Obama Offered Deal to Russia in Secret Letter To Medvedev

More at NYTimes.com: “WASHINGTON — President Obama sent a secret letter to Russia’s president last month suggesting that he would back off deploying a new missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Moscow would help stop Iran from developing long-range weapons, American officials said Monday.”

-- This is a bold first step and it will give President Obama an immediate idea where the Russians are with respect to relations and his administration. Interesting.

Russia orders 70 new nuclear missiles | World news | guardian.co.uk

More at the guardian.co.uk: “Russia is to increase sharply its production of strategic nuclear missiles, throwing down the gauntlet to the US president-elect, Barack Obama, who would have to deal with the Kremlin's response to US missile defence plans in Europe.

A senior government official in Moscow said the Russian military would commission 70 strategic missiles over the next three years. It was unclear whether sea-launched ballistic missiles were included in this figure, but military experts said it could represent up to a fourfold increase on the rate of production of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).”

-- This is a frightening development. I do hope we don't get into a military spending contest with the Russians. We can't afford it and I'm not sure it's the best way to go.

Berlusconi: "Obama Is..Tall Handsome and ..Tan" - First Italian Race-Bating Comment

Ok, we're about to find out which of the World's leaders are racially fucked-up and which are not. First up is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who said this (translated): "Obama has it all - he's handsome, tall and tanand therefore has all of the characteristics necessary to have an excellent relationship with Russia." In Italian, it looks like this: "Obama ha tutto: è bello, alto e abbronzato ed ha quindi tutte le qualità per avere ottimi rapporti con la Russia".

Then he followed up by insisting that his statement was just fine: "It's absolutely a nice thing what I said, a hugecompliment," said the Prime Minister, "If all of the imbeciles get together we're screwed."

He's right about that.  But incapsulated in his statement about Russia is a warning about a future where I wonder of that country will base its American approach on whatever racism they've not overcome.   Here's the video below...

Did Senator McCain Lift Georgia Speech From Wikipedia?

In the wake of the Russia, Georgia conflict we have a new small scandal involving the speech Senator John McCain gave on Tuesday calling for Russia's withdrawl from the former part of the Soviet Union. According to Taegan Goddard that may be so. This is what he reports at CQ Politics:

A Wikipedia editor emailed Political Wire to point out some similarities between Sen. John McCain's speech today on the crisis in Georgia and the Wikipedia article on the country Georgia. Given the closeness of the words and sentence structure, most would consider parts of McCain's speech to be derived directly from Wikipedia.

First instance:

one of the first countries in the world to adopt Christianity as an official religion (Wikipedia)

vs.

one of the world's first nations to adopt Christianity as an official religion (McCain)

Second instance:

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia had a brief period of independence as a Democratic Republic (1918-1921), which was terminated by the Red Army invasion of Georgia. Georgia became part of the Soviet Union in 1922 and regained its independence in 1991. Early post-Soviet years was marked by a civil unrest and economic crisis. (Wikipedia)

vs.

After a brief period of independence following the Russian revolution, the Red Army forced Georgia to join the Soviet Union in 1922. As the Soviet Union crumbled at the end of the Cold War, Georgia regained its independence in 1991, but its early years were marked by instability, corruption, and economic crises. (McCain)

Third instance:

In 2003, Shevardnadze (who won reelection in 2000) was deposed by the Rose Revolution, after Georgian opposition and international monitors asserted that the 2 November parliamentary elections were marred by fraud. The revolution was led by Mikheil Saakashvili, Zurab Zhvania and Nino Burjanadze, former members and leaders of Shavarnadze's ruling party. Mikheil Saakashvili was elected as President of Georgia in 2004. Following the Rose Revolution, a series of reforms was launched to strengthen the country's military and economic capabilities. (Wikipedia)

vs.

Following fraudulent parliamentary elections in 2003, a peaceful, democratic revolution took place, led by the U.S.-educated lawyer Mikheil Saakashvili. The Rose Revolution changed things dramatically and, following his election, President Saakashvili embarked on a series of wide-ranging and successful reforms. (McCain)

Granted the third instance isn't as close as the first two, which seem quite obviously taken from Wikipedia.

It should be noted that Wikipedia material can be freely used but always requires attribution under its terms of use. Whether a presidential candidate should base policy speeches on material from Wikipedia is another question entirely.

Yikes. This isn't something commonly done. Having written speeches for a number of politicians from former Mayor Elihu Harris of Oakland to Jerry Brown, I can explain that seasoned speakers generally have talking points or bullets. Full text is saved for a major speech, but then the writer tries to capture the "voice" of the speaker. You can't do that using Wikepedia.

Another McCain mess.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Target Of Assassination Plot On Trip To Iran

From Aljazeera's english version

Putin to visit Iran despite threats

Putin is travelling to Iran for a summit of leaders from the five states around the Caspian Sea [AFP]
Russian special services have confirmed they received intelligence about a plot against President Vladimir Putin.

Citing an unnamed security service source, Interfax had reported on Sunday that Putin had been warned by his special services of a possible assassination plot during his visit to Tehran this week.

"The competent authorities are actively working with foreign partners on the information received yesterday about a terrorist threat in relation to Russia's head of state," the source was quoted on Monday as saying by RIA, Itar-Tass and Interfax news agencies in virtually identical reports.

Putin said he would not call off his trip but he acknowledged the intelligence reports, adding that the security services "must do their work".

"Of course I am going to Iran," Putin told a news conference after talks with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor.

"If you react to various threats and recommendations of the security services, then you should sit at home".

Iran denial

But Tehran has described as "totally baseless" the report, which said Russian security services had been told suicide bombers and kidnappers were training to kill or capture Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president is travelling to Tehran to attend a summit of the five states that surround the Caspian Sea, and Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, said this would go ahead as planned.

"Reports published by some media are totally baseless and are in line with the psychological war launched by enemies who want to harm Iran and Russia's relationship," Hosseini said.

Putin is the first Kremlin leader to travel to Iran since Josef Stalin, the former Soviet leader, attended a wartime summit with Winston Churchill, former British prime minister, and Franklin Roosevelt, former US president, in 1943.