Free Republic

No, French dental work's lousy. (Didn't you read? "unlike those of individuals in poorer countries"?)

Oh, it's worse. DUers and the LL are convinced that there's massive voter fraud to be unearthed! It's not done until 2008, just like 2000 wasn't done until 2004 (or, no, wait, it's like a CD: they're justing rolling it over). Exit polls are infallible, don't ya know? (Except, well, in New Hampshire.)

And if no fraud is found, well, it just means the ballots were altered ... and the poll books ... etc., etc. I tell you, it's a religion. Geesh.

No, a new Slovakia.

Back in 1992/93 Slovakia wanted to separate from the Czech side of Czechoslovakia. Czechs were p.o.ed. The government had dumped lots of money into heavy industry in Slovakia; the Slovaks were convinced they'd prosper, leaving the Czechs behind. Of course, the Czechs were no slouches, and were Czech.

After independence and they discovered that in their haste they were left with brand new *obsolete* heavy industry. Their economy tanked; their main trading partners were other E. European countries, esp. Russia/Ukraine.

The wonders of communism ...

Cool. I'll link this thread and check back in a day, just in case.

BTW, it's not Czech. Slovak. Apparently only published for 2 years, and in 1996 was mentioned in some trial or investigation of neo-fascist group in the Czech Republic, who had a publication with the same title as the "former anti-Semitic Tydenik politika' (Politics Weekly, for an off-hand translation)

Any link to the original? (I mean, the Czech original.)

(If I find one, I'll edit and post.)

Go to the site (http://maidanua.org/), and you'll see a orange strip at the top, with a blue one underneath.

The first word is "novyny" (news, it seems), the second word is recognizable: English. Click on it. No difference in the URL, sorry.

Matches what I observed working for a very conservative church for a decade. Doesn't show up until the kids are teenagers, then the usual teenage rebellion schtick kicks in with strong leftwing overtones.

Agreed about the EU. And I don't think Russia will be a challenge; but if it's going to be, it'll take it at least a couple of decades (my personal hunch is that Russia's demographics and various border conflicts will make it weak and underpopulated, a real temptation for China to move in there ... I'd rather not see that happen).

My guess it's the western Ukraine. Although I'm sure old Europe would prefer Yashchenko.

I just got the following e-mail; haven't checked the links, thought people might be interested. ============================== Dear Colleagues and Students, Below is a message from a journalist, which the Canadian Association for Ukrainian Studies obtained thanks to the diligent attention of its President, Mr. Roman Senkus (U of Toronto). The message was sent by Bob Schaffer from Kyiv, who reports that Russian special forces were flown into Kyiv this morning. I humbly request that those among you who have colleagues and friends in Russia please invite them to campaign among their own government officials, so that such forces are taken back to Russia. Also, kindly ask Russian students to lend their support to Ukrainian students. Many universities in Ukraine have gone on strike. Students have erected a tent city in Kyiv's Independence Square. They need the moral support of their peers. Many thanks, To: Roman Senkus From: Jurij R Klufas Subject: Fwd: Protest Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 12:32:58 -0500 Subject: Re: Protest Here's the latest: Russian special forces dressed in Ukrainian Special forces uniforms are in Kyiv. Ukrainian militia have been instructed by the mayor to protect the people from the Russian troops. Ukrainian militia have established a hotline for Ukrainians to report any incidents with the Russians and pledged to protect Ukrainians. These Russians flew into Ukraine this morning. They're now surrounding the administration buildings they say "to protect Kuchma (the outgoing president and his PM Yanukovich). Following is a chain of email messages I've been sending by blackberry. Please pass along to others. Bob Schaffer [...] just want to alert you to what's going on here. Bob [...] PLEASE SEE UPDATES BELOW. GETTING QUITE SERIOUS NOW. OUR EMBASSY'S PHONES ARE DOWN AND WE'RE NOT SURE THEY'RE AWARE OF THE NEWS OF RUSSIANS (SEE BELOW). YES, PLEASE SEND INFO TO ANYONE YOU CAN, ESPECIALLY PRESS. BOB *Ukrajins'ka Pravda* confirms the presence of such special forces: http://www2.pravda.com.ua/ and photo reportage: http://www2.pravda.com.ua/archive/2004/november/24/fotoadmin.shtml http://www2.pravda.com.ua/archive/2004/november/23/news/51.shtml

I didn't say I liked Putin. But he's better than El'tsin, in my book. He looks out for his own, and maybe Russia's, interests: that makes him largely predictable, maybe a challenge, but a reasonable challenge. I don't think he's necessarily like the French (although the Iraq escapades certainly give me pause), anti-US at all costs. I honestly don't think his Russia would try to destabilize big hunks of the globe; maybe influence people and make friends, but not sponsor revolution. Then again he's KGB, so I could be wrong.

And there's no hint on my part that to be anti-Putin is to be pro-al-Qa'eda. There are good reasons to be anti-Putin. But Putin's Russia isn't the USSR, and can't be.

Russia screwed up its privatization (I like how the Czech Republic did theirs). Maybe in 20 years it'll be a challenge to the US, but that assumes they fix their demographic disaster.

This is sort of a general post.

The Ukraine (I'm old enough to like the "the") has had a rough go of it. The western part is heavily Catholic, with a distinct accent, and Lviv (Lvov, Lwow ...) was Polish for a long time. And the western Ukraine was pro-Nazi when the Germans came through. But they're all East Slavic, by language if not always by blood. Like Belorussia and Russia. The standard language is more based on the eastern variant, which has fewer polonisms. Kiev was the center of Rus', the original seat of authority before the Golden Horde moved in.

Lots of Russians there: esp. in Kiev, even Odessa. Mostly in the cities and Russia-adjacent areas; not so much in the rest of the country, or the west. Even lots of Ukrainians were much better in Russian than Ukrainian, although it's true that they're mutually intelligible, given a little patience. I find it a bit hard to read, but easier than Polish.

As for Putin (I've been pondering this for a while), I don't see the problem. I seriously don't like some of what he does; but I certainly don't expect him to do things in the interest of the US. I think that a bit of the anti-US nationalism's petered out: they know their military's trashed, but nobody (but Islamists) have bothered to invade. Given that there are serious problems to be faced all along Russia's southern border, I'd rather have a strong state there than a weak one. (Although given Russia's demographics, it doesn't matter, they're so screwed.) But I don't see Russia spreading revolution like the USSR did.

And the Crimea was Russian, but out of "fraternal bonds" it was given to Ukraine before the breakup in '91. The Black Sea fleet was stationed there, and a low-grade international tussle occurred when Ukraine broke away--they tried to claim the fleet.

Quoting from http://www.astronautix.com/craft/polyus.htm

"Polyus's failure to achieve working orbit was caused by a faulty inertial guidance sensor. ... The US Navy has made no statements about any attempts to investigate the wreckage of Polyus, which lies on the floor of the South Pacific."

"Scythian" ... such a pleasant name for a weapon.

The problem isn't getting it to fly, but making the video usable. The servos for removing the jitter are tough to calibrate. (I had a friend who worked on early models of the drones back in the early 80s.)

Having them carry some RDX and exploding them is simple enough, but requires line of sight or spotters.

In New York state they were called "affadavit ballots" (still are, as far as I know): you go to vote, your name's not there, and you complete a ballot, affirming that you're duly registered to vote in that precinct.

Some names are left off the rolls by accident, some people are registered but had their name changed, some moved within the jurisdiction but changed polling places, and others were added by a judge's order late, for some reason. All legal, and all reasons for a person to be able to vote, but not have their name on the list.

They look at your ballot afterwards, and if you really are duly registered to vote, they count it. Otherwise, the ballot is quietly disposed of, and you never hear that your ballot didn't count.

Makes sense to me: having all but forcibly caused the southern Slavs in Greece to become hellenicized and abandon their native language (in the interest of Greek nationalism and "unity"), Greece would like nothing better than those people's kinsmen on the other side of the border to be squelched. (Gee, does this sound anything like the way Turkey and the Kurds are going at it over Kirkuk? Me thinks the Greeks learned a bit too much from their Ottoman masters.)

One of the Univ. of California student governments did that with student IDs: you vote, your ID's notched in a particular spot. Elections were typically spread over at least two days, for students who only came to campus MWF or T-Thur.

Then they noticed a spike in the number of students who "lost" their IDs and needed replacements during elections ... a few lost their IDs a few times in two days.

(IMO, this is just a strange story.)

http://www.nber.org/cycles/november2001/

Says the recession started March 01, *but* with the caveat:
"Q: The NBER has dated the beginning of the recession in March 2001. Does this mean that the attacks of September 11 did not have a role in causing the recession?

A. No. Before the attacks, it is possible that the decline in the economy would have been too mild to qualify as a recession. The attacks clearly deepened the contraction and may have been an important factor in turning the episode into a recession."

No, it's probably Ossetians taking on Ingushetians in yet another round of fighting. They have old scores to settle: some sided with Hitler, were deported; the other ethnic group moved in, took over land/shacks.

And there's been tension ever since. (Not that there wasn't tension before ... a couple hundred ethnicities in a little territory ...).

Ingushetians were among the Beslan terrorists, which killed mostly Ossetians and Russians.

"If you cannot have respect for the other side, you cannot have diplomacy." Isn't she actually saying that diplomacy wasn't possible, so war was pretty much it with Saddam?
Or does respect only ever go one way?
(And if I screwed up this post ... well, it's my first.)