Clearly, I'm moving up in the world

that.....is genius

Dan,

I am now officially impressed

Congratulations

BTW: When ARE you going to explain those mercenaries

The best conspirators never know they are invovled; haven't you seen the Naked Gun? If I learn that you recently received a wrist watch from Ricardo Montalban, then I will be scared.

(excuse the extremely dated movie reference -- I was aiming for somthing a little more high-minded, but on a Friday afternoon this is all I've got.)

Apparently, President Ortega of Nicaragua has decided to join Prime Minister Putin's crusade. That's one country down, roughly 191 more to go.

Eric: I had always wondered if I was the Reggie Jackson of the blogosphere -- this just confirms it.

NYkrinDC: Yeah, I had noted Nicaragua's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in an earlier post.

Writing from Russia, I can assure you that we, Russians, are not rushing to the local stores in order to stockpile the food or gas on the news of "falling" ruble. Just a couple of years ago your greenback was worth about 30 rubles, now it fetches mere 24- 25, so don't hurry to the ruble funeral, dearest!
The ruble is doing just fine.
If there is any other price to pay for teaching crazy Saakashvili that chewing ties is a bad habit, we will pay it - gladly.
As I understand, Mr.Putin has already earmarked 29 American exporters to pay the price on your side, and many more will follow.
In order to join the WTO we've been trying to appease you, the Westerners, for the past 15 years by agreeing to buy your tasteless meat, genetically modified corn, and other junk we can easily live without.
Finally, we've had enough.
First - we will throw out your rotten food,
second - we will throw out a million and a half of the illegally residing in Rissia Georgian "gast arbeiters" (illegal workers),
third - we will tell you to stuff the WTO where the sun never shines, and sell on the open market the IOUs we have been so astidously buying using our petroleum dollars.
Any other "punishments" from the Great American Empire?!
Maybe you can stop flying over our territories you bombers that kill little Afghan kids under the guise of hunting "the terrorists"?? We won't mind that at all!
So, go ahead, make as afraid of good old Uncle Sam!

Irene,

Your comments are noted, and I value your input.

I am a little busy these days, but rest assured I will get back to you no later than mid-January 2009.

Toodles

John McCain

Oh fun, my fellow Russians learned how to speak English! I am sure they will learn how to be credible too. At some point.

It's amazing how much Russian commenters on the Internet sound like early 20th Century German newspaper editorialists. German nationalists weren't particularly cultured, either.

But at least the Germans had real economic development to back them up, not a temporary commodity price spike. There's a name for places that provide raw resources for other people to use; it's "colony".

DEAR IRENE,

ON BEHALF OF SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN, PLEASE FIND OUR DETAILED RESPONSE BELOW:

Writing from Russia, I can assure you that we, Russians, are not rushing to the local stores in order to stockpile the food or gas on the news of “falling” ruble.

STORES? AS IN PLURAL? GOOD FOR YOU. WE KNEW THINGS WOULD PICK UP.

Just a couple of years ago your greenback was worth about 30 rubles, now it fetches mere 24- 25, so don’t hurry to the ruble funeral, dearest!
The ruble is doing just fine.

GREAT! WE ARE PLEASED THAT YOUR CURRENCY IS AS VALUED BY RUSSIANS AS IT IS BY THE HUNDREDS OF OTHER WORLD NATIONS THAT ALSO USE IT.

If there is any other price to pay for teaching crazy Saakashvili that chewing ties is a bad habit, we will pay it - gladly.

SUPER! I BELIEVE SENATOR MCCAIN CONFIRMED THAT YOU WILL INDEED PAY A PRICE. SO WE ARE IN AGREEMENT!

As I understand, Mr.Putin has already earmarked 29 American exporters to pay the price on your side, and many more will follow.

YES, WE UNDERSTAND MANY FORIEGN FIRMS ARE ALSO FOLLOWING US FIRMS OUT OF RUSSIA THESE DAYS. BUCK UP! TOMORROWS ANOTHER DAY!

In order to join the WTO we’ve been trying to appease you, the Westerners, for the past 15 years by agreeing to buy your tasteless meat, genetically modified corn, and other junk we can easily live without.

WE UNDERSTAND. IF YOU HAVE KEPT YOUR RECIEPT, I BELIEVE YOU CAN EXCHANGE IT FOR STORE CREDIT. THANK YOU. COME AGAIN.

Finally, we’ve had enough.
First - we will throw out your rotten food,

MAKES SENSE.

second - we will throw out a million and a half of the illegally residing in Rissia Georgian “gast arbeiters” (illegal workers),

YEAH, THROW THE BUMS OUT! I WOULD HATE TO THE ONE GUY WHO GETS HALF THROWN OUT. HA HA. AM I RIGHT?

third - we will tell you to stuff the WTO where the sun never shines, and sell on the open market the IOUs we have been so astidously buying using our petroleum dollars.

WELL, YOU SHOULD KEEP THOSE IOU SLIPS BECAUSE THEY WILL CERTAINLY BE HONOURED BY WORLDWIDE INSTITUIONS. BUT...UMMM....I HOPE YOU HAVE ACTUAL CASH FROM YOUR BUYERS AS WELL? I AM JUST ASKIJNG BECAUSE MY BROTHER IN LAW GOT REALLY BURNT BY A PONZI SCHEME IN WHICH HE GOT STUCK WITH A BUNCH OF IOU SLIPS, AND WELL, LETS JUST SAY HE LEARNED HIS LESSON.

Any other “punishments” from the Great American Empire?!

GREAT? WELL, I WOULDNT GO THAT FAR. WE DO ALL RIGHT.

Maybe you can stop flying over our territories you bombers that kill little Afghan kids under the guise of hunting “the terrorists”?? We won’t mind that at all!

YEAH, WE SHOULD SAVE OUR BOMBERS. MIGHT COME IN HANDY.

So, go ahead, make as afraid of good old Uncle Sam!

OH NO, I WOULD NEVER STEP ON THE SENATORS TOES...

CHEERS

STEPHAN ROSE
MANAGER
OFFICE OF JOHN MCCAIN
SENATOR (ARIZONA) (R)

You Russkies go right ahead with your retaliations, Irene sweetie. The only thing keeping Russia out of the poorhouse where it has been for most of the last century is the high price of oil. Putin uses the proceeds from that to fund his power mania and a few kopecks trickle down to you. Meanwhile Putin and his consiglieri oligarchs are tucking billions away in their overseas bank accounts. Putin rules Russia like Don Corleone the Godfather of the Mob. Is that the way you Russians really want to live?

Russians swerve between anarchy and tyranny, they never seek a real, ordered liberty. You guys had a bit of anarchy under Yeltsin, now you can return to tyranny, the Russians' preferred form of government. It's no scales off my sitzplatz, so long as your new Tsar doesn't try to rebuild the Russian Empire. If he does, and that looks like the direction he's going in, both of you are going to get a rude awakening. The people who will really suffer are you and the other Russians, tyrannized and impoverished by the twits you let rule you. That's been the history of Russia, and that looks like being Russia's future too. You had a chance for something else, after the USSR collapsed, and you petulently threw it away, like spoiled brats throwing their porridge on the floor.

I’m happy to see the political environment in Russia (and the internet) has freed its citizens to speak their minds.

They’ve long been masters of satire and self parody….

[...] DREZNER on blowback for Russia over Georgia. But, of course, you need to know that Drezner is a stooge of "the elite NATO foreign policy [...]

The fact that you DON'T know that you are part of a conspiracy has at least two implications.

One, that is irrefutable proof of how devious the conspirators are. They rope people in without them even knowing WHO they are working for. You've got to be really smart and really powerful to get that to work.

That leads me right to point number two. Soros. He's smart. He's powerful. And he's RICH. Now, Daniel Drezner, you need to send Soros a bill for all of the hours you've put in on behalf of the conspiracy. Count up the hours, multiply by what? $150? $200, a $1000?

Huh, just send me a 10% cut for giving you the idea.

Daniel Drezner for Secretary of State!

A stooge of both Kissinger and Soros - that's quite an accomplishment. As the neocons might say, Mazel Tov!

Irene,

Per capita GDP, Russia, 2008: 9,508.272 USD
Per capita GDP, USA, 2008: 47,159.656 USD

You're right, I have no idea how we'll manage without you.

I hope you folks enjoyed waiting in line for toilet paper, because it's coming around again.

Where did you find that guy? What a gas!

Can I borrow your hot car sometimes? I figure you have access to some cool stuff. Maybe you could swipe James Baker's keys for me and let me have that one?

That Irene guy is also a trip - oh no, what will we do without being able to export to Russia?!? Their economy is at least as big as Holland's, and God knows they throw their weight around. Relatedly, I feel so bad for the EU having to placate those guys for their gas. It's like having an awful, loud, unsophisticated neighbor next door, except it is not "like" that, it is having an awful, loud, unsophisticated neighbor next door. Poor fellas.

As a funny story, when I was working as a consultant we did a worldwide M&A project for a major multi-national. We literally looked at the entire world, but we skipped Russia. Why? Because every assessment said that their entire economy is run by fricking Mafioso's, their courts are corrupt as all hell, and there is no way you can make money there honestly. The company ultimately put a few billion into various Asian countries, and they were very happy with it. What a sad, sad place that is. I can't imagine the humiliation one must feel living there. Except for the women and delicious liquor - that's awesome there, provided you are a Mafioso and can afford them.

Wouldn't the new data you cite actually be evidence against your thesis? Yes, Russia was bound to pay a financial cost, but so do all countries that go to war (even the US, if you consider, for example, the trendline of the cost of oil from the beginning of the Iraq War).

The fact that this is not deterring them, would be evidence against your thesis, no?

Rob: That's an excellent question. You're assuming, however, that the Russian government correctly anticipated the economic and political effects of their foreign policy behavior. I suspect that they did not. The fact that they recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia but have failed to get anyone but Nicaragua to follow suit suggests that they expected more bandwagoning behavior than has actually taken place. You're right, this might not deter them in the future, but in my estimation this has been a far costlier step than they originally anticipated.

Ronbo: Oh, yeah, Soros AND Kissinger -- I am that good, and the conspiracy is that vast. You bow down to me now.

Just caught 'irene's' comment, and I got to say, the notion that Russians are suddenly concerned about kids in Afghanistan I find hilarious.

That's what makes the Georgia Adventure so odd. If you're going to be aggressive and cause the rest of your neighbors to cooperate in an anti-Russian coalition, you might as well be aggressive over something significant. The theory would be that the first invasion is "free", in the sense that it won't provoke much of a military response. Knocking over Ukraine: could be worth the candle. Smash and grab on Georgia: probably not.

Probably more bandwagoning for a big move, too.

I dunno. Are you sure Stanford is an accredited school?