Obama and Poland

Obama finally got around to acting as if he sort of cares about Poland when he went there as his final stop on his European tour.

From the BBC:

US President Barack Obama has reaffirmed relations between the US and Poland, as his six-day tour of Europe drew to a close.

He praised Poland's economic growth and its support of pro-democracy movements in North Africa and the Middle East.

Mr Obama also said the shelving of his predecessor's plan to build a missile defence shield in Poland did not put the country or region at risk.

Poland PM Donald Tusk said 0he had been reassured by Mr Obama's words.

In a brief press conference with Mr Tusk, Mr Obama said Poland was "one of our strongest and closest allies and a leader in Europe" and "a living example of what is possible when countries take reform seriously".

He praised efforts by members of Poland's Soviet-era pro-democracy Solidarity movement to offer support to Egypt's post-revolution government.

The BBC's Stephen Evans in Warsaw says Polish leaders had been hoping Mr Obama would rectify what many saw as a slight, when he cancelled President George W Bush's missile shield plan as part of efforts to "reset" US relations with Russia.

Many in Poland were disappointed when the US decided not to go ahead with the shield on Polish soil, says our correspondent, reading is as deference to Russia and as a sign of a lack of commitment to Poland.

Mr Obama repeated his insistence that the strategy was about reaffirming the Nato principles of mutual defence, saying it allowed their two countries to deal with shared threats.

Obama and the missile shield - another massive mistake among so many in Obama's foreign policy.

Read more about Obama's betrayal of Poland here and here.

Some video of Obama in Poland:



Not everyone in Poland gave Obama a warm reception.

From the Daily Mail:

Poland's former president and Solidarity founder Lech Walesa has snubbed an invitation to meet with President Barack Obama.

Mr Walesa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, had been invited by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski to attend a gathering of Poland's leading political figures with the U.S. President in Warsaw on Saturday.

'It's difficult to tell journalists what you'd like to say to the president of a superpower. This time I won't tell him, I won't meet him, it doesn't suit me,' Walesa told news station TVN24.

...It is the President's first time in Poland and he will take the opportunity to hold political meetings that will focus on security, energy and joint U.S.-Polish efforts to promote democracy in North Africa, Belarus and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

But hours before his arrival, Polish headlines were dominated by news that Mr Obama was being snubbed by Mr Walesa.

...Mr Walesa insisted that he preferred to travel to Italy for a biblical festival, and that he had no interest in a meeting that would amount to little more than a photo-op.

He did not divulge more but it seemed likely that Mr Walesa was offended at not being offered a one-on-one meeting with Mr Obama from the start.

...The aim of Mr Obama's trip is to inject new vigour in a relationship with an ally that has sometimes felt slighted by Washington.

...[U]nlike past U.S. presidents who visited Poland, Mr Obama will not meet or address the Polish public directly.

That deprives him of the chance to connect directly - and emotionally - with Poles in the way former presidents such as George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton did on visits to the country.

That will also make it harder for him to win over a nation that has never warmed to him the way many have in more liberal Western Europe, according to Marcin Zaborowski, a political analyst and director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs.

Obama was scheduled to be in Poland for less than 24 hours.

His photo-op visit doesn't alter his failure to safeguard the freedom of the Polish people.

Vladimir Putin: TIME's Person of the Year

Veiled fears of a new Cold War and a frightening new world order, courtesy of the U.S.A., Evil Empire of the 21st century, topped frenzied fears of global warming as the defining story of 2007.

Al Gore must be crushed.

Vladimir Putin beat him out for TIME's Person of the Year.

Vladimir Putin gives a first impression of contained power: he is compact and moves stiffly but efficiently. He is fit, thanks to years spent honing his black-belt judo skills and, these days, early-morning swims of an hour or more. And while he is diminutive—5 ft. 6 in. (about 1.7 m) seems a reasonable guess—he projects steely confidence and strength. Putin is unmistakably Russian, with chiseled facial features and those penetrating eyes. Charm is not part of his presentation of self—he makes no effort to be ingratiating. One senses that he pays constant obeisance to a determined inner discipline. The successor to the boozy and ultimately tragic Boris Yeltsin, Putin is temperate, sipping his wine only when the protocol of toasts and greetings requires it; mostly he just twirls the Montrachet in his glass. He eats little, though he twitchily picks the crusts off the bread rolls on his plate.

Putin grudgingly reveals a few personal details between intermittent bites of food: He relaxes, he says, by listening to classical composers like Brahms, Mozart, Tchaikovsky. His favorite Beatles song is Yesterday. He has never sent an e-mail in his life. And while he grew up in an officially atheist country, he is a believer and often reads from a Bible that he keeps on his state plane. He is impatient to the point of rudeness with small talk, and he is in complete control of his own message.

He is clear about Russia's role in the world. He is passionate in his belief that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was a tragedy, particularly since overnight it stranded 25 million ethnic Russians in "foreign" lands. But he says he has no intention of trying to rebuild the U.S.S.R. or re-establish military or political blocs. And he praises his predecessors Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev for destroying a system that had lost the people's support. "I'm not sure I could have had the guts to do that myself," he tells us. Putin is, above all, a pragmatist, and has cobbled together a system—not unlike China's—that embraces the free market (albeit with a heavy dose of corruption) but relies on a strong state hand to keep order.

Like President George W. Bush, he sees terrorism as one of the most profound threats of the new century, but he is wary of labeling it Islamic. "Radicals," he says, "can be found in any environment." Putin reveals that Russian intelligence recently uncovered a "specific" terrorist threat against both Russia and the U.S. and that he spoke by phone with Bush about it.

What gets Putin agitated—and he was frequently agitated during our talk—is his perception that Americans are out to interfere in Russia's affairs. He says he wants Russia and America to be partners but feels the U.S. treats Russia like the uninvited guest at a party. "We want to be a friend of America," he says. "Sometimes we get the impression that America does not need friends" but only "auxiliary subjects to command." Asked if he'd like to correct any American misconceptions about Russia, Putin leans forward and says, "I don't believe these are misconceptions. I think this is a purposeful attempt by some to create an image of Russia based on which one could influence our internal and foreign policies. This is the reason why everybody is made to believe...[Russians] are a little bit savage still or they just climbed down from the trees, you know, and probably need to have...the dirt washed out of their beards and hair." The veins on his forehead seem ready to pop.

No wonder TIME gave the recognition to Putin as Person of the Year.

What better way to bash Bush, Republican foreign policy, and America than to highlight Putin?

Conjuring up tensions of the past between the Soviet Union and the U.S., TIME manages to send out a warning.

Putin can be a threatening figure, but Republicans are the real danger. They are in the process of ushering in a new Cold War.

In other words, vote Democrat in 2008.

And check out this Zelman Platon photo that TIME uses to capture the essence of Putin. Although the crotch is cropped, it's reminiscent of Platon's Bill Clinton "masterpiece."



Al Gore shouldn't be too disappointed. TIME did make him first-runner up.

I wonder if the Miss America standard applies in this case: "If, for any reason the new titleholder cannot fulfill her (his) reign, the first runner-up will take over."

Who wrote the piece on "bridesmaid" Gore?

Bono. Yes, that Bono, previous TIME Person of the Year.

He writes:

As 2007 closes and 2008 begins, one of the great questions that hangs in the cynical European air is how America will carry itself in the world next year. From the outside, the coming election seems less about "the economy, stupid" and more about America's role in the future of the planet. I think it's even deeper than that. I think this election is about how America sees itself. That's not really an existential question, or a spiritual one; mostly, it's a practical question. In this election year, Americans are looking for leadership that can turn spiritual yearnings into practical realities.

Al Gore is the kind of leader these times require. Not as President — God and the Electoral College have given him a different job. As it happens, Al is at work repositioning his country from the inside out as a leader in clean energy; and along the way restoring faith in the U.S. as a moral powerhouse that can lead a great, global spiritual revival as the temperature rises.

That's right, a spiritual revival. Because this apostle of all things digital is the first to admit that technology alone will not reverse the damage done. He says it's going to take "a shift in consciousness." This isn't loopy Sixties stuff, or I wouldn't tune in. Al is tough-minded. He marshals history to make his argument, and countless examples of civilizations changing course and attitudes midstream roll off his tongue.

For Al, 2008 is a rendezvous with destiny and an appointment with the enemy. The foe he sees is our own indifference to the future and a lack of faith in our ability to do anything about it. He stresses that through crisis we can find opportunity. His language is pretty Biblical, but, then, doesn't the Bible say something about floods? He is like an Old Testament prophet amped up with PowerPoint and an army of the world's scientists at his disposal. The right response to the global-warming crisis, he explains, will be a mosaic of solutions that will kick off a whole new economic boom, one that is low-carbon and high-productivity, with truly sustainable development, and an atlas for planet management — using not New Age technology but old age wisdom generating sustainable solutions.

Is this for real?

Gore like an Old Testament prophet? That's a bit much. Bono is so smitten with Gore that it borders on idolatry.

This is priceless:

Desmond Tutu often uses the word ubuntu, meaning "I am because we are." It's my favorite epithet, an ode to interdependence. When I told Al that, he responded with Gandhi: Satyagraha, meaning "hold tight to the truth."

And then Gore said: "Pass the bong."

Soviet Chic

Oh, those glory days of the Soviet Union!

What better way to celebrate that warm and fuzzy time than through fashion?

MOSCOW, Nov. 26 -- Empowered by an oil boom that pushed the country’s trade surplus past $94 billion this year, Russia has been flexing its muscles abroad. At home, meanwhile, young and trendy Muscovites are in the throes of nostalgia for the staples of Soviet childhoods, relics of a time when the U.S.S.R. was at the height of superpower status.

That may explain why one of the most popular fashion designers this fall is Denis Simachev, who is selling overcoats fastened with hammer-and-sickle buttons, gold jewelry minted to look like Soviet kopecks and shirts festooned with the Soviet coat of arms, complete with embroidered ears of wheat.

“People in their 30s see these kinds of symbols as reminders of happy memories, like going to pioneer camp where they lived together, ate breakfast together and played sports,” said Mr. Simachev, 33, who wears his hair in a Samurai-style ponytail. He insists he is no Communist — for one thing, his overcoats sell for about $2,100 and his T-shirts for about $600. His boutique is sandwiched between Hermès and Burberry stores on a pedestrian lane, Stoleshnikov, that is one of the capital’s most expensive shopping streets.

Happy memories?

He has to be kidding.

Did Simachev ever suffer the indignity of standing in line for a day to get basics like toilet paper?

Mr. Simachev first attracted notice with a collection of retro Olympic tracksuits emblazoned with C.C.C.P., the Cyrillic initials for the U.S.S.R., and T-shirts printed with the likeness of President Vladimir V. Putin, which served as a wink at the cult of personality forming around the leader.

Remember when U.S. figure skater Johnny Weir caused a stir when he sported a CCCP warmup jacket at the Torino Olympics?

Not cool.

By tapping into a generation that is experiencing an identity crisis, Mr. Simachev, who is also known here as a D. J., a Ducati motorcycle rider and a snowboarder, has quickly become the epitome of Russian cool for a subset of gilded Moscow youth. They throng the pub underneath his store for lunch and on weekend evenings when it transforms into a nightclub.

Victoria Tirovskaya, 24, says she wears the designer’s clothes because they are chic and a bit audacious. “I have a classic blouse and shorts from Simachev but I also have a U.S.S.R. sweatshirt,” Ms. Tirovskaya, an interior designer, said. “Before Simachev, nobody dared to use the symbol of our country as a fashion icon.”

Is it liberating to flaunt symbols of oppression?

That doesn't seem to be the point though.

There seems to be a genuine desire to relive the glory days of the USSR.

...“At first, the people of my generation wanted to try those things that our parents could not, but now that we have seen everywhere, we are coming back to our roots,” said Evelina Khromtchenko, the editor in chief of the Russian edition of L’Officiel, a French fashion magazine.

Mr. Simachev has developed a swaggering fashion lexicon typified in his men’s wear by fur hats, fur boots, jackets with muscular shoulders and slim-hipped, low-slung trousers. “We are from Russia, from the former Soviet Union,” he said. “It’s what I know about, it’s what inspires me, and now, after years of Russians trying to live a Western lifestyle and forget they are Russian, other people are getting it.”

Russians are wearing Soviet Chic as a way to come back to their roots?

Yeah, those roots of oppression were really great.

Those desirable roots weren't strong enough to keep some of the greatest artists and performers of the Soviet Union planted there. They preferred to uproot and defect to the West.

...Russians more steeped in Soviet history say they are appalled at the merchandising of the symbols of totalitarianism. “Personally, I would never wear something by Denis Simachev because, for me, those symbols mean Stalinist terror, Communism, a K.G.B. spy system and the cold war,” said Alexandre Vassiliev, a fashion historian who has published 14 books here. “I disapprove completely.”

This is a perfect example of why it's important to know one's history.

"Stalinist terror, Communism, a K.G.B. spy system and the cold war" should be buried, not resurrected.

The designer’s fans say his motives are purely commercial. “Why did Andy Warhol paint Mao Zedong or Lenin? Because they are easily recognizable symbols,” said Nicolas Iljine, who specializes in Russian-American cultural exchange for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. “This is all pop nostalgia in a light-handed way. It doesn’t have deeper meaning.”

It may not be meant to make a political statement, but it's unavoidable. It does have a deeper meaning, like it or not.

The designer and the "trendy" Moscow youth are just too clueless to understand.

Wearing the symbols of the Soviet Union isn't all that different from a Jewish person wearing a yellow Star of David sewn on a coat for the "pop nostalgia" fun of it.

It's wrong to look back fondly on a time that was marked by the heavy hand of totalitarianism.

Google Loves Sputnik

Russia is having a celebration today!

Google is celebrating, too.



ABC News is also whooping it up.



It's the 50th anniversary of Sputnik!

MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russia on Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, the tiny satellite whose crackly beeps started the Space Race between the Cold War superpowers.

"We Were First," trumpeted a headline in the popular Izvestia daily. "At 22:28 Moscow time on October 4, 1957, humanity entered a new space age. The Soviet Union sent the Earth's first artificial satellite into orbit."

Veterans of the Soviet space programme laid flowers near the Kremlin wall at the grave of Sergei Korolyov, the space pioneer who created Sputnik and whose identity was a state secret throughout his life.

A monument to the satellite, whose name means fellow traveller, was unveiled near Moscow.

President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory message to Russia's space scientists, saying: "The launch of the Earth's first satellite was a truly historic event, which started a space age in the world."

Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov also praised a "tremendous" achievement.

The launch of Sputnik 1 was a huge propaganda coup for the Soviet Union in its rivalry with the United States and is being interpreted in the same vein 50 years later amid heightened Russian assertiveness.

"On that day, October 4 1957, America was seized by panic," Russia's space agency Roskosmos recalled in a statement announcing a special film on the launch.

The event was at first played down in Soviet official media but quickly prompted awed headlines in Western newspapers and caught the United States badly off balance.

The hurried launch of a US satellite in December 1957 was a flop, or "flopnik," as the London Daily Herald observed in a headline, barely getting off the ground before it burst into flames.

By then Russia had already launched Sputnik 2, which carried a dog into orbit, to become the first space casualty.

Sputnik 1, a silvery orb with four frond-like antennae whose signals could be heard around the world, also helped inspire a generation of astronauts and scientists.

The satellite was the first of several early achievements for the Soviet Union's space programme, including sending the first human being, Yury Gagarin, into space in 1961 -- another stinging loss of face for the United States.

The United States later took the upper hand with the first manned mission to the Moon in 1969. Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, famously dubbed his step "one giant leap for mankind."

Let's see:

"We Were First."

The launch of Sputnik 1 was a huge propaganda coup for the Soviet Union in its rivalry with the United States.

"On that day, October 4 1957, America was seized by panic."

The hurried launch of a US satellite in December 1957 was a flop, or "flopnik," as the London Daily Herald observed in a headline, barely getting off the ground before it burst into flames.

The satellite was the first of several early achievements for the Soviet Union's space programme, including sending the first human being, Yury Gagarin, into space in 1961 -- another stinging loss of face for the United States.

Gee, the U.S. space program really sucked.

All those stinging losses. All that panic.

Give me a break!

Yes, Sputnik did catch the U.S. off balance.

Yes, the launch of the first satellite was a significant event.

But let's get some perspective here.

As the article notes, "The United States later took the upper hand with the first manned mission to the Moon in 1969."

No kidding.

Landing a man on the Moon and safely returning him to Earth is much more than taking "the upper hand" in the space race.

Good grief.

I'm not surprised that Russia would celebrate Sputnik, especially given the fact that the Soviet Union suffered kind of a stinging loss by LOSING THE COLD WAR.

But must Google be agog over Sputnik?

Must ABC rush to the party?

Read President John F. Kennedy's speech to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961.



See the "reading text" of President Kennedy's address.

Browse more collections from the archives of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

--President John F. Kennedy

Boris and Bill

In today's New York Times, Bill Clinton writes a love letter to his friend Boris Yeltsin.

Bill writes:

Boris Yeltsin was intelligent, passionate, emotional, strong-willed and courageous. He wasn’t perfect, and he had to contend with staggering political and economic challenges as he led Russia away from centuries of authoritarian rule. But lead he did. At the end of the cold war, Russia and the world were lucky to have him.

History will be kind to my friend Boris.

Yeltsin died on April 23.

I wonder why it took Bill so long to formally euologize his good buddy.

It could be that he wanted his op-ed piece to be in the Sunday New York Times. Any other day of the week wouldn't be worthy of the former president.

Another possibility is that Hillary made him do it, to make Americans feel all warm and fuzzy about those wonderful Clinton years.


The Way We Were

I think it's possible that Bill wrote the column as a rewrite of history. He wants us to think of Yeltsin's time in office as an especially rosy time.

Yes, so much good can be associated with the Clinton era, including his friendship with Yeltsin.

Therefore, vote for Hillary.

Too much of a leap?

You were expecting a lib like Bill to be logical?

Bill says, "But at the end of the day, he almost always did the right thing."

Hmmm. Not everyone agrees with Bill.

His assessment of Yeltsin's role in history is interesting. It's much kinder than what The Washington Post offered on April 24, a day after Yeltsin's death.

From The Post:

Mr. Yeltsin ended up destroying much of what he had achieved. In 1993 he ordered the army to attack the same parliament building he had defended; though the political reactionaries inside were the first to take up arms, Mr. Yeltsin's response was brutal. Even more so was his invasion the next year of Chechnya, which, while failing to crush an independence movement, destroyed the republic, killed tens of thousands and set the stage for an even bloodier war by Mr. Putin. In 1996, Mr. Yeltsin won a second free election for president, but only after striking a corrupt deal with a group of businessmen who financed his campaign in exchange for being allowed to take control of some of Russia's biggest companies. Often ill or seemingly drunk, he allowed corruption and disorder to flourish in and outside of government and embarrassed Russians with his pratfalls.

Mr. Yeltsin's final sin was to hand the presidency in December 1999 to Mr. Putin, a product of the same KGB that had attempted the coup of 1991.

Bill didn't mention any of that.

I guess he's just a "glass is half full rather than half empty" kind of guy.

His column about Yeltsin is typical Clinton spin, a reinvention of the truth.

I certainly wouldn't expect Bill, friend of Boris, to speak ill of him and highlight his mistakes and his flaws so soon after his death. Perhaps it would have been best for Bill to just keep quiet instead of giving a false impression.

It's almost as if Bill's was writing about Yeltsin the way he hopes others will write about him someday.

"History will be kind to my friend Boris."

I bet Bill fantasizes that history will be kind to him. I'm sure he fantasizes about lots of things.

The Future Belongs to the Free

From AP:

...Russia's 60th anniversary celebration of its World War II victory with other Allied forces over Nazi Germany - a ceremony that offered a one-sided, rosy picture of the Soviet Union's war legacy - was awkward theater for a U.S. president who has made democracy's spread the singular foreign-policy cause of his second term.

Nonetheless, as Russian President Vladimir Putin's grand World War II victory party went forward, Bush allowed him his day in the global spotlight. The two put aside their public sniping of recent days over postwar Soviet domination and present-day democratic backsliding in Russia.

...Continuing the chummy exchanges that marked their discussions and dinner the evening before, the two smiled broadly when Bush arrived for the parade. As Bush lowered his umbrella, despite the rain, for a snapshot, Putin laughingly did the same. Putin reserved the seat next to him for Bush - whom he called his guest of "special importance" above all others. Later, Bush remained glued to the Russian leader's side as they strolled, red carnations in hand, to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The public niceties might not last long.

...But Bush aims to close out his five-day, four-country European trip Tuesday on a note that leaves talk of the Soviet Union's wartime tyrant Josef Stalin and U.S.S.R. oppression far behind - and may arouse Putin's anger again. In Tbilisi, Georgia Bush intends to hold up the freshly democratic nation as an example for other countries - in Putin's neighborhood and elsewhere.
_______________________________

While the V-E Day commemoration has been a difficult balancing act for President Bush, he has maintained his equilibrium remarkably well.

The President has the challenging task of strengthening U.S. relations with Putin's Russia at the same time he seeks to acknowledge the decades of iron fist Soviet oppression in Europe.

The chumminess exhibited by Putin and Bush during their public appearances yesterday and today is not an indication of Bush going limp on his freedom campaign. It is diplomacy and, from most accounts, genuine friendship.




The images of the two leaders in Putin's prized 1956 Volga, their smiles and the ease with which they relate to each other, should be viewed positively. Bush is not selling out his firm belief that freedom is the birthright of every human being. Hardly.

In his radio address on Saturday, Bush said:

The defeat of Nazi Germany brought an end to the armed conflict in Europe. Unfortunately, for millions of people on that continent, tyranny remained -- in a different uniform. In Latvia, where I'm also visiting on this trip, free people were taken captive by another totalitarian empire. Germany was split into free and un-free halves. And countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary were cut off from liberty by an Iron Curtain. The people of these countries survived the Cold War through great courage, and then they took history into their own hands and reclaimed their freedom.

The result is the continent of Europe, wounded by decades of conflict and oppression, is today whole, free and at peace for the first time in its history. The wave of democracy that swept Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 has now swept to nations like Georgia and Ukraine. And the victory for freedom represented by V-E Day has become a reality for millions of people.

...The new democracies of Europe still have much work to do. Free elections are a significant achievement, yet they are only part of a fully functioning democracy. Democratic governments must be committed to providing full and equal rights for minorities, resolving conflicts peacefully, encouraging a vibrant political opposition, and ensuring the rule of law. As the nations of Central and Eastern Europe work to build up the institutions necessary for a free society, America will stand by their side.

These are not the words of a man who appeases those intent on standing in the way of freedom. Bush makes it clear the U.S. is committed to democracy around the world.

In a real sense, he is continuing on the same path President Reagan set twenty years ago.

As Reagan said in his State of the Union Address, February 4, 1986, "...the future belongs to the free."

Bush gets it and the world will be better as a result.

Putin Echoes Liberal Talking Points

Heard on 60 Minutes: "In the United States, you first elect the electors and then they vote for the presidential candidates. In Russia, the president is elected through the direct vote of the whole population. That might be even more democratic."

Is this the latest assault from Andy Rooney? No.

In an interview with Mike Wallace, scheduled to air this Sunday, Vladimir Putin criticizes American democracy and defends Russia's system.

From Drudge:

MIND YOUR OWN DEMOCRACY, SAYS PRESIDENT PUTIN, DEFENDING RUSSIA'S AND CRITICIZING AMERICA'S ELECTORAL COLLEGE SYSTEM, IN AN EXCLUSIVE "60 MINUTES" INTERVIEW SUNDAY ON CBS

A combative Vladimir Putin tells Mike Wallace he should question his own country's democratic ways before looking for problems with Russia's. The Russian president also says the U.S. shouldn't try to export its democracy, as it is trying to do in Iraq, in an exclusive interview to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday May 8 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Wallace gets quite a reaction from Putin by asking him about a recent change the Russian leader made. Says Wallace, "There was a time when the regional governors were elected, correct? And all of the sudden, Putin says, 'No, no, no. I shall appoint the governors.' That's democracy? That's not democracy the way I understand it," says Wallace. "The principle of appointing regional leaders is not a sign of a lack of democracy," Putin retorts. "You're absolutely wrong. For instance, India is called the largest world democracy. But their governors have always been appointed by the central government and nobody disputes that India is not a democracy," says Putin.

The Russian leader then points to what he believes are drawbacks to America's own brand of democracy, including the Electoral College system. "In the United States, you first elect the electors and then they vote for the presidential candidates. In Russia, the president is elected through the direct vote of the whole population. That might be even more democratic," Putin says. "And you have other problems in your elections," he tells Wallace. "Four years ago your presidential election was decided by the court. The judicial system was brought into it. But we're not going to poke our noses into your democratic system because that's up to the American people."

Putin also believes the U.S. democratic system does not travel well and that is precisely why he was against the war in Iraq from the beginning. "Democracy cannot be exported to some other place. [Democracy] must be a product of internal domestic development in a society," says the Russian president.

But pulling out of Iraq is not an option, says Putin. "But if the U.S. were to leave and abandon Iraq without establishing the grounds for a united and sovereign country, that would definitely be a second mistake," he tells Wallace.
______________________________

Flashback to this:

Hillary Calls For End To Electoral College
ALBANY, New York, Nov. 20, 2000

Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton began a victory tour of upstate New York Friday by calling for elimination of the Electoral College.

At an airport news conference, the first lady said she would support legislation seeking a constitutional amendment providing for the direct election of the president.

At the moment, Americans are waiting to see who wins Florida's 25 electoral votes and thus becomes the next president. Vice President Al Gore leads Republican George W. Bush in the popular vote nationwide.

"We are a very different country than we were 200 years ago," Clinton said. "I believe strongly that in a democracy, we should respect the will of the people and to me, that means it's time to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular election of our president."
_____________________________

It's as if Hillary looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul. Maybe he'll endorse her 2008 presidential candidacy.

Isn't it ironic that Pooty Poot tells the U.S. to mind its own democracy at the same time he spouts off about the Electoral College? He tells us to mind our own business while he sticks his nose into it.

When it comes to the 2000 election, Putin is on board with the Dems, still chanting the "Selected, not elected" mantra.

Another irony in Putin's comments is his belief that American democracy doesn't travel well, that it can't be exported. He seems to be forgetting that WE WON THE COLD WAR. The Wall was torn down. Soviet satellites became truly sovereign. Putin seems to be in denial about the dominoes of democracy falling across Europe as a result of the U.S. victory in the Cold War.

Democracy has been and continues to be America's greatest export.

"Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty -- though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it."

--President George W. Bush, January 20, 2005