Vladimir Putin has visited General Shamanov on his hospital bed. Shamanov is suffering from a cerebral concussion, a broken arm and a broken leg. He should be operated on this Monday. Russian TV showed a very sympathetic Putin warmly encouraging Shamanov who spoke to him through an oxygen mask. Putin promised Shamanov that only the very best doctors would treat him.
Defense Minister Serdiukov also visited Shamanov, but no footage of their meeting was released. Serdiukov declared that “Paratroopers are tough guys” and that Shamanov will soon re-join the ranks.
Saker, do you recall the failed 1991 coup attempt against Gorbachev? I didn’t give it any thought until now, but could that have been an attempt to prevent a takeover of Russia by malevolent forces?
If so, it doesn’t bode well for the military. While powerful, they are at a disadvantage when operating in the civilian realm against intelligence and secret police forces. It’s not like the Army could just take over Moscow. (I mean they could, but…)
How is Putin’s behavior in all this? Would he really act against Russian interests? It’s pretty hopeless if he is.
And now this??
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/149085.html
“US deal brings Russia to Afghanistan”
“Cold War enemies, the US and Russia, have expanded their cooperation in Afghanistan in a bid to pursue their own interests there, a report says.
The report published in British daily Telegraph comes after Russian and US forces raided heroin and opium labs in Nangarhar Province near the Pakistan border.”
This does not sound good to me.
@Lysander: could that have been an attempt to prevent a takeover of Russia by malevolent forces?
Honestly, I don’t think so. First, believe it or not, I personally met the leader of the coup, Gennadii Ianaev (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanayev), several times long long before he attempted the coup. He used to be a union boss. I can tell you, he was just a pathetic drunkard. He was a thoroughly pickled Party boss who could not give a damn about anything. Furthermore, if Gorbachev did a lot to destroy the Soviet Union, Eltsin and the forces backing him did even MUCH MORE to break up the Union. I remind you that under Gorbachev a national referendum was held in the Soviet Union in which a majority of people voted to *maintain* the Soviet Union as a unitary country (for details, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union_referendum,_1991). Whatever the faults of Gorbo, this referendum provided a mechanism to preserve the Union as a country. Contrast that with the conspiracy by Eltsin, Shushkevich and Kravchuk CONSPIRED to create a fait accompli of a breakup of the Soviet Union (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belavezha_Accords). Frankly, Eltsin was a total puppet of the USA and the Jewish bankers in Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semibankirschina).
I contrast, I can confirm that many of the folks who in 1993 defended democracy and the Congress of People’s Deputies and its Supreme Council were really patriots who were trying to stop the total collapse of the state (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Russian_constitutional_crisis). The West sided with Eltsin again even though his idea of democracy was to have T-80 tanks shell the Congress and kill over 3’000 people in Moscow and suburbs during a 5-day long bloody repression against those who opposed Eltsin’s rule. Frankly, Rutskoi, Khasbolatov & Co. were not exactly my “heroes” – they were all typical Soviet communists. But IN COMPARISON to Eltsin and his Jewish “Semibankirshchina” they represented an “an attempt to prevent a takeover of Russia by malevolent forces” as you put it.
Only Putin succeeded in giving the boot to the Zionists, but it appears that with Medvedev they came right back.
Saker,
Could it be that some in the military oppose the “reset” of relations with the USA and are rebelling in some way…?
Also, I still don’t see Medvedev doing things completely his way…I see a coordination with PUTIN in ALL their endeavors….
@anonymous: Could it be that some in the military oppose the “reset” of relations with the USA and are rebelling in some way…?
Absolutely.
Also, I still don’t see Medvedev doing things completely his way…I see a coordination with PUTIN in ALL their endeavors….
I honestly do not know. My tendency is to think that Putin and Medvedev are working hand in glove and that both of them are really representing the same powerful interests.
And yet, at a ‘gut’ level, Putin feels like the real thing to me, whereas Medvedev just gives me the creeps. That’s not very objective, I have to admit, but that is the best I can come up with right now. Sorry for the lame answer :-(