B
B1ackwater
Guest
BBC
Europe's main election watchdog has said it will boycott Russia's
presidential election on 2 March.
"We regret that circumstances prevent us from observing this
election," said Spencer Oliver, general secretary of the OSCE's
Parliamentary Assembly.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has
been arguing with Russia over the size and scope of the observers'
mission.
The watchdog rejected concessions by Moscow aimed at averting a
boycott.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said no self-respecting
country would bow to ultimatums of the kind set by the OSCE.
'Limitations'
The OSCE's parliamentary assembly announced its decision in a letter
sent to the Russian parliament.
"We unfortunately cannot accept your invitation to send a limited
number of observers to Russia for the presidential election," assembly
President Goran Lennmarker said in the letter.
Mr Lennmarker also mentioned "other conditions and circumstances",
without specifying.
Separately, the OSCE's election monitoring wing - the Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) - said it would not
send observers because of "limitations" imposed by Moscow.
The ODIHR and Russia's election commission have been involved in a row
over the size and time schedule of the observers' mission.
The ODIHR on Wednesday rejected a commission offer designed to avert a
boycott. Russia said it would allow ODIHR observers to arrive on 20
February - a week earlier than Moscow had originally wanted.
The commission also accepted an increase in the number of monitors,
from 70 to 75.
But the ODIHR said the offer did not go far enough, insisting on 15
February as the start date.
The monitors had argued that arriving just three days before the vote
would mean they could not monitor the election campaign to see if it
was free and fair for all candidates, including their access to
Russia's media.
The European Union's Slovene presidency said it regretted that due to
Russia's restrictions ODIHR "was put in a situation where it found it
impossible to execute its mandate and cancelled the election
observation mission".
It also expressed "its full support to the election observation
activities of the ODIHR".
- - - - -
OK ... put yer money down ... just how soon WILL it
be before he's just crowned "Czar Vladimir the First" ?
So much for 'democracy' in Russia.
Hey, maybe "W" can transfer a few advisors from
Afganistan to teach 'em how it's done
Is it just something in the Russian psychology that
makes any sembance of democracy impossible to sustain ?
The public seems to adore 'strong man' figures ... and
is willing to overlook the often violent excesses of
such individiduals. Even the paranoid mass-murdering
Stalin still has many fans even though it's clear he
killed as many Russians as the NAZI armies did. If
Pol Pot was Russian, they'd have appointed him Czar.
Russian politicians all jockey to become top dog
and form tight oligarchies around the winner. Any
outside that circle are just ornaments, 'for
appearances'. Even the Soviet regimes liked to
maintain the appearance of 'democracy' - even
though Russians and outsiders alike knew it was
a total lie.
Now we're not talking some 4th-world 'Stan or tribal
'state' here, but a top-notch 1st-world superpower
with a highly-educated population. There's no question
that they understand 'democracy' perfectly well and
can see it's benifits (and problems) in other nations.
Yet, even given the best of opportunities, Russians
shy away from 'democracy' and rapidly gravitate back
towards some incarnation of the Czars.
So, we can bet that shortly after this "election"
we'll see Putins proxy step down for some fabricated
reason and watch Putin re-emerge as the official
alpha dog. He already has his agents out on the
streets stirring-up hatred for both his internal
opposition and "Imperial America" - paranoia and
xenophobia worked well for Stalin after all - so
once Putin officially regains his station he'll
be there for life.
Expect his enemies - political, ideological and
free-media - to drop like flies. The science ministry
will have to commission a special new batch of polonium
just to keep pace with Putins needs. 'Traitors' and
'spies' will be tracked-down and exterminated, even
if they escape to the west. Iran may issue religious
death-warrants by the dozen, but Russia has the power
and reach to enforce its warrants anywhere in the
world. Get on Putins bad side and you wouldn't be
safe if you were living on Mars.
On the 'plus' side, Putins xenophobic tactics mean
a new 'cold war' of sorts. US military contractors
and generals will be thrilled at the prospect of
a 'worthy adversary' once again.
Russia is also getting cozy with China again, and
waving its newly-exploited oil under Chinas nose as
encouragement. This means a larger military threat
AND a potential impediment to US/Chinese commerce.
Remember all the money we THOUGHT we'd save by
getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan ? Forget it ...
it's going to go straight into new military hardware
whether the next prez is DNC or GOP. We'll need
a terabucks worth of new aircraft carriers, missile
cruisers, next-gen fighter planes, rockets, field
weaponry, robots, satellites, tanks, etc, etc, etc.
and we'd better add an extra couple thousand nukes
to the aresenal while we're at it. "Cold-War II"
means the good times are BACK for military contractors.
FINALLY a foe we'd NEED cutting-edge, hyper-expensive,
technology to defend against !
Europe's main election watchdog has said it will boycott Russia's
presidential election on 2 March.
"We regret that circumstances prevent us from observing this
election," said Spencer Oliver, general secretary of the OSCE's
Parliamentary Assembly.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has
been arguing with Russia over the size and scope of the observers'
mission.
The watchdog rejected concessions by Moscow aimed at averting a
boycott.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said no self-respecting
country would bow to ultimatums of the kind set by the OSCE.
'Limitations'
The OSCE's parliamentary assembly announced its decision in a letter
sent to the Russian parliament.
"We unfortunately cannot accept your invitation to send a limited
number of observers to Russia for the presidential election," assembly
President Goran Lennmarker said in the letter.
Mr Lennmarker also mentioned "other conditions and circumstances",
without specifying.
Separately, the OSCE's election monitoring wing - the Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) - said it would not
send observers because of "limitations" imposed by Moscow.
The ODIHR and Russia's election commission have been involved in a row
over the size and time schedule of the observers' mission.
The ODIHR on Wednesday rejected a commission offer designed to avert a
boycott. Russia said it would allow ODIHR observers to arrive on 20
February - a week earlier than Moscow had originally wanted.
The commission also accepted an increase in the number of monitors,
from 70 to 75.
But the ODIHR said the offer did not go far enough, insisting on 15
February as the start date.
The monitors had argued that arriving just three days before the vote
would mean they could not monitor the election campaign to see if it
was free and fair for all candidates, including their access to
Russia's media.
The European Union's Slovene presidency said it regretted that due to
Russia's restrictions ODIHR "was put in a situation where it found it
impossible to execute its mandate and cancelled the election
observation mission".
It also expressed "its full support to the election observation
activities of the ODIHR".
- - - - -
OK ... put yer money down ... just how soon WILL it
be before he's just crowned "Czar Vladimir the First" ?
So much for 'democracy' in Russia.
Hey, maybe "W" can transfer a few advisors from
Afganistan to teach 'em how it's done
Is it just something in the Russian psychology that
makes any sembance of democracy impossible to sustain ?
The public seems to adore 'strong man' figures ... and
is willing to overlook the often violent excesses of
such individiduals. Even the paranoid mass-murdering
Stalin still has many fans even though it's clear he
killed as many Russians as the NAZI armies did. If
Pol Pot was Russian, they'd have appointed him Czar.
Russian politicians all jockey to become top dog
and form tight oligarchies around the winner. Any
outside that circle are just ornaments, 'for
appearances'. Even the Soviet regimes liked to
maintain the appearance of 'democracy' - even
though Russians and outsiders alike knew it was
a total lie.
Now we're not talking some 4th-world 'Stan or tribal
'state' here, but a top-notch 1st-world superpower
with a highly-educated population. There's no question
that they understand 'democracy' perfectly well and
can see it's benifits (and problems) in other nations.
Yet, even given the best of opportunities, Russians
shy away from 'democracy' and rapidly gravitate back
towards some incarnation of the Czars.
So, we can bet that shortly after this "election"
we'll see Putins proxy step down for some fabricated
reason and watch Putin re-emerge as the official
alpha dog. He already has his agents out on the
streets stirring-up hatred for both his internal
opposition and "Imperial America" - paranoia and
xenophobia worked well for Stalin after all - so
once Putin officially regains his station he'll
be there for life.
Expect his enemies - political, ideological and
free-media - to drop like flies. The science ministry
will have to commission a special new batch of polonium
just to keep pace with Putins needs. 'Traitors' and
'spies' will be tracked-down and exterminated, even
if they escape to the west. Iran may issue religious
death-warrants by the dozen, but Russia has the power
and reach to enforce its warrants anywhere in the
world. Get on Putins bad side and you wouldn't be
safe if you were living on Mars.
On the 'plus' side, Putins xenophobic tactics mean
a new 'cold war' of sorts. US military contractors
and generals will be thrilled at the prospect of
a 'worthy adversary' once again.
Russia is also getting cozy with China again, and
waving its newly-exploited oil under Chinas nose as
encouragement. This means a larger military threat
AND a potential impediment to US/Chinese commerce.
Remember all the money we THOUGHT we'd save by
getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan ? Forget it ...
it's going to go straight into new military hardware
whether the next prez is DNC or GOP. We'll need
a terabucks worth of new aircraft carriers, missile
cruisers, next-gen fighter planes, rockets, field
weaponry, robots, satellites, tanks, etc, etc, etc.
and we'd better add an extra couple thousand nukes
to the aresenal while we're at it. "Cold-War II"
means the good times are BACK for military contractors.
FINALLY a foe we'd NEED cutting-edge, hyper-expensive,
technology to defend against !
