White House expresses concern about fairness of Russian elections (haha)

[tritsofme]

MOSCOW - Allies of President Vladimir Putin won a sweeping victory in parliamentary balloting, but the White House expressed concern Monday over the election's fairness and human rights officials condemned the vote as a retreat from Russia's democratic reforms.



With more than 98 percent of the vote counted, United Russia - a pro-Putin party led by Cabinet ministers - won 37.1 percent, leaving its rivals far behind, Central Election Commission Chairman Alexander Veshnyakov said at a news conference.

snip/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A45891-2003Dec8?language=printer

Im sure the WH is very concerned. Someone done stole their playbook.

[candy331]

1. Yep! the WH has

lost it's moral voice, who gives a damn what they say. Keep talking WH but no one's listening, old Europe tried to tell you.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

2. Ah, so Bush agrees with the Communist Party of Russia

The Communist Party of Russia did very badly in the election, and have complained that the voting was fraudulent. So Bush agrees not only with Chinese Commies, but Russian Commies too.

Remember how they always said that "neo-conservatives" were really just "neo-Trotskyists" - now we know!

[tritsofme]

3. So that makes Bush a communist right?

Haha, that will sure make the freakers shiver in their boots.

[jokerman93]

4. I'm Laughing My Butt off on the Inside

The first thing that crossed my mind when I heard this on NPR today was, "Ha - When Emperor Punchy tries this here again, (especially the coming "october surprise" and the later removal of term-limitations) it's going to seem so derivative!"

I think Putin is jumping on as a hot competitor to the neocon's Worldwide PNAC agenda. There's no doubt the neocons are moving toward an essentially one party system here with lots of Bushies in charge for years to come.

(Pay close attention to Arnold's essentially dictatorial/parlimentary approach to government which will work nicely as a defacto one party concept in all states -- once the Dems are sufficiently marginalized by the propaganda machine.)

Let's watch how Putin does...

Anyway, if we don't halt the world's slide into this so-called "benevolent" fascism, we'll have to be happy watching it as a form of reality TV entertainment.

:mad:

(Having a cynical day.)

on edit:
diction/clarification

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

5. Remember when Putin offered to send election monitors for 2000?

During the stealing of the election in 2000, Putin offered to send election monitors to the US to ensure fairness :evilgrin:

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. I think they GAVE them the playbook

and are just making a token "harrumph" of concern.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Started thread earlier about UK report re. Russian media bias...

as the most disturbing, and effective, of the many things that were wrong with the Russian election. State-controlled media spent every day praising Putin and his policies, while criticizing the opposition. The Sky News reporter said that given the media message, "voters really had no choice." The report sounded frighteningly close to home --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=850166

[jokerman93]

8. Yeah when holy Brother George Looked into Putin's Soul

It was probably right after he explained the whole PNAC plan to him, and then invited to cut him in. Of course when Putin kept pumping him and agreeing, Bush thought he'd hit a home run! LOL Junior is such a light-weight thug, Putin must have been struggling to keep a straight face.

When you don't have a Soul you can probably imagine you see one in anyone who pretends to agree with you.

[BootinUp]

9. Yes

Recently Bush had Putin at the Whitehouse about the time of the Iran Nuke story hitting the news, to ask for troops, money for Iraq. Bush was speaking and Putin was standing there in his turtleneck but looking like the ex KGB that he is. And I swear I could see this look on his face like, "I sure am glad this Bush guy got elected..hehe"

[creativelcro]

10. LOL, they have a lot of credibility on this one!

[seemslikeadream]

11. Vikant Corp., owned by Alex Kantarovich of Minsk, Belorussia

supplied the control cards to ES&S. When The SPOTLIGHT inquired where Vikant cards are produced,Kantarvich said, "I cannot disclose where the cards are made, "but admitted that they are not made in America.

Kantarovich told The SPOTLIGHT that he has been in America for 11 years but declined to discuss his employment prior to running Vikant Corp., saying, "I don't want to disclose that information.

Kantarvoch said he had obtained his degree in the Soviet Union and initially refused to answer questions about how his product was chosen for the ES&S equipment.

It is "inside information that I cannot disclose," he added.

http://www.voxpolitics.com/weblog/archives/000186.html
last five paragraphs

More on Kantarovich

Alex Kntarovich, Chief Stratiegist. Mr. Kantarovich joined Aton Capital in 2002 as chief strategist, also covering Norilsh Nickel and Sberebank. Prior to that the was a senior analyst at Enskilda Securities, responsible for covering European IT service and software companies. In 1997-1999 Mr. Kantarovich was an analyst at ABN ANRO in Russia, where he was also Head of Russian research, covering Russian telecoms and the auto sector. Later, he worked as an analyst at PaineWebber (now a member of the UBS group).

He became a CFA charter holder in 2000 and his education includes an MBA from Georgia State University (Atlanta). Fluent in English and Russian.
http://research.aton.ru/themes/research/materials-index.asp?folder=1557

[BringEmOn]

12. Pot v. Kettle