Dotted Divider Line


March 30, 2010
Must They Die to Wear Ralph Lauren?

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Injured passengers receiving medical help after a blast in Moscow subway

Apparently, Allah allows jihadists to disguise as infidels if the goal is to kill those very same infidels (you and me, dear reader). Well, that makes sense. Moscow has been one of the safest cities for years. Moscow's public--just like their counterparts in New York--tends to notice an unattended bag or a person who may present a potential threat. Moscow subway stations and trains have cameras, police, dogs, young military conscripts, emergency call stations, no garbage cans, and very careful passengers, weathered by a decade of terrorism. A jihadi-looking female cannot walk 20 yards without being spotted in Moscow. Which brings me to a question: May be those two poor jihadi girls simply wanted to wear Ralph Lauren? And killing 38 people (including themselves) was the only way they could have done it according to their religion? Unless the answer is "yes," today's Moscow attacks do not make sense (to a civilized person). Bitter women tend to find other avenues to reveal their grief or frustration than literal self-explosion. And if you spent a hard-praying life of hating the Western culture, than why part with your body leaving it dressed in those hated infidel clothes?

Reading Mein Kampf over a cup of evening tea, and killing Jews in the mornings is not all right, not since 1945. Will we see the day when reading certain literature and killing innocent people while inspired by such readings will become not all right either? Obama condemned the attacks. Putin promised to "destroy" the responsible. But where is the outcry of Muslim leaders? After all, is it OK to kill innocent people?

To put things in perspective, Chechnya's 1990-s' "war for independence" sponsored with the Arab money and fought by Islamic terrorists would be comparable to the one of Texas against the U.S., sponsored by Mexican drug lords. Absurd. Chechnya is one of Russia's 83 states. The war ended years ago, after Chechen "freedom fighters" mowed down 300 innocent school children with machine guns and grenades in a neighboring state. Since then, Chechnya got an international airport, designers' boutiques, and, in fact, the Russian federal government even allowed the predominantly Muslim state to impose its own laws mandating women to wear head scarves and burkas at public educational institutions. How much is enough? Why Moscow? Why now? The only way a civilized person can explain the attacks is that while jihadi men want to meet 72 virgins in heaven, jihadi women apparently dream of wearing Ralph Lauren. Beauty calls for sacrifice.


March 29, 2010
Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov: Unsung Hero of the Subway Attacks?

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A helicopter lands in the streets of Moscow, minutes after the blast

Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov is an establishment politician whom some regard as corrupt. His wife Elena Baturina owns a large construction company in Moscow and sits on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people. Regardless, Mayor Luzhkov still got the edge.

Just think: In what other major city--let alone one with 15 million people--would it be possible in just 30 minutes to close down the entire downtown to traffic in the middle of morning rush hour to allow safe landing of medical helicopters in the streets? And, while doing it, avoid gridlock of the surface transportation of public and private vehicles? Partially evacuate an underground transportation system that carries 500,000 people at any given moment and is used by some 11 million people daily, and do so without panic or injuries? Continue operations of the entire public transportation system (including the attacked subway), while hosting investigators and the nation's president at the crime scene? Safely reopen the attacked stations the same day, only 9 hours after the attacks, accommodate the 6 PM rush hour after having fully aiding the victims, and all the while collecting intelligence, and reconditioning subway tracks and walls?

In Washington D.C., even a scheduled maintenance of a metro system dozens of times smaller than Moscow's takes an entire weekend. Seattle has been deciding for the past two decades to whether take down a viaduct that's falling apart, or let it fall on the citizens' heads on its own. A small fire at a Nashville movie theater paralyzes the shopping mall and traffic for hours...

Mayor Luzhkov, you may be not the best person in Moscow, but we still love you.


March 18, 2010
Does Russia Want a Nuclear-Armed Iran?

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Thursday..

This is the question that every American critical of Russia's Iranian policies should ask before stating an opinion related to the issue. Today's article in the not-so-friendly-to-Russia New York Times marks an encouraging change of tone. Whether it is Obama's promised policy shift, or Hillary's meetings in Moscow, or the beginning of spring on the East Coast, but the facts known to experts only, are finally made public on the main page of the NYT.

In the article's third paragraph, the Times quotes Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying that "[Russia's] Bushehr cooperation played "a special role" in keeping international inspectors inside Iran, and "ensuring that Iran is complying with its nonproliferation obligations. "Citing another sign of better ties between the countries," says NYT quoting another official, "30 percent of supplies for American troops in Afghanistan are now being shipped through Russian territory, either by airplane or train."

Maybe, after all, Russia and Americans can be, should be, and are strategic partners. And maybe the U.S. should trust Russia on its Iranian policies, taking into consideration such facts as that Russia has a five-century-long intelligence presence in Iran, that Iran's every nuclear-related facility is flooded with Russian experts, and that an Islamic nuclear-armed nation on Russia's border is the last thing Russian leadership and people would ever want.


March 1, 2010
Assessing the Russia's Winter Olympic Team's Performance

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In honor of a great gold medal game, a photo taken right after the USA tied Canada near the end of regulation time in a thriller won by Canada.

English language mass media has had a plethora of articles on the above entitled subject. Forwarded to me by a friend, one such article from Time Magazine is entitled "Russia's 'Nightmare' Olympics: The Glory Days are Over." To quote Yogi Berra "It ain't over till it's over." There will be other Olympics.

If I correctly recall, when the Russian delegation marched into the opening ceremony of the recently completed Olympiad, Bob Costas said that some Russians predicted a Russian medal tally of anywhere between thirty and forty. Sports Illustrated projected Russia finishing ninth among nations, with twenty two medals medals. Russia ended up sixth, with fifteen medals.

Continue reading "Assessing the Russia's Winter Olympic Team's Performance" »

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