Back in the Former USSR…

For those wondering, your talking dog’s additional postings have been somewhat hampered by some physical problems (yes, Mr. Marathon Man) which landed him in an emergency room Friday afternoon, with a probable muscle spasm which at least felt all too close to a heart attack, and of course, with various machinations associated with Mrs. TD and I hosting the family Passover Seder. For those wondering, the “citizen journalist” thing is not a one-off. Stay tuned.
And now, a day late and a ruble short, we give you this round-up of goodies from our comrades at Pravda, a source not afraid to tell it like it is on anything. We’ll start with this gem, questioning whether “Russian expert” Incompetetentallezza Rice, the American Secretary of State, even speaks Russian (conclusion “Da…Nyet, nyet, nyet…”) Let’s just say that whatever it is America’s chief diplomat Dr. Rice does… it’s not particularly “diplomatic”…
Moving on, we get discussions of a NATO meeting in Vilnius (Lithuania), between NATO members (including Dr. Rice) and non-members Russia and Ukraine; from the machinations of Dr., Rice referring to Byelorusse as the last dictatorship in Europe (she might want to consider a country like “Great Britain”, where, say, 90% of its people oppose a particular war, and the elected dictator goes and enters it anyway…) Pravda‘s assessment is that Byelorusse might well become subject to the next “color revolution” (orange was the official color of Ukraine’s recent political upheaval; of course, Byelorusse means White Russia, but as they say, “don’t go there…”)
And over a bit we go to this discussion of Turkmenistan and its “absurd” isolation, now including the banning of foreign newspapers and magazines. Naturally, being a key American ally in Central Asia, this is not the sort of story (as usual) you will see in the usual American sources…
And finally, we get the Russians to tell us about domestic American politics, and these efforts to thwart the strongest Democratic candidate and likely next President of the United States: Hillary Clinton. The Republicans are frustrated by Mrs. Clinton’s ability to outmaneuver them on fundraising and so-called “moral issues”. Let’s just say that Hillary Clinton (who shares a birthday with Leon Trotsky and… me) has changed a lot of minds about her ability to serve as President… such as my own. Politically deft positioning to the right of well, everyone (where necessary) used to be something I considered a bug. Now it would seem to be a feature…
Das vidanya y’all…