It's hilarious to watch Republicans fall all over themselves bashing each other for speaking French in the case of Mitt Romney and Chinese in the case of John Huntsman. Of course, it's hard for me to get excited about a candidate that speaks a romance language. They are all pretty easy to master. I mean, we all know George W. Bush spoke "Mexican."

But Huntsman is a different case. He clearly speaks Chinese well and as president this would be a tremendous asset. Alas, the Republicans have attacked him for speaking the language. More is the pity. A man has a useful skill that could advance American interests and he's pilloried for it? Silly, I tell you, but that is modern America for you: anti-intellectual to the core.

James Fallows, in a recent post, on the issue, however, wrote something that I found even more fascinating:

why [is it] so much easier to understand other non-natives than people who grew up speaking the language?

I had this exact experience in the former Soviet Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan with regards to Russian, pretty much the only language (other than Spanish) I have any mastery of. Communicating in Russian to Georgians, Azeris, Uzbeks and Kyrgyz was simple. I could understand them and they could understand me. But the moment I got to Domodedevo Airport in Moscow I was simply bewildered. The Russians, obviously, spoke better Russian than any non-native speakers in the former republics, but it was also slangier, less academic. I think that's one of the keys: a non-native speaker will be much more grammatically formal (if incorrect) and won't use a great deal of confusing idioms. Their diction will usually be very precise and much slower than a native speaker. Seriously, try speaking to a surly, pissed-off Russian (which they are most of the time) who's speaking in rapid-fire blasts of 'Mat'--a kind of second Russian that is horribly filthy and hilarious. For example, the slang, 'Mat' term for "just hanging out and doing nothing" in Russian is: "khuem grushi okolachivat" -- translated as: knocking pears out of a tree with one’s dick.

So, the next time someone asks you, "Kak delya," you'll know how to reply.

Cahal Milmo | Nov 5

The Independent - Echoes of Pinochet as country's top intelligence officer is arrested during official visit to Britain over alleged kidnap

When Mongolia's spy chief stepped off an Aeroflot flight into Heathrow a few weeks ago, he expected a welcome befitting a foreign dignitary arriving for high-level talks with the British government on a new era of intelligence co-operation. After all, preparations for his visit had included an invitation to meet Downing Street's National Security Adviser.

But rather than being ushered through Heathrow's VIP lounge for talks in Whitehall's inner sanctum, the chief executive of Mongolia's National Security Council and the one-time head of its security service was met by Scotland Yard detectives armed with an international warrant for his arrest.

Bat Khurts, Mongolia's most senior intelligence officer, is currently languishing in a cell in London's Wandsworth prison while awaiting extradition proceedings. It is an extraordinary twist to a tale of alleged trans-border kidnap and skulduggery that began seven years ago in a McDonald's car park in a French port – and has led to a diplomatic row.

Mr Khurts was arrested for the alleged drugging and rendition of a refugee who was later tortured in a Mongolian prison. Documents obtained by The Independent show that lawyers for Mr Khurts accuse Foreign Office officials of "misusing ordinary diplomatic courtesies" to facilitate the Mongolian father-of-three's arrest. Court papers allege that the Foreign Office contacted the UK Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) with full details of Mr Khurts' arrival date to enable his detention on an outstanding European arrest warrant six weeks ago.

Certainly, the reception received by the Mongolian intelligence chief bore little resemblance to what seems to have been originally envisaged by the Foreign Office when he was put forward in November last year as the best person to liaise with British officials about "establishing ties" between the security services in both countries.

Mongolia, traditionally regarded as a geo-political backwater, is increasingly seen by London and Washington as a strategic ally, not least because of its geographical position, sandwiched between Russia and China. The opportunity for a closer relationship with the Mongolian intelligence services was quickly grasped by British diplomats and the intelligence services.

August 24

Reuters - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych called on Tuesday for constitutional reform that would strengthen his powers and enable him to push through tough economic reform.

Yanukovych said the former Soviet republic needed a new, stable political system led by a "strong president" to guide it through potentially painful structural reforms.

"In order to achieve this we need to reform the constitution thoroughly," he said in a televised speech on Ukraine's Independence Day.

Over the years, I have traveled extensively. Thirty-seven countries and island nations now. It has been something I relish, and something I strive to do with my life. To engage life. To live. To understand that I Love Life and Life Loves Me. And it allows me to pursue my career as a photographer.

After each foray into another culture, another country, another adventure, I would return home to Texas. If I was fortunate, my friends did not drink every beer in my fridge while they were coming over to watch the dog(s) and the cat while I was away.

When I arrived home, there would always be a simple reminder of where I returned. A point of curiosity initially to my friends, but something they grew to understand was so true of politics and governance in America, particularly in the past decade. It was a quote I had for several years, tacked to my fridge with a magnet:

There aren't many reports from Stratfor I pay much attention to these days. After the predicted that Iran might invade Turkmenistan it was pretty clear that most of their non-Russian analysis was amateurish, at best. But, one weekly document I pay pretty close attention to is the 'Intelligence Guidance' which is little more than a series of questions, questioning assumptions and the like. This week's questions are worthy of pondering:

Russia: While we are doing that, let’s revisit the question of whether or not there is a split between Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. There was a lot of talk about that from U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration a few months ago, then it went quiet. Four possibilities: There is a split; there is no split; there is no split but the Americans want to pretend there is one; there is no split but the Russians want to play good cop/bad cop. Let’s spend some time on this.

I'm curious to hear from everyone, but especially readers with experience in post-Soviet countries and/or Russia. You know who you are.

In the summer of 2003 I visited Georgia. I spent almost a week in Tbilisi. One of the most interesting visits I had there was meeting Alex Rondeli. I also met with a young man named Timur Iakobashvilli. The meeting with Rondeli was quite fascinating. He is wise to world in ways that Iakobashvilli was not. Iakobashvilli went on to work in Saakashvilli's foreign ministry. Rondeli, from what I recall of the conversation knew that Georgia had to find a way to live with their giant neighbor to the north, whereas Iakobashvilla was all about closer and closer relations with the US, as a way of keeping the Russians out of the Caucasus and thumbing their nose at them as well. He was enthralled by the US invasion of Iraq and spoke glowingly of American powers of expeditionary warfare. He went so far as to give me a lecture--as a professor would lecture an ignorant student--about how important and dominating the US role in the world was and would continue to be and how essential it was for Georgia to become a part of NATO and the EU.

I told him point blank, at one point, "don't trust us. We will abandon you."

"That's impossible, Georgia and the pipeline are too important to US interests."

"No, they are not. They are not vital interests. But Georgia is vital to Russian interests. I advise you make your peace with them. They are permanent. We are not. Find a modus vivendi as soon as practicable."

As I read this story in Time I am reminded of that conversation. And I cannot help but to ask Misha the current Georgian president, "allies? Really? Or was it a marriage of convenience at the time for the US?"

Putin's Long Chess Game, as I called it back in 2005, is now coming to fruition. Patient. Plodding. Often awkward. But so far, successful. The Georgians must be feeling very isolated right now. They have no one but their leaders to blame.

Michael Schwirtz | Moscow | Mar 2 originally

NY Times - The so-called Orange coalition of Western-leaning political factions in Ukraine’s Parliament disintegrated on Tuesday, in what could be the first stage in an effort to unseat Prime Minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko.

Ms. Tymoshenko has so far rebuffed calls for her resignation by Viktor F. Yanukovich, who defeated her in a bitterly contested presidential election last month. But the collapse of the majority coalition in Parliament, which Ms. Tymoshenko led, could seriously undermine her ability to hang on, analysts said.

“I declare that the coalition ceases to exist,” said the Parliament’s speaker, Volodymyr M. Lytvyn, Interfax news reported. Mr. Lytvyn said that the Our Ukraine faction and his own bloc had pulled out of the coalition, leaving it without the 226 seats needed to hold a majority in the 449-seat Parliament.

The coalition’s collapse signals that a vote of no confidence in the government scheduled for Wednesday will likely pass, allowing supporters of Mr. Yanukovich to begin forming a new majority coalition on the basis of his party, the Party of Regions, said Mikhail B. Pogrebinsky, director of the Kiev Center for Political and Conflict Studies.

“Tomorrow there will be a vote of no confidence, they will vote for it and Tymoshenko will become acting prime minister until a new coalition votes on a new prime minister,” he said. “In any case, she will go.”

UPDATE Mar 3: Ukraine PM Tymoshenko forced out

Clifford J. Levy | Staryi Uhryniv, Ukraine | March 1, 2010

NY Times - Half a century after his death at the hands of the K.G.B., Stepan Bandera, a World War II partisan, has not lost his ability to rally Ukrainians against Russia — and against each other.

Monuments to Mr. Bandera have sprung up across western Ukraine, his fight for the country’s independence glowingly recounted to schoolchildren on field trips, as if he were the George Washington of Ukrainian nationalism. But in eastern Ukraine and as far away as Moscow and Brussels, Mr. Bandera is reviled as a Nazi puppet.

This disputed legacy has ensured him a prominent role in today’s Ukraine. In a parting shot as his presidency was ending, Viktor A. Yushchenko named Mr. Bandera a “Hero of Ukraine,” one of the country’s highest honors.

With the possible exception of Georgia-US-Russia, no US relationship in the former Soviet region is more fraught today than the US-Russia-Ukraine triangle. At a time when Washington and Moscow have variously committed to a relationship reset, a new operating system, and a rerun of the Clinton-Yeltsin strategic partnership, it is disappointing how little substance has followed rhetoric. Meanwhile, Central and Eastern Europe are still reeling from the US Administration’s abrupt and ill-timed reversal on missile defense deployment, and Team Obama is eager for opportunities to demonstrate its commitment to the new Europe, which received no shortage of love from the Bush Administration.

Germany | 21 september

Spiegel Online - (...) The independent commission appointed by the European Union to investigate the war between Georgia and Russia last summer has concluded that Tbilisi is responsible for causing the five-day conflict, SPIEGEL has learned. According to diplomats in Brussels who are familiar with the contents of the secret document, the EU experts also assign part of the responsibility for the war to Russia, however. The report, which stems from an initiative by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his colleagues from the Benelux countries, concludes that Moscow escalated the conflict through its massive deployment of troops.The international commission, which is headed by Heidi Tagliavini, wants to keep its findings under wraps until next week because the Swiss diplomat first wants to present the controversial results to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York (...) The publication of the report is set to spark renewed debate about who is responsible for the war. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has already complained that "some idiots say we started the war." Tbilisi is mainly afraid that the report will reduce the chances of Georgia being allowed to join NATO within the near future. The conflict broke out on Aug. 7, 2008 when Georgia attacked the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russian forces quickly repelled the Georgian attack and advanced into Georgia. Hundreds of people, including many civilians, are believed to have died during the fighting before a ceasefire was agreed upon on Aug. 12.

CSM - Facing a reported $1.2 billion budget deficit, accusations of corruption, and a parliamentary commission investigation, Leonid Chernovetsky, mayor of Kyiv (Kiev), knew he needed to give the performance of his life.

He didn’t disappoint. After jogging and doing 15 chin-ups, he stripped down to a Speedo and swam 15 meters. “I want to demonstrate to the whole world that I am absolutely fit physically and mentally,” he announced.

A millionaire businessman and evangelical Christian, Mr. Chernovetsky has gained a reputation for wacky ideas. With Kyiv facing an economic crisis, Chernovetsky proposed charging fees to enter cemeteries, selling his kisses in a raffle, and selling burial plots for frogs.

Infighting among opposition members has prevented them from mounting a consolidated challenge. After the parliamentary commission ordered him to have a mental-health check, Chernovetsky took a few weeks off on sick leave.

Shaun Walker | Riga | Jan 11

The Independent - In Russia it is not only the future that is unpredictable; often the past is equally in doubt. One minute Leon Trotsky was a hero of the Revolution, the father of the Red Army and a strong contender to succeed Lenin; the next minute he never existed. Until the late 1980s, the 1917 Revolution was the pinnacle of human achievement; suddenly in the 1990s it was seen as an utter failure.

And today again history in the region is turning into an ideological battlefield. When the Red Army poured into the Baltic states at the end of the Second World War, it liberated them from Nazi tyranny – but from the perspective of the subsequent decades of Soviet domination, was it liberation or merely another invasion?

The Russians, of course, have no doubt on the matter: for them it was an heroic national achievement. But for the states which less than two decades ago managed to crawl out from under the Soviet boot, things are not so simple. The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, an imposing black box of a building in the heart of Riga, tells the story of Latvia's time inside the Soviet Union. The Soviet soldiers, glorified as heroes in Moscow, are portrayed as criminals and occupiers, no better than the Germans they defeated.

But now, slamming shut a stable door through which its former subject states long ago bolted, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the creation of a body with the Orwellian title of the Commission to Counteract the Falsification of History to the Detriment of Russian Interests. A linked law is also likely to be passed that will outlaw the "rehabilitation of Nazism" on the territory of former Soviet republics.

It's just not good for a defensive military alliance when two of its newest members decide not to take part in exercises. Especially when they say the reason is not financial. That would have been an easy excuse.

Of course, the exercises are being held in Georgia, at a time when the Russians are really squeezing Saakashvilli. The near abroad is taking Russia's sphere of influence much more seriously these days. I wonder if the strategic mandarins in DC can read the tea leaves as clearly as the Balts?

Do you remember when there was an odd sound in telephone in Soviet Union, and a voice apologized that they are changing the tape?

My firewall has logged intrusion attack from a server of my ISP. I complained that their server is trying to break into my computer. They replied that it is not. The attack continues :)

I have been earlier shortly interrogated by a local spy, who was interested in what I think about terrorism.

Clifford J Levy | Kiev | Mar 16

IHT -

A quarter century ago, a Ukrainian historian named Stanislav Kulchytsky was told by his Soviet overlords to concoct an insidious cover-up. His orders: to depict the famine that killed millions of Ukrainians in the early 1930s as unavoidable, like a natural disaster. Absolve the Communist Party of blame. Uphold the legacy of Stalin.

Professor Kulchytsky, though, would not go along.

The other day, as he stood before a new memorial to the victims of the famine, he recalled his decision as one turning point in a movement lasting decades to unearth the truth about that period. And the memorial itself, shaped like a towering candle with a golden eternal flame, seemed to him in some sense a culmination of this effort.

"It is a sign of our respect for the past," Professor Kulchytsky said. "Because everyone was silent about the famine for many years. And when it became possible to talk about it, nothing was said. Three generations on."

The concrete memorial was dedicated last November, the 75th anniversary of the famine, in a park in Kiev, on a hillside overlooking the Dnieper River in the shadow of the onion domes of a revered Orthodox Christian monastery. More than 100 feet tall, the memorial will eventually house a small museum that will offer testimony from survivors, as well as information about the Ukrainian villages that suffered.

In the Soviet Union, the authorities all but banned discussion of the famine, but by the 1980s the United States and other countries were pressing their own inquiries, often at the urging of Ukrainian immigrants.

In response, Communist officials embarked on a propaganda drive to play down the famine and show that the deaths were caused by unforeseen food shortages or drought. Professor Kulchytsky said he had been given the task of gathering research but concluded that the famine had been man-made.

Russian geopolitical moves over the last year have been wide-ranging, ominous, and seemingly unconnected. They are often interpreted as evidence of the resurgence of Great Russian chauvinism, which had been dormant since the decline and fall of communism. Many analysts see Russia as bent on reacquiring its empire, and at least suspect a new Cold War is in the offing. But an alternate, less malevolent interpretation might be considered, especially when Russia’s numerous cooperative measures are taken into account, as they often aren’t. Russia likely has a more limited goal: countering the spread of NATO into Eastern Europe.

Chris Schuler | The Independent Minds Blogs

KALININGRAD, RUSSIA: It must have been the music in the little Ukrainian retaurant that made my dinner companion wax a little nostalgic. "I love these Ukrainian songs," she said. "I love the Ukrainian language. It's such a shame they had to make that Orange Revolution. They sold themselves to the Americans. These fucking Americans, they try to come between Slavonic peoples and drive them apart. At least it won't happen in Belarus. The President there is strong."

Now I have to say that came as a bit of an eye opener. To anyone in the West who takes an interest in such matters, Viktor Yuschenko, leader of Ukraine's Orange Revolution, is a democratic hero, while Aleksandr Lukaschenko, the President of Belarus, is "the last dictator in Europe". yet my friend is not some glassy-eyed fanatic, but a likeable, well educated middle-aged lady. And her views, if not exactly those of the majority here, scarcely put her on the lunatic fringe either.

This is a really interesting article in the Times about Georgia, the Ukraine and NATO. Well reported and worth a read.

The real meat comes at the end of the article. It really is about the Germans and the Americans getting pissed off at each other about NATO membership for both countries. The Germans have dug in their heels and pretty much said, no way. But the Bush Administration, being petulant to the very end, is looking for a back door. Typical.

I don't have much to add, as everyone knows where I stand: having both countries in NATO is a bad idea. I'm glad the Germans are doing their best to prevent it from happening, but it does show that their is a growing rift between the US and Germany. And that I don't like to see. Alas, it's probably a part of an inevitable shift away from American hegemony. It'll still take a few decades to play out, but it's started.

I arrived in Dnepropetrovsk without a hitch, except my checked bag is still in AMS. My first wife, a Dutch girl, obviously put a hex on me. Seriously, she was great. I have clothes, not much, but I have a coat and some thermals.

So, first stop after my arrival in Dnepropetrovsk's airport is a meeting with a beer. I am not a drunk, but this type of travel requires some assistance. Bad freaking move. My first, I think, on this trip. Across the hall is the rental car place, and they will not rent me a car, because they say me drinking a beer. FM, my mistake. Certainly, my first one, but probably a good one. All the others were out of my control, so I venture outside. This is not the normal gauntlet a traveler would meet coming through the gateway to Borispol in Kiev or any airport in Moscow. Really, there was nothing there. A couple of cabbies, but not the pressing hoard.

On a dark and stormy night . . . okay . . . that was later . . .

Okay, so it was really a sunny afternoon - about 1:30 - when I was leaving San Antonio on the 20th with a destination of Kharkov. Then, it started. My dear friend and beloved dog bit my beautiful mother. While I was loading my stuff in her truck, he was having some separation anxiety or something, and she, unwisely, tried to grab him. He chomped her arm pretty good. This is a big dog - a mix of Akita, Siberian Husky, Chow and Wolf. And Blonde to top it off, not that there is anything wrong with that . . . . we all have to go to the circus sometime, and I find that Blonde circus enjoyable. In any event, The Mom went to the doctor and will be fine. The Dog lives too. Not sure where the Cat was at, but I suspect he was killing something in the woods. My little assassins.

KIEV | Oct 16

Reuters - The IMF may lend Ukraine a sum ranging from $3-14 billion to shore up its financial system but has made any credit contingent on calling off a snap election, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said on Thursday.

The IMF office in Kiev declined to comment. But the Fund, while setting financial conditions for credits, almost never takes a position on internal political issues in a country with which it negotiates an assistance programme.

Political woes in Ukraine, which faces its third parliamentary poll in as many years, have been compounded by fears that government and banks may not be able to refinance debt as its currency weakens and global lending dries up.

KIEV | October 14

RIA Novosti - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has abolished a Kiev court that had earlier suspended his decree to dissolve parliament and call early parliamentary elections, his press service said.

Yushchenko signed a decree late Monday abolishing the Kiev District Court, replacing it with two administrative courts, after the court ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc Saturday against the president and the Central Election Commission (CEC) and overturned the presidential decree to dissolve parliament.

The secretariat of President Yushchenko filed an appeal later Saturday against the ruling.

KIEV | October 14

RIA Novosti - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has refused to allocate some 420 million hryvnias ($80 million) to finance early parliamentary elections, Ukraine's UNIAN news agency reported on Tuesday.

Ukraine's top security body, the National Security and Defense Council, demanded that the government transfer the money to election officials on Monday. However, no cabinet session was held and no money has been transferred.

A top official from Ukraine's Central Election Committee was cited by the agency as saying that the country's top election body "cannot carry out the elections" if the money is not provided.

Valery Konovaliuk | Ukraine

ZIK - Ukraine supplied weapons to Georgia even after the war with Russia had broken out, Valery Konovaliuk (Regions), head of VR ad hoc investigation commission said during his briefing Oct. 8, Regions press service report runs.

The commission is in posssession of documents that testify that Ukraine went on with its supplies of arms to Georgia even after the conflict with Russia started. Certain documents indicate, the lawmaker continued, that ammunition and artillery guns, disguised as humanitarian aid, were shipped to Batumi Sept. 22.

Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

Telegraph - Russia's offensive in Georgia in August exposed the dangers of the Western alliance's lack of contingency plans against an invasion on its eastern flanks.

Political leaders from the Baltics and Eastern Europe have subsequently demanded that Nato fulfil the requirements implied by its "Chapter 5" commitment to defend the territorial integrity of all its members.

General James Craddock, Nato's Supreme Commander, has asked for the political authority to draw up contingency defence plans at a Nato meeting in Budapest later this week.

France and Germany have signalled opposition to the move but Gen Craddock has the strong backing of American and Britain.