Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
‘No Putin — No Russia’
MOSCOW — Speaking at the Valdai Club in Sochi recently, President Vladimir Putin easily dismissed the slogan, “No Putin — No Russia,” put forward on the eve of the event by his deputy chief of staff Vyacheslav Volodin. By doing so, Putin showed that he is a “European” leader and not a Central Asian...
Hawks Demand More Military Spending Than During Cold War: Stop Squandering ‘Defense’ Dollars on Other Nations
America accounts for nearly 40 percent of globe’s military outlays, but Republican Party hawks believe that the federal government never spends enough on the Pentagon. The war lobby’s mantra always is more, much more. Yet the U.S. already devotes far more than it should to “defense,” which today largely means protecting...
List of the World’s Richest Countries and America’s Special Role in It
The world’s richest countries are the ones where the median wealth per person is the highest. This system ranks nations truly according to the most-representative person in each given nation — the person who is in the exact middle of that nation’s population in terms of per-person wealth. Consequently, for example, if a Bill...
Russia Escalates Propaganda War in the Americas
As Vladimir Putin continues his quest to build what he calls a “Novo-Russia” from the ashes of the Soviet Union, he’s been able to win over, or at least confuse, countless Americans and people around the globe with a well-oiled propaganda machine. And I’m not just talking about his Op/Ed in the New York Times last year...
John Boehner Thinks George W. Bush Could Have Stopped Vladimir Putin
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) waxed nostalgic for the George W. Bush administration during a campaign stop in Iowa on Sunday, saying that Bush would never have let Russian President Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine. Stumping for Republican congressional candidate David Young in Iowa’s 3rd District, Boehner accused President Barack Obama...
The Cold War and the Cold Shoulder
TBILISI – The Ukraine crisis has shattered key Western assumptions about Russia, and many analysts and policymakers have fallen back on the belief that Russian President Vladimir Putin must be acting irrationally. But it is Western assumptions that need to be questioned. In particular, what has made Russia so keen to undermine the current...
Poland To Move Thousands Of Troops East
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s defense minister tells The Associated Press that the country will move thousands of troops toward its eastern borders in a historic realignment of a military structure built in the Cold War. Tomasz Siemoniak says the troops are needed in the east because of the conflict in neighboring Ukraine. He said Monday...
Pro-Europe Parties Lead Vote In Ukraine
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — International observers monitoring Ukraine’s parliamentary election have hailed the vote as a step forward in building democratic standards despite the unrest in eastern Ukraine. Kent Harstedt of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Monday that the election Sunday offered voters a real choice and...
Darth Vader Not Allowed To Vote In Ukraine Elections
Never underestimate the power of the Dark Side… except maybe in Ukraine, where it turns out being a Sith Lord isn’t all that.Darth Vader, a candidate running for a seat in the nation’s parliament, was turned away at his polling place when he refused to take off his mask. Hours later, it looked like he had little chance of...
Ukraine Votes To Overhaul Parliament
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Voters in Ukraine headed to the polls Sunday to elect a new parliament, overhauling a legislature tainted by its association with ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. The election is set to usher in a contingent of largely pro-Western lawmakers. President Petro Poroshenko’s party has campaigned on an ambitious reform...
