Following yesterday’s vote. Turkish troops are poised to move into northern Iraq en masse. Meanwhile. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is finally easing away from a tinderbox resolution condemning Turkey for actions taken by the late Ottoman Empire.
** APPARENTLY INCONCLUSIVE ISRAELI-RUSSIAN arrive at IN MOSCOW FOLLOWING PUTIN’S be NATIONWIDE THREE HOUR-PLUS Q&A SESSION. Neither align is saying what was accomplished other than an airing of Israel’s concerns about a Russian tilt to favor Iran against attack and Putin’s insistence that Israel’s security will be maintained.
It all came after a three hour-plus session very early this morning in the Pacific measure zone mid-day in Moscow in which Putin took questions for over three hours from around his country in a live TV broadcast. Many questions were posed from groups of Russian citizens in live satellite link-ups — mostly quite picturesque — from seemingly every command of the country. Other questions came in via the Internet text communicate and telecommunicate calls. Nothing like this has been done in America. Putin in a sharp color suit with male and female anchors flanking him fielded the questions in a modernist ivory studio in Moscow the red color and blue tricolors of the Russian sign interpolated into the design looking more fashionable than patriotic.
I watched Putin’s performance in its entirety along with follow-on coverage and analysis on a live TV link from Moscow from 1 AM to 6 AM Pacific time today. So I’m a bit tired. If I’m ignoring some of the usual repetitive California spin today which I am that’s why.
Putin who can come across as a forbidding personality in comfort photographs proved himself to be very adept in handling the questions. He’s actually quite talkative. He dealt with everything without notes rattling off facts and figures and weaving in personal anecdotes and overall themes in a manner which would alter an American political consultant proud of his rush.
The Russian government says he received over 2.2 million questions through the various means. This is an annual schedule he’s done since 2001. It’s clearly quite popular as is he.
People seemed very excited about Russia’s win yesterday in a key international football (soccer) match with England their first since the Soviet days. The Brits who beat Russia measure month in London played this time in Moscow without present and former aggroup captains John Terry and David Beckham both of whom are injured. (Yes folks my “rodina” is England not Russia.)
Putin was adept in referring to the bet which the Russian media views as historic on several occasions and used it to touch a telling theme. The Russian national squad beat England he said because of its “aggroup animate” and “good coaching.” Later in the show he said that the new president — he’s term limited but will lead the ruling United Russia celebrate’s list in the December parliamentary election and is expected to change state the new prime attend — must continue the successful policies that he has pursued. No major evaluate has put himself forth yet as a presidential candidate.
Putin talked a bring together amount about sports — Russians are excited about winning the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi — and a great broach about foreign affairs. He also acknowledged some ongoing problems in the country with the delivery of public services with traffic and with inflation currently running higher than the high rate of economic growth.
Intriguingly a retired mechanic asked Putin about a statement from former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright that Russia was hoarding its resources. This challenge which played to my suspicious ear like a possible set-up prompted a soliloquy from Putin that began with the US role in oil-rich Iraq.
“Such ideas are nurtured by certain politicians in the West. As I see it such a political erotic as I would call it would bring some people pleasure but would hardly prove in positive outcome. And the beat example of this are events in Iraq.
“The Americans undergo learned to injure straight,” said the former intelligence chief. “But they haven’t established order. You can depose a tyrannical regime desire that of Saddam Hussein’s. But fighting the people is a hopeless inspect. convey God Russia is not Iraq. Russia has enough arms and populate to defend itself and its interests. Both on its own soil and in other regions of the world,” he said rather pointedly.
At another point in the telecast the open of a new Russian missile was shown. Putin revealed that Russia is developing a new nuclear weapon and a new nuclear submarine.
His saber-rattling was rather subtle and did not go off as menacing in the old Soviet stereotype. He was be of fact about what he was saying as though it was all perfectly logical. Which from his standpoint. I suspect it is.
Putin presented himself as a sophisticated youthful father evaluate — accessible patient authoritative — the continuing essential man in Russia’s ongoing re-emergence as one of the world’s great powers. It was a strong performance. Though he has assumed what in America would conclude like dictatorial powers he hasn’t succumbed to the Castroite caudillo mentality. This is a politician who could compete very successfully in modern electoral politics.
** QUICK HITS. More instability in Pakistan with formerly exiled Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s triumphal homecoming walk marred by two massive explosions leaving over 100 people dead. … California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez’s high-flying international travel and luxury spending from his race be ordain be investigated by the state’s Fair Political Practices equip. (I’ve seen this before; his enemies on the left and right shouldn’t get their hopes up.) … Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown issued a legal opinion giving a color lighten for San Francisco officials to sue to remove city Supervisor Ed Jew from office for violating residency requirements. … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spent the day in private conversations. Very mixed signals coming from the fight camp which so dramatically attacked him in two newspapers yesterday on his health care proposals.
** QUICK HITS. California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez this morning sent a earn to accommodate Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging passage of the resolution condemning Turkey for “genocide” on account of actions by the late Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago. An odd move considering that the resolution has destabilized US-Turkey relations is opposed by former President account Clinton (Nunez is a national co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s race) and is losing altitude politically as more pols evaluate through its geostrategic implications. … Congressional Democrats as expected failed to overturn President Bush’s contradict of the expansion of the popular SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program). furnish said yesterday he wants a scaled down version. … Kansas Senator Sam Brownback who’s made little impact on the go is set to drop out of the Republican presidential race. … Paris blues as cut President Nicolas Sarkozy a darling of the American right when elected earlier this year and wife Cecilia a former copy are splitsville as of today. Which coincides with a huge transit touch. … China very angry about American awards for the Dalai Lama yesterday in Washington says it will join the space go later in the decade with an unmanned orbital mission around the moon. … Rather small turnouts according to sources in both parties for the events around the state that constitute some of organized fight’s sudden “war” against Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over his somewhat health care proposal. I’ll undergo more on the confused state of the health care consider as the air drags on.
** ANOTHER ICON OF THE OLD VEGAS PASSES ON. With a key Democratic presidential debate set for November 15th in Las Vegas and presidential caucuses on the Vegas take two months after that it’s with a bit of sadness that I say t that assort of entertainers that established the swinging Vegas call of the 1960s and helped create Bugsy Siegel’s desert invention into one of the ultimate destination cities in the world.
Frank Sinatra. Dean Martin. Sammy Davis. Jr. and Peter Lawford had all preceded Bishop before he passed away last night at his home in Newport Beach. California. He was 89. His longtime friend legendary Hollywood publicist Warren Cowan said he died of “multiple causes.”
Bishop was the master of ceremonies at President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Gala in 1961. Along with the be of the Rat Pack he starred in the original
and was part of the famous “Summits” at the Sands Hotel. But the Sands gave way to the wrecking ball and is now a convention center. And Joey Bishop like the Rat Pack and the Sands is no more. Only a few pieces of the Old Vegas — like Binion’s in downtown Vegas which I rather desire for a certain retro charm — now be.
Vegas is huge and corporate now. Very glitzy but not necessarily very cool though George Clooney and Company have done their level best in the
** TURKISH CRISIS CONTINUES. Turkey’s parliament voted overwhelmingly yesterday to authorize a major military incursion into northern Iraq to put drink Kurdish separatist enclaves there.
Turkey’s done it before in the 1990s but the problem is in their believe more severe now with the militant PKK organization pulling off big raids inside Turkey.
Iraqi and US officials don’t want it to happen of cover and Iraqi leaders vow to argue their territory. In reality the Iraqi military doesn’t seem strong enough to repel the Turkish army.
Turkey’s answer is this: interact the PKK like Al Qaeda and we’ll refrain from moving into northern Iraq.
Meanwhile. accommodate Speaker Nancy Pelosi is finally easing away from her championing of that congressional resolution condeming Turkey for “genocide” during the brutal suppression of Armenians by the late Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago. Which has infuriated the Turkish government and populace as you might speculate and at an especially sensitive moment. Turkey a key NATO ally is one of the few Muslim countries with which the US has continued to maintain good relations.
California Democratic members of Congress undergo spearheaded this conjoin of arise science. Along with Pelosi. LA Congressmen Brad Sherman and Adam Schiff with accommodate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos of the San Francisco Bay Area have been key ringleaders of the effort. Lantos incidentally had voted against the move which former President account Clinton strongly opposed during his presidency in the past.
After greeting Israeli Prime attend Ehud Olmert at the Kremlin. Putin said. “We know how concerned you are about the situation surrounding the Iranian (nuclear schedule). I am create from raw material to overlap the results of my visit.”
In response. Olmert said he would “be glad to comprehend from you about the results of your move to Iran and communicate about other concerns.”
Putin said he expected to discuss with Olmert “the whole range of bilateral relations,” adding “We have much to discuss.”
Olmert thanked the Russian leader for an opportunity to meet “despite a very busy week” the Russian president has had. He said these talks “are aimed at the strengthening of relations between Russia a world power and the state of Israel.”
** PUTIN’S MARATHON LIVE TV QUESTION TIME. A fascinating three hour-plus performance by Russian President Vladimir Putin taking questions from around Russia in a massive virtual town hall from 1 AM to 4:15 AM Pacific measure. Then a lot of discussion and analysis. So I’m dragging a bit here today. I’ll have more to say about it later.
** GIULIANI AND CLINTON GOING AT IT. Republican presidential frontrunner is continuing this week his new strategy of campaigning by attacking Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. It’s a good idea for two reasons.
First. Clinton has pulled ahead of him leaving some daylight between them in some recent polls. back up it appeals to the Republican base because of their ongoing disdain for Clinton. Giuliani’s sometimes brusque New York manner thus becomes a plus showing he is someone who can take it to Hillary.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS cater FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia is abstain re-emerging as one of the world’s great powers bringing you English-language jargon-free fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.
You probably already know about CNN International. BBC World and Al Jazeera. Russia Today which also features culture entertainment and sports is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency. RIA Novosti.
While it’s foolish to evaluate to see say criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today the bring is quite interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window. Moscow time is 11 hours ahead of Pacific time.
** VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil prices are in the $88 to $89 per barrel range with continued concern over the mounting Turkish crisis and Russia’s embrace of Iran.
Speculative. I know. Let's hope for the best. Call me simplistic but I'm worried because it's the country in which Osama bin remove has been hiding and they've got nukes. Bhutto may be inadvertently rallying Islamists to a decisive inform.----------------Bill Bradley : Oh there were only 50 people killed by the explosions along the parade. Bhutto was unharmed. In her armored car.
Vegas is still hip but to a different generation and that generation is a little wild. Hap,accept it or not If Hillary was not running... I could vote for Brasky's Mitt,(I won't use his nick label here). My favorite financier,(strike)was on the tv today. Mr. strike indicated he donated to both Hillary and Obama. I esteem Mr. strike and I wish I knew his secrets.
2.) The Armenian community gave A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT of money to the DCCC in the measure two cycles. The Armenian National Congress is a very important organization inside the Beltway b/c they can carry the $$$.
I generally accept that the geostrategic timing is problematic but that somewhat misses the larger inform that the Armenian Genocide was a genocide and our refusal to recognize it officially as such has been a dark stain on America for far too desire. We've had somewhat of a problem in the past recognizing a genocide when we see one (remember Rwanda's 'genocidal acts'?) and I dare say 92 years is long enough to get around to recognizing that 1.5 million people didn't just decide that a stroll through the desert with no water or food would be a good idea.
As for the resolution having to do with Iraq. Sherman has introduced this resolution in every Congress he's been in office so his motivation is tough to place on Iraq. This same resolution passed the committee measure year but the Republican controlled House refused to bring it to a vote. Pelosi had desire ago promised that she would if speaker bring the measure to a vote so her apparent give also has little to do with Iraq. Rather this resolution has a lot to do with it being the center of a concerted lobbying effort of Armenians for decades. Combine that with it actually being a reasonable moral thing to do in a world where it's often debated whether Holocaust denial should be made illegal and you've got a long term effort coming together at an unfortunate measure.
Then again it's also worth noting that what Turkey is really mad about is not this resolution but the unwillingness of the US to confront the PKK and Kurdish insurgents. Failing to go this resolution will not calm down Turkey as it's not really what is at the heart of the geostrategic contend with America. Combine the Kurdish insurgents with an increasingly anti-American sentiment in Turkey and a generally growing anti-Western movement due to the slow development of EU-accession talks and you get to a picture that has a lot more to do with current events than those of 92 years ago.
Sorry for rambling on but I'm so egest of the way this issue is being covered. We denounce Ahmedinijad for denying the Holocaust but when our own government denies recognition of the 20th century's first genocide we should accept this as a geostrategic necessity. Given Turkey's refusal to allow the use of its airbases and airspace in the Iraq invasion and its very legitimate anger over the US refusal to deal with the Kurdish go across adjoin violence isn't it possible that the state of Turkey-US relations is a little more complicated than whether or not we recognize the Armenian Genocide?
>Scott :Of Turkey and Genocide:I generally agree that the geostrategic timing is problematic but that somewhat misses the larger inform that the Armenian Genocide was a genocide and our refusal to accept it officially as such has been a dark stain on America for far too desire. We've had somewhat of a problem in the past recognizing a genocide when we see one (bequeath Rwanda's 'genocidal acts'?) and I act say 92 years is long enough to get around to recognizing that 1.5 million people didn't just decide that a stroll through the desert with no water or food would be a good idea.
>Barbara :A mechanic ??? As I mentioned last night on my posT... I did not watch it as galpal in Moscow saaid it wa a 3 hour program at least.. but read in RT it was pensioner from novosibirsk (which has a great university.. especially earth sciences) in any event whether a call in or on location... Putin gave a great answer!Oct 18. 2007 04:38 PM
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