[Keith_McClary]

Obama: 'Russia Doesn't Make Anything'
According to US gubmint propaganda organ "Radio Free Europe":

U.S. President Barack Obama has downplayed Moscow's role in the world, dismissing Russia as a country that "doesn't make anything."

In an interview with the British weekly “The Economist” posted online on August 2, Obama said: "Immigrants aren’t rushing to Moscow in search of opportunity. The life expectancy of the Russian male is around 60 years old. The population is shrinking."

Presidential trash talk.

[AgentR11]

I'm more worried about the narrative that our guys are putting out; as a mirror of Iraq, where we talked up an adversary unworthy of our best effort in battle; or a parallel to WWII where we relentlessly talked down the capabilities of enemies who could at least give us a run for the money. This is the rhetoric of war, in an age where war between large states can not be acceptable.

I really have a hard time comprehending why Obama, supposedly of the more dove'ish persuasion, would be using insulting rhetoric directed at another military power that if pushed into a no win situation, could end the industrial world, forever, as easily as us.

Besides, its dumb, Russia makes tons of stuff; not necessarily lots of sophisticated, pleasurable stuff; but stuff none the less. In fact, you know those Mistral's people are whining about? The reason France is making helicopter carriers for Russia, is because St. Petersburg is busy making civilian icebreakers. Which begs the question.. who's the warmonger?

[Newfie]

The comment about their population shrinking is odd. So what? Isn't that a good thing in a time of declining resources?

Reinforces my idea of Obama as clueless in a practical world.

[vtsnowedin]

The comment about their population shrinking is odd. So what? Isn't that a good thing in a time of declining resources?

Reinforces my idea of Obama as clueless in a practical world.

Not to defend him Newfie but I think his point there is valid , or it would be if the facts were with him. World wide a population decline would be a good thing but today when the rest of the world is for the most part increasing population a country where people vote with there feet to live someplace else says a lot about a country.
But Obama has it wrong. The decline in the Russian population that happened after the breakup of the USSR has stopped and the population is now growing due to immigration into the country and a birth rate that is now back above replacement level slightly.

[Newfie]

Yeah, I get it.

But even if that is what he meant that is a terrible way to say it. You were much more precise in your language.

I'm a life long Dem, and I hang with a bunch of life long Dems. He has few friends among my liberal pals.

[Plantagenet]

I really have a hard time comprehending why Obama, supposedly of the more dove'ish persuasion, would be using insulting rhetoric directed at another military power....

???

Oh, Obama is still dovish. But, as the last five years have shown, his personal style is to take everything personally and be hypersensitive and then to get angry and make empty threats and lash out with insulting rhetoric. It happens so often its just a joke now when Obama starts ranting.

When it comes to Russia Obama is probably mad just because the Russians make fun of him in their state media, and he's lashing out in return. Don't worry about Obama not being dovish---his threats and insulting rhetoric are just empty talk.

[hvacman]

"Russia doesn't make anything".

Tell that to the astronauts on the ISS that still rely solely on Russian boosters and manned capsules to ferry them to and from the ISS. We're hoping Elon Musk will bail out NASA's ineptitude at creating a followup to the Space Shuttle.

[Keith_McClary]

its just a joke now when Obama starts ranting.
...
Don't worry about Obama not being dovish---his threats and insulting rhetoric are just empty talk.

I have to agree with you on that part. He put out this:

The United States is appalled by today’s disgraceful shelling outside an UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] school in Rafah sheltering some 3,000 displaced persons, in which at least 10 more Palestinian civilians were tragically killed,

while rushing reloads of shells to the Jews.

[Timo]

Obama's weakness is, indeed, foreign policy. I'm as dovish as he is, but there are many parts of the world that he has no practical experience in dealing with their histories. Now, to back him up (just a bit), he really is obligated to say something bad about Russia because the Hawks here in the US are putting a lot of pressure on him to contain the Russian bad guys. He is also partially right that Russia doesn't really make anything, EXCEPT weapons, AND they're the source of almost all of Europe's natural gas. Putin is crazy, but he's also potentially the wealthiest man alive. He doesn't need to make anything because the entire Russian economy belongs to him, personally. He can weather the storm of global sanctions against Russia as long as his local national popularity holds up. But, as the sanctions take their toll on the Russian people, either they'll turn against those who've imposed the sanctions and strengthen his popularity, or they'll turn against him for not providing for their well-being. Putin also has a bounty on his head from a number of former Soviet Republics. He's not well liked among his neighbors. Ukraine was created entirely by him for the sole purpose of building a pipeline to fuel his own fortunes in gas and oil. Putin's time in power is limited, but that time is probably longer than Obama's time in power, and Clinton's time after that. The only real question is how bad he'll choose to make things before the world really reacts to his behaviors. I see big troubles ahead, like WWIII troubles. Obama could be doing things differently, but i doubt any POTUS could do anything to alter Putin's path.

[PrestonSturges]

Obama's weakness is, indeed, foreign policy. I'm as dovish as he is, but there are many parts of the world that he has no practical experience in dealing with their histories.

Could you point to a single Republican that has been right on foreign affairs more than half the time (or even right occasionally) and has not been directly involved in at least one massive international clusterfuck that damaged our interests and killed tens of thousands?

[dinopello]

Can't believe anyone thinks Obama is doveish. But he is wrong. Russia made North Korea's fancy defense computers

[Keith_McClary]

USA:

Puerto Rico:

[Timo]

Obama's weakness is, indeed, foreign policy. I'm as dovish as he is, but there are many parts of the world that he has no practical experience in dealing with their histories.

Could you point to a single Republican that has been right on foreign affairs more than half the time (or even right occasionally) and has not been directly involved in at least one massive international clusterfuck that damaged our interests and killed tens of thousands?

Nope.

[Plantagenet]

Other than Jimmy Carter, Dem Presidents have been responsible for their own share of disasters. Obama, of course, bears responsibility for his useless surge into Afghanistan, which he will shortly be handing over to the Taliban after he marches his troops back out, as well as the disasterous war on Libya. If you include responsibility for not acting, then Obama bares some responsibility for hundreds of thousands of deaths in Syria through his craven failure to act there, and now for the barbaric Caliphate in Iraq which moved in after he marched US troops out of Iraq. Clinton failed to respond to Al Qaida declaring war on the US and blowing up our ships and soldiers. Clinton himself has expressed remorse for not taking bin Laden into custody when Sudan offerred him up, and for ordering US forces to not kill bin Laden when he was in our sites in 2000, which opened the door for 9/11 just a year later. Clinton also bears responsibility for not acting during the Rwanda genocide, when a million died. Carter was pretty good, but then you go back to Lyndon Johnson and Kennedy, who started the biggest and mostly costly unnecessary war ever in VietNam.

The R Presidents haven't been especially good, but neither have the D Presidents, othrr than Jimmy Carter.

To come back to the point of this thread, Obama's latest bad mouthing of the Russians is dumb, but its nothing compared to his bumbling war in Libya, and his bumbling retreat from Iraq---the consequences of which are playing out now, and his bumbling surge followed by a bumbling retreat in Afghanistan, the consequences of which will start playing out next year after US forces withdraw.

[AgentR11]

Can't believe anyone thinks Obama is doveish. But he is wrong. Russia made North Korea's fancy defense computers

If you had N. Korea on YOUR border, would YOU give them good computers????

I'm voting NO on that poll question.

[dissident]

Can't believe anyone thinks Obama is doveish. But he is wrong. Russia made North Korea's fancy defense computers

http://37.media.tumblr.com/2785ca1b45a2 ... 1_1280.jpg

Everyone in the west is a technological ubermensch with superior genes and born with a university degree.

http://mcst.ru/

http://mcst.ru/novyj-8yadernyj-mikroprocessor-elbrus-8c

Intel tried to make VLIW work with Itanium but didn't quite succeed. The Elbrus architecture actually works and is based on the 1980s VLIW mainframe of the same name.

[AgentR11]

To be fair, on the computer pic we are making fun of; what stands out is the silly mouse and keyboard; the steel rollable case with monitor looks odd and doesn't have any apparent air flow cooling, but that could easily be just because the vented side looked unaesthetic to dear leader or dear leader's handler. If it has sufficient cooling, its a perfectly reasonable way to drag a hundred or few pounds of electronics around a room if you want to keep them together as a package.

Still; even if the system inside that green box is sophisticated or impressive; I think I'll have to award them -10 nerd points; (-15 for the case, +5 for the gaudy mouse/trackball).

[Newfie]

I think it smart to give them the computers and software IF you plant back doors and kill codes. Give them the stuff, but retain ultimate control.

I always wonder if we don't do that with our military aircraft sales.

[vtsnowedin]

I've worked with computers that were a lot clunkier then that one. In fact on those the mouse hadn't been invented yet. It's only funny if the picture is recent and not left over from 1980.
And even then if it is hooked to an ICBM and has 1970 guidance control in it then it is a pretty scary thing in those hands. They are probably trying to hook their new Radio Shack mouse to a computer without a USB port.

[careinke]

Obama's weakness is, indeed, foreign policy. I'm as dovish as he is, but there are many parts of the world that he has no practical experience in dealing with their histories.

Could you point to a single Republican that has been right on foreign affairs more than half the time (or even right occasionally) and has not been directly involved in at least one massive international clusterfuck that damaged our interests and killed tens of thousands?

Ron Paul