MsGuy

Putin's headline poll numbers are out of sight but if you drill down a bit you find a few dangers for him lurking under the surface. For instance, only 6% would support any further action in the Ukraine if it would cost them a hit on their personal income. Also only 30% support the use of Russian troops to protect the breakaway regions around Donets. Both numbers are down sharply in just the last 4 months. I found those poll numbers yesterday but I can't for the life of me find the link now...Sorry. Further, I would think most Russians have a clear memory of how bad things got after the government defaulted on its bonds back in 1998. Putin road that crises to power. Now they've still got Putin and they've got no alternative available. I guess they just about have to give him a chance and hope for the best. And, hey, who doesn't want a nice flat screen TV?

Thanks for the Guardian link, AS. If you're a business owner in Russia, how can you sanely respond to this but by squireling as much capital as possible out of the reach of the Kremlin? When even a whale like Yevtushenkov can't protect himself from this kind of shit, the lesser fish have to be terrified.

Adam's link mentions that a certain Vladimir Evtushenkov has been cleared of charges. This has been one of the odder stories coming out of Russia this year. I suspect if it weren't for the Ukraine blow-up and the fall out from that, it would have gotten more coverage. The odd part is that Evtushenkov is one of the loyal, regime friendly oligarchs that form a critical pillar of support for Putin. While he wasn't one of the top tier super-oligarchs. he was a solid 2nd tier multi-billionaire and clearly a player in the Kremlin. Then suddenly he was not. As I understand the story, another faction of the Kremlin elite coveted his controlling interest Bashneft, a middle rank oil producer (& good source of hard currency earnings). They made a low ball bid, he turn them down and, presto, the police crashed his door, Bashneft was seized by the state (to be sold for pennies on the dollar to guess who) and Evtushenkov was held virtually incommunicado until he agreed to let bygones be bygones and acquiesce to the loss of his company, (After all he still has several billion bucks worth of assets still under his control.) All this came down in a period of 3 or 4 months. Now a Russian oligarch taking it in the neck ain't nothing new but before now it's always been some knot head who thought he could cock a snoot at the regime. But Mr. Evtushenkov was loyal regime insider. And grifters in Russia elbow their way into successful private businesses all the time. But regime insiders are supposed to be immune from all that shit. What the fuck happened here? Granted that Russia under Putin is a lot like a group of Mafia bosses trying to govern a country, but still, when the individual bosses start making each other 'offers you can't refuse', that shit can go south really fast. Even the Italian Cosa Nostra in America learned that internal gut fighting was not good for business. Remember these guys have still got to run the country. I would think that right now keeping the state functioning is a difficult enough task w/o having to fend off a dagger in the back every time you go to the office. Personally I took the Evtushenkov episode as the canary in the mine showing that the situation inside the Kremlin is a lot more fragile (& even more dis-functional) than it appears on the outside. Just my 2 cents worth. That and $1.65 will get you a cup of weak coffee at my local truck stop. Tip not included. And sorry for wandering off topic.

Hmm...doesn't this really belong in the poop thread, AS?

And cute, shirtless young hitch hikers anxious to practice their English. Don't forget the hitch hikers. More seriously, your unpleasant friend is echoing a lot of people. As cracks open in the exile block (& Obama demonstrated exactly how to hit its fracture lines), other interests are finding room to push forward more forcibly.

I haven't the energy to search it out but I'm pretty sure we have had this discussion before. ---- Personally, I think US policy on Cuba has been driven by the political need to cater to the views of the Cuban exile community in Florida, not by the normal criteria of US foreign policy. In other words, this is a US domestic political issue and all the arguments advanced pro or con are just so much hot air unless they make their domestic basis explicit, i.e.: Exiles: "Non-recognition and embargo or give up on Florida in the next Presidential election." Agg & light industrial interests: "Cuba would sure make a nice market where we have a real competitive advantage." Tourism interests: "Hmmm...Remember how it was in the 50s." Cuban bond holders, the Bacardi family, other expropriated interests: "Over our dead bodies until Castro settles up with us." Gays: "Jesus, it's like Brazil, only 1/2 an hour from Miami! . And CHEAPER!" The problem for the pro opening interests is that from America's perspective, Cuba just doesn't amount to much in the greater scheme of things so no one except the exiles get very worked up one way or the other. The problem for the pro embargo folks is that increasingly the 2nd and 3rd generation Cuban-Americans don't see much sense in continuing the status quo. And some of their business types are starting to see real possibilities in opening things up.

But where will I find reliable power for my oxy gizmo? Now if MsAnn's hitch hiker wanted a chance to practice his English, I might just be willing to take my chances.

So far 75 years seems to be the absolute max life span for a commie regime with the average being some considerably less, so keep the faith, RA1. It always struck me as odd that same folks who intuitively understood that state socialism was not a viable economic model (not to mention a nasty system to live under) were the most passionately convinced that the only way to get rid of one was to attack it hammer and tong. Interestingly enough, a tong is one of those pincer looking thingies on the upper left. Who knew?

RA1, Mr. Gross was a US contract agent arrested on a rather idiotic, designed to fail mission dreamed up by some air head James Bond wannabe back in the comfortable bosom of the CIA in Washington. He must have been an amateur because any spy with even a modicum of experience would have refused the assignment. My understanding is that after 5 years in a Cuban hell hole, he was on his last legs and had refused medical treatment rather than spend any further time under the care of the Castro brothers. He was saying that he'd rather be dead. We owed it to him to get him out. ---- As to the diplomatic recognition thing, folks can argue about that until the cows come home. Way too complicated for me to figure it all out. However it does occur to me that the 'average citizen of Cuba' does not seem to have benefited much from our non-recognition of his masters government nor does it seem likely he will suffer much from the presence of an American embassy in Havana (as opposed to the "US Interests" section now housed in the Canadian embassy building). But then who knows, maybe I'm just getting too old to see the obvious. Hell, I'm too old and feeble even to enjoy that weekend in Havana. Unless someone wants to volunteer to fly me & my oxy machine down in a private jet? And push me around Havana's Boys Town in a wheelchair. And supply a portable air conditioner. (Maybe Tampa Yanqui would be willing to lend us his. )

I notice you saved it up for over 3 weeks before taking what must have been an almighty satisfying dump on the poop thread. Was this monumental post a spontaneous spur of the moment production? Or possibly chemically assisted?

Is there an app for that?

Something about this one made me think of AdamSmith.

Poo... I read your headline as Cheney being caught playing with blue bottomed little boys. What a tease.

Wolf pups are so cute. If you don't mind, I'll keep one for Hito.

A blood libel, AS. Oh Baby, don't think for a moment Auntie Mama can't track your sorry ass down.

I don't give a shit where he is, he needs to get his sorry ass back here right now. If I have to hold this pose one more hour I'm gonna poop myself.

"Get that blue-ass rat off me, Adam!"

So he's still alive? Who woudda guessed.

OK I'm sitting here watching Baking With Julia and she's making pita bread with her buddy Jeffrey Alford, the food writer, who is clearly gay. That's him on the left with long brown hair.. Kinda cute in his red blouse and blue, wraparound apron. On the other hand he appears on the show with his wife (in the middle), also a noted foodie, with whom he has two kids. But now he's divorced and has moved to Thailand on a permanent basis.1 It's all so confusing. Sometimes I wish folks would just wear badges. I guess not though, that didn't work out so well last time. ----- 1 Oz, have you ever met him? His WIKI says he lives in a small village in northern Thailand but surely he comes into town once in a while.

Awww...so cute. Probably has bad breath though.

Scientific Breakthrough! Paleozoic Bird Discovered.

Bieber is getting that 'seen too much too young' look in his eyes, Hito. I think he needs your prayers now and in the years to come.

226 grams to be precise. I was going to make some vulgar comment about that being a shit load of crystal meth but, on mature reflection, thought better of it. And only two years? Maybe the times are changing, but that seems like an awfully light sentence to me.