Posted on 07/30/2007 10:07:03 PM PDT by propertius
On the grimy walls of the Ivanovo Machine Tools Factory, a declining Soviet behemoth once venerated as a model of Socialist efficiency, hangs a solitary display of safety guidelines.
In a series of fading illustrations, it instructs workers how to behave in the event of a Nato nuclear attack: don your gas masks, head for the nearest shelter and dispatch messengers on horseback to warn outlying villages.
Sergei Ivanov, the visiting joint first deputy prime minister of Russia, might not have seen the posters as he strode on to the factory floor, in Ivanovo, a gloomy city 220 miles north of Moscow, but if he had he would probably have approved.
Mr Ivanov, like President Vladimir Putin an ex-KGB spy, is not fond of Nato. In his eyes, the organisation has deceived Moscow, using a pretence that the Cold War is over to move troops into eastern Europe as part of a plot to encircle Russia.
His frequent anti-Western outbursts, compounded by a recent threat to move nuclear missiles into the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, on the European Union's border, are causing growing international alarm.
Reflecting on Mr Ivanov's hostile disposition, one western diplomat referred to him as "Mr Nasty". The worry for the West is that "Mr Nasty" is increasingly starting to look like the hawkish Mr Putin's more hawkish heir apparent when (and if) the president steps down following elections next March. As in Soviet times, polling day itself promises to be an unexciting and meaningless contest bereft of genuine opposition.
Two candidates who have put their names forward without the Kremlin's blessing have suddenly found themselves the focus of criminal investigations and could spend the election in prison.
Thanks to his tight control of the airwaves and his vast popularity, whoever Mr Putin names as his successor is bound to win.
So far, the president - barred by the constitution from seeking a third term - has demurred from making his choice public. But among a field of possible candidates, most of them friends of the president from the days he worked in the St Petersburg city administration, Mr Ivanov is now regarded as favourite. Whether attending a concert, opening a gym or touring a factory, Mr Ivanov's daily routine is given lavish coverage on state television, dramatically boosting his opinion poll ratings. Given that news editors are told what to report by the Kremlin, commentators believe the publicity is clear evidence that Mr Ivanov is being groomed for office.
Mr Ivanov denies harbouring presidential ambitions. Yet visits like the one to the Ivanovo factory are the closest Mr Ivanov is likely to come to proper electioneering.
Like Mr Putin, who once compared campaigning to selling Tampax, Mr Ivanov eschews the glad-handing and soap-box politics that accompanies elections in the West.
He acknowledged the dutiful applause of factory workers, but in his brief conversation with one he appeared awkward - an attribute he tries to hide by placing hand in trouser pocket to feign casualness. It is easy to see what Mr Putin finds attractive in his deputy prime minister. The two men share similar characteristics - both, for instance, are gauche in public but apparently magnetic in smaller gatherings - and a similar background.
They met in 1977 at KGB officer training college. While Mr Putin was stationed in Dresden, Mr Ivanov was posted beyond the Iron Curtain, serving in Kenya, Finland and, it is rumoured, London - from where he was reportedly expelled in 1985.
Mr Putin appointed Mr Ivanov his deputy when he took over the FSB, the KGB's domestic successor, in 1998.
A fan of John Le Carré, and a fluent English speaker, Mr Ivanov is in many ways as enigmatic as the man he may succeed. Yet Mr Putin seems to believe in his loyalty - a quality of supreme importance if, as is widely believed, the president hopes to retain political influence after he steps down.
The hardening of Mr Putin's anti-Western position, analysts say, also boosts Mr Ivanov's chances.
His chief rival, the other, slightly more liberal, first deputy prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, has seen his television coverage dwindle as the president has grown more dogmatic.
In recent months, Mr Putin has likened the United States to the Third Reich, accused Britain of neo-colonialism and threatened to point nuclear missiles at Europe. If antagonism is to be the Kremlin's course, Mr Ivanov could be the best man for the job.
You really need to stop believing NATO is going to attack Russia next week - it's silly.
You really need to stop believing NATO is going to attack Russia next week - it’s silly.==
Let us talk seriously here. We both know if Russia disarms herself today then tomorrow NATO will start to dictate her what to do. It is the stubborn fact.
NATO were created for purpose against Soviet Union. Soviet Union is now dead but NATO still alive and even more aggressive. It is the second stubborn fact.
There are lot of propaganda noise which come from our “grant-suckers” and thier western masters that NATO is very peaceful. But ask Serbia about that.
SO what Russia should do? Of cause to prepare for contingencies. Until Russia keeps her powder dry, she can continue her independent way of life. That is so simple.
The Red Army man in the photo you posted looks like he had one too many bottles of vodka.. lol.==
The “keyboard warrior” like youself won’t never understand the man who defended his Motherland. Who went through many grave danger and survived. He just killed many german soldiers and still alive. That is why he is smiling.
Dictating? Dictating what? Putin is doing enough dictating already. You do not seem to understand that Russia under Putin is a threat to the West as well as thinking Russians freedom.
"NATO were created for purpose against Soviet Union."
Post 1945 Moscow was enslaving one nation after the other under the horrors of communism. NATO was absolutely required to prevent Stalin's Russia from invading all of Europe.
"Soviet Union is now dead but NATO still alive and even more aggressive. It is the second stubborn fact."
The Evil Empire II is alive and threatening the civilized world under Putin's KGB régime, that is a fact.
"There are lot of propaganda noise which come from our “grant-suckers” and thier western masters that NATO is very peaceful. But ask Serbia about that."
That statement was pure USSR-Radio Moscow style propaganda, which nobody bought then and nobody is believing it now. Serbia was controlled by an old hard-line, Soviet style communist dictator, if you have forgotten that fact.
"SO what Russia should do?
Get rid of the malignant problem which is concerning greatly the West, the Putin dictatorship. Then again Russia has never been democratically elected republic, so why start now, correct.
"Of cause to prepare for contingencies. Until Russia keeps her powder dry, she can continue her independent way of life. That is so simple."
"....her independent way..."
Supplying advanced weapons systems to the worst terrorist (Islamic & communist) totalitarian dictatorships which constantly threaten international economic stability? Using proxies to fight Moscow's ongoing wars against the West has been Russia way for decades. Nothing will change due to the fact most Russians are content to live as they always have, under one dictatorship or the other. Russians longing for real freedom should leave Putin KGB empire prior to Russia being destroyed resulting from Putin's rash actions.
Retired generals predict US-Russia war
KREMLIN SABER RATTLING INCREASES AHEAD OF SCO SUMMIT
Even though there is no real freedom of press in Russia, thanks to Putin, there is nothing the Kremlin can do to prevent the Western press from informing the public of the truth.
In your opinion, do you think the US is preparing an endgame against the Russian Federation?
In your opinion, do you think the US is preparing an endgame against the Russian Federation?
Supplying advanced weapons systems to the worst terrorist (Islamic & communist) totalitarian dictatorships which constantly threaten international economic stability? Using proxies to fight Moscow’s ongoing wars against the West has been Russia way for decades.==
The usual accusation number 1: Russia “was/is” Soviet Union.
Even though there is no real freedom of press in Russia, thanks to Putin,==
The usual accusation number 2: Putin “is” the dictator.
About the accusation #1 I would presume that you should look closely into the history of Russia. Russians fought against the communism first at ever. Recall Civil war 1917-22. Secondly the Communism isn’t Russian innovation. It was devised in Germany in 19 century by 2 guys: Karl Marx and Fritz Engels. So Russian in the core are anti-communists. Me too.
About the weapon sales. Russia doesn’t give none nothing for free but sells for hard currencies. It is business nothing more.
About accusation #2. Putin is NOT a dictator. He is the authoritarian. And he will be gone in half year or so.
Putin would sell to the Devil himself, whatever he desired, if the price was right since he is void of morals. They were extracted during his KGB training, along with his soul.
"Russians fought against the communism first at ever."
Some did indeed and many paid the highest price or were force to flee Russia forever. How can you be an real anti-Communist, while at the same time fanatically support everything Putin does - everything, including Putin' very public ongoing support for viscously anti-Western Communist & Islamic terrorist promoting tyrants around the globe?
"Putin is NOT a dictator. He is the authoritarian. And he will be gone in half year or so. "
Who Is the World’s Worst Dictator? #20th on the list, Russia's dictator Putin!
"According to the U.S. State Department, Russia engages in 17 different categories of human rights abuses. Prison conditions are described as “frequently life-threatening.” In 2004 alone, according to official statistics, more than 2,000 prisoners died while in pretrial detention. Although Vladimir Putin has stated that he will not run for reelection in 2008, he has greatly centralized power in the executive branch, even eliminating the election of regional governors and appointing them himself instead. He has dramatically strengthened the secretive Federal Security Service, and appointed to almost all of the government’s most important positions people who, like Putin, served in the KGB or its successor agencies. A recently passed election bill forbids creating a “negative image” of political opponents, which means that challenging Putin or his policies will be illegal."
What's the difference in your view, when he has systematically consolidated his absolute power in Russia. Putin orders his critics murdered, totally controls the state TV and leading newspapers, bans all domestic political opposition, no matter the type, unless the 'protesters' are Kremlin originated, brainwashed & financed Putin youth cults, such as the street thugs which make up the bulk of the Nashi. Putin even encourages his little Nashi clones to produce baby Putins, just as Hitler did through the robotic Hitler Youth.
Just where is Putin going in a half a year? He has absolutely no intention of relinquishing his totalitarian rule, even if a loyal Kremlin stooge 'wins' the upcoming neo-Soviet 'in the bag' election. Putin could always stage a national emergency, or two or three (similar to the Moscow apartment terror bombings) feeding his brainwashed faithfuljustifing the requirement the Motherland is demanding he remains in power. I fully understand why you are not able to clearly identify Putin as a ruthless dictator, due to the historical fact Russia has always been ruled by a dictator or a Czar.
Here is yet another alarming reason:
Just in case one article is not enough.
Yea, but with talk from Ivanov about bringing back the Soviet empire, I could see NATO trying to surround Russia.
I think Putin should be placed about Jintao on the dictator list.
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