Apr 30, 2014 6:42 AM ET
Google Inc. (GOOG) (click here) Chairman Eric Schmidt warned last year that Russia was “on the path” toward China’s model of Internet censorship. Vladimir Putin is proving him right.
With Russia locked in the worst standoff with the U.S. since the Cold War, the Russian president last week said his government needs to impose greater control over information flows through the World Wide Web, which the former KGB colonel called a creation of U.S. spy agencies....
The Communists need to 'give it up.' They need to stop their "Cold War" strategies. Putin knows this isn't going to work. This is the politics of Russia. Regressive, controlling and expansive.
The International Monetary Fund (click here) estimates that Russia's economy has
already entered recession as fears of broad economic sanctions weigh on
the economy.
Russia's economy shrank 0.5 percent in the first quarter of the year
compared with the previous three-month period and is expected to
continue struggling, said the head of the IMF mission in Russia, Antonio
Spilimbergo.
"If you understand by recession two quarters of negative economic growth
then Russia is experiencing recession now," Spilimbergo told reporters.
Investors are worried that the U.S. and Europe will step up sanctions
against Russia because of its policies in Ukraine. Russia annexed
Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula last month and has been blamed for fomenting
unrest in the country's Russian-speaking east.
As a result, investors pulled about $60 billion from Russia in the first
quarter of the year — more than in all of 2013. The IMF expects the
capital outflows at around $100 billion this year, Spilimbergo said....
Putin needs to revisit his history and encourage his communist buddies to do the same.
Remember the Hungarian Uprising of 1956? It was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. Any resemblance to Eastern Ukraine? Big difference in the year 2014 though, isn't there? There is no Soviet Union and the post soviet states have viable opportunities to grow their economies and be members of NATO.
Putin needs to begin to advise the communists their propaganda isn't working and it's going to work. They need to join the real world and seek to roll back sanctions.
Nobody wants a war and expansionism is over. Not bragging, just the truth. Putin should have seen this for what it is and moved off aggressions before it completely assaulted the Russian economy. It's still not too late.
The Russian people don't want it anymore Vladimir!
Putin thought he could bully his way through this. Well, he should have known. Ukraine is not Hungary.
The world is not turning their backs, Vladimir. The plans for expansionism and oppression isn't going to be tolerated.
Nobody wants a war and expansionism is over. Not bragging, just the truth. Putin should have seen this for what it is and moved off aggressions before it completely assaulted the Russian economy. It's still not too late.
The Russian people don't want it anymore Vladimir!
Putin thought he could bully his way through this. Well, he should have known. Ukraine is not Hungary.
The world is not turning their backs, Vladimir. The plans for expansionism and oppression isn't going to be tolerated.
