Report: Russian president spurns Marine

[unhappycamper]

Report: Russian president spurns Marine
Staff report
Posted : Monday Nov 17, 2008 22:33:56 EST

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is no fan of the Marine Corps.

That’s the takeaway from a situation this weekend in Washington, D.C., described by the Washington Times, which observed the heads 20 countries arrive at the White House on Friday night ahead of a global economic summit called to discuss worldwide financial difficulties this weekend.

According to the Times, Medvedev was the only world leader who would not allow Marines to open the door of his limousine for him. Instead, a Marine posted in front of the White House stepped away from the Russian president’s vehicle, “having obviously been instructed beforehand that he would not be opening the door for the Kremlin chief.”

A Russian agent got out of the vehicle and opened the door for the Medvedev instead, the newspaper reported.


Article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/11/marine_medvedev_111708/%2e

[patrice]

1. Perhaps he feels that Military should not be servants to the Executive.

What do they do in Russia?

[EmilyAnne]

2. Military service in Russia is "mandatory". Of course, there are all sorts of ways around it, so

it turns out that it is only truly mandatory for the EXTREMELY poor and uneducated. Only 11% of eligible men end up serving. Orphans, dropouts, drug users, mentally ill people and those from miserably decimated villages make up the Russian military. Its a bad mix. These people are treated like shit and paid a pitiful amount. They are put into tense situations on the borders around people like Georgians and Chechens who they are untrained to deal with. Torture, by the way, is perfectly acceptable in Russia. I'll spare you the details of the Russian prison I toured.

Anyway, one of the few places to go for a man who has completed his military service is into the militsia (the police force). When I lived in Saint Petersburg 2005-2006, there were so many brutal attacks on immigrants, international students and even Russian citizens with darker skin and it was common knowledge that the militsia were either complicit or indifferent to the attacks. I'm white, so I felt safe. My friends from the Caucuses, Central Asia and Africa were constantly on guard. Five friends, all females, were senselessly attacked while I was there. Two were hospitalized. The attacks all took place around metro entrances while the militsia (police) looked on.

Sorry if I seem to be very anti-Russian. My Russian friends and students were wonderful people. But anything related to the Russian government, military or police force, as far as I witnessed, was absolutely corrupt.