Anatol Lieven’s “Lunch with Putin” deserves much thought and serious discussion. Here are his impressions from last week’s Valdai Discussion Club:
[T]here was another way in which the world seemed to revolve backward during the Valdai, which was if anything even more disturbing. During two lunches over the course of the conference, the president and prime minister of Russia spoke with us for a total of almost seven hours, answering unscripted questions without the help of aides. The foreign minister, deputy prime minister and deputy chief of the general staff spoke with us for several more hours. The chances of this happening in George Bush’s Washington, or indeed most other Western capitals, are zero.
On the other hand, I was told, several U.S. experts who had been invited refused to come because they were afraid that to be seen to talk with Russian leaders would hurt their chances of being selected for jobs in the next U.S. administration, or even their candidate’s chances of being elected president. In particular, they were afraid of attending a conference including meetings with the presidents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia—even though they had the option of not attending them. The idea that it was their duty as analysts to find out what these people are thinking evidently did not occur to them.
In the course of the discussions, we heard a great deal from Russian participants about Russian national interests, and about international peace, stability and cooperation against global threats; but not one word of ideology. The tone was sometimes harsh, but entirely pragmatic. On the other hand, from the U.S. administration and presidential candidates we’ve heard a flood of ideological clichés from the cold war about defending democracy and spreading freedom—platitudes with absolutely no relevance to the reasons for or the circumstances surrounding the war over South Ossetia.
Of course, taken as a whole, U.S. society is much more open and democratic than Russian society; but this is no longer necessarily true of American politicians or Washington elites when it comes to key issues of foreign policy. As for most of the U.S. media, its response to the war over South Ossetia demonstrated that it can on occasion be every bit as hysterically one-sided and willfully inaccurate as the Russian one. Indeed, in this case it was parts of the U.S. media which told by far the biggest single lie—namely the outrageous suggestion, in the face of all the known facts, that it was Russia and not Georgia that started this latest war.
Over the course of our lunch in Sochi, Vladimir Putin congratulated the U.S. media ironically on this performance—they acted “as if they had been given an order.” This raises the interesting question of what is in fact better: authoritarian control from above or mass hysteria from below. The way things are going, we will get plenty of opportunities to study this question in the years to come.
Please be objective next time. I\\’m sure the documentary didn\\’t blame Jews or other nations. People always see what they want to see.
I am very objective. They did not blame directly, but it is no different from every single conspiracy BS – they end up implying Jews. Otherwise, what was the point of “старый хитрый еврей Ротшильд” that created the whole system and the heirs of the people that created the FED control it? In a country with such a glorious past (and present) of anti-semitism, the implication is obvious.
Is this the quality of stuff that normally gets to be aired on Russian TV? And some here thought CNN was bad. Word usage was classic. IMF is a “конторка”. I forgot how well suited the Russian language is for propaganda and how important use of diminutives can be with sanitized population.
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They didn\’t blame directly, but you blame directly. It\’s beyond the point. The main idea of the movie: US is using its power to support its currency and export inflation around the world: is it true or not?
It’s your right to think that there’s no problem with the US government (or FRS?) printing dollars to finance its debt, social payments etc and then dump these money on the rest of the world.
I’m not saying it’s right: I’m saying it doesn’t happen. Like I said, any government who simply prints off paper money in order to finance things quickly finds its currency to be worthless, e.g. Zimbabwe.
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There are a few differences between Zimbabwe and USA: the former doesn’t have air carriers, and IMF in its pockets. Zimbabwe cannot force other nations to use the Zimbabwian dollar.
There are a few differences between Zimbabwe and USA: the former doesn’t have air carriers, and IMF in its pockets. Zimbabwe cannot force other nations to use the Zimbabwian dollar.
Nor can the US.
I should add that whether or not the US can force other nations to use its currency has no bearing whatsoever on the nonsense that the US prints money in order to pay for imports.
I should add that whether or not the US can force other nations to use its currency has no bearing whatsoever on the nonsense that the US prints money in order to pay for imports.
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Tim,
I respect your opinion, although I’m not entirely in agreement with it. Nevertheless, at least in Russia we live in a democratic society where everyone is entitled to her or his opinion regarding matters. In the meantime we’ll do our best, to make the proposed changes to our oil and gas trade (i.e., switching to Rubles:
http://thepresidentofrussia.blogspot.com/2008/09/you-wanna-oil-gas-sorry-rubles-only.html
). We shall see how it will NOT affect the American financial system (according to you). Regards, DM.
Back to the documentary. I don’t know how can anyone either defend or recommend it. No doubt about it, the documentary is well produced and professional, but what about its content? Cyrill already quoted the “old, cunning Jew” line. Isolated this phrase may not mean much, but let us not claim naivete here. I don’t know how many obviously objectionable scenes there are in this documentary, since I only skipped over it here and there. But I urge you to look at the howler that I discovered on minute 35. Now we know the REAL reason Presidents Lincoln, McKinley and Coolidge were murdered (yes, Calvin Coolidge, the one who died eight years after leaving the White House). These three presidents were killed by the same cabal of conspirators. Now you know.
Skip to minute 35, if you want to check it out:
http://rutube.ru/tracks/497088.html?v=66bb08ead2e0c2fb2fa31317997959d7
“These three presidents were killed by the same cabal of conspirators. ”
More of Operation Kick Ass 2008?
“More of Operation Kick Ass 2008?”
What’s that?
”Tim,
I respect your opinion, although I’m not entirely in agreement with it. Nevertheless, at least in Russia we live in a democratic society where everyone is entitled to her or his opinion regarding matters. ”
President Medvedev,
with the greatest respect, the US does not print dollars to pay bills or for exports. If they did the currency would collapse. This is a basic economic rule that the cats on the street know. There isnt any escaping this fact.
”More of Operation Kick Ass 2008?”
Looks like it. And we’re next. Word over here is that Aifric is actually a mind control device designed to turn Russia unfriendly pundits and trolls into Mike Averko fans. Mike himself just happened to be on the ground in Gori just before the war started. Coincidence? I think not.
“More of Operation Kick Ass 2008?”
What’s that? ”
Kolya, its Mike Averko’s masterplan to remove the likes of me and Doss from the face of the earth and to otherwise influence/defeat unfriendly media organs.
Wow! Thanks, Ger. That’s good to know. You and Doss be careful and good luck!
Now we know the REAL reason Presidents Lincoln, McKinley and Coolidge were murdered (yes, Calvin Coolidge, the one who died eight years after leaving the White House).
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By the same token we “know” that Putin ordered the assassination of Litvinenko in the silliest way possible.
President Medvedev,
with the greatest respect, the US does not print dollars to pay bills or for exports. If they did the currency would collapse.
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Irishman:
I agree the currency might collapse. Way too many dollars are sloshing around the world.
So could you please explain to me why did Nixon took the dollar off the Golden Standard in 1973? To me it looks like to print more dollars (to finance Vietnam and other “projects”). Next, wasn’t it followed by an unprecedented inflation?
”Irishman:
I agree the currency might collapse. Way too many dollars are sloshing around the world.
So could you please explain to me why did Nixon took the dollar off the Golden Standard in 1973? To me it looks like to print more dollars (to finance Vietnam and other “projects”). Next, wasn’t it followed by an unprecedented inflation?”
President Medvedev, if the Americans DID print dollars to pay bills the currency WOULD collapse. But they havent. The fact that there are a lot of dollars around the place is testament to how big an economy the US is, not that they are printing more dollars than they actually have.
As for 1973, I dunno what Nixon did or didnt do, but i think it unlikely they printed dollars. And high infation in 1974 onwards was everywhere cos of the oil crisis – if oil rises, so does everything else, especially food, as food needs lots oil to get to the table eg transport, harvesting, fertiliser etc.
”Wow! Thanks, Ger. That’s good to know. You and Doss be careful and good luck! ”
A neighbours cat, who’s normally my friend, scratched me in the dark on the way to the pub the other night when I stopped on the road to give him a chin rub, which usually he loves. I’ve heard since he’s a recipient of Quick Takes and a regular reader of pro-Serb blogs.
I think we can all guess what’s going.
President Medvedev, if the Americans DID print dollars to pay bills the currency WOULD collapse. But they havent. The fact that there are a lot of dollars around the place is testament to how big an economy the US is, not that they are printing more dollars than they actually have.
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Irishman,
here’s an extract from (obviously, not a Russian propaganda) an article “In Gold we trust, not dollar”:
“Today no one in Washington believes for a minute that runaway deficits are going to be curtailed. In March alone, the federal government created an historic $85 billion deficit. The current supplemental bill going through Congress has grown from $92 billion to over $106 billion, and everyone knows it will not draw President Bush’s first veto. Most knowledgeable people therefore assume that inflation of the money supply is not only going to continue, but accelerate. This anticipation, plus the fact that many new dollars have been created over the past 15 years that have not yet been fully discounted, guarantees the further depreciation of the dollar in terms of gold.”
Link:
http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/gold-us-dollars/2007/01/19/
Enjoy!
Quoting Ron Paul is about as sound and persuasive as bringing up a giant Jewish cabal propaganda videos.
Of course it is not Russian propaganda. Neither is the jewish cabal “documentary” you brought up. This stuff all comes from Creature from Jekyll Island. As usual, Russia did not invent it.
Neither is the jewish cabal “documentary” you brought up.
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Cyrill,
Warning: You are going overboard – I didn’t do any of that. The documentary I brought up was devoted to the “priceless dollar”, nothing else. Regards, MD
“Word over here is that Aifric is actually a mind control device designed to turn Russia unfriendly pundits and trolls into Mike Averko fans.”
None of us has ever seen Mike Averko in person. Could the girl who plays Aifric actually BE Mike Averko?
”None of us has ever seen Mike Averko in person. Could the girl who plays Aifric actually BE Mike Averko?”
Unlikely I’d say. Mike hardly speaks English, let alone Irish, and definitely doesnt speak Russian.