Putin is a thug, well on his way to being an imperial Czar, and even as Russia goes down the toiler demographically speaking, his tyranny increases;

Three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot have been jailed for two years after staging an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral. Judge Marina Syrova convicted the women of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, saying they had “crudely undermined social order”. The women say the protest, in February, was directed at the Russian Orthodox Church leader’s support for Mr Putin. The US, UK and EU all criticised the sentences as “disproportionate”.

On the up side, I hear Paul McCartney is on his way back to the old USSR to perform a Hey Jude-athon until Pussy Riot are released. The only reason for these women to be behind bars is that dreadful music they performed. But on that basis, I would also imprison many modern pop stars.

Russia may be a State without much religion and it is clear they have no time for Madonna! I see that the Russian Deputy PM Rogozin has described her as a ‘moralising slut’.

Paying the price for interfering with Russian politics, the star was told: ‘Either take off your cross, or put on your knickers.’ The attack on Twitter by deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin came as Madonna vowed to back gay campaigners during her concert last night in St Petersburg where there is a legal ban on promoting homosexuality to young people. Earlier the 53-year-old had offended the Kremlin by demanding the release of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot  who face probable jail for an anti-Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral.

Putin is a thug, of course. That’s a given. In this instance, Madonna is in the right and whilst I am not a fan of her music these days, and don’t much care for her lifestyle, I think she spoke out and said the right thing. It is Rogozin who is the whore here, prostituting himself to keep his position of power in Putin’s tyranny.

Interesting to see that over in Russia subordinates have begun openly to defy Putin, a man whose diktat has inspired fear and awe in the echelons of power for nine years, according to government sources. Meanwhile a rift is emerging between Mr Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, the figurehead whom he groomed as his supposedly pliant successor.

As Russia’s economy begins to implode after years of energy-driven growth, Mr Putin is facing the germs of an unexpected power struggle which could hamper his ambition to project Russian might abroad. Mounting job losses and a collapse in the price of commodities have triggered social unrest on a scale not seen for at least four years, prompting panic among Kremlin officials more accustomed to the political apathy of the Russian people. The unease was deepened yesterday after thousands of protestors marched through the Pacific port city of Vladivostok and other cities, including Moscow, demanding Mr Putin’s resignation for his handling of the flailing Russian economy.

Russia is a demographic basket-case and the impact of the economic recession may well accelerate the fall of the Russian bear and Czar Putin.

I see that it is being reported by Ukraine’s gas company claims that Russia has cut off all gas supplies though the country, a move which would worsen a crisis which threatens to leave a number of European countries without heating in the midst of a winter chill.

“Russia has left Europe without gas,” he added. All supplies to Romania had already been cut, while Slovakia has declared a state of emergency and Bulgaria says it will run out of gas within days. Some 17 European countries yesterday reported sharp falls or a complete halt in Russian gas shipments. The European Union branded the situation “completely unacceptable” and demanded the flow be restored.

Or what?

And this is how it goes. Ukraine’s gas company Naftogaz has said that Russia’s Gazprom has just cut natural gas supplies to Europe by about two-thirds.

Naftogaz spokesman Valentyn Zemlyansky said Gazprom sent only 92 million cubic meters of gas for European consumers, less than a third of the usual supply. “That is all they are sending, in several hours Europe will feel it,” Zemlyansky said. In retaliation Ukraine said it no longer recognised the transit contract between the two countries in a move which experts branded a ‘worrying development.” Although Gazprom promised to make up the EU shortfall by sending more gas via other routes, the decision increased concern in Brussels of energy shortages as winter bites. Poland, Germany and Hungry were all expected to be hit by the shortage.

The Eurocrats are worried and with good reason. Russia will ruthlessly use any leverage to advance its own interests and that means using energy supply as a weapon. It seeks to broaden its own miserable tyranny and knows that the EU will become much more compliant should it have to repeat what it did to Georgia if the prospect of a great freeze each bone-chilling winter awaits it.

The Russian bear is a very predictable animal these days. It’s the winter time and so, bang on cue, Russia has moved to cut off Ukraine’s gas pipeline after talks between the countries failed amid threats that the pipeline to Western Europe could be shut down.

“The Russian Gazprom monopoly announced that its engineers had started preparations to turn off gas to Ukraine at 10am today, claiming that the Government in Kiev had refused to sign a new contract by the midnight deadline. Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, could barely conceal his fury that Moscow was once again being made to appear in Western eyes as an unreliable energy supplier in the depth of winter. Reporting to President Medvedev, Mr Putin said that despite Russia’s offer of a below-market price for gas in 2009, Kiev had not only rebuffed Moscow but also threatened to disrupt onward supplies to Western Europe.”

Russia is using energy supply as a weapon. It seeks to regain dominion over Ukraine and beyond that again. That’s why it is vital that Europe gets itself off the Gazprom dependency. We need to freeze Russia out before it puts us in the chiller! 

My Russian friend, who recently became a bonafide US citizen, tells me that, as a child in the Soviet Union,  he never heard anyone speak of the Soviet gulags.   He had an uncle who worked as an escort for prisoners to the Gulags but he learned of this only much later, as a young adult. When my friend was growing up,  the adults around him did not speak of such things;  better to be safe and silent, then to encourage problems.

It is now 75 years since  Stalin’s forced starvation of an estimated 6 – 10 million peasants. Today, there is no doubt that the starvation was man-made,  a direct result of Stalin’s forced collectivization of the nation’s farms. 

75 years ago, however, much of the Western world was in the dark regarding Stalin’s murderous policies. This collective ignorance was aided and abetted by a British-born journalist writing for The New York Times, Walter Duranty.  Walter Duranty ran interference for Stalin, and in 1932 countered articles  that were printed in  both The Guardian and The Times, articles that accurately reported the Soviet mass starvation underway.   Duranty wrote an article for The New York Times titled “Russians Hungry but not Starving, “  and he claimed in interviews that  the news of mass starvation  was a “scare story,”  an “exaggeration” or “malignant propoganda.”

Duranty directly influenced the diplomatic relations between America and the Soviet Union in 1933, advocating for his support of communism rather than reporting the actual facts about the Soviet Union.  We now  now know the truth of Stalin’s intentional starvation of millions of peasants,  and the truth of the communist state.

Sadly, we suffer still from misleading and blatantly dishonest journalism, especially from The New York Times*, and from reporters and editors who chose to advocate for their positions through their reporting rather than attempt some reflection of the facts. 

*if any proof be needed, see recent editorial printed in the NYT by domestic terrorist William Ayers. 

I note that Vladimir Putin has threatened to cut gas supplies to Ukraine raising the prospect of a winter energy crisis in Western Europe. Quelle surprise!

“The Russian prime minister accused Kiev of “losing its mind” as a standoff over energy prices and alleged debt arrears has escalated in recent weeks. The dispute is unnerving the European Union, as a strikingly similar row in January 2006 disrupted gas supplies across much of the continent. Crippled by the financial crisis, Ukraine is struggling to pay off hundreds of millions of pounds in debt for Russian gas it bought earlier in the year. At the same time, Ukraine – which carries 80 per cent of Russian gas bound for Europe through its pipelines – is desperately trying to resist attempts by Moscow to raise prices for 2009 deliveries. But Ukraine’s pro-western government, which has already been forced to seek an emergency £11.3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, has found that Russia is in no mood to compromise.”

Relying on Russia for energy is a huge strategic mistake and as we see, Russia is quick to use the not-so-subtle threat that it might just turn off the pipelines just as Europe starts to shiver in Winter colds. It is vital that Europe weens itself off this dependency since the price asked by Putin is way too high.

I see that Pravda records the enthusiastic reaction of Russian politicians toward the election of Barack Obama. The telling response is from the head of Russia’s Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov:

All Republican presidents have always defended national interests, ignoring the interests of other countries of the world. The new US president cannot but understand that it is impossible to seek and find answers to many global issues without the participation of such a great country as Russia.

Zyuganov gives the game away. He knows what Republicans do in office and he anticipates what Democrats will do. That’s why around the world, America’s enemies are smiling. It’s fine to talk about waiting for Obama to get into office and then judge him by what he does, and that is fair comment. But I believe it is already clear what he will do and so do those in the Kremlin from the sounds of it.  Strategists anticipate.

Is there ANYBODY out there  -whose surname is not Putin that is- who actually believes the claim by Russian President Medvedev that  likened last month’s war with Georgia to the September 11 terrorist attacks on America?

Speaking to foreign academics and journalists at the giant GUM department store opposite the Kremlin, the Russian leader stepped up his defiant rhetoric against the West, which is fast becoming the hallmark of his short presidency.  “The world has changed and it occurred to me that August 8, 2008 has become for Russia what September 11, 2001 was for the United States. This is an accurate comparison corresponding to Russian realities,” he said.

It may have occured to him but sure as heck not to me! On 8/8 Russia INVADED another sovereign democratic state. It was a planned act of Russian territorial aggression. It is in NO WAY analagous to 9/11 and yet deluded Mdevedev thinks it is. How bizarre! Russia reverts to form and then plays the victim.