Putin slams West over 'double standards' in Iraq and Ukraine

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041223/wl_mideast_afp/russiapoliticsukraine.041223133123&cid=1514&ncid=1473

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) hit out at the West's "double-standards" amid a Cold-War-style dispute over Ukrainian elections, accusing it of fomenting "permanent revolutions" in Moscow's backyard.

Putin again slammed US-led plans to press ahead with elections next month in Iraq (news - web sites) and said it was the height of hypocrisy for Western governments to criticise Russia for pursuing its interests in neighbouring former Soviet republics.

"Today according to our estimates there are nine cities in Iraq where there are hostilities but they still want to carry out elections," he said, condemning European elections monitors' plans to observe the poll from Jordan as a "farce".

"We do not understand how there can be an election in a country under conditions of total occupation... It's absurd. It's a farce. Everything is upside down."

The Russian leader said it was "complete nonsense" to accuse Moscow of trying to "devour" its smaller neighbours in the former Soviet sphere of influence, referring to countries such as Georgia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan during a wide-ranging annual press conference.

He said "permanent revolutions" such as the so-called "orange revolution" of West-leaning Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko risked plunging the region into "endless conflict".

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[MSgt213]

I could not agree more

[Tempest]

1. Putin is schizophrenic

Russia’s Putin Trusts Bush Completely

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he completely trusts his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush, even though their views don’t always coincide.

“Bush is a man who is decent and consistent,” the Russian Information Agency Novosti quoted Putin as saying. “Our opinions don’t always match, but I trust him as a partner. I know that if we agree on something together, the president does everything for his part of the agreement.”

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/12/23/trustbush.shtml

[Vidar]

2. Agreeing with Putin. Their dictator's better than our's.

[SariesNightly]

3. Hushed whispers..

..say Yushchenko is a CIA stooge. One he wins, Ukraine will pact with NATO and Bushie will build another aircraft refuelling base there as a front against the axis of bogeymen.

[Vidar]

5. Could be. I'd put nothing past Bush, or Putin for that matter

[robcon]

4. Putin is desperate.

His ploy to annex Ukraine didn't work. He's moving to a totalitarian state, and regrets he couldn't pull the Ukraine with him.

[daleo]

6. Sounds just like Bush

His ploy to annex Ukraine still has a chance, though.

[bpilgrim]

7. awwww, putty-putt thought they had a DEAL!

On Sept. 29, 1939, the USSR signed a German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Pact that included secret protocols, among which was a stricture that each party pledged to suppress any agitation against the other and to keep each other informed of any outbreak. The result, according to Roy Medvedev in "Let History Judge", was a complete halt to antifascist propaganda in the USSR. Even worse, Soviet leaders began to depict Germany as a potential victim of Anglo-French aggression. Molotov declared in the fall of 1939:


more...
http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/fascism_and_war/stalin_hitler.htm

peace