It seems odd that Antiwar.com's relentless and enjoyable assault on the neocon cabal in DC does not seem to reach Minsk or Moscow. There, it seems, the neocons do, after all, know what they're talking about.
Just a few facts. Vladimir Putin is overseeing a Russia resurgent. He has taken inflation from 2500% (no kidding, under Yeltsin in the 1990s) to roughly 7% in just a few years. Unemployment is plummeting. The economy is growing, year-on-year, about 14% (and that includes only the aboveboard economy), making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. He has stood fast against NATO and the neocons who run it. He has exiled the hated media magnates and nationalized their anti-Russian media empires. In short, he is wildly popular, and is the envy of every other world leader in existence. If he were to run for President today, he would get about 85% of the vote without campaigning.
It is because of this that he can do as he pleases. His desire to appoint regional governors is not about terror ('tis true, he really needs to hire Ruder-Finn), but about the fear that these local lords might make "separate deals" with the west for control over Russia's natural resources. This is truly a threat to the economic health of Russia and needed to be addressed quickly. It might also be interesting to note that not a peep of protest was heard from these regional governors, and many actively supported the measure.
Oh, and, by the way, the Washington Times column on Putin did not mention that the regional governors appointed by Putin must be accepted by the local legislatures. He cannot appoint them or remove them "at will." It is because of Putin's successes that he is loathed by the west. It is because he stands fast against western capitalists buying up Russia's oil and gas wealth that he is hated and called a "dictator." He is hated because he nationalized a media empire partially owned by the Washington Post. He is hated because he is running a nationalist, and not a cosmopolitan, economy, and is amazingly successful at it, contrary to all the Harvard-penned predictions, and, yes, to libertarian economic theory.
He is hated because he won a staring contest with Ariel Sharon over missiles Putin sent to Syria. The list can continue.
One principle that would do Antiwar.com well: please do not run anything by the Washington Times – ever. They are a major mouthpiece for the neocon establishment that Antiwar.com rejects (except when they talk about Russia, I guess).
Please, guys, be more careful in the future.
~ M. Raphael Johnson, Ph.D., Washington DC
http://www.americanfreepress.net/11_07_03/Countdown_to_Armageddon/countdown_to_armageddon.html Countdown to Armageddon? Are the Israelis willing to start World War III? Exclusive to American Free Press By M. Raphael Johnson
-- Michael Pugliese