aflanigan wrote: 
My dear old friend, Krugman is a jackass.  It is about cronyism to a degree, but its not about real estate.  That is peanuts.  Remember when the Japanese were buying up all of our real estate way back when ?  We were all afraid of our real estate being purchased by a foreign country.  How did that work out ?

Here's where all of Putin's money is going and the implications on the global economy are much more dire, especially if Putin has to start selling it to cover his debt.

 Russia Expanded Gold Reserves for 8th Month Amid Ruble Rout

Not to mention platinum and palladium (which are key industrial metals) with the latter also a key producer of revenue for Russia as they are one of the two primary sources.

 kurtster wrote: 

Yep.  Which all of this is related.  Saudi America is doing this to hurt Russia and Iran as well because they are still pissed that we did not do their dirty work for them and take out Assad.  This is not good, putting a country with an enormous stockpile of nuclear weapons to the brink is a dangerous game and one that I cannot believe we are still plowing ahead with.

 sirdroseph wrote: 
Sanctions are just kicking Putin in the nuts while he is already down, unnecessary and just making him angrier and more dangerous.

The lower price of oil is doing more harm than any sanctions could ever do.  Russia produces 3.87 billion barrels of oil per year.  With oil at $100 bbl USD that's what ... $387 billion per year ?  Now at $55 bbl that's now $212 bil.  That is a $175 bil hit on revenue.  My math may be effed up but its pretty clear what is happening.

It ain't pretty ...

 Economic sanctions have taken their toll on Russia. The oil-price collapse has further weakened the regime, which depends on oil and gas for half of its budget revenue. But this week, the situation became far more dire as the Russian ruble fell 50 percent since the start of the year. Russia's attempt to raise interest rates to 17 percent failed to get Russians to keep their currency in Russia. Russians have lost almost half their real income. With $30 billion in loans dues in December and another $150 billion next year, Russia cannot finance its debt.

With US debt now $18 Trillion we are on pretty shaky ground, too.  

 RichardPrins wrote: 
Love it! The most comprehensive, accurate and yet simple explanation of our foreign policy (or really most countries with any power and influence) I have seen to date!

 aflanigan wrote: 

What was that about putting words in people's mouths again?

 sirdroseph wrote: 
I don't remember saying that it is a "good thing" for the Russian people (or anyone else) that their widely admired leader has driven them into an economic crisis. If you are going to get defensive about your Putinphilia, try to do it without putting words in peoples' mouths.

Krugman seems to think they will muddle through on their own without getting bailed out by the IMF.

 aflanigan wrote: 

And if you think having Russia on the brink of crisis is a good thing then perhaps you should think a little longer on that. All of this has much deeper implications than a pissing match between Putin and the West.  This is not a game, there are many people being hurt not only in Russia, but the Ukraine not to mention Russia's nuclear stockpile has not simply dissappeared the day the Soviet Union dissolved.  Obama did a good thing easing restrictions on Cuba because embargos and sanctions generally don't work and cause more harm in the long run, why is this any different?

Edit: there is much more to geopolitics than the narrow minded childish arguments between the TV right wing neocons and left wing liberals you know.  

So where are his tumescent political admirers now, to help trumpet the wonderful fruits of Putin's leadership?

Who's playing chess now, Mr. Krauthammer?

Obama to sign sanctions bill as Russian economy nears 'brink of crisis

 sirdroseph wrote: 

To which my response is to separate terrorism from Jihad.  Terrorism is not Jihad, it is a tool of Jihad.

As with many religions, violence and other repugnacies have been purged from doctrine over time.  Jihad must be purged from Islam or the civilized world is doomed.

The world needs an honest conversation as to what Jihad really is.

Jihad is an imperialistic ideology of intolerance.
(another ultimate solution)

My view from my armchair.



Absurd edit:  do we really want a world where only Muslims can safely go shopping in a mall in Kenya ?

Additional absurd edit:  Perhaps one way to look at Islam is to view its positive attributes as to the Vulcans, while the Jihadist part would be the Romulans, a twisted and violent offshoot of the Vulcans.

 kurtster wrote: 

The only response I can give you is that violence will never defeat terrorism, it only feeds it. That's an immutable fact.  I do not deny that there is a large faction of Islamic fundamentalists that have only one goal for America and that is death, these people are not even to be dealt with other than to watch and protect ourselves from them as much as possible while adhering to the consitution and our own citizens civil liberties.  The only way to defeat terrorism long term is to adjust foreign policy in a way that does not create a fertile environment for generations to hate us and hate us in an impoverished society that leaves them no opportunity.  That is a cocktail which gives you a child strapping a bomb to their chest and blowing themselves and other innocent people up.

 sirdroseph wrote: 

A good summary. 

Putin is offering a contrast or challenge to the insanity that is running rampant through much of the world and the US in particular.  It ironically is indicative of how crazy things are here when someone like Putin makes more sense than what our own leaders are saying and doing.  Putin cannot be ignored by our media and government as much as both would wish to.  He is a man with a country who is capable of walking his talk.

It is also very scary when someone like Putin makes more sense than our own leaders.  It illustrates how vulnerable and emotional the populace is in by willing to drink anyone's Kool-Aid in a dead end quest for a way out of this quagmire we are in. 

The only thing I disagree with you on is about Putin's solution to the threat of Jihad.  The incident in Kenya once again raises the spectre of Jihad that cannot be ignored.  In a discussion last night that I saw, the question posed was just what percentage would be an accurate measurement of how many Muslims actually support violent Jihad.  While impossible to answer accuraretly, the number put on the table was 10%.  A very low percentage overall.  With an estimated 1 1/2 billion Muslims in the world, that means 150 million of them support Jihad as we are seeing acted out.  That is half the population of our country to put some meaning to that number.  That is one hell of a lot of people who believe the mantra of convert or die.

Let us not forget that our own Marines were founded as the answer to Jihad some 200 years ago.  ... to the shores of Tripoli.  It is real and is not going away.  It must be dealt with, just as Hitler had to be dealt with.  The more you ignore it, the more it acts out in violent ways to be recognized.  Sadly, Putin could very well end up being the Jefferson of our times the way things are headed.

Though I am not oblivious to his bigotry and authoritarian rule, I do admire his rugged individualism, bluntness and you have to admit he is right on some very important issues such as sheltering a very important whistle blower, brokering a peace deal to at least delay the outright bombing of Syrians though we are still getting involved directly and indirectly in bringing more weapons and killing into the war torn country.  He appeals to those of us who are tired of political correctness and bullshit and also those of us who prefer honest and blunt myopic selfishness to veiled, humble and dishonest myopic selfishness.  However let us be perfectly clear, I have no illusions that he is not an evil dictator and of course do not support his ruling methods or how he treats his own people. Nor do I support him in his proposed Jihad against Muslims, violence is not the way to defeat terrorism.
I am merely explaining why some otherwise reasonable lovers of peace and populism might have a soft spot for him.  Now, there are others whose very life is built upon hatred of Obama and those people of course support Putin merely because he is a rival to Obama and they clearly dislike one another.  Just wanted to be clear that I am not one of those, to me Obama is just the latest representation of American Imperialism.

 Monkeysdad wrote:
Indeed, I ended up looking at odd stuff.

 RichardPrins wrote: 
Slow day at the news sites RP?!

The Secret American Subculture of Putin-Worshippers
The Russian president has his fans here—who see him as the very epitome of macho manliness.

(...) Putinphilia is not, of course, the predominant position of the conservative movement. But in certain corners of the Internet, adoration for the leader of America's No. 1 frenemy is unexceptional. They are not his countrymen, Russian expats, or any of the other regional allies you might expect to find allied with the Russian leader. Some, like Young and his readers, are earnest outdoorsy types who like Putin's Rough Rider sensibility. Others more cheekily admire Putin's cult of masculinity and claim relative indifference to the political stances—the anti-Americanism, the support for leaders like Bashar al-Assad, the oppression of minorities, gays, journalists, dissidents, independent-minded oligarchs—that drive most Americans mad. A few even arrive at their Putin admiration through a strange brew of antipathy to everything they think President Obama stands for, a reflexive distrust of what the government and media tells them, and political beliefs that go unrepresented by either of the main American political parties.

They utterly perplex many observers of the Russian-American relationship. "No clue as to what drives it, other than some form of illness," says Russian-born novelist Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan.

There are many faux Putin fans in America—those who mock the hero worship ironically or half-ironically. But plenty of his fans are serious. Three months ago, Americans for Putin, a Facebook group, sprang up "for Americans who admire many of the policies and the leadership style of Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin" and think he "sounds better than the Republicrat establishment." The group has an eight-point policy platform calling for "a unified national culture," a "firm stance against Israeli imperialism," and an opposition to the political correctness it says dominates Washington. Though that group is relatively small (167 likes as of Wednesday afternoon, ticking up every few hours), the Obama's-so-bad-Putin-almost-looks-good sentiment can be found on plenty of conservative message boards. Earlier this year, when Putin supposedly caught—and kissed—a 46-pound pike fish, posters on Free Republic, a major grassroots message board for the Right, were overwhelmingly pro-Putin:

"I wonder what photoup of his vacation will the Usurper show us? Maybe clipping his fingernails I suppose or maybe hanging some curtains. Yep manly. I can't believe I'm siding with Putin," one wrote. "I have President envy," another said. "Better than our metrosexual president," said a third. One riffed that a Putin-Sarah Palin ticket would lead to a more moral United States.

The cult of Putin in America probably has its strongest hold on the readers of ostensibly apolitical humor sites that target young men, such as Cracked and theChive. Cracked's post on why Putin is "The World's Craziest Badass" drew more than 1 million views. TheChive's slide show naming Putin "The Real Life Most Interesting Man in the World" inspired several hundred comments—only a few from Putin-haters distressed to see that he had such a following. (...)