Playing Hockey With Putin

Source

Shortly before the Sochi Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putin played in an exhibition hockey game there. In retrospect, he was clearly warming up for his takeover of Crimea. Putin doesn’t strike me as a chess player, in geopolitical terms. He prefers hockey, without a referee, so elbowing, tripping and cross-checking are all permitted. Never go to a hockey game with Putin and expect to play by the rules of touch football. The struggle over Ukraine is a hockey game, with no referee. If we’re going to play — we, the Europeans and the pro-Western Ukrainians need to be serious. If we’re not, we need to tell the Ukrainians now: Cut the best deal with Putin that you can.

Are we serious? It depends on the meaning of the word “serious.” It starts with recognizing what a huge lift it will be to help those Ukrainians who want to break free of Russia’s orbit. Are we and our allies ready — through the International Monetary Fund — to finance Ukraine’s massive rebuilding and fuel needs, roughly $14 billion for starters, knowing that this money is going to a Ukrainian government that, before the overthrow of the previous president, ranked 144 out of 177 on the Transparency International list of most corrupt countries in the world, equal with Nigeria?

Russian Photographer Takes Stunning Portraits With REAL Animals

Russian talent - Moscow-based photographer Katerina Plotnikova

IS GOD NOW ON RUSSIA'S SIDE?

Pat Buchanan: Putin is planting flag firmly on the side of traditional Christianity

Source

In his Kremlin defense of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin, even before he began listing the battles where Russian blood had been shed on Crimean soil, spoke of an older, deeper bond.

Crimea, said Putin, “is the location of ancient Khersones, where Prince Vladimir was baptized. His spiritual feat of adopting Orthodoxy predetermined the overall basis of the culture, civilization and human values that unite the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.”

Russia is a Christian country, Putin was saying.

This speech recalls last December’s address where the former KGB chief spoke of Russia as standing against a decadent West:

“Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values. Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan. This is the path to degradation.”

Heard any Western leader, say, Barack Obama, talk like that lately?

No smile for no reason

Two great texts on the russian smile 'issue')) Here and here

TGIF!

Nice old russian cartoon "Little Silver Hoof"

It's a delightful animated version of a traditional Russian fairy tale, Little Silver Hoof. It tells the tale of a lonely old man who adopts a little orphan girl and her cat, and searches for a magical deer.

Another point of view-)

U.S. Sanctions List Sets Dangerous Precedent

Good analysis of the sanction imposed on Russia by the West

Source

U.S. Sanctions List Sets Dangerous Precedent

The U.S. sanctions imposed on high-ranking Russian officials caused many to gasp in dismay that the U.S. had targeted figures believed to be close to President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. government's decision to include the likes of Yury Kovalchuk, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko were shocking — but more for the groundless allegations against Russian officials than anything else.

It is relatively easy for the U.S. to sanction members of a government deemed to be acting in a hostile way, but what are the grounds for extending them to people who had no formal connection to that government? 

The U.S. statement that accompanied the list described the targeted individuals as being part of Putin's "inner circle," a term that is presumably somewhat difficult to define legally. But it also contained some surprisingly bold statements. It claimed that Putin has investments in the commodities trader Gunvor, whose former Russian shareholder, Timchenko, is one of the Treasury Department's new targets. Similarly, the document claimed that Bank Rossiya, now a sanctioned "Specially Designated National," or SDN, along with its main shareholder, Yury Kovalchuk, is the "personal bank" for senior officials. Kovalchuk, according to the statement, is the "personal banker" of senior officials, including Putin.