Senators demand G8 suspend Russia (Lieberman and McCain)

[Monkie]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D893B06C-8958-4896-A73D-E5121995F4A8.htm

"Two influential US senators have called for Russia's suspension from the Group of Eight industrialised nations, accusing it of abusing democracy and political freedom.

Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain on Friday introduced a Senate resolution urging President George Bush to take action to suspend Russia's G8 membership.

"In 2001, I warned of a creeping coup in Russia against the forces of democracy and market capitalism in Russia," said McCain, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, which he lost to Bush."

[dandrhesse]

1. is lieberman a mole?

[merwin]

3. I think he prefers the term 'rat bastard'

[Dissent Is Patriotic]

5. yes.... n/t

[Goldeneye]

7. you have to wonder.

He's one of three democratic senators still looking at privatization "with an open mind."

[Ironpost]

12. Joe sucks moles

[Igel]

26. Aaawwww ... a star-nosed mole, no?

Nice picture.

[bearfan454]

18. He's a DINO

like Zell was.

[DemoTex]

23. One big difference ...

Lieberman is sane, Zell is not.

[VegasWolf]

28. Yes, but Lieberman is off planet. How in hell does he stay elected?n/t

[rpannier]

2. I can understand why they're upset

After all, I'm sure they feel the US is the only country that should feel free to curb individual rights and sell weapons to repressive governments.

[Dissent Is Patriotic]

4. HMMM...

"Mr Putin has moved to eliminate the popular election of Russia's 89 regional governors, has cracked down on independent media, continued his repression of business executives who oppose his government, and is reasserting the Kremlin's old-style central control," McCain added.

sounds strangely similar to what's going on here. I'm happy Lieberman and McCain are concerned about it here as well. (sarcasm)

[saltpoint]

6. I'm no fan of Putin and I suspect he's up to some --

-- Cold War doings.

But on this one I got a flash of Lieberman as the kid and John McCain as Shane.

The kid wants to hang out with Shane, wants a dusting of that cosmic Cowboy myth thing.

My god in heaven let's get somebody to challenge Lieberman in the next primary and be done with him once and for all.

[meganmonkey]

8. Wonder if this has anything to do with

the weapons Russia has been selling to Iran.

Sounds like capitalism to me. What's the problem then, boys?

:eyes:

[wolfgirl]

9. Gee,,

creeping coup...against the forces of democracy and market capitalism...sounds suspiciously like what is going on in this country

[leftchick]

10. Lieberman is only influential

in his own very warped mind.

[HockeyMom]

14. Lieberman

A Yankee, Kinder, Gentler version of Zel Miller.

[VegasWolf]

29. Less froth, tastes the same. n/t

[Ironpost]

11. no matter what either protrays

in my okie eyes they are both traitors. We have the most corrupt administration in history, and I'm not only talking about the U.S. pieces of shit.

[sundancekid]

13. and since boy dumbya george looked into putin's eyes/soul before,

who's your daddy now, joeunlibermaan?

[Zenlitened]

15. Dammit! That's the third irony-meter I've lost this week!

[LinuxInsurgent]

16. throw Russia out of the G8

and you cement its union with China in an anti-U.S. alliance.

That may be inevitable...now that the U.S. has mocked Russia's "sphere of influence" through invading Afghanistan and Iraq.

[NNN0LHI]

19. China and Russia to hold first ever joint war games

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1293804.htm

[Zenlitened]

20. Well, Bush did promise to rewrite the geopolitical map.

*shudder*

[PurityOfEssence]

39. That sounds like him, since the term is "redraw the geopolitical map"...

He's the proverbial Bull in the china shop, and he's going to reduce the complexities of the world to simplicities he can understand: domination and subjugation.

[LinuxInsurgent]

22. yep...

it's already happening...that's why I said I think its inevitable...

I often wondered why China, the EU, and Russia just let the Iraq war "slide"...even against their protest...

Iraq was the last straw for the world...they're forming regional alliances against the U.S.

Dollar is sinking...countries are moving to the Euro...and they are enlarging their militaries...telltale signs of the decline of the American empire.

[hopein08]

36. So truly scary...

I was only alive to nine or ten years of the Cold War but my parents are insistent that W is trying to undo the end of the Cold War and go right back to it.

[temple1954]

17. leave Lieberman alone

joe is no zell miller, he is a moderate democrat live with
him.besides
al gore never gave him a kiss!

[Boswells_Johnson]

21. If anything, he's a moderate Republican.

[Gloria]

24. Is Lieberman already practicing to be Sec. of Defense....as is the

rumor, that his name is being dropped for around 2006....

[barbaraann]

25. Lieberman supports the Lubavitchers.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/06/267122.shtml

McCain is just another tool of the BFEE.

[lovuian]

27. Oh Knock out Russia HA HA HA!!! Ya gotta be kidding!!!

Could this be about the takeover of Yukos from the Oligarchs!!!

Ya gotta love Putin!!!

[ensemble]

30. I wonder if this has anything to do with...

the sudden concern.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_09/b3922080_mz054.htm

[54anickel]

34. That article was the first thing that came to my mind when I started

reading this thread. Seems both Joe and McCain are being the sounding board for Shrub's cronies.

[IndianaGreen]

31. Who cares about two old Republican Senators?

Lieberman hasn't been a Democrat in years, and McCain seems to have have embraced Bush's imperialist agenda in toto.

[Rex]

32. Influential? Last time I checked both were losers

of the first order. Finer political whores cannot be found in the land!

[DU GrovelBot]

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[bluedog]

35. Leave the party

Lieberman has shown us to whom his loyalty lies.......he truly a GOP'er.........no denying that..............ever since he ran with Gore he has been kissing ass on the right wing side......

I say its time for him to leave the party.......his home state should fined someone to run against him.........he does us no favors by saying hes a Democrat and spouting GOP lies and propaganda

[Solly Mack]

37. ROFLMAO

hypocrites

fuckwads

[Tinoire]

38. PNAC: Letter of 100 on Democracy in Russia - signed by neos & neoDems

Letter of 100 on Democracy in Russia, September 28, 2004

An Open Letter to the Heads of State and Government
Of the European Union and NATO
September 28, 2004

(snip)
… we are deeply concerned that these tragic events are being used to further undermine democracy in Russia. Russia's democratic institutions have always been weak and fragile. Since becoming President in January 2000, Vladimir Putin has made them even weaker. He has systematically undercut the freedom and independence of the press, destroyed the checks and balances in the Russian federal system, arbitrarily imprisoned both real and imagined political rivals, removed legitimate candidates from electoral ballots, harassed and arrested NGO leaders, and weakened Russia's political parties. In the wake of the horrific crime in Beslan, President Putin has announced plans to further centralize power and to push through measures that will take Russia a step closer to authoritarian regime.
We are also worried about the deteriorating conduct of Russia in its foreign relations. President Putin's foreign policy is increasingly marked by a threatening attitude towards Russia's neighbors and Europe's energy security, the return of rhetoric of militarism and empire, and by a refusal to comply with Russia's international treaty obligations. In all aspects of Russian political life, the instruments of state power appear to be being rebuilt and the dominance of the security services to grow. We believe that this conduct cannot be accepted as the foundation of a true partnership between Russia and the democracies of NATO and the European Union.
These moves are only the latest evidence that the present Russian leadership is breaking away from the core democratic values of the Euro-Atlantic community. All too often in the past, the West has remained silent and restrained its criticism in the belief that President Putin's steps in the wrong direction were temporary and the hope that Russia would soon return to a democratic and pro-Western path. Western leaders continue to embrace President Putin in the face of growing evidence that the country is moving in the wrong direction and that his strategy for fighting terrorism is producing less and less freedom. We firmly believe dictatorship will not and cannot be the answer to Russia's problems and the very real threats it faces.
The leaders of the West must recognize that our current strategy towards Russia is failing. Our policies have failed to contribute to the democratic Russia we wished for and the people of this great country deserve after all the suffering they have endured. It is time for us to rethink how and to what extent we engage with Putin's Russia and to put ourselves unambiguously on the side of democratic forces in Russia. At this critical time in history when the West is pushing for democratic change around the world, including in the broader Middle East, it is imperative that we do not look the other way in assessing Moscow's behaviour or create a double standard for democracy in the countries which lie to Europe's East. We must speak the truth about what is happening in Russia. We owe it to the victims of Beslan and the tens of thousands of Russian democrats who are still fighting to preserve democracy and human freedom in their country.

Urban Ahlin Madeleine K. Albright Giuliano Amato
Uzi Arad Timothy Garton Ash Anders Aslund
Ronald D. Asmus Rafael L. Bardaji Wladyslaw Bartoszewski

Arnold Beichman Jeff Bergner Joseph R. Biden
Carl Bildt Max Boot Ellen Bork
Pascal Bruckner Mark Brzezinski Reinhard Buetikofer

Janusz Bugajski Michael Butler Martin Butora
Daniele Capezzone Per Carlsen Gunilla Carlsson
Ivo Daalder Massimo D'Alema Pavol Demes
Larry Diamond Peter Dimitrov Thomas Donnelly
Nicholas Eberstadt Uffe Elleman-Jensen Helga Flores Trejo

Francis Fukuyama Jeffrey Gedmin Bronislaw Geremek
Carl Gershmann Marc Ginsberg Andre Glucksmann
Phil Gordon Karl-Theodor von und zu Guttenberg
Istvan Gyarmati Pierre Hassner Vaclav Havel
Richard C. Holbrooke Toomas Ilves Bruce Jackson
Donald Kagan Robert Kagan Craig Kennedy
Penn Kemble Glenys Kinnock Bernard Kouchner
Jerzy Kozminski Ivan Krastev William Kristol
Girts Valdis Kristovskis Ludger Kuehnhardt Mart Laar
Vytautas Landsbergis Stephen Larrabee
Mark Leonard Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger
Tod Lindberg Tom Malinowski
Will Marshall Margarita Mathiopoulos
Clifford May John McCain Michael McFaul
Matteo Mecacci Mark Medish Thomas O. Melia
Sarah E. Mendelson Michael Mertes Ilir Meta
Adam Michnik Richard Morningstar Joshua Muravchik

Klaus Naumann Dietmar Nietan James O'Brien
Janusz Onyszkiewicz Cem Ozdemir Can Paker
Mark Palmer Martin Peretz Friedbert Pflueger
Danielle Pletka Florentino Portero Samantha Ravich
Janusz Reiter Alex Rondos Jim Rosapepe
Jacques Rupnik Eberhard Sandschneider
Randy Scheunemann Christian Schmidt
Gary Schmitt Simon Serfaty Stephen Sestanovich

Radek Sikorski Stefano Silvestri Martin Simecka
Gary Smith Abraham Sofaer James Steinberg
Gary Titley Ivan Vejvoda Sasha Vondra
Celeste Wallander Ruth Wedgood Richard Weitz

Kenneth Weinstein Jennifer Windsor R. James Woolsey


http://www.newamericancentury.org/russia-20040928.htm