will let one of your countrymen to be bullied and demonized? No wonder, the Americans claim that it is within their diplomatic right to privately, candidly and subjectively label even the heads of state (former Australian Prime Minister included). Who gave Sarah Palin the right to be judge, jury and executioner? If Sarah Palin represents America or American justice system, Jean Assange will definitely not get justice in America. Such political labeling and demonizing raises the question, whether Wikileaks and Jean Assange are being prosecuted or persecuted.

BBC news on 8th December 2010 reported that, "PayPal has said that its decision to stop people from using its service to make donations to Wikileaks was made after a letter from the US government." In this example, we see how the US government flexed its political and bureaucratic muscles to coerce and intimidate a commercial firm to toe the line. Wikileaks or its founder has yet to be found guilty in an American open court according American justice system. But already, political and bureaucratic coercion has been applied to persuade entities not to deal with Wikileaks as part of the strategy for political and social isolation. Is this American justice? Is this American democracy? Usually this kind of political coercion is found and used in totalitarian, authoritarian or authoritarian oligarchy countries and systems. It is least expected in an American style democracy. Yet, walla! It is in the American Democratic show. When political or bureaucratic coercion and intimidation is used before a just process of judicial examination and judgment, we have to ask whether; Wikileaks and Jean Assange are being prosecuted or persecuted.

If the reactions and responses of America and its leadership in dealing with the issues of Wikileaks and Jean Assange are similar to those used in totalitarian, authoritarian or authoritarian oligarchy countries and systems - what has Western Democracy (including American Democracy) to offer to human rights and to democracy? The treatment of Wikileaks and Jean Assange raises these questions:

Does Western Democracy really support freedom of media?

Does Western Democracy really consider the voices of the people?

Does Western Democracy endorse political pack of wolf-like behavior?

Does Western Democracy endorse subjective labeling and demonizing an individual and entity?

Does Western Democracy endorse political persecution?

Does Western Democracy endorse lying to its own people in the name of diplomatic privileges?

Does Western Democracy political persecute individuals and entities for political ends?

If there is no difference between how democratic and Oligarchy Authoritarian political leaders think and behave, then, what does Western Democracy really stand for in the global political world and human rights? Why should the rest of the world listen to Western Democracy? Is Western Democracy really democratic? Is human rights really practiced in Western Democracy? These questions are being raised, because, what is preached in Western Democracy does not seem to tally with what is being practiced in the issues of Wikileaks and Jean Assange. Wikileaks and Jean Assange deserve a better democratic treatment than the ones they are getting now.

More Vladimir Putin Articles

The European Union (former EEC) has been expanding ever since its inception in 1957. Formerly a an exclusive club of only six West European nations, now it includes many formerly communist countries of Eastern Europe, among them three ex-Soviet republics. More former Soviet republics, in particular Ukraine and Georgia, have also expressed interest in joining. Considering the power of attraction with which European Union draws its Eastern neighbors into its fold, it is remarkable that neither Russia nor EU have ever expressed any significant interest in Russia's inclusion in the EU. One is left wondering about the reason why Russia is not part of the united Europe. The answer lies on Russia's greatness, which is disproportional when compared to the current EU states. Russia is the largest country in the world; it has the largest population of all European countries, and is a super strong military power. In addition, the processes of democratization and economic dependency have made these two regions essentially distinct and kept them from melting in a same bloc.

The reason why some ex Soviet states were now able to join the EU is rooted in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, which indirectly resulted in bringing the ex Soviet republics Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia much closer to the political and cultural ideologies of the EU. Namely, they won independence from USSR during the Bolshevik Revolution and kept it until WWII. During this interwar period, as well as throughout their earlier history, they maintained close ties with Western neighbors, especially Finland, Poland, and Germany. Therefore, they are also more westernized than Russia. They are mostly Catholic or Protestant Christians like most other Europeans, not Eastern Orthodox like the Russians, and were also able to maintain a much lower level of corruption than the one found in Russia. Just as importantly, these countries are small in area and population. Because of their modest size, they do not impose any kind of threat to the EU. These are all relevant aspects that I believe made it easier for those ex-Soviet Countries to be absorbed in the EU without major obstacles.

Russia may not be quite as Westernized as the three Baltic States, but it is also culturally part of Europe and shares the same history. Russian elite culture became an integral part of European culture during the reign of Emperor Peter the Great, who ruled from 1682 to 1725. In order to make Russian elite culture more similar to West European elite culture, he moved the capital city of Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg, which remained Russia's capital until the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. But unlike in most West European countries, the development of capitalism in Russia was delayed because of the weak Russian bourgeoisie, the effects of competition from much more developed West, and the capacity of pre-capitalist structures to survive. During the communist era, relations with the rest of Europe were mostly hostile. The exception was WWII, when Russian people paid a very heavy price of over 20 million people died out of 60 million worldwide, when attempting to defeat the Nazis. This figure refers to the whole former USSR, not only Russia. Russia and the EU share Christianity as a common religious faith, and the fact that in both places a large proportion of people seldom or never go to church is yet another similarity in the way people in both places practice religion. It is true that most Russian citizens are Orthodox Christians while most people in the EU countries are either Catholic or Protestant, but three EU member countries are also mostly Orthodox Christian: Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania.Furthermore, since the 18th century, Russia has eagerly been taking European ideas of every kind. This went to such extremes that Russian aristocracy spoke French more than Russian, meaning that they were culturally closer to France and therefore to Western Europe. Also, the idea of Communism was not originally Russian. It was developed by Karl Marx, a German 19th century economist and philosopher, and his ideas, known as Marxism, spread rapidly throughout Europe, including the tsarist Russia. Therefore, even Marxism, which gave rise to the Soviet Bolshevik Revolution, was an import from Germany, a current member of the EU. Cultural influences between Western Europe and Russia never traveled only one way. Many people in West European countries appreciate Russia's famous authors of the 19th century literature, such as Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, and the poet Pushkin. They also share the same appreciation for Russian ballet, classical music, including the opera "Boris Godunov", and pop culture. In 2008 Russia even won the Eurovision song contest.

Economic dependence had pushed EU and Russia far from each other. EU is a core economy where advanced economic activities are located, such as manufacturing, banking, and the process of primary products, and others. This has been the case for long time, while Russia as a semi-periphery economy still maintains an important position in the world's economy standing in between core and those periphery economies that are more restricted to the production of primary products. Russia trades with both core and periphery economies and consequently generates mid-level profits and wages margins.

Based on Walt Whitman Rostow's theory of economic growth, Kaya Ford states Rostow's five economic stages of achievability, of which I perceive Russia economic achievement behind of that one in western European countries that primary formed the EU. The first stage is the traditional society characterized by subsistence activity in which agriculture sector predominates. The second stage is a transitional phase that works as a precondition for the economy to take off; in this stage trade had began, also transportation had improved to facilitate trade, income has risen, and people could have savings. The third stage is when the take off is reached and heavy industrialization prevailed; the previous agrarian workers now work in factories, there are more profits and also demand for workers, services, and industries keep attracting more industries. The fourth stage is the drive to maturity that after a relatively long time had passed; the economy becomes diverse and complex, with considerable achievements in the technology sector, making the economy less dependence on imports. The fifth stage is the prevalence of mass consumption characterized by strong service sector, high income per capita income, and consumer durable industries growth.

]]>

By following this theory of growth, I believe that Western European countries had passes through all the Rostow's economic growth stages and are located in the fifth stage of high mass consumption because high real income per head had risen in those countries. All the while, Russia had passed three economic growth stages and is now stranded in the forth stage struggling on the drive for economic maturity to rise real income per head. However, this is an understandable scenario if one takes into consideration that Russia is still a semi-periphery country and had its economic take off later than the western European countries. In sum, Russia depends on EU more than the other way around. Russia exports mostly oil and gas and imports high-end products. But West Europe has almost no natural resources and therefore they also depend on Russia that sometimes decides to blackmails Europe. The Big EU member states lost colonial possessions, so they had to band together in order to play the role of world power. Russia still has Siberia and very large territory, so it is more confident about its great power status.Furthermore, Russia has gained more international autonomy because of its military power status, which helps them from suffering external pressure.

In spite of their common or at least closely related ideas, religion, and culture, Russia and the EU are not part of the same economic bloc. If they were, I believe more Russians would be seeking jobs in the Western markets, both in high-end and low-end jobs, while Russia would be flooded with Western investors and CEOs who would be bossing the Russians around and causing distress. Even though, today Russia enjoys a well-educated society with high levels of literacy, the best universities are still located in the western European countries and therefore competitiveness for the best jobs could be tougher for Russians. Nevertheless, Russia's citizens could benefit from the freedom to seek desirable job opportunities in Western Europe. But those well-educated western Europeans folks could also be very competitive for the desirable jobs in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Hypothetically, if Russia is to join, trade would be easier due to lower import and export customs barriers. The EU could benefit from bringing into its fold a country which could otherwise become an important economic, political, or even military rival in the future. EU would be able to secure a more reliable access to Russia's large reserves of oil, gas and other natural resources and expand its territory all the way to the fast growing markets of China.

Nonetheless, Russia's power structures are known for being too corrupt for EU standards. Russia's war in Chechnya and its aggressive stance to the neighboring Georgia and Ukraine is also a weak factor for their union. Human rights violations and instability in the Caucasus region, especially Chechnya also counts to Russia's weakness in a possible candidacy. After the extreme economic liberalism of President Boris Yeltsin, who ruled Russia in the 1990s, Russia became subjected to almost dictatorial power of its former president and now prime minister, Vladimir Putin. Russia still maintains a fragile democracy coupled with unstable financial institutions. In addition, due to Russia's great population of just over 140 million, and Russia's extremely large territory, along with mighty military power that in fact brought Russia into the G8 economic forum, of the seven richest countries in the world, plus Russia due to its military power. All this greatness of Russia could direct the EU into unwanted directions and therefore the EU in general prefers to keep Russia outside of its bloc. Furthermore, some existing EU member states, especially Poland and the three former Soviet countries, hold a strong distrust and historical resentment on Russia, and they would most likely reject Russia's candidacy.

It is not that Russia has shown much interest in joining Europe either. Russia sees itself as a great power paring with the US and China, and is not much attracted to becoming a mere member of the Brussels club. Russia's military power is still a potential threat, and Russia often seems to prefer to keep distance from most Western alliance organizations.I believe that Russia's elites and ordinary citizens are willing to sacrifice some of their incomes, quality of life, and freedoms for the sake of Russia's greatness and importance on the global stage.In EU, only Germany is economically larger than Russia when it comes to measure in purchasing power parity. Similarly to Russia, Germany was also previously seen as an intimidating economic and military power and is currently the most populous country in the EU. But unlike Russia, Germany received immense western influence from the United States, along with German's geographic location in West Europe that gave that country no other destiny other than belonging to the same political and socioeconomic bloc of EU. Unlike Germany after WWII, Russia was the communist superpower that competed with the United States for ideological and economic dominance worldwide throughout the Cold War and therefore worked on blocking out any western influence into Russia's society.

These two regions, despite their location as neighboring countries, have always dealt with democracy in different ways, which historically drew them apart from each other, and will continue to do so in the future. According to Dahl, there had been in history three significant waves in the development of democracy. It follows that the "First, that of incorporation, when mass of citizenry was gradually admitted into political society; second, that of representation, when the right to organize parties was accepted; and the third, that of organized opposition, when citizens won the right to appeal for votes against the government" (Caramani 117). In Russia, there was no democracy until 1991 and the level of incorporation of their citizens in politics remains low. As for representation, many parties exist, but only one party holds almost dictatorial power, The United Russia party of Prime Minister Putin. In contrast, most of the EU countries possess strong multi-party systems with high levels of freedom and public participation of people in public affairs.

Also, remarked by Dahl, the process of democratization had two different dimensions. The liberalization characterized by the right to be represented and rally opposition. Also, the inclusiveness dimension representing the participation and voting process. These two dimensions of democracy would be enough to compare paths towards mass democracy. Most of the nondemocratic countries liberalized without becoming more inclusive. These competitive oligarchies, by Dahl, include the "parliamentary regimes with restricted suffrage in the UK and France prior to the First World War. Non-democratic regimes that became more inclusive without liberalizing was classified as inclusive hegemonies" (Caramani 123). These also included the totalitarian fascist and communist regimes in the Nazi Germany and the Soviet bloc that normally worked the means for much less competitiveness on mass electoral methods. Even where democracy was more efficiently established, liberalized and became more inclusive, either simultaneously or in stages. "The regimes in question and others in the similar post-communist circumstances have usually not failed, or fallen back from democracy, there is increasing concern about the quality of the democracy they maintain"(Caramani 123).

In this sense, EU is most likely to be concerned about the quality of democracy in Russia, due to the weakness of its political party system, which is "an equally unworkable combination of decayed Soviet-era institutions and fledgling and fragile democratic practices" (Kort 230). There is also concern regarding Russia's courts obedience to the executive government along with their low levels of public participation in politics. It follows that Russian citizens in general seem to prefer staying away from politics in exchange for more stability and growing living standards, which they could not enjoy in the previous decade under President Yeltsin.

Russia also skipped the waves of democratization, mentioned by Huntington. The first wave of democracy which "lasted from 1826 to 1926, and was then reversed in part by the rise of fascism and authoritarianism in the 1920s and 1930s; the second wave came after the Second World War and was reserved in the 1960s and 1970s; and the third was initiated by Portugal in 1974 and reached explosive levels after 1989" (Caramani 111). It was not until the 1990s Russia had finally embraced democracy, while the western European countries that today are part of EU had gone through these waves of democratization and this situation plays a role when it comes to Russia's candidacy to join the EU.

Curious would be for some that the EU and Russia are naturally linked by land and near to each other, sharing much of common history, but are still apart far from being in the same economic bloc. But the EU could not invite Russia to join the EU bloc, because Russia may want to take over and rule the EU. Russia is way too great in territory, population, and military power, and furthermore has way too much ambition in the world affairs. The ex-Soviet countries that are now part of EU, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, were able to join the EU because they never represented any kind of threat to the EU, while other ex-Soviet countries that also do not represent any threat or greatness that Russia does, also have expressed interest to join.

The economic dependency between Russia and EU has proven to be unequal and shall keep them apart; a core and semi periphery, while Russia has aspirations to become a future core economy, today it is a good market for the core EU to sell their products. Further, Russia maintains a troublesome democratic regime, while the EU stands for an efficient democracy, a necessary political model for any serious EU candidacy. In addition, the idea of world domination through the communist system from the time when the USSR was a superpower in the 20th century, still seems to linger in Russian minds, also because the same communist ideology is about to bring China, along with their one-party rule, into the same position for the 21st century. Consequently, there are signs that a possible authoritarian wave may play a role in the world affairs in the future, and Russia undoubtedly and traditionally would like to strengthen its international leadership position and be part of it, instead of being part of the EU unless another emerging superpower, such as China, begins to represent an unavoidable threat to Russia.

Work Cited

Caramani, Daniele. Comparative Politics. First edition publicized by Oxford University Press 2008: New York.

Ford, Kaya V. P "Walt Whitman Rostow (1916- 2003)." Rostow's Stages of Development, (1916- 2003 April 22, 2004.

Kort, Michael. A Brief History of Russia. Ed. Boston University 2008: New York.

Two wars in Chechnya between separatist fighters and the Russian government in the 1990s left tens of thousands dead and destroyed neighbourhoods, roads and factories. But nearly two decades after the conflicts, Grozny, the Chechen capital, is now home to a collection of skyscrapers. In the last decade, Russia poured nearly bn in aid into Chechnya, in hopes that the money would not only go to building skyscrapers but also to creating jobs and ensuring that unemployed youth were not driven to join the separatist fighters. Al Jazeera's Neave Barker reports from Grozny.

We have already used to seeing the various heads of state suit to appear in some formal occasions can be life they look like? 24 hours a day total is not the case, they are ordinary people living on Earth, also has its own way of life, have their own favorite movies, books, food, sports ... ... When they took off his suit to the sport when you can recognize out who is?

Obama

Barack Obama: Golf

Know that successful people are playing golf, I did not expect the Obama love love the social isolation of the movement. Whether polo shirt, shorts, golf shoes, or hats and gloves are essential to play this sport attire. Very low-key president wearing today, see that they are here on vacation. He may also like Ping G15 Hybrid.

Nicolas Sarkozy

French President Nicolas Sarkozy: jogging

For Sarkozy, the running is essential for daily activities, regardless of where they are, he ran for a while every day, rain or shine. Tight jogging shorts are a favorite, can be due to international influence, Sarkozy or sets a black track suits, cover the key parts. So why do Obama like golf, some said that it's because it's equipment, does he like taylormade r9 fairway wood? I don't know for sure but he gotta be like one.

Putin

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: Riding

]]>

Putin is afraid of love extent of movement than all the leaders together, however, and what sports can be bigger way in the two gestures, the horse riding, archery, fly, jet boat ... ... it is the type of player Decathlon . Leather leather pants and leather hat, it really is Zhilengzhire's.

Mre at www.wholesalegolf118.com, and you can go to our site and view some of our article like Something You Don't Know About Titleist and more.

Here is one tip for your good, Know when to fold, and when to stay in. Many players do not understand the best solutions for folding or staying in. The best players understand their chances and only stay in when they have at least one type of hand. Having two face cards is a good reason to stay in, but having two different low number cards might not be such a strong hand. When observing other players, if you notice high bets from a player who does not bluff, then you should probably fold. Knowing when to take risks and when to be conservative is a very important element to being a solid poker player.

The pros may seem like they are doing impossible things, but they are really just following basic tips. Poker is a game of chance, but you can always tip the odds in your favor by studying your opponents, being smart with money and betting, and thinking through your decisions. Play smart and you will notice a great increase in your poker winnings.

Related Putin Articles