Russian diplomatic relations

[lordtiberius]

41% hardly makes it a majority. 



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Russia

And which religion outnumbers the Christians?    

[SANDRO43]

Five hour rambling talk shows that really don't way anything aren't helpful.

Russian rambling must be contagious .

[steveboy]

Russia is also a Christian nation.  For all my poo poo the Third Rome, looks like the poo poo is on me.  Russia is the only nation save the Vatican that standing in front of the guns held by these beasts in the Middle East.  This uniquely places Russia as a world leader.  Russia should acknowledge Mr. Putin's achievement.

Steveboy talks about Russians not needing or want to go West.  That the MOB biz is dead.  Is it true?  Is there an economic renaissance in Russia?

They days of picking up a washer up and house cleaner from Russia are well and truly numbered!

[lordtiberius]

Mendeleyev, you were right and I was wrong.  Russia has been on the right side of this issue.  And I don't believe that Assad gassed his own people.  Excepting his support for Iran, Putin has lead the way on what a rational foreign policy in the Middle East should be - protecting our Christian brothers who have no defense against barbarism.  As I have said before Putin alone deserves credit for that.

As for the United States, I like at our current office holder as tyrant.  He will be deposed or sidelined from now on.  He wanted this job.  (I believe he cheated.)  Now, he will get it.  I think he will get an override Congress.  The House may get 61 Dems to defect, and conversely the House can increase its majority by that same number.  The GOP will need to win every single Dem seat to get 67 Senators.  Not likely, but 15 of those races are competitive.  If all things break for the Repubs, not because they are so brilliant but because the mad king is so bad - that would increase our gains to 60.  All we would need is bend 7 defectors.  2016 the Repubs have to defend more seats and the Dems are on more solid ground.  Watch the noncompetitive Senate races - New Jersey, Virginia, Durbin's seat in Illinois and Hawaii, if they become competitive, we could be living in interesting times.

I am predicting it here - Holder is gone by Valentines Day.

[mendeleyev]

Thank you and I'll add the caution however that Putin is certainly no saint, sometimes he scares me. Other times I am compelled to be grateful for some of his work on foreign policy.

A great focus this next year for me personally will be North Korea and it looks as if I'll be traveling there again. Russia's development efforts along the border will hopefully help and especially as China joins in these economic projects, I'm praying that openness will have the same impact as it did for the Soviets. China has made great strides but much more can be done.

I sincerely hope that persecuted people all over the globe will find champions who will stand up for those who have no voice.

[lordtiberius]

A great focus this next year for me personally will be North Korea and it looks as if I'll be traveling there again. Russia's development efforts along the border will hopefully help and especially as China joins in these economic projects, I'm praying that openness will have the same impact as it did for the Soviets. China has made great strides but much more can be done.

Seriously?  North Korea?  I WILL PRAY FOR YOU - ONE DECADE OF THE ROSARY EVERY DAY YOU ARE OVER THERE.

Watch this video.  It is very funny and very weird and from what I can tell a TRUE STORY
http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3

[JayH]

I sincerely hope that persecuted people all over the globe will find champions who will stand up for those who have no voice.

Amen

[lordtiberius]

Regarding North Korea, the train for military action in North Korea has left the station and probably left the station a long time ago.  The policy of the United States in North Korea is still officially regime change though we have been in a de facto containment posture since '53.  Perhaps Mr. Putin's initiative may yield some fruit.  I just do not know what.  Other than photo ops, what really does NK have to trade Russia?  What does Russia have to trade with North Korea that Russia wants and that North Korea can afford?

A third force in on the Peninsula leaves Foggy Bottom flat footed (no surprise).  The State Department for all its lofty presumptions has not seen John Quincy Adams, Benjamin Franklin or even a William Seward.  The State Department with its rather large budget is shockingly short on accomplishments.  Those secretaries that have served our country well Dulles, Kissinger, Schultz and Baker have always been our man in State rather than the State's man for us.  There is a reason why there no American Hammarskjölds, Tallyrands or  Richilieu. 

The status quo isn't getting us anywhere in Korea.  The North and South are no closer to being together and perhaps farther apart.  Fatty Kim is not liked in China.  Vlad is filling the vacuum we left behind when we elected this thin-skinned skinny state senator with a thin resume.   We cannot contain Fatty Kim forever.  And there are really only two people that know anything about North Korea - Franklin Graham and Dennis Rodman.  I doubt that our President will invite either men for a chat or a friendly game of B-ball.  Both men are straight.

Lastly, Putin maybe a stabilizing force in the world contrary to what we Westerners thought of revitalized Russia.  But Putin will have Gorbachev kinds of problems if he doesn't heed the cries of the poor - those poor in opportunity, poor in spirit and poor in justice.  Solzenitsyn demanded the country de-Stalinize.  He would be President for life if he would, will he?  Is there any journalistic or political opposition inside Russia?  Will the Czar return?

[mendeleyev]

What NK possesses first are people who are deserving of a better life. Equal to that are the other natural resources which of course interests both Russia and China.

[lordtiberius]

What NK possesses first are people who are deserving of a better life. Equal to that are the other natural resources which of course interests both Russia and China.

De oppresso liber?

So now we are neocons?

Why do they deserve a better life?  To enjoy freedom, you have to earn it, fight for it.  A realist would say that the slaves of Fatty Kim like to eat bark.  Am I wrong?  Or should I give Sharansky and PJ O'Rourke another read?

[mendeleyev]

Everyone who lives in slavery deserves a better life but that doesn't mean it is America's job to spill blood to make it happen. Freedom begins at home and the USA has deep and serious problems.

As for fighting for freedom, those who are starving to death have no strength or will to fight. These are people who farm with their bare hands, without even oxen. How can they stand up to a regime that possesses a large army and nukes? It is humanitarian to offer aid in the form of food and medicine but the big problem is ensuring that such aid goes to the real hungry, not to feed the army and supplement the more well off families in and around the capital district.

I have seen situations where bark was stripped from trees and boiled to eat because there was nothing else to eat. I don't think that they liked it but today some 28% of all North Korean babies under the age of 6 are either starving or seriously malnourished.

I admire the humanitarian efforts such as Franklin Graham and others who attempt to bring hope by delivering aid. The NK policy is that those who can work deserve to be fed although you won't find any overweight people anywhere in the country. Those who can't work are allotted one cup of rice per day but often they don't even get that. This includes children of non-working families.

I believe that regime change will happen but not by an invasion. Although illegal, things like mobile phones, DVDs and even wifi notebooks are making it across the border, as contraband of course, from China. China has a very big issue with social media now and they can't censure it fast enough. That issue will come to North Korea eventually but now even the capital is under rolling electric blackouts at night and the Metro often only runs when tourists or journalists are in the capital.

About three years ago the ban on photography was officially lifted although journalists are simply stopped whenever a professional camera comes out of the its case. The advent of cell phones with cameras however has begun to open the world to NK, and open NK to the world. A brisk clothing trade where NK women sew clothing for sale in China is now is being conducted, in the shadows, but the government turns a blind as it helps feed hungry mouths.

[lordtiberius]

Everyone who lives in slavery deserves a better life but that doesn't mean it is America's job to spill blood to make it happen.

Why North Korea?  Why not Somalia?  Or Zimbabwe?

Freedom begins at home and the USA has deep and serious problems.

Maybe Russia will do better.

As for fighting for freedom, those who are starving to death have no strength or will to fight. These are people who farm with their bare hands, without even oxen. How can they stand up to a regime that possesses a large army and nukes? It is humanitarian to offer aid in the form of food and medicine but the big problem is ensuring that such aid goes to the real hungry, not to feed the army and supplement the more well off families in and around the capital district.

No it is not humanitarian to offer aid in the form of food and medicine to an enemy.  You know that.

I have seen situations where bark was stripped from trees and boiled to eat because there was nothing else to eat. I don't think that they liked it but today some 28% of all North Korean babies under the age of 6 are either starving or seriously malnourished.

Those who can't work are allotted one cup of rice per day but often they don't even get that. This includes children of non-working families.

One less soldier, one less slave that Fatty Kim will use to threaten our coasts.

I admire the humanitarian efforts such as Franklin Graham and others who attempt to bring hope by delivering aid.

The NK policy is that those who can work deserve to be fed although you won't find any overweight people anywhere in the country.

Fatty Kim could miss a few meals.

I believe that regime change will happen but not by an invasion. Although illegal, things like mobile phones, DVDs and even wifi notebooks are making it across the border, as contraband of course, from China.

How many divisions does the Pope have?

China has a very big issue with social media now and they can't censure it fast enough.

And yet China endures, growing stronger everyday.

That issue will come to North Korea eventually but now even the capital is under rolling electric blackouts at night and the Metro often only runs when tourists or journalists are in the capital.

The same situation is true in Venezuela, Iran and Cuba and most places where socialism is tried. At least the Venezuelans are resisting.  Why should we help these obedient brain washed slaves?

About three years ago the ban on photography was officially lifted although journalists are simply stopped whenever a professional camera comes out of the its case. The advent of cell phones with cameras however has begun to open the world to NK, and open NK to the world.

bread and circus

A brisk clothing trade where NK women sew clothing for sale in China is now is being conducted, in the shadows, but the government turns a blind as it helps feed hungry mouths.

Stalin loved criminals too.  Soviet Russia had the NEP too.  Liberalization doesn't always work. 

But you have been there, I haven't.

[Ooooops]

And which religion outnumbers the Christians?   

Combination of all other ones!   

[mendeleyev]

This Christmas was peaceful in Egypt, the first peaceful holiday in several years although violence has been renewed with the January 14 vote on a new constitution.

Coptic Pope Tawadros II celebrated the first Christmas liturgy since he was selected as Patriarch at Saint Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria, the historic seat of Egypt's once-majority but now minority Christian population. For the first time in modern history, an Egyptian president, interim President Adly Mansour, paid a visit to the home of the Patriarch/Pope on Christmas Eve.

Also in attendance at the nativity liturgy was an official delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, sent by Russian Patriarch Kirill as a sign of pan-Orthodox unity.

Meanwhile in Istanbul, signs protesting the new Egyptian government were spray painted on the walls of the Egyptian Consulate.

Complete coverage including photos are at the Mendeleyev Journal: http://russianreport.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/peace-in-egypt-not-yet/

[lordtiberius]

http://news.yahoo.com/us-ambassador-russia-stepping-down-124620397.html

But he said Tuesday that his biggest frustration after two years as ambassador is "our inability to dispel this myth that America and the Obama administration and me personally are seeking to foment revolution in Russia."

Putin has accused the U.S. State Department of instigating the protests and more generally seeking to weaken Russia. His anti-American rhetoric plays well among most Russians, who still harbor deep suspicions of U.S. intentions two decades after the end of the Cold War.

"I have tried so many different ways to battle this," McFaul said. "I see opinion poll data. I'm an academic — I take a particular interest in measuring results of our public diplomacy, and that piece is frustrating to me because it's just not our policy, it's not what we're trying to do here. So that's a failure I would say."

The Obama administration expressed its gratitude to McFaul for his five years of service.

"Moreover, Mike has been tireless in advocating for the universal values that America stands for around the world, reaching out to civil society, and recognizing the right of every voice to be heard," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said in a statement.

The administration has not yet nominated his replacement.

[mendeleyev]

From today's Mendeleyev Journal:

US Ambassador Michael McFaul stpping down:

It was a good decision. However given recent Ambassadorial nominees for foreign posts, one cannot help but be concerned by what kind of buffoon the hapless US administration will nominate to replace him.

Having previously forced Russia to accept the replacement of an American Ambassador who was well-liked and respected even in the midst of disagreements, Mr. Obama disregarded Moscow's protests and sent McFaul anyway, despite his record of working to encourage regime change in the former Soviet sphere and regardless of his total lack of diplomatic training or experience.

Michael McFaul started his diplomatic infancy on the wrong foot literally from the moment he touched down in Moscow. Instead of a warming up period to meet with Russian leaders and lawmakers, he dove right in by scheduling meetings with opposition leaders.

McFaul's tactis were supposedly done to send a message to Russian leader Vladimir Putin that the Obama administration has chosen sides and wanted him gone. The message backfired and the already souring relations began to tank even faster as Mr. Putin announced that he planned to return for a third term and run for re-election.



The Spasso House has been home to US Ambassadors since 1933, the name meaning "Saviour on the Sands", a reference to the sandy soil of that Moscow neighborhood.

In the early days of his tenure McFaul was met almost daily met by Russian press who were there to document his meetings with protest leaders. Puzzled by how they knew when and where he would be, McFaul accused the Russians of planting bugs in his office and hacking his mobile phone.

Secretary of State Clinton mounted her office telephone and chewed out her counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for the alleged abuses.
During that conversation Lavrov listened patiently and at last when Mrs. Clinton's insane rant was over he calmly informed her that McFaul daily tweeted his every move and the Russian press didn't need bugs and planted microphones when the Ambassador was openly sending not only his daily schedule out to followers but also his up to the moment travels on the way to those meetings. Hell, even us common folk can follow the Ambassador: http://twitter.com/mcfaul

Things quickly got so bad that Mr. Obama had to call long-retired former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger out of hibernation to smooth things over in Moscow. Mr. Kissinger got on a plane to sit down with McFaul for a diplomatic spanking of sorts, then paid a visit to Vladimir Putin. Mr. Kissinger and Mr. Putin have history, they understand and respect each other, and so Kissinger made the case for allowing McFaul to grow into the position and reasoned with the Russians that expelling McFaul would only further harm US-Russian relations.



January 20, 2012: Kissinger pleads the case for retaining new Ambassador McFaul.

Our purpose is not to vilify Michael McFaul but you can be damned sure that we lay this colossal ambassadorial failure, or FAIL as the younger generation says, squarely at the feet of a naive and inept American president who baffles us with a level of recklessness not seen in recent administrations. On a personal level we find McFaul engaging and sincere and it is to his credit that he has grown in the job.

When Ambassador McFaul announced that he was stepping down for "personal" reasons one can only conclude that the projected crackdown on personal freedoms once the glow of the Olympics has faded signaled to those in charge that a new face will be needed for the challenges that lie ahead.

The Ambassador does have some accomplishments under his belt including talks on arms-control, his vocal opposition to the so-called Dima Yakovlev law restricting adoption of Russian children, and his efforts in negotiating for the NATO base in Ulyanovsk (southern Russia) to assist in winding down American operations in Afghanistan.


Ambassador McFaul (r) interviewed by Moscow's English language radio host Pete Cato (l).

Our hope is that Washington will at this stage get serious about naming an experienced diplomat with Russian experience and not another political fundraising hack. We don't expect much however if the current Obama nominee as Ambassador to Norway is any example.

Mr. Obama's nominee for the Norway post promised the Senate during confirmation hearings that he looked forward to working with Norway's president. Ooops, Norway is a constitutional monarchy and the Norwegian King and Prime Minister will most certainly be surprised to learn that their country has a president. It is pretty bad when even CNN's Anderson Cooper makes fun of the Obama nominees.





Russians do have a good sense of humour, even in the midst of bungling stupidity from the aliens who dwell along the Potomac and in that spirit the Moscow Times newspaper has a spoof on Ambassador replacement suggestions for the Americans to consider. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/10-unlikely-candidates-to-replace-michael-mcfaul-photo-essay/494297.html

One can only hope that the aliens dwelling along the Potomac doesn't take the list too seriously.

[Anotherkiwi]

I'm guessing that it would be too much to hope for that McFaul is replaced by his predecessor?  Russia is definitely NOT a place to send your political cronies.

[mendeleyev]

 

I'm guessing that it would be too much to hope for that McFaul is replaced by his predecessor?

Former Ambassador Beyrle would be well received by the Russians and he is one of the most "apolitical" persons you'd meet. He serves his country, not just a party. However he was posted in Russia by a man with a 4-letter name that begins with B and continues with u-s-h. So, we must assume that he is bad and evil and the cause of all that is wrong and pass him up for someone much less qualified. This Washington administration is devoid of any logic or intelligent reasoning so I'm too afraid to even guess. 

Russia is definitely NOT a place to send your political cronies.

You are far too wise to ever contemplate a run for political office in the USA, Kiwi!
   

[Anotherkiwi]

Former Ambassador Beyrle would be well received by the Russians...However he was posted in Russia by a man with a 4-letter name that begins with B and continues with u-s-h. So, we must assume that he is bad and evil and the cause of all that is wrong and pass him up for someone much less qualified.

Of course he is!  Heck, a Republican sent him there!

You are far too wise far away to ever contemplate a run for political office in the USA, Kiwi!

Thanks, but that's more like it!  I can easily be as dumb as the next guy if I try hard enough...

[lordtiberius]

Running for elected office is a difficult endeavor and until anyone tries it or has serious experience at it, they should not disparage it.

Russian diplomatic relations are what they are because Russia is a mafia state.  Everyone knows that.

[mendeleyev]

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s senior foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, has signaled to Washington that Moscow will agree to the appointment of John Tefft as the next Ambassador to Russia. Although cautious, Ushakov in an interview with the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS called Tefft a “professional diplomat” with previous experience in Moscow.



Still ahead are the US Senate hearings once the Obama administration makes the formal nomination. Confirmation shouldn’t be a problem as Tefft is no stranger on Capitol Hill, with foreign service experience dating back to 1972. Most recently Mr. Tefft was the US Ambassador to Ukraine from 2009 to 2013 and he has served previously in the Moscow Embassy under deputy roles. From 2000 to 2003 he was the US Ambassador to Lithuania and the US Ambassador to Georgia during 2005 to 2009.

The nomination of Tefft , who speaks Russian and Ukrainian, is likely to be well received in the Senate after the debacle with the inexperienced Michael McFaul in the position. The Russians say that the Obama administration made the initial request regarding Tefft in June and their announcement of acceptance came while Russian President Putin was in Cuba as part of his diplomatic tour to Latin America.

The annexation of Crimea and the continued fighting in Eastern Ukraine have left relations in tatters between Russia and the United States, some going so far to call the chill a new “Cold War.” Adding to the tension is the suspicion that Tefft’s appointment is due to his experience with so-called “color revolutions.” He served in Ukraine at a time of regime change and he was the US Ambassador to Georgia during the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008.

Pravda wrote this week that Russia could not afford to trust Tefft regardless of his prior experience in Russia. Andrei Kortunov, of the Moscow based New Eurasia Foundation, was quoted in Pravda saying that the Tefft appointment would not automatically signal a renewal of open dialogue with Russia. Kortunov pointed to the failures of the McFaul ambassadorship and current tensions regarding Crimea and the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

Both countries must approve Ambassadorial appointments and foreign diplomats are received when the incoming Ambassador formally presents diplomatic credentials to the host nation. Traditionally foreign ambassadors present their credentials to Russia’s president and foreign minister during ceremonies held in the Grand Kremlin Palace’s the Alexander Hall.


June 2014 reception of new Ambassadors in the Grand Kremlin Palace.

Of interest to some is that Tefft’s wife will join him in Moscow. Many Russians didn’t understand why previous Ambassador Michael McFaul chose to leave his family in California while trying to make the 9,000 kilometer weekly commute fit his Embassy schedule.