Kommersant-Vlast: “Dose of Russian Soft Power”
The New York Times
New York, USA
Shortly before the uprising in Kyrgyzstan two weeks ago, online news sites posted a series of hard-hitting exposés accusing the family of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev of skimming money from the public coffers, an allegation that touched a nerve in this poor country and strengthened the opposition to his government.
When the authorities responded by blocking the Web sites on local servers, complaints started coming in from the usual places... but also from an unlikely advocate for free media in the wired world: the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Rather than a change of heart on press freedoms,... Russia's stance in Kyrgyzstan appeared to be a new tactic in dealing with the former Soviet republics it regards as within its sphere of influence. Backing freedom of expression - in this case to oppose a leader with whom it was annoyed - was just one element of a wider, behind-the-scenes role in the uprising...
But Russia appears to have learned well the lessons of the so-called colour revolutions...
In March,Russian state television and local opposition media in Kyrgyzstan stepped up the publication of incriminating stories about the Bakiyev government, which responded by blocking access to the news Web sites... The Russian Embassy in Bishkek then issued a statement saying that... the Russian government was "concerned" about online censorship.
On April 1, Russia raised tariffs for refined petroleum products exported to Kyrgyzstan, causing a spike in gasoline prices... that further fanned discontent. Russia also shut down some banking transactions with Kyrgyzstan...
On Wednesday, April 7, protests broke out around the country... Within 24 hours, the Bakiyev government had fallen...
New York Post
New York, USA
Putin wins again
Jeez, this guy is good. A few years back, I wrote that Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was the most impressive major leader on today's world stage. Since then, he's gotten better.
Back then, he was eating President George W. Bush for breakfast. Now he's snacking on President Obama...
Putin's ruthless, unforgiving and blood-thirsty. He also has a clear vision of what he wants, the strength of will to get it -- and a stunning ability to spot the weaknesses in his foreign counterparts.
Putin is the Evil Empire's belated answer to President Ronald Reagan... And he's making progress, as US leaders and their advisers bumble and stumble along...
Putin doesn't seem like a man much given to hilarity, but he must be laughing his butt off at our incompetence. Consider his strategic achievements in just the last few months:
* He cunningly let Obama bamboozle himself into a gotta-have-it-now Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that damages US conventional capabilities while Russia gives up only old junk it needed to dump anyway.
* He cut another arms deal with Hugo Chavez, selling the unstable Venezuelan regime 5 billion more bucks' worth of weapons... It's an unprecedented armament program for South America, supporting Chavez's bellicose "Bolivarian" goal of "re-uniting" Venezuela and Colombia.
* Putin finally got his pawn into power in Ukraine.... Bringing Ukraine back inside Russia's borders remains Putin's top priority. He just took a giant step toward achieving it.
* Putin also drew Kazakhstan -- the keystone Central Asian state and a major energy supplier -- closer to Moscow.
* Last week, Putin supported the overthrow of the US-backed government of Kyrgyzstan, tightening his chokehold on our northern supply route into Afghanistan. The Obama administration was utterly blindsided...
* The crash of an aircraft carrying Poland's fiercely anti-Russian president and his key advisers may have been just amazingly good luck on Putin's part, but it's the kind of luck to which we should pay attention. Russia's neighbors certainly have...
• On Iran, Putin's a savvy old tomcat toying with the Obama mouse...
• Meanwhile, our president continues to play into Putin's hands. At the Nuclear Vanity Summit, ....Obama snubbed Georgia's president, Mikhael Saakashvili. Putin will read that as license to renew his aggression against the struggling democracy in Tbilisi... Obama had time for Putin's Ukrainian puppet, President Viktor Yanukovych, though.
And all the while the US administration's fighting Russia's drug war in Afghanistan while snoozing through the narco-bloodbath on our own southern border...
Putin's certainly not a good man. But he is a great man -- perhaps the most capable national leader of our time. He's also a very dangerous man...
