Re: Putin's gambit

In article
<4328eee6-3f6f-4958-93f4-7662b15582d8@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
=?ISO-8859-13?Q?P=E7teris_Cedri=F2=F0_=28Peteris_Cedrins=29?=
<cedrins@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> "Russia meets its aspirations of becoming a responsible and
> constructive
> power on the world stage in the post-American age."
> 
> Too funny.

But not off the wall. If we have learned anything during the past twenty
years it is that a country cannot become a global player without
transparency, some semblance of rule of law, a serious currency, and a
high level of give-and-take with the surrounding world. Russia, China, the
EU, even India have all learned this. In the US, on the other hand, a
group within the Republican Party is trying to derail John McCain's bid to
become the candidate and make a strong case for arch conservative and
isolationist Ron Paul
(http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/president/17374639.html)
or
some similar but less radical candidate, while frivolous issues (see
below) are hampering the Democratic Party's ablity to choose a candidiate.

Is this (http://www.cbs46.com/news/16250318/detail.html)
the kind of crap
that you expect in a political campaign for what is still considered to be
the most powerful political position in the world?

The United States is on the wane, and the vultures are circling, looking
for the choicest pieces while they are still fresh. Tha sixty-odd years of
American hegemony will be a hard act to follow, and no country will be
able to immediately fill its boots. Russia, China, and a few other
countries and groups of countries are doing everything that they can to
assure that they get a piece of the action, which, it seems will soon be
dominated by regional superpowers and alliances. Its hardly surprising
that Russia aspires to be a major player in this already begun realignment
of world power.

Vladimir Putin did not annoint a man like Dmitry Mdvedev to be his
successor for nothing.

Regards,
Eugene Holman