Monday, December 22, 2008
Compare & Contrast
Exhibit 1
Protesters beaten as anger grows at Russian car import tax
"The severity used to silence the demonstration highlighted Kremlin nervousness that the protests could turn into a nationwide campaign of dissent, with dissatisfaction growing over rocketing unemployment figures and high inflation.
Many Russians are already upset that controversial oligarchs have received billions of dollars in rescue packages for their businesses, while little cash seems to have trickled down."
Exhibit 2
TARP accountability? None, apparently.
"According to this morning’s news, banks are refusing to reveal what’s being done with the money that was provided under the $350B (so far) TARP bailout money."
Protesters beaten as anger grows at Russian car import tax
"The severity used to silence the demonstration highlighted Kremlin nervousness that the protests could turn into a nationwide campaign of dissent, with dissatisfaction growing over rocketing unemployment figures and high inflation.
Many Russians are already upset that controversial oligarchs have received billions of dollars in rescue packages for their businesses, while little cash seems to have trickled down."
Exhibit 2
TARP accountability? None, apparently.
"According to this morning’s news, banks are refusing to reveal what’s being done with the money that was provided under the $350B (so far) TARP bailout money."
Labels: economics, end times, russia
Friday, September 05, 2008
Vladimir the Great
Georgia and the Dangers of Putinism
Perhaps it was the great geopolitical hope of the past two decades that Russia would turn out to be a normal country, like most other post-communist states. That hope was arguably dying the death of thousand cuts over the years, becoming less credible with every new authoritarian measure at home and every next saber rattling abroad. But invading a sovereign democratic neighbor must surely count as the Rubicon of sorts.
Fueled by a sense of humiliation and bounties of a resource boom, Putin has encouraged and overseen the blossoming of a chauvinistic and jingoistic climate of opinion that represents a curious mélange of communist and tsarist themes...
Perhaps it was the great geopolitical hope of the past two decades that Russia would turn out to be a normal country, like most other post-communist states. That hope was arguably dying the death of thousand cuts over the years, becoming less credible with every new authoritarian measure at home and every next saber rattling abroad. But invading a sovereign democratic neighbor must surely count as the Rubicon of sorts.
Fueled by a sense of humiliation and bounties of a resource boom, Putin has encouraged and overseen the blossoming of a chauvinistic and jingoistic climate of opinion that represents a curious mélange of communist and tsarist themes...
Labels: russia
