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Stung by Criticism Over Georgia, Putin Asks West for a Little Understanding
NY Times ^ | September 12, 2008 | ELLEN BARRY

Posted on 09/11/2008 10:05:10 PM PDT by neverdem

MOSCOW — For three and a half hours on Thursday, in tones that were alternately pugilistic and needy, Vladimir V. Putin tried to explain himself.

More than a month has passed since Russia sent columns of armor into Georgia, asserting its sphere of influence with a confidence not seen since the days of the Soviet Union. But since the first hours of this crisis, Russian leaders have been asking the same question with mounting frustration: Why is everyone blaming us for this?

Mr. Putin, Russia’s prime minister, made his case on Thursday in Sochi, Russia, before the Valdai Discussion Club, a collection of Russia experts from around the world. Comments aimed at the West were, at times, rueful — he said he liked President Bush more than many Americans do — and even respectful, as when he asked for a moment of silence in honor of the victims of Sept. 11.

As for the criticism that has cascaded down on his government, Mr. Putin expressed only bafflement that those in the West did not accept Russia’s explanation that it had simply acted in defense of its citizens. How did they expect Russia to respond to the shelling of its peacekeepers in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, he asked — with “slingshots?” Did they expect him to “brandish a penknife?”

“What else could we do?” the Interfax news agency reported him as saying. “Do you think we should have wiped the bloody snot away and hung our heads?”

His plea was serious. This week, Russia’s diplomatic relations with Europe frayed badly during negotiations about a withdrawal of troops from Georgia. President Dmitri A. Medvedev’s decision to recognize the enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has made even longtime allies like China and Serbia wary of standing with Russia...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Russia
KEYWORDS: geopolitics; georgia; putin
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Poor Putin, what does he think, that people only read AP & the NY Times? Even the Washington Post reported how South Ossetia was evacuated with buses before the Georgians were forced to react to South Ossetian militias' murderous provocations.
1 posted on 09/11/2008 10:05:10 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

LOL


2 posted on 09/11/2008 10:06:55 PM PDT by John Robie
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To: Sal
Too little, too late. But interesting and enjoyable for a read. Thank you so much for posting.

And here's to the contining decline of the Russian economy. May it drop forevermore.

3 posted on 09/11/2008 10:07:27 PM PDT by MarMema (regime change in Russia!!)
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To: neverdem
Russia just introduced a resolution at the Security Council to ban arms sales to Georgia. It will fail of course.

We should immediately counter by introducing a resolution condemning colonialism.

4 posted on 09/11/2008 10:08:35 PM PDT by SeeSharp
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To: neverdem

how about trying diplomacy first with georgia, then go to the UN, and if all else fale then take military action


5 posted on 09/11/2008 10:12:09 PM PDT by 4rcane
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To: neverdem

Putin is sincerely sorry that the Russian equities portion of his stock portfolio has tanked so badly. Invade a neighbor, trigger a capital flight. That is not a bad lesson for a KGB thug dictator to learn.

There are severe financial consequences for scaring the crap out of investors.


6 posted on 09/11/2008 10:14:00 PM PDT by SBprone
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To: neverdem

Gotta love the NYT for putting on their hammer and sickle uniform complete with pompoms when it comes to evil dictators.


7 posted on 09/11/2008 10:15:13 PM PDT by max americana
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To: neverdem

He comes out with now after the poles are changing for McCain because when McCain looks in your eyes he sees the KGB.


8 posted on 09/11/2008 10:17:09 PM PDT by Ugot2Bkidding
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To: 4rcane

listen barak, russia controls the UN and is uninterested in talk. Take off your rose colored glasses and get a clue.


9 posted on 09/11/2008 10:18:47 PM PDT by steel_resolve (We are living in the post-rational world where being a moron is an asset)
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To: 4rcane

btw, if you were referencing russia, then apologies


10 posted on 09/11/2008 10:20:17 PM PDT by steel_resolve (We are living in the post-rational world where being a moron is an asset)
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To: neverdem
The Russians might have received an understanding if they did not brazenly break their promises to honor the ceasefire and threaten their neighbors. If Russia wants to be part of the civilized world, then it must act in accordance with international norms. The days when one country bullied around others are gone.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

11 posted on 09/11/2008 10:21:15 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: neverdem
Sarah scared him tonight.

"Perhaps so."

12 posted on 09/11/2008 10:21:20 PM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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To: ccmay

Poor Puti... what will he do if Obamie doesn’t win???


13 posted on 09/11/2008 10:22:51 PM PDT by antceecee (LarryKing,CNN,MSNBC,KatieCouric et.al...: Our daughter's lives are none of your freakin' business!)
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To: neverdem

Wasn’t the Russian “Reaction Force” already moving south before anything had happened except for their surrogotes shelling “Georgian” villages in S.O.?


14 posted on 09/11/2008 10:24:36 PM PDT by DmBarch
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To: SBprone

You got it.


15 posted on 09/11/2008 10:28:20 PM PDT by buwaya
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To: DmBarch
Wasn’t the Russian “Reaction Force” already moving south before anything had happened

I don't know about that but they certainly had the exact plan in place with the exact forces in place to accomplish the exact mission that they wanted before the Georgian pres tripped the wire.

16 posted on 09/11/2008 10:40:08 PM PDT by Dosa26
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To: neverdem

Ah the old hippie song, “Whatever happened to peace, love and understanding....”

Vlad, you ol’ flower child, you.


17 posted on 09/11/2008 10:42:42 PM PDT by unspun (Mike Huckabee: Government's job is "protect us, not have to provide for us.")
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To: neverdem
WSJ..Russia's Stock Markets Tumble To Lowest Levels in Two Years Falling Oil Prices, Political Tensions Erode Confidence

18 posted on 09/11/2008 10:42:59 PM PDT by Fred (The Democrat Party is the Nadir of Nihilism)
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To: ccmay
Sarah scared him tonight. "Perhaps so."

No, silly. It was Barack H. Obama threatening to take Russa to the U.N. Security Council.

19 posted on 09/11/2008 10:44:09 PM PDT by unspun (Mike Huckabee: Government's job is "protect us, not have to provide for us.")
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To: ccmay
Russians KGB types (and American leftists) don't really understand the motivations of American religious conservatives. Religious conservatives seem unpredictable to them - not chess players.

I remember all the talk of Ronald Reagan and the Rapture. Supposedly Reagan shared some fundamentalist belief that if there were a nuclear war Christians would be protected by the rapture - though I can't find where he ever mentioned it in any of his speeches and it doesn't appear in the two books of his letters that I've read. After 25 years I still can't figure out whether it was our disinformation campaign or theirs.

It made some of the nuclear freeze types down right twitchy.

What am I saying, of course it must have been theirs. We never had any disinformation campaigns.

20 posted on 09/11/2008 10:56:05 PM PDT by InABunkerUnderSF (Illegal Immigration is not about the immigration. Gun control is not about the guns.)
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