TASS probably couldn't have done it better. And NBC correspondent Jim Maceda seemed to be channeling that Soviet Russia official state-run news agency in his glowing account of Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's heavy-handed dealings with some small businesses. Putin was, he said, "combating Russia's deep recession hand-to-hand."
Maceda, in a July 6 "Nightly News" segment, spoke admiringly of Putin's evolution from bureaucrat to Russian president, and now Renaissance man.
"Over the past decade, Vladimir Putin's morphed into more roles than a Hollywood star," Maceda said. "From Boris Yeltsin's shy obedient yes-man to the imperious leader, the action man, bomber pilot, artist and lately the people's prime minister combating Russia's deep recession hand-to-hand - harassing a supermarket manager for marking up pork prices."
As Maceda reported, Putin's mere mentioning of prices being too high scared one manager into lowering them.
"'They're very high,' said Putin," Maceda explained. "‘It will be lower tomorrow,' was the quick reply."
But the most egregious example of Putin's brash-and-bully ‘em method involved a cement factory in Russia. Maceda failed to find anything wrong with Putin's magical ability to convince a private-sector plant manager to reopen a plant and rehire all the workers, even if there was no business.
"And this showdown at a cement factory near St. Petersburg," Maceda said. "When orders dried up, managers shut the plant laying off hundreds until Putin shamed the bosses, even tossing a pen and ordering one of them to sign a promise to rehire every worker. Now other towns are hoping for some of Putin's special attention."
The NBC foreign correspondent did suggest that the former KGB man wasn't acting solely from concern about consumers and workers.
"What's behind the populism?" Maceda said. "Some think Putin's already campaigning for the 2012 presidential election."
Still, while many consider Putin and his successor, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, to be the reason behind much of Russia's modern-day corruption, Maceda spoke as if the two have a commendable partnership running the country.
"Vladimir Putin seems to exert the same power and flair here from his offices in the so-called White House as he did here at his old address just a couple of miles down the Moscow River at the Kremlin," Maceda said. "Putin watchers say he's pleased with the new arrangement where Medvedev can hob-knob with influential leaders while he pulls all of the levers behind the scenes."
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President Obama must have thrown a tantrum when he heard
July 7, 2009 - 11:25 ET by Rush Fanthat Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised the hospitality and openness of U.S. former President George W. Bush in a telegramme sent hours before meeting his successor Barack Obama.
Putin went on to say about Bush:
Let's see if the liberal media television networks mention Putin's praise of former President Bush.
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Watch the video of FoxNews contributor Liz Trotta's extreme attack on Sarah Palin.
Foxnews can be contacted at yourcomments@foxnews.com if you want to express your outrage.
From your
July 7, 2009 - 17:31 ET by stratmanFrom your link:
Given the penchant Russians have for symbolism, I'd like to think this was a subtle slam at Obama for his resistance to coal as an energy source.
Well... sounds good to me!
That was a slap in the face
July 8, 2009 - 05:14 ET by RR GOPThat was a slap in the face from Putin to our Community Organizer in Chief...OUCH!
These foreign politicos realized early on that you can screw with Dems and probably get away with it. JFK was probably the only exception though they tried him big time with Cuba and celebrated his election win with the Berlin Wall.
That these foreign leaders and the Communists overseas complained incessantly about Reagan and both Bush's didn't mean that they didn't fear them and that the foreign political leaders didn't respect them. I also get the impression that they respected Nixon a great deal and thought Johnson was weak.
The Libs over here will never understand that when our President is reviled by our enemies and those who are profiting off of those enemies, then that is actually a good thing for America.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).
Double Take
July 7, 2009 - 11:24 ET by UtherpendI had to go back and listen again to be sure, but Putin ordered a cement factory to rehire back workers when they closed for no orders, or in other words no work. So he orders a company to hire workers to stand around and do nothing or to make a product they cant sell. THAT is a shining example of socialism if ever I heard one. I bet PEBO is taking notes.
"For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security."
Putin
July 7, 2009 - 12:04 ET by jaywlI hate to say it about my President, but Obama is up against someone who is just more than he is ready for. This was reported in Timesonline.co.uk :"Over a Russian breakfast of smoked Beluga and tea from a samovar" the two leaders talked. At first glance I thought the Russian SOB fed our "green" President whale meat! But, on research, it must have been Beluga sturgeon. Not even better, for the fish is severely depleted because its caviar is expensive. I wonder if Obama was ignorant of his host's choice of the entree. If the fish was here it would be on the endangered species list. Can you imagine a Russian toast a la "Patton" where Obama and Putin eyeball each other? I fear it would be Putin's enlarged, dangerous eye the camera would focus on.
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Whaaaat?
July 7, 2009 - 13:12 ET by sic721"Over the past decade, Vladimir Putin's morphed into more roles than a Hollywood star," Maceda said. "From Boris Yeltsin's shy obedient yes-man to the imperious leader, the action man, bomber pilot, artist and lately the people's prime minister combating Russia's deep recession hand-to-hand - harassing a supermarket manager for marking up pork prices."
Shy, obedient yes-man?
To semi-quote Michael Westen from "Burn Notice",
"A spy must be able to wear many faces."
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within."-Cicero
Nighty news on board with
July 7, 2009 - 18:00 ET by upcountrywaterNighty news on board with anything that kills the free market
The discussions come as Mikhail Khordokovsky, the jailed oligarch and largest shareholder in Yukos, finally prepares to go on trial tomorrow on charges of tax evasion and fraud.
On Friday bailiffs started to move in on the oil group after the
authorities refused to give Yukos an extension on paying its $3.4bn tax
bill.
"It is an illegal move because the law of
Russia does not allow that production of oil should be seized by
bailiffs," a spokesman for Yukos said. "The law allows the arrest of
accounts, the arrest of assets, and the sale of those assets. But it
does not allow the arrest of production."
Guess what!! This can happen here, and the MSM WOULD LOVE IT..
So when exactly is Rush going to begun broadcasting from New Zealand?
Reagan VS Liberalism