On Dec 6, 1:01 pm, "Ray O'Hara" wrote:
"Tiger" wrote in message

...

Putin now with his sham election is finished is back to military power
moves. In the context of Arms sales to US foes like Chavez, Bear bomber
back in the air, and talk of ending conventional force treaties; this
guy is worth keeping a eye on.

it was trying to keep up militarily last time that bankrupted the old
union.
people aren't going to like being in long lines again for goods because the
military is soaking up all the assets of the state.

Well, he got the money, he got the political environment, he got the
power, I would do the same thing if I were Putin. Accusing Putin of
sham election reeks of ideological prejudice. As if any elected non-
western oriented leader must be a product of election fraud. I'm no
expert, but comparing to Russia under Yeltsin, Russia in 2007 is much
richer, much stronger and much more respected, or feared if you would
like to call it that way, Chechnya is largely pacified(human right
violation or not, he did it, while freely elected George Bush could
not even think about lowering Iraqi violence to the level of
Chechnya), I would vote for him if I were a Russian voter.