FEBRUARY 2007

From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 2/19/2007 8:24 AM
Charles Krauthammer
Putin postures for power
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By Charles Krauthammer
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February 19, 2007
Opinion Columnist

Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, although the more accurate title would be godfather, made headlines last week with a speech in Munich that set a new standard in anti-Americanism.

He not only charged the U.S. with the "hyper-use of force," "disdain for the basic principles of international law" and having "overstepped its national borders in ... the economic, political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other nations."

He even blamed the spread of weapons of mass destruction, which the U.S. has been combating with few allies and against constant Russian resistance, on American "dominance" that "inevitably encourages" other countries to acquire them defensively.

There is something amusing about criticism of the use of force by the man who turned Chechnya into a smoldering ruin; about the invocation of international law by the man who won't allow Scotland Yard to interrogate ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 2/23/2007 11:12 AM
Friday, February 23, 2007

Acting Chechen Leader Denies Personality Cult

Russia – Chechnya / politics – Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov (portrait), 01May2006
Acting Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov (file photo)
(TASS)
February 23, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Acting Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov denies allegations that he has created a personality cult in the republic, RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service reported.





Portraits of Kadyrov adorn Chechen cities and villages in what critics have called a Soviet-style personality cult.

Kadyrov rejected those allegation in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL.

"What some people are calling a personality cult is basically a response to the requests of citizens," Kadyrov said. "It is a way for them to express their gratitude for what I have done for them, as a Chechen. Allegations about a personality cult are spread by those who have done nothing in their lives for their families, their people, or their country."

Kadyrov became Chechnya's acting president on February 15 after the resignation on President Alu Alkhanov.

Just days before he ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 2/23/2007 8:45 PM
Barak as a friend of Russia
Publication time: 23 February 2007, 21:08

A piteous blood drinker Barak says: ""Self-determination for the Chechen people is less important than good relations to Russia". Without comment...

Fighting terrorism is like fighting malaria, Ehud Barak says: You've got to kill the mosquitoes, but you also have to "drain the swamp."

That means investing time and money to solve the root causes of pov- erty and oppression - "to lift up other people's children as well as our own" - the former Israeli prime minister told a near-capacity crowd Thursday afternoon at the University of Utah's Kingsbury Hall.

Barak's talk was the first in a World Leaders Lecture Forum sponsored by the U.'s Tanner Humanities Center, and was co-sponsored by Congregation Kol Ami synagogue. That made it technically possible to call Kingsbury Hall a "house of worship" on Thursday, which meant that the U. could ban guns there for the day. Audience members passed through a metal ...
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