Bespredel

From Steve LeVine’s blog, Oil & Glory.

The main thing I learned about Russia while researching Putin’s Labyrinth is that, in pursuit of its aims, Russia practices a policy of bespredel, or anything goes. By way of example, one case I used was the 2006 murder of KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko with a nuclear isotope, which seemed about as stark as one might get.

But the current Russian assault is another dramatic case of bespredel. If Russia’s aim were to secure the lives of repressed peoples, as Putin claims, that was accomplished early with the Georgian flight from South Ossetia.

But the Russian push out of Abkhazia and into the town of Senaki, and the reported occupation of police buildings next door in Zugdidi, demonstrates a broader objective.

The Georgians have announced that the country is effectively cut in half now; it previously had said that its troops had withdrawn to protect Tbilisi. I wonder whether all the soldiers made it since Georgian troops stationed in the West might be trapped on the other side of Gori, which is now in Russian hands.

BooMan explains how deeply the Washington establishment is embedded into Georgia and that oil pipeline. Wired’s Danger Room has more information on the Russian cyberwar that has shut down Georgia’s access to the rest of the world.

But for the best summary of what’s going on that I’ve read so far, check out Helmut’s post at Phronesisaical.

If South Ossetia wasn’t lost to Georgia before this unpleasantness, it is now. And Georgia learned a hard lesson about US rhetoric, which has had a particularly long way to flutter to earth from its pre-2003 tough-guy superpower talk to the hollowness of 2008 that Putin and Medvedev have quite clearly seen through.

George Bush, punked again.

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Even as the Red Cross busts its hump trying to deliver food to Darfur, the Sudanese government is taking advantage of high food prices to export their own crops.

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Howard Wolfson, one of the idiots who helped Hillary boot a sure thing, is now — get ready for it — blaming John Edwards for costing Clinton the nomination!

IF Edwards had dropped out, Hillary would have won Iowa — that’s Wolfson’s logic. Given that stunning bit of analysis, I think it’s easier than ever to figure out how Clinton lost. 

1. She had Howard Wolfson working for her
2. see #1

More from Ezra Klein.

Hillary, btw, is about to eat that $13 million loan she made to herself, and that’s a good thing. Good, because it means she’s going to pay off her vendors, instead of writing herself a check and sticking it to all the printers and phone companies she owes $12 million to.

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10 things you should know about China, and the backstory on that bizarre wingnut jihad to restore the Labor Day holiday in Tennessee.

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There will be race traitors among us always. Just as there will always be bottom feeding Republicans to exploit the race traitors.

And no, I don’t think all African Americans should be Democrats. But that’s no reason to think they should be Republicans, the official accept-no-substitutes political party for American racists.

And for any veterans who still think Republicanism = support for the military . . .

This past May, the Veterans Affairs Department, led by Secretary James Peake, issued a directive prohibiting nonpartisan voter registration drives “at federally financed nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and shelters for homeless veterans.” In today’s New York Times, Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz writes, “What is the secretary of Veterans Affairs thinking?“

Think Progress

Well, I suspect they’re thinking that this would be a bad year to encourage veterans to vote. 

I think they’re right.

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Corey Doctorow and DJ Spooky do a NY benefit for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Because we live in the kind of sick, repressive world where even comic books need legal help.

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Even social network bloggers like Ed Kohler are finding the Strib’s comments to be lewd, rude and thoroughly wingnuttish.

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The Twin Cities are a handy place to see the corporate wars played out. A bike ride is in peril because the sponsors mandate that only Chippewa brand water can be sold, but they’re riding through a Minneapolis park, and the Parks Board has a contract with Coke-Dasani.

I hope by now it’s not necessary for me to say that it’s a bad thing for corporations to own municipal branding rights. Worse, I live right down the road from SkinnyWater Park (formerly Midway Stadium), and I fear that the corporate water gangs will bring violence to my neighborhood.

Drive-by hosings, anyone?

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St. Paul releases a map of the streets that will be closed downtown during the RNC. Don’t bother clicking: all you need to know is that downtown St. Paul will be a living hell, and the only reason anyone would want to go there would be to give the Republican hatemongers a piece of their own legacy.

Too harsh for you? Check out Grace Kelly on peace team trainings.

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Barack returns fire on the celebrity bullshit.

In other news, Ike’s granddaughter isn’t leaving the Republican party, but she is voting for Obama.

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Evicting the unwell elderly. Why? Because they can make more money by being soulless pricks than they can by providing a legitimate service or product.

American businesses no longer know how to earn money, only how to steal it.

More corruption:

Despite being next to last on the list, thanks to GOoPer interference, Mississippi gets a new biolab they’re not able to staff or run

Even fascists get it wrong

Cokie: it’s a description, not a nickname

Liebermann drops $100k on the DSCC, smiles a lot and then rushes back to his office to call BFF John McCain to tell him how it went (not well)

Bachmann in line to get promotion (assuming the 6CD is stupid enough to re-elect her born-again ass)

The Suskind excerpts and tapes just keep on giving

Minnesota government just keeps getting whiter and whiter

Demko rips PiPress for running man on the street with former Coleman press hack (good catch, this is a classic example of how the press gets played — when they’re not actually in on the joke)

Another picture of Bush hanging out with beach blanket vb babes

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One of the few good things about Bush’s war on undocumented workers is the sense of mission he’s given liberal churches.

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Gosh, I guess I have to apologize to Team Franken. Thanks to their running their picky weenie-esque Norm’s rent ads, Norm is releasing more photos of his apartment.

Because Al Franken will gain tons of votes by having the media spend the week arguing about Norm Coleman’s DC rent.

This one will only get traction if they manage to take a CSI-style black light picture of Norm’s bed. All those glowing patches would be hard to explain, I think. Especially when they found a couple dozen different DNA traces on the sheets.

Maybe Team Franken is more clever than I think and this is all leading to an exposé on Norm’s sex life. But if that’s true, why on earth is Al’s campaign doing these commercials?

*—•—*

Farheen Hakeem is in the news. Despite Mark Berlin’s article saying she’s not going to deliver green votes to Democrats, I’m hearing rumors that she’s being courted to see if she might deliver some votes in the upcoming DFL primary. 

And no, those votes wouldn’t be going to Al Franken, the guy the MN peace movement loves to hate.

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Last week’s winners, and this week’s very easy quiz.*

 

*Easy if you have a guy’s taste in movies, or grown sons whose entertainment habits you were wise enough to monitor.

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